United Spiral Pipe (USP), a joint venture of U.S. Steel, POSCO and SeAH Steel, formally dedicated its new state-of-the-art spiral-welded pipe manufacturing facility in Pittsburg, Calif. The plant is expected to provide approximately 120 full-time manufacturing jobs to northern California. The USP facility has pipe-making and coating capabilities that will produce 300,000 net tons of line pipe per year to meet the anticipated demand in North America for spiral-welded pipe due to natural gas and oil transmission projects. The facility will produce pipe with outside diameters ranging from 24 inches to 64 inches and will implement an advanced, automated two-step welding process.

U.S. Steel and POSCO each own 35% of the joint venture. They have been partners in USS-POSCO Industries (UPI), a steel-finishing joint venture in Pittsburg, for more than 20 years. The new facility is located on land owned by UPI. SeAH Steel, a manufacturer of tubular products in the Republic of Korea, owns the remaining 30% of the joint venture and brings expertise in manufacturing spiral-welded pipe to the new company.