Steel Mills
March 18, 2016
US Steel to Idle Lone Star and Fairfield Tubular
Written by Sandy Williams
US Steel says it will idle tubular operations in Alabama, Texas and Ohio, laying off nearly 800 workers. The steelmaker will temporarily idle Lone Star Tubular Operations in Texas and Fairfield Tubular Operations in Alabama in response to market conditions in the energy industry.
“As we adjust operations throughout our tubular organization, we are right-sizing our staffing needs as well,” said US Steel spokeswoman Sarah Cassella. “These actions are part of an ongoing adjustment in operations due to challenging market conditions, including fluctuating oil prices, reduced rig counts, depressed steel prices and unfairly traded imports. All of these factors continue to reduce demand for tubular goods.”
The actions will affect about 450 union workers at Lone Star, 200 at Fairfield and another 120 non-union workers at plants in Fairfield, Ala.; Lorain, Ohio; and Lone Star, Texas; along with Oilwell Services and sales office in Houston, Texas.
Declining sales of oil country tubular goods have cut substantially into revenue and contributed to US Steel’s 2015 net loss of $1.5 billion.
