Article by Jinyoung Cheon, courtesy of TOPDaily
Jang In-hwa, Chairman of POSCO Group, visited Australia for three days starting on the 7th and embarked on global management initiatives to strengthen the competitiveness of the steel business and the energy value chain.
According to POSCO Group on the 10th, Chairman Chang attended the first half of the regular meeting of the World Steel Association (worldsteel) held in Sydney, Australia, met with representatives of global steel companies, and discussed overseas steel business issues such as the integrated steel mill in India and cooperation in technology development. Afterwards, he went to the Senex Energy gas field in Queensland to inspect the natural gas upstream business site.
At the World Steel Association Executive Committee held on the 7th, Chairman Jang In-hwa, representing the Korean steel industry, discussed major issues and countermeasures facing the global steel industry, including carbon reduction. He suggested the direction of development for the core agenda of this Executive Committee, such as environmental improvement effects of low-carbon processes and global standardization of carbon emission measurement standards.
The World Steel Association is a global organization established with the goal of promoting mutual understanding and development in the steel industry, with a total of 157 member companies, including steel companies around the world, regional steel associations, and research institutes.
On this day, Chairman Jang pointed out the need for expanding global cooperation at the association level in the field of low-carbon processes. He emphasized, “As global steel companies are developing various carbon reduction technologies, we need to expand collaboration among global steel companies to develop low-carbon steel production processes, reduce carbon emissions, and expand future demand.”
In particular, Chairman Jang met with CEOs of global steel companies to explore new opportunities to overcome the uncertain global steel industry environment and to cooperate in business joint ventures and technology development. He discussed the integrated steel mill joint venture from various angles with Jayant Acharya, president of JSW Steel of India, and discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in the currently operating joint venture in China with Liu Jian, president of China Hajiang Group.
At the World Steel Association’s member companies meeting held the following day, POSCO was selected as the Sustainability Champion for the fourth consecutive year. With this award, POSCO has once again solidified its position as a leading company in the ESG field of the global steel industry.
Chairman Jang visited the Senex Energy gas field site in Queensland, Australia on the 9th. Senex Energy is an onshore gas field that is upstream of POSCO Group’s natural gas business, which POSCO International acquired in 2022 for 442.42 million Australian dollars (approximately 400 billion won).
Currently, Senex Energy is pursuing a project to expand natural gas production from 20 petajoules (PJ) per year to 60 PJ (approximately 1.2 million tons in LNG equivalent) by 2026. Once the increased production development is completed, it is expected to be able to supply 10% of the domestic natural gas demand in the Eastern Australia region.
