LS Cable & System (LS Cable) has signed a contract with the Bahrain Electricity and Water Authority for an extra-high voltage (EHV) cable project that it valued at
$125 million.

A press release said that the project requires 400 kV EHV cable for a new electrical grid in Bahrain that is part of the government’s efforts to industrialize and urbanize the nation. LS Cable will also be in charge of engineering works involving electricity and civil engineering.

LS Cable notes in the release that it has the largest market share in the Middle East—mainly in Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait—in terms of extra-high voltage submarine and underground cables. The Middle East is an important market as it accounts for around 20% of the global demand for extra-high voltage cables, it said, adding that infrastructure investment has largely been delayed in recent years due to low oil prices.

“As Bahrain has recently discovered a submarine oil field worth 80 billion barrels and the government is making efforts for industrial development at a national level, we expect to gain more contracts based on this project,” said LS Cable CEO Roe-Hyun Myung.

U.K.-based Liberty, part of the global GFG Alliance that also owns Georgetown Steel, announced that it has agreed to buy four European steel plants, including a wire rod operation, from ArcelorMittal.

A press release said that the "landmark transaction" that raise Liberty’s total annual rolling capacity to over 15 million metric tons (mmt). The deal includes Mittal’s integrated works at Ostrava in the Czech Republic, which has some 6,000 employees. Products made there include wire rod, hot-rolled coil, sheets, rebar, merchant bar and light rail. More than half the production is exported.

The deal also includes three other plants—one in Galati, Romania, and two (Skopje and Piombino) in Italy—that produce a range of other steel products. The collective plants have some 12,500 employees. The deal was related to requirements for ArceloMittal, which is seeking to buy Ilva, a huge yet long-troubled steel giant in Italy.

NKT announced that the company has won a project to install 200 km of 80 kV high-voltage DC offshore power cables for the second phase of the Johan Sverdrup oil field development project in Norway.

A press release said that the award, worth approximately 110 million euros, is conditional upon finalization of the formal contract which is likely to take place within a few weeks. The cable system, which will offer a +/-80 kV HVDC solution, is expected to be ready for use in late 2019.

The cable will transmit power from the Norwegian power grid to the offshore oil field, the release said, adding that power from shore to the oil platform is an environmentally sustainable solution, significantly reducing carbon emissions from oil and gas producti
Johan Sverdrup was described as among the five biggest oil fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. “I am very pleased that we continue working with our long-term customer Equinor Energy AS,” said NKT President and CEO Michael Hedegaard Lyng. “I see the letter of award as proof of our premium DC technology capabilities and of our ability to provide turnkey solutions with NKT Victoria as a differentiator.” He added that the award further bolsters the company’s “leading market position in the oil and gas segment, which along with offshore wind and interconnectors represents good growth opportunities for NKT.”

Earlier in 2018, NKT completed supply and installation of the high-voltage DC offshore power cable solution for the first phase of the Johan Sverdrup development project. Installation was conducted by NKT’s own industry leading cable-laying vessel NKT Victoria operating at 600 meters depth, which marks one of the deepest installations of bundled high-voltage DC cables in the world. In addition, the Johan Sverdrup 1 solution from NKT now constitutes the world’s longest extruded offshore cable to an offshore oil and gas platform facility.

South Korea’s LS Cable & System announced that the company has signed a contract with Orsted, a Denmark-based power company, to supply high-voltage cables for Hornsea Project Two, the world’s largest offshore wind farm.

A press release said that LS Cable will supply 350 km of onshore high-voltage cables, including 400-kilovolt cables, by 2021. The site is located 89 km off the Yorkshire coast in the U.K.

"This contract is meaningful because it continues the trend of supplying cables for new renewable energy projects in Europe, the home of cable business. We hope to expand opportunities for projects in Europe, North America and Asia," said LS Cable & System CEO Roe-Hyun Myung.

Per the company, when the project is complete and operational in 2022, it will be capable of supplying electricity to well over 1.3 million homes and surpass its sister project, Hornsea Project One, as the world’s biggest offshore wind farm. The two sites will produce a combined 2.4 gigawatts of electricity.