The biggest global purchasers
There are approximately 550 companies that will be buying most of the pumps, valves, burners, filters, vessels, and other combust, flow, and treat equipment constructed out of stainless steel in 2018.
Oil & gas
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) will be buying 7.6% of all the stainless steel combust, flow and treat products purchased in the oil and gas sector next year and one percent of all the purchases for all industries. The top four purchasers will be in the oil and gas sector, as will eight of the top 12 purchasers. The other four will be power companies. The top 550 companies include ones in refining, chemical, pulp and paper, mining, food, stone, and pharmaceutical industries. But the oil and gas sector will be the largest purchaser of them all. Sinopec will be the largest purchaser of stainless steel products. Forecasts predict that the company will purchase 7.6% of all the stainless steel products that are used in oil and gas.
Power generation
The largest purchaser in the power sector will be Guodian/Shenhua. This past summer, China’s electricity producer, Guodian, merged with the country’s state-owned mining and energy company coal company, Shenhua Group, to form the world’s largest power company in terms of capacity. In fact, half of the top 12 purchasers will be China-based. The largest U.S. purchaser, oil and gas producer ExxonMobil is the fifth top purchaser in the oil and gas sector and sixth overall.
EPC companies
The rankings also include Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) companies. Among them, Bechtel Corporation, and AECOM will be the largest purchasers in this grouping.
Chemicals, mining, and pulp & paper
BASF, the German chemical company and the largest chemical producer in the world, will be the biggest purchaser among the chemical manufacturers. Rio Tinto, the leading global mining group that focuses on finding, mining, and processing the Earth’s mineral resources, will be the leading purchaser in the mining segment. For the pulp and paper industry, International Paper, a producer of fiber-based packaging, pulp and paper, will be the largest purchaser.