(EnergyAsia, December 20 2010, Monday) — Edgen Murray, a Louisiana, US-based global specialist in high-performance steel products for the energy sector, opened its new S$25-million distribution centre in Singapore early this month. (US$1=S$1.3).

The 18,000-sq-mt facility in Tuas includes 12,800 sq m of covered-warehouse space, providing a storage capacity for 30,000 tonnes of products.

The new centre will build on Edgen Murray’s 18-year history in Singapore, where the company had centralised its Asia-Pacific operations. The regional hub has supported customers around Southeast Asia, China, South Korea, Japan and Australia, supplying high-performance steel products for both fossil-fuelled and renewable power generation applications.

Michael Craig, Edgen Murray’s executive vice president and managing director for the Eastern Hemisphere, said:

“Our new facility represents the single largest capital investment made in the history of our company.

“This reflects the growing strategic importance of Singapore to the Asian energy sector as a source of infrastructure products and services, intellectual property and expertise. Singapore has long been a strategic location for the eastern hemisphere, but it is also rapidly becoming the energy sector hub for South East Asia,” he added.

Demand for Edgen Murray’s services will grow in line with demand for energy and power generation driven by rising affluence and economic growth in the region.

Mr Craig said: “The shortage of infrastructure to meet the current energy and power demands of Asia Pacific’s emerging markets is one of our major growth drivers, as well as next-generation sustainable energy generation strategies in mature economies.

“In either scenario, energy is a key infrastructure pillar, alongside water, information and communications technology, that will serve as a long-term economic catalyst. Singapore is ideally suited to this role, not only for its prime geographical location as a natural distribution hub, but also as a centre for innovation, business orchestration and strategic investment and infrastructure planning.”

With over 30 locations across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, Edgen Murray supplies a broad range of products, technical knowledge, and customised solutions to new construction projects, as well as maintenance, repair and operational requirements.

Serving over 3,000 customers in 50 countries, the company achieved 2008 sales in excess of US$1 billion.