Nucor CEO urges more drilling for natural gas off U.S. coast

The chief executive of North Carolina-based Nucor Corp. urged Congress on Tuesday to pass legislation to stimulate more natural-gas production along the outer continental shelf off the Gulf Coast and some areas of Alaska.

“Now, I don’t expect our government to guarantee us low natural-gas prices,” Dan DiMicco said in remarks prepared for a news conference in Washington, D.C., where he planned to join other industry officials and natural-gas producers. “I do expect that our government will not withhold natural gas supply that they control.”

The Charlotte steel maker competes against foreign rivals that can purchase gas at a much lower cost, DiMicco said.

“In 2005, there were times when Nucor was paying three to five times as much for natural gas as some of our foreign competitors,” he said. DiMicco estimated that increases in the price of natural gas cost U.S. iron and steel producers an additional $1 billion last year.

AP