Norwegian entrant Blastr, Cargill eye green steelmaking venture

A relatively new company named Blastr Green Steel has struck a memorandum of understanding with Cargill to work together to supply steel made in the Nordic region without using fossil fuels.

Norway-based Blastr was founded and is backed by Vanir Green Industries. a Nordic investment company that invests in, develops and scales green, robust and profitable businesses for the energy transition. The venture plans to establish production facilities in the Nordic region, citing deep ice-free ports as well as a highly qualified workforce as advantages. Its green steel project is expected to be one of the largest industry start-ups in the Nordic region, the company claims.

Blastr echoes the ambition set forth by Swedish group H2 Green Steel (see separate story), and it has had little public exposure prior to the agreement with Cargill, which was announced on Monday.

The agreement foresees that Cargill Metals will bring expertise in raw materials sourcing, and its global capabilities in ocean transportation and logistics, as well as development of green products for market, risk management and financing. Blastr is to contribute industrial decarbonisation expertise, entrepreneurial business skills, track record and access to capital within green energy and CO2 abatement, Kallanish learns from a statement issued by Cargill.

The group highlights its ambition to develop world leading projects in the green steel supply chain through the expedient development of initial production and then incrementally expand capacity.

The people behind Blastr previously worked for Nordic companies like LKAB, Outokumpu, Norsk Hydro, or Elkem.

Christian Koehl Germany