The STX Group said on Sept. 9 that it has agreed with Mechel, Russia’s leading mining company, on a strategic business partnership in shipping and harbor development projects. 

STX Group chairman Kang Duk-soo and Mechel CEO Igor Zyuzin signed an MOU in a meeting on Sept. 8 on the sidelines of the APEC CEO Summit held in Vladivostok, Russia. 

Under the agreement, the two sides agreed to cooperate on the supply of solid fuel for power plants, steel materials for shipbuilding, long-term logistics support in the shipping industry, and harbor development projects in Russia.

STX officials said its MOU with a strong partner will bring more opportunities for the company to expand its presence in harbor development in Russia and Europe. 

Mechel, based in Moscow, is Russia’s largest producer of special steel and alloys. 

Kang also met Igor Sechin, CEO of Russia’s state-owned extraction and refinement company, Rosneft, and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, to discuss potential ocean projects in Russia. 

Sechin was quoted by STX officials to have expressed interest in participating in STX’s ocean projects involving building facilities and extracting and trading natural gas. 

Kang also reaffirmed his business partnership with Andrei Dyachkov, president of United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), Russia’s state-run shipbuilder, following the establishment of a joint venture between the two companies in June. 

STX, which has taken an earlier edge over other Korean shipbuilders in building liquefied natural gas carriers in Russia, plans to expand business ties in the areas of natural resources development and shipbuilding infrastructure in the country, officials said. ?

Mechel, an NYSE-listed company (symbol: MTL), is one of the largest natural resources exploration firms in Russia engaged in the mining of coal, iron ore, and power plant operations with 2011 sales revenues of $12.5 billion.

Chairman Sechin said Rosneft has a plan to produce marine facilities and if STX is looking for a Russian partner who can produce around 70 percent of its equipment in Russia, STX would have a lot of opportunities to participate in their marine projects.

He said STX has been playing the role of a partner and guide and Rosneft has a large interest in STX’s know-how in oil exploration and trading.

Rosneft has been engaged in oil exploration in the North Sea along with such oil majors as Exxon Mobil, Statoil, and ENI, and plans to order marine facilities in the future. STX and Rosneft are likely to expand their exchanges in oil and oil product trading.

Chairman Kang also went over such matters with Chairman Dyachkov of USC as natural resources exploration, energy transportation, and cooperation in the exchange of technologies for marine plant facilities. Such matters also included the cooperative exchanges between STX and USC based on the joint venture agreement signed between the two companies in June to set up a j.v. company to engage in marine projects in the Russian Far East and a joint order receipt for LNG carriers.

STX received an order for 10 LNG tankers from Russia for the first time for a Korean shipyard as well as options for more.

STX officials said they expect to expand into marine areas in cooperation with both USC and Rosneft, as they already have close ties with the two giant Russian firms in the area of LNG tankers.

They said they are very satisfied with what they have achieved at the APEC CEO summit in Vladivostok, paving the way for concluding partnerships with Russian firms in such critical areas as coal, natural gas, and natural resources, in addition to shipbuilding and marine infrastructure, among others.