Lock, Stock, and Barrel

Energy costs force companies to pick up and move stakes

For industries in which energy is a key input, such as metals and chemicals, rising costs are making life rough, reports The Wall Street Journal on July 6, 2007 (full story). In response, some companies are setting up shop in business-friendly, energy-rich countries like Trinidad. The tiny island nation scant miles off the coast of Venezuela has attracted Mittal Steel Co. and Nucor Corp. In Nucor's case, it chopped its refinery located in New Orleans into pieces and shipped it across the sea to be reassembled in Trinidad. Not surprisingly, wages are on the increase in the country as manufacturers move in and snap up the most skilled workers. Other locales attracting manufacturers include Iceland, with lower-cost hydro- and geothermal power, and even Saudi Arabia. GEO