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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Alex Daniel and Lisa O’Carroll

‘Very damaging’: how the Iran war is hitting energy-intensive industries

Hot metal block being heat treated at Somers Forge industrial facility
Somers Forge’s monthly gas bill has jumped from £150,000 to as high as £250,000 based on recent prices. Photograph: Handout

In its 160-year history, Somers Forge’s furnaces in the Black Country have cast steel columns for the Bank of England, part of the anchor for the Titanic and – more recently – propeller shafts for Britain’s nuclear submarines.

The economic fallout from the Iran conflict is the latest of many geopolitical headaches the family-owned forge has endured, but it is already “very damaging”, said Tammy Inglis, the Somers finance director.

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