US Steel to idle 2 pipe plants, lay off workers

New York

US Steel Corp, the country's second-biggest producer of the metal, plans to idle two pipe plants and lay off more than 750 employees as the oil-price slump cuts spending by energy companies.

US Steel notified 614 workers about potential dismissals in March at the company's plant in Lorain, Ohio, which produces 780,000 tonnes a year of seamless tubular steel products. It issued similar notices to 142 employees at its tube factory in Houston, which processes 120,000 tonnes annually.

US Steel has benefited from the high-margin line of business in recent years amid the country's oil and gas boom. It's helped chief executive officer Mario Longhi's efforts to transform the 144-year-old manufacturing giant - which has posted five annual losses and was ejected from the Standard & Poor's 500 Index last year - into a more efficient p…