U.S. asked to investigate oil field pipe imports

   A group of nine manufacturers of oil and gas drilling pipe have filed petitions with the U.S. Commerce Department and International Trade Commission requesting antidumping relief from imports of similar products from India, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the Ukraine and Vietnam.
   The petitioners also seek countervailing duties on certain OCTG from India and Turkey.
   The imported pipe, also known as “oil country tubular goods” or OCTG, has increased from these countries, from 840,313 net tons in 2010 to 1,771,320 net tons in 2012. In the first quarter of this year, 425,987 net of imports entered the U.S. market from these countries, according to federal government and industry data.
   The companies that filed the petitions include Boomerang Tube; Energex Tube, a division of JMC Steel Group; Maverick Tube Corp.; Northwest Pipe Co.; Tejas Tubular Products; TMK IPSCO; U.S. Steel Corp.; Vallourec Star; and Welded Tube USA.
   The American Iron and Steel Institute, a trade association representing North American steel producers, threw its support behind the antidumping and countervailing duty investigations’ petitioners.
   “Imports from these countries have surged by 111 percent in the past few years, and the petitioners present that these imports have caused material injury to the domestic steel industry,” said Thomas J. Gibson, president and chief executive officer of AISI, in a statement. “U.S. laws against unfair trade exist to counter market-distorting practices – like subsidies – and to restore conditions of fair trade, but this cannot occur unless all parties play by the rules.”
   The American Institute for International Steel (AIIS), a pro-free trade group, warned “this massive filing is excessive and unwarranted and will disrupt the critical oil and gas drilling market.
   “Oil and gas drilling have been one of the bright spots of the US economy since the Great Recession. Whether it is conventional drilling activities or the newer ‘fracking’ method, the U.S. is quickly moving to energy-independence and in the process, tens of thousands of jobs are being created. Put simply, those companies involved in oil and gas drilling need high quality dependable suppliers of OCTG and imports have been and remain an important part of the supply that gets the job done,” AIIS said.