Following a complaint from Tenaris Algoma Tubes and affiliated companies, Canada Border Services Agency announced Wednesday that it's investigating possible injurious dumping of oil country tubular goods from Austria.
"The complainant alleges that they are facing an increase in the volume of subject imports, price depression and suppression, loss of sales, price undercutting, loss of market share, underutilization of capacity, reduced employment, as well as negative impacts on financial performance, ability to raise capital, and return on investment," Border Services said in a news release.
Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) is also involved.
CITT will conduct a preliminary injury inquiry to find out if Canadian producers are being harmed by the Austrian imports.
It's expected to release a decision by Sept. 7, 2021.
Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will make a preliminary decision by Oct. 5 on whether the tube imports are being sold in Canada at unfair prices.
Canada currently has 11 special import measures in force on oil country tubular goods from China, the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (Chinese Taipei), India, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam.
For purposes of this investigation, here's how Canada defines oil country tubular goods:
Oil country tubular goods, which are casing, tubing and green tubes made of carbon or alloy steel, welded or seamless, heat treated or not heat treated, regardless of end finish, having an outside diameter from 2 ⅜ inches to 13 ⅜ inches (60.3 mm to 339.7 mm), meeting or supplied to meet American Petroleum Institute specification 5CT or equivalent and/or enhanced proprietary standards, in all grades, excluding drill pipe, pup joints, couplings, coupling stock and stainless steel casing, tubing or green tubes containing 10.5 percent or more by weight of chromium, originating in or exported from Austria.
Here's the definition of 'green tubes':
Unfinished casing, tubing, or other tubular products (including upgradable oil country tubular goods that may or may not already be tested, inspected, and/or certified) originating in or exported from Austria and imported for use in the production or finishing of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) meeting final specifications, including grade and connections, required for use downhole. Green tubes, as they are commonly referred to in the OCTG industry, are intermediate or in‑process tubing and casing which require additional processing, such as threading, heat‑treatment and testing, before they can be used as fully finished oil and gas well casing or tubing in end‑use applications.
Pup joints are short lengths of OCTG (12 feet or less) used for spacing in a drill string.
CBSA announced on June 30 that it's conducting a separate ongoing dumping investigation on OCTG from Mexico.
Last November, Tenaris Canada announced it was investing $81 million in its Sault-based Canadian pipe manufacturing operations, including a 30,000-square-foot addition to accommodate new cranes.
That was in addition to an earlier, $36 million investment last summer in its Sault Ste. Marie operations.