On Tuesday, the price of crude oil dipped briefly below the $45.00 per-barrel rate, placing current price-ranges at the lowest they have been since spring 2009. And not surprisingly, the number of
US rigs drilling for oil has also continued to tick downward. According to the most recent information by Baker Hughes, the number of rotary rigs drilling for oil was down 61, week-on-week, to 1,421.
“Every time there is a blip in oil prices, there are number of calculated measures that are taken tin order to insulate business,” according to one Midwest-based source. Last week,
US Steel announced it would be laying off roughly 700 workers at tube mills in Ohio and Texas; Tenaris Hickman has since announced plans to layoff 500 employees.
Other sources close to SteelOrbis say that order cancellations within the
US domestic oil country
tubular goods (OCTG) casing market have already started to emerge. Prices, however, have held steady since our last report a week ago.
US domestic spot prices have held at approximately $59.00-$61.00 cwt. ($1,300-$1344/mt or $1,180-$1,220/nt) ex-Midwest mill, while futures offer prices from Korean producers for unfinished J55 ERW OCTG casing are also sideways in the past week, still at $49.00-$50.00 cwt. ($49.00-$50.00 cwt. ($1,080-$1,102/mt or $980-$1,000/nt) DDP loaded truck in
US Gulf coast ports. Taiwanese offers are also steady week-on-week and have held in the approximate range of $46.00-$47.00 cwt. ($1,014-$1,036/mt or $920-$940/nt) DDP loaded truck in
US Gulf coast ports. Order activity, however, is described as being slow.