Spot market prices within the US domestic J55 ERW OCTG market are still in a range of $60.00-$62.50 cwt. ($1,322-$1,378/mt or $1,200-$1,250/nt), ex-mill; order activity and market sentiment have also remained stable since our last report a week ago.
Looking offshore, sources note that import J55 plain-end OCTG casing offers were most recently heard at approximately $55.00 cwt. ($1,213/mt or $1,100/nt), DDP loaded truck in US Gulf coast ports, which includes the Section 232 tariff, but revised order pricing is expected “in the near future” due to upticks in global iron ore pricing.
In terms of rig counts, year-over-year oil exploration is up by 7.4 percent; there are currently 59 more rigs targeting oil than there were in the same reporting period last year, despite last week’s three-rig drop.