octg pup joint mid-continent made in china

Our supplier partners include producing mills in every continent of the globe, and we proudly represent them to distribute OCTG tubing, casing, couplings, pup joints, and line pipe in the demanding US and Canadian oil and gas markets, as well as in all Latin America region.

[65]ANDMIR stated that IT/VIT is different in form and function than traditional OCTG products and that IT/VIT is not supplied to meet equivalent API 5CT specifications and/or enhanced proprietary standards. In terms of form, IT/VIT is two joints of casing and/or tubing welded together with varying products inside the annulus which is used to increase or maintain insulation. Conversely, OCTG is a single threaded tube. In terms of function, IT/VIT contrasts with OCTG in that OCTG is used to convey fluids or gas in an oil well, whereas IT/VIT’s principal function is to insulate the medium fluid in an effort to save energy.

[67]Furthermore, ANDMIR stated that once the material is cut and separated, one would need to dispose of the insulation wrapping material and before this product could be re-deployed as OCTG, a surface treatment of outer and/or inner tube would be required as the product would have been sandblasted. Also, during the pre-stressing process, the IT/VIT is elongated and welded under specifically controlled procedures, which in some cases causes the steel to bow. This bowing can push the straightness of the product outside API criteria, or can limit the ability for easy threading. This post IT/VIT product would require testing by an API certified shop (i.e. drift test) in order to be re-sold.

[69]Continental Steel further stated that if VIT is OCTG, then we might consider slotted liners, coiled tubing, and other tubular goods used in the oil and gas industry as OCTG since it falls under the broad scope of a tubular good for the oil country.

[70]Continental Steel explained that the VIT produced by their company could not be feasibly disassembled, stating that “it is inconceivable to cut and rethread the VIT we supply to use as OCTG because the cost of the pipe is significantly greater than the cost of 2 pipes due to the cost for the vacuum and insulation technology in our VIT.”

[72]The company also provided invoices on the confidential record which demonstrate the amount by which their VIT sells at a premium over regular OCTG.

[74]Exceed and Golden Ring asserted that VIT is not generally regarded or used in the same way as OCTG, and therefore should not be included in the product definition of regular OCTG. Exceed stated that they are unaware of any firm that would consider VIT as OCTG and that it would not be practical to use VIT in place of regular OCTG where there is no steam injection.

[80]Producers have realized regular OCTG tubing is not a best fit technically for SAGD wells, as the majority of heat is lost into the surface formations and cap rocks before even reaching the targeted oil reservoirs during the fluid transportation in wellbores.

[83]Exceed provided a detailed account of the production steps on the confidential record, to demonstrate the complexity of VIT in relation to regular OCTG.

[84]Exceed also stated that contrary to the Applicant’s premise that imported VIT could be disassembled at low cost into its OCTG components, and thus potentially be used to circumvent anti-dumping duties on regular OCTG, the cost per meter of OCTG goods imported from China using the CBSA assigned “normal value” is still considerably lower than the cost of imported VIT from China. Exceed provided financial data on the protected record in support of this position.

[86]GERI provided a financial analysis which contrasted the position that dismantling IT/VIT into its input casing and OCTG tubes was not costly, stating that such dismantling to recover individual pipes would result in a net loss, when compared to the market price for the input OCTG.

“The bottom line is that VIT is a tool designed to reduce heat loss, reducing water/steam consumption in the production of oil. It contributes to the sustainability of the heavy oil industry and the reduction of the industry’s carbon footprint. OCTG has no such properties.”

“is used as a tool to reduce heat losses to the oil reservoir and to guarantee the structural integrity of the cased and cemented wells. Both functions are essential to ensure an environmentally sustainable production of oil from these oil reservoirs. The use of IT/VIT reduces the steam needed per barrel of oil produced, reduces the CO2 production and protects the cemented well casing from catastrophic structural failures. Therefore, to equate typical OCTG to VIT would be an unjustifiable, unproductive measure.”

“The idea of importing joints of VIT and then cutting off the ends, pulling out the inner pipe, disposing of all chemicals and insulation materials, which are contained in the space between inner and outer pipe, re-thread, acquire and buck on couplings with the purpose to sell such “cannibalized” VIT joints as two joints of OCTG is not viable, neither technically nor commercially.”

[97]With respect to the commercial issue cited by Imex in this scenario, Imex provided financial figures on the confidential record which supported their position that the conversion costs of re-conditioned tubing and casing joints would be very labor intensive, require specialized facilities and ultimately be more expensive than simply buying casing and tubing from China at normal values.

[98]TPCO is a Chinese producer and exporter of OCTG. TPCO stated it has no record of supplying VIT to Canada; however, the company is developing a VIT product and may ship VIT to Canada in the future.

[99]TPCO identified IT/VIT as a tool for oil production, with the items defined in seamless casing and OCTG 1 as the material for processing IT/VIT. Consequently, TPCO stated that IT/VIT should not be included into the existing cases.

[100]TPCO cited the different manufacturing processes and technology in making IT/VIT in support of this position. For example, the welding, insulating and vacuuming is quite different from the typical manufacturing process of OCTG products. TPCO also noted that the API 5CT specification makes no reference to VIT processing.

[101]In terms of usage, TPCO stated that OCTG generally includes casing and tubing. Casing is cemented downhole, while the tubing is used to bring the oil from downhole to the surface. The purpose of VIT is to provide temperature protection to reduce heat loss and improve production efficiency when steam is injected downhole.

[102]TPCO used the example of an FCD (Flow Control Device) as something made from OCTG to enhance/benefit the oil production but does not mean it is OCTG. They asserted this is analogous to the case of VIT.

[103]TPCO also stated that the ease of disassembly alleged in the application is not something they have ever seen in practice as it would be neither cost effective nor practical from a sales perspective to disassemble these parts. First of all, cutting the thread and welded part from the body would make the body too short for typical OCTG requirements. Secondly, there is no warranty for cut parts. As such, to make the cut body sellable, inspections and tests would be required before a shop could issue a mill test certificate (MTC). TPCO stated that this would require at least $500 CAN/Metric Tonne extra compared to OCTG prices, which is prohibitively expensive for a secondary material in the market.

Since the product costs and sales price of IT/VIT is much higher than that of OCTG, IT/VIT cannot easily, and at low cost, be disassembled into its original basic API 5CT casing/tubing components.

[107]Zibo identified 14 differences between OCTG and IT/VIT, which included the physical characteristics, technical specifications, uses of the goods, marking; packaging, distribution channels, mother pipes, applicable standards, product structure, manufacturing process, product control, repair and maintenance, production costs, and sales prices.

[109]Zibo characterized OCTG as “merely parts of components in IT/VIT” and that “the manufacturing process of IT/VIT is much more complex than that of OCTG, so [the] production cost of IT/VIT is much higher than that of OCTG.”

Bestar Steel Co., Ltd., as one of the subsidiary companies under Shinestar, is a dedicated provider and exporter for high performance price ratio SMLS and welded pipes. Bestar has set up extensive international sales network covering Middle East, South & East Asia, Africa and America, etc. As one of the major exporters of OCTG and line pipe for crude oil and natural gas delivery in China, we topped the export amount of steel pipe among Hunan province in 2010 and 2011. And we will keep growing and expanding the global market.

Our main Products covers seamless carbon steel pipe ASTM 106/A53 GrB, API 5L GrB/X42/X46/X52, OCTG oil casing and tubing API 5CT J55/K55/N80/P110, OCTG drill pipe API 5DP E75/X95/G105/S135, boiler tube ASTM A179/A210/A192/A213, low temperature steel pipe ASTM A333 Gr.6, high temperature alloy steel pipe ASTM A335 P1/ P2/P5/P9/P11/P12/P22/P91.