It is expected that 2020 will be a challenging year for the United States energy pipe market, particularly for oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and small-diameter line pipe. Even the demand for large-diameter line pipe, which has been resilient given the long lead times for pipeline projects, is expected to start waning later this year into next year with fewer new projects being announced.
This comes after 2019 had been a worst year than had been expected, with both drilling rates and pricing continuing to fall throughout the year, Kim Leppold, Fastmarkets MB’s principal tube and pipe analyst, pointed out, noting that while it had been forecast to slowdown a bit, “We didn’t think that weakness would continue as long as it did. We thought that it would level off midyear, but it continued to decline throughout the year.”
Christopher Plummer, managing director of Metal Strategies Inc., observed...
