China OCTG: Wellhead Equipment Not Covered Under AD/CV Duties, Commerce Says
Wellhead equipment intended for use above ground level is not subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on oil country tubular goods from China (A-570-943/C-570-944), the Commerce Department said in a recent scope ruling. The scope of the OCTG orders is only intended to cover equipment used below ground within oil and gas wells, not for use above the surface at the wellhead, Commerce said.
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Cameron International had requested the scope ruling on unfinished packoff support bushings, mandrel casing hangers and casing head housings. Each is a round, forged, seamless, hollow steel product of circular cross section. Cameron International pointed to language in the scope that says products covered by AD/CV duties include casing, tubing and coupling stock. Because its products aren’t casing, tubing or coupling, not meeting dimensional requirements laid out for each in the scope, they aren’t OCTG subject to AD/CV duties, Cameron said.
Though Commerce disagreed with that particular line of reasoning, it nonetheless found Cameron’s wellhead equipment is not OCTG for different reasons. OCTG may also include products that are not casing, tubing or coupling. But the International Trade Commission has defined OCTG as “steel pipes and tubes used in the drilling of oil and gas wells and in the conveying of oil and gas from within the well to the ground level.” That definition “suggests that wells are confined to the ground level and below,” Commerce said. Because Cameron’s wellhead equipment is intended to remain at all times above the well hole, and is unsuitable for use within oil and gas wells, it is not OCTG and its not covered by AD/CV duties, Commerce said.
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of this scope ruling.