The US oil country tubular goods (OCTG) market remains in a low holding pattern, and that trend may take months to ultimately correct, Kallanish hears from market sources.

Kallanish held its representative P110 domestic welded casing price Friday at $1,175-1,200/short ton, a level it has occupied for the past several weeks.

Material gains in the hot-rolled and plate sector have not yet filtered down to energy tube, says one Gulf Coast trader. That is unlikely to happen until the current inventory overhand resolves itself, he says.

“There’s no movement, and hot-rolled is very unstable,” he says. “Demand is still leaking and inventory is still bulging. It could be months [... before the market recovers] without new supply/demand factors being introduced.”