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    June 10, 2021

    Energy Demand Doesn't Justify Soaring HRC Prices: Minnich

    Written by Michael Cowden

    The energy tubulars market is still waiting for the boom flat-rolled steel prices – the sector’s primary input cost – to flow through to pipe selling prices, according to one industry expert.

    On the face of it, things look good. Oil prices are improving, the rig count is up dramatically versus a year ago, and the International Energy Agency has pulled forward its forecasts for oil demand recovering to pre-pandemic levels to early 2022 – a big improvement from prior forecasts of 2023 at best, said Kurt Minnich, president of oilfield tubular market research firm Pipe Logix.

    Michael Cowden

    Michael Cowden is editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.

    Read more from Michael Cowden

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