[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 91 (Wednesday, May 11, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28804-28807]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-10051]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-821-833]


Oil Country Tubular Goods From the Russian Federation: 
Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 
Preliminary Negative Critical Circumstances Determination, Postponement 
of Final Determination, and Extension of Provisional Measures

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines 
that oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from the Russian Federation 
(Russia) are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at 
less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is 
October 1, 2020, through September 30, 2021. Interested parties are 
invited to comment on this preliminary determination.

DATES: Applicable May 11, 2022.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: George McMahon or Mike Heaney, AD/CVD 
Operations, Office VI, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-1167 or (202) 482-4475, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section 
733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Commerce 
published the notice of initiation of this LTFV investigation on 
November 1, 2021.\1\ On February 17, 2022, Commerce postponed the 
preliminary determination of this investigation until May 4, 2022.\2\
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    \1\ See Oil Country Tubular Goods from Argentina, Mexico, and 
the Russian Federation: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value 
Investigations, 86 FR 60205 (November 1, 2021) (Initiation Notice).
    \2\ See Oil Country Tubular Goods from Argentina, Mexico, and 
the Russian Federation: Postponement of Preliminary Determinations 
in the Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations: Postponement of 
Preliminary Determinations in the Less-Than-Fair-Value 
Investigations, 87 FR 9034 (February 17, 2022).
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    For a complete description of the events that followed the 
initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum.\3\ A list of sections in the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum is included in Appendix II to this notice. The Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum is a public document and is on file electronically 
via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 
Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to 
registered users at https://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete 
version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly 
at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.
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    \3\ See Memorandum, ``Decision Memorandum for the Preliminary 
Determination in the Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation of Oil 
Country Tubular Goods from the Russian Federation,'' dated 
concurrently with, and hereby adopted by this notice (Preliminary 
Decision Memorandum).
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Scope of the Investigation

    The products covered by this investigation are OCTG from Russia. 
For a complete description of the scope of this investigation, see 
Appendix I.

Scope Comments

    In accordance with the preamble to Commerce's regulations,\4\ in 
the Initiation Notice Commerce set aside a period of time for parties 
to raise issues regarding product coverage (i.e., scope).\5\ Certain 
interested parties commented on the scope of the investigation as it 
appeared in the Initiation Notice. For a summary of the product 
coverage comments and rebuttal responses submitted to the record for 
this investigation, and accompanying discussion and analysis of all 
comments timely received, see the Preliminary Scope Decision 
Memorandum.\6\ As discussed in the Preliminary Scope Decision 
Memorandum, Commerce preliminarily modified the scope language as it 
appeared in the Initiation Notice.
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    \4\ See Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties, Final Rule, 
62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997).
    \5\ See Initiation Notice, 86 FR at 60205-60206.
    \6\ See Memorandum, ``Antidumping Duty Investigations of Oil 
Country Tubular Goods from Argentina, Mexico, and the Russian 
Federation and Countervailing Duty Investigations of Oil Country 
Tubular Goods from the Republic of Korea, and the Russian 
Federation: Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum,'' dated March 7, 
2022 (Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum).
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    In the Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum, Commerce established 
the deadline for parties to submit scope case briefs.\7\ Commerce did 
not receive any comments from interested parties regarding the scope as 
stated in the Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum prior to the 
deadline. As explained in the Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum, 
there will be no further opportunity for comments on scope-related 
issues.\8\
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    \7\ Case briefs, other written comments, and rebuttal briefs 
submitted by in response to this preliminary LTFV determination 
should not include scope-related issues. See Preliminary Scope 
Decision Memorandum, and ``Public Comment'' section of this notice.
    \8\ See Preliminary Scope Decision Memorandum at 4.
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Methodology

    Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with 
section 731 of the Act. Commerce calculated export prices in accordance 
with section 772(a) of the Act and constructed export prices in 
accordance with section 772(b) of the Act. Normal value (NV) is 
calculated in accordance with section 773 of the Act. For a full 
description of the methodology underlying the preliminary 
determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

All-Others Rate

    Sections 733(d)(1)(ii) and 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act provide that in 
the preliminary determination, Commerce shall determine an estimated 
all-others rate for all exporters and producers not individually 
examined. This rate shall be equal to the weighted average of the 
estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for exporters 
and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero and de 
minimis dumping margins, and any dumping margins determined entirely 
under section 776 of the Act.
    In this investigation, Commerce calculated estimated weighted-
average dumping margins that are above de minimis for the mandatory 
respondents, JSC Vyksa Steel Works (VSW) and Volzhsky Pipe Plant, Joint 
Stock Company (VTZ). Commerce calculated the all-others rate by weight-
averaging the estimated weighted-average dumping margins that it 
calculated for the individually examined respondents. Commerce weight-
averaged these dumping margins using the publicly ranged total 
quantities of each respondent's sales of subject merchandise to the 
United States during the POI.\9\
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    \9\ With two respondents under examination, Commerce normally 
calculates (A) a weighted-average of the estimated weighted-average 
dumping margins calculated for the examined respondents; (B) a 
simple average of the estimated weighted-average dumping margins 
calculated for the examined respondents; and (C) a weighted-average 
of the estimated weighted-average dumping margins calculated for the 
examined respondents using each company's publicly ranged U.S. sale 
quantities for the merchandise under consideration. Commerce then 
compares (B) and (C) to (A) and selects the rate closer to (A) as 
the most appropriate rate for all other producers and exporters. See 
Ball Bearings and Parts Thereof from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, 
and the United Kingdom: Final Results of Antidumping Duty 
Administrative Reviews, Final Results of Changed-Circumstances 
Review, and Revocation of an Order in Part, 75 FR 53661, 53663 
(September 1, 2010). As complete publicly ranged sales data were 
available, Commerce based the all-others rate on the publicly ranged 
sales data of the mandatory respondents. For a complete analysis of 
the data, please see the All-Others Rate Calculation Memorandum.

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[[Page 28805]]

Preliminary Negative Determination of Critical Circumstances

    In accordance with section 733(e) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.206, 
Commerce preliminarily determines that critical circumstances do not 
exist for all companies in Russia.\10\ For a full description of the 
methodology and results of Commerce's critical circumstances analysis, 
see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.
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    \10\ See Petitioners' Letter, ``Oil Country Tubular Goods from 
Russia: Allegation of the Existence of Critical Circumstances,'' 
dated March 16, 2022.
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Preliminary Determination

    Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated 
weighted-average dumping margins exist in this investigation:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                       Cash deposit rate
                                        Estimated        (adjusted for
         Exporter/producer           weighted-average       subsidy
                                      dumping margin       offset(s))
                                        (percent)        (percent) \11\
------------------------------------------------------------------------
JSC Vyksa Steel Works.............              11.82              11.35
Volzhsky Pipe Plant, Joint Stock               121.11             121.11
 Company/Public Joint-Stock
 Company Trubnaya
 Metallurgicheskaya Kompaniya/
 Sinarsky Pipe Plant, Joint Stock
 Company/Seversky Pipe Plant,
 Joint Stock Company/Taganrog
 Metallurgical Plant, Joint Stock
 Company/Pervouralsk Pipe Plant,
 Joint Stock Company/Chelyabinsk
 Pipe Plant, Joint Stock Company/
 Orsky Machine Building Plant,
 Joint Stock Company..............
All Others........................              70.49              70.27
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Suspension of Liquidation
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    \11\ See Memoranda, ``Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation of Oil 
Country Tubular Goods from the Russian Federation: Preliminary 
Determination Analysis Memorandum for JSC Vyksa Steel Works,'' and 
``Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation of Oil Country Tubular Goods 
from the Russian Federation: Preliminary Determination Analysis 
Memorandum for Volzhsky Pipe Plant,'' dated concurrently with this 
memorandum; and Memorandum, ``Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation of 
Oil Country Tubular Goods from the Russian Federation: Preliminary 
Determination Calculation for the All-Others,'' dated concurrently 
with this memorandum (All-Others Rate Calculation Memorandum).
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    In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, Commerce will 
direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation 
of all entries of OCTG from Russia, as described in Appendix I, 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the 
date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
    Further, pursuant to section 733(d)(1)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.205(d), Commerce will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal 
to the estimated weighted-average dumping margin or the estimated all-
others rate, as follows: (1) The cash deposit rate for each of the 
respondents listed in the table above is the company-specific cash 
deposit rate listed for the respondent in the table; (2) if the 
exporter is not a respondent listed in the table above, but the 
producer is, then the cash deposit rate is the company-specific cash 
deposit rate listed for the producer of the subject merchandise in the 
table above; and (3) the cash deposit rate for all other producers and 
exporters is the all-others cash deposit rate listed in the table 
above.
    Commerce normally adjusts cash deposits for estimated antidumping 
duties by the amount of export subsidies countervailed in a companion 
countervailing duty (CVD) investigation when CVD provisional measures 
are in effect. Accordingly, where Commerce made a preliminary 
affirmative determination of countervailable export subsidies in the 
companion CVD investigation, we offset the estimated weighted-average 
dumping margins listed in the table above by the appropriate CVD rates 
to determine the cash deposit rates. Any such adjusted cash deposit 
rate may be found in the table in the ``Preliminary Determination'' 
section above.
    Should provisional measures in the companion CVD investigation 
expire prior to the expiration of provisional measures in this LTFV 
investigation, Commerce will direct CBP to begin collecting estimated 
antidumping duty cash deposits unadjusted for countervailed export 
subsidies at the time that the provisional CVD measures expired. These 
suspension of liquidation instructions will remain in effect until 
further notice.

Disclosure

    Commerce intends to disclose its preliminary calculations and 
related analysis to interested parties in this preliminary 
determination within five days of any public announcement of the 
preliminary determination or, if there is no public announcement, 
within five days of the date of publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

Verification

    As provided in section 782(i)(1) of the Act, Commerce intends to 
verify the information relied upon in making its final 
determination.\12\
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    \12\ See Commerce's Letter to OMK/VSW, ``Less-Than-Fair-Value 
Investigation of Oil Country Tubular Goods from Russia: Notification 
of Intent to Conduct Virtual Verification,'' dated March 16, 2022; 
see also Commerce's Letter to TMK/VTZ, ``Less-Than-Fair-Value 
Investigation of Oil Country Tubular Goods from Russia: Notification 
of Intent to Conduct Virtual Verification,'' dated March 16, 2022.
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Public Comment

    Case briefs or other written comments on non-scope issues may be 
submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and 
Compliance.\13\ Interested parties will be notified of the timeline for 
the submission of such case briefs and written comments at a later 
date. Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in case briefs, may be 
submitted no later than seven days after the deadline date for case 
briefs.\14\ Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2),

[[Page 28806]]

parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this investigation 
are encouraged to submit with each argument: (1) A statement of the 
issue; (2) a brief summary of the argument; and (3) a table of 
authorities. Commerce has modified certain of its requirements for 
serving documents containing business proprietary information until 
further notice.\15\
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    \13\ Case briefs, other written comments, and rebuttal briefs 
submitted by parties in response to this preliminary LTFV 
determination should not include scope-related issues. The scope 
case briefs deadline expired on April 13, 2022. See Preliminary 
Scope Decision Memorandum at 3-4; see also Oil Country Tubular Goods 
from the Republic of Korea: Preliminary Negative Countervailing Duty 
Determination and Alignment of Final Determination With Final 
Antidumping Duty Determination, 87 FR 14248 (March 14, 2022), and 
Oil Country Tubular Goods from the Russian Federation: Preliminary 
Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination, Preliminary Negative 
Critical Circumstances Determination, and Alignment of Final 
Determination With Final Antidumping Duty Determination, 87 FR 14249 
(March 14, 2022).
    \14\ See 19 CFR 351.309; see also 19 CFR 351.303 (for general 
filing requirements).
    \15\ See Temporary Rule Modifying AD/CVD Service Requirements 
Due to COVID-19; Extension of Effective Period, 85 FR 41363 (July 
10, 2020).
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    Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to 
request a hearing, limited to issues raised in the case and rebuttal 
briefs, must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for 
Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, within 30 days 
after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register. 
Requests for a hearing should contain: (1) The requesting party's name, 
address, and telephone number; (2) the number of individuals from the 
requesting party that will attend the hearing, including whether any 
individuals are foreign nationals; and (3) a list of the issues the 
party intends to discuss at the hearing. If a request for a hearing is 
made, Commerce intends to hold the hearing at a time and date to be 
determined. Parties should confirm by telephone the date, time, and 
location of the hearing two days before the scheduled date.

Postponement of Final Determination and Extension of Provisional 
Measures

    Section 735(a)(2) of the Act provides that a final determination 
may be postponed until not later than 135 days after the date of the 
publication of the preliminary determination in the Federal Register 
if, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination, a request 
for such postponement is made by exporters who account for a 
significant proportion of exports of the subject merchandise, or in the 
event of a negative preliminary determination, a request for such 
postponement is made by the petitioner. Section 351.210(e)(2) of 
Commerce's regulations requires that a request by exporters for 
postponement of the final determination be accompanied by a request for 
extension of provisional measures from a four-month period to a period 
not more than six months in duration.
    On April 14, 2022, pursuant to 19 CFR 351.210(e), VSW and VTZ 
requested that, contingent upon an affirmative preliminary 
determination of sales at LTFV, Commerce postpone the final 
determination in this investigation up to 135 days after publication of 
this notice and that provisional measures be extended to a period not 
to exceed six months.\16\
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    \16\ See VSW's Letter, ``Oil Country Tubular Goods from the 
Russian Federation: Request to Extend the Deadline for the Final 
Determination and Provisional Measures,'' dated April 14, 2022; see 
also VTZ's Letter, ``Antidumping Investigation of Oil Country 
Tubular Goods from Russia--Request for Extension of Final 
Determination,'' dated April 14, 2022.
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    In accordance with section 735(a)(2)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 
351.210(b)(2)(ii), because: (1) The preliminary determination is 
affirmative; (2) the requesting exporters account for a significant 
proportion of exports of the subject merchandise; \17\ and (3) no 
compelling reasons for denial exist, Commerce is postponing the final 
determination and extending the provisional measures from a four-month 
period to a period not greater than six months. Accordingly, Commerce 
will make its final determination no later than 135 days after the date 
of publication of this preliminary determination in the Federal 
Register, pursuant to section 735(a)(2) of the Act.\18\
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    \17\ See Memorandum, ``Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigation of Oil 
Country Tubular Goods from Russia: Respondent Selection,'' dated 
November 17, 2021.
    \18\ See also 19 CFR 351.210(e).
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International Trade Commission Notification

    In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, Commerce will notify 
the International Trade Commission (ITC) of its preliminary 
determination. If Commerce's final determination is affirmative, then 
the ITC will determine before the later of 120 days after the date of 
this preliminary determination or 45 days after the final determination 
whether imports of OCTG from Russia are materially injuring, or 
threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.

Notification to Interested Parties

    This preliminary determination is issued and published in 
accordance with sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 
351.205(c).

    Dated: May 4, 2022.
Lisa W. Wang,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.

Appendix I--Scope of the Investigation

    The merchandise covered by this investigation is certain OCTG, 
which are hollow steel products of circular cross-section, including 
oil well casing and tubing, of iron (other than case iron) or steel 
(both carbon and alloy), whether seamless or welded, regardless of 
end finish (e.g., whether or not plain end, threaded, or threaded 
and coupled) whether or not conforming to American Petroleum 
Institute (API) or non-API specifications, whether finished 
(including limited service OCTG products) or unfinished (including 
green tubes and limited service OCTG products), whether or not 
thread protectors are attached. The scope of this investigation also 
covers OCTG coupling stock.
    Subject merchandise includes material matching the above 
description that has been finished, packaged, or otherwise processed 
in a third country, including by performing any heat treatment, 
cutting, upsetting, threading, coupling, or any other finishing, 
packaging, or processing that would not otherwise remove the 
merchandise from the scope of the investigation if performed in the 
country of manufacture of the OCTG.
    Excluded from the scope of the investigation are: Casing, 
tubing, or coupling stock containing 10.5 percent or more by weight 
of chromium; drill pipe; unattached couplings; and unattached thread 
protectors.
    The merchandise subject to this investigation is currently 
classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(HTSUS) under item numbers: 7304.29.1010, 7304.29.1020, 
7304.29.1030, 7304.29.1040, 7304.29.1050, 7304.29.1060, 
7304.29.1080, 7304.29.2010, 7304.29.2020, 7304.29.2030, 
7304.29.2040, 7304.29.2050, 7304.29.2060, 7304.29.2080, 
7304.29.3110, 7304.29.3120, 7304.29.3130, 7304.29.3140, 
7304.29.3150, 7304.29.3160, 7304.29.3180, 7304.29.4110, 
7304.29.4120, 7304.29.4130, 7304.29.4140, 7304.29.4150, 
7304.29.4160, 7304.29.4180, 7304.29.5015, 7304.29.5030, 
7304.29.5045, 7304.29.5060, 7304.29.5075, 7304.29.6115, 
7304.29.6130, 7304.29.6145, 7304.29.6160, 7304.29.6175, 
7305.20.2000, 7305.20.4000, 7305.20.6000, 7305.20.8000, 
7306.29.1030, 7306.29.1090, 7306.29.2000, 7306.29.3100, 
7306.29.4100, 7306.29.6010, 7306.29.6050, 7306.29.8110, and 
7306.29.8150.
    The merchandise subject to this investigation may also enter 
under the following HTSUS item numbers: 7304.39.0024, 7304.39.0028, 
7304.39.0032, 7304.39.0036, 7304.39.0040, 7304.39.0044, 
7304.39.0048, 7304.39.0052, 7304.39.0056, 7304.39.0062, 
7304.39.0068, 7304.39.0072, 7304.39.0076, 7304.39.0080, 
7304.59.6000, 7304.59.8015, 7304.59.8020, 7304.59.8025, 
7304.59.8030, 7304.59.8035, 7304.59.8040, 7304.59.8045, 
7304.59.8050, 7304.59.8055, 7304.59.8060, 7304.59.8065, 
7304.59.8070, 7304.59.8080, 7305.31.4000, 7305.31.6090, 
7306.30.5055, 7306.30.5090, 7306.50.5050, and 7306.50.5070.
    The HTSUS subheadings and specifications above are provided for 
convenience and customs purposes only. The written description of 
the scope of this investigation is dispositive.

Appendix II--List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary Decision 
Memorandum

I. Summary
II. Background
III. Period of Investigation
IV. Scope of the Investigation
V. Affiliation/Single Entity
VI. Discussion of the Methodology
VII. Preliminary Negative Determination of

[[Page 28807]]

Critical Circumstances
VIII. Currency Conversion
IX. Adjustments to Cash Deposit Rates for Export Subsidies in 
Companion CVD Investigation
X. Recommendation

[FR Doc. 2022-10051 Filed 5-10-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P