In the historic steel town of Sault Ste. Marie, pipe manufacturer Tenaris is the lesser known of the city’s two mills, often overshadowed by the sheer brawn of its industrial west-end neighbour, Algoma Steel.
While the struggles of tariff-riddled Algoma have been nationally documented, Tenaris is quietly on the inside track to be a key contributor to Ottawa’s future policy plans for Canada to be a global energy leader.
As the only domestic steel producer of its kind, Tenaris supplies the lion’s share of pipe for Canada’s oil and gas industry.
With Ottawa making a concerted effort on fast-tracking approvals for natural resource-related projects, particularly energy in Western Canada, that’s good news for Tenaris’ Sault operation.
Tenaris celebrated its 25th anniversary in the city last month, an Oct. 10 event attended by leaders, past and present, including an appearance by the big boss, Paolo Rocca, chairman of Tenaris’ board of directors.
Rocca staunchly believes Canada can be a global powerhouse of energy exports and that Tenaris can play a key role in the future development of Canada.
Martin Castro, president of the company’s Canadian operations, sees no reason why Tenaris won’t be running the plant for 25 more years.
Compared to Algoma Steel, Castro said Tenaris has less exposure to the U.S. market — most of their Sault production goes to Canadian customers — “and that’s why we're not seeing any adjustments in activity in our facility going forward. So we continue to supply a lot to the Canadian market.”
With a raft of Canadian liquid natural gas (LNG) projects in the queue, with encouragement from Ottawa, that’s incentive enough to inspire more drilling activity, “which is great for us," Castro said.
“I think we are in a good place today. Canada is taking the right steps to develop more and more natural resources (in) natural gas and crude oil, and that’s vital for us here in the Sault."
LNG projects mean more demand for seamless pipes, and Tenaris is the only Canadian manufacturer.
Castro said they’re seeing more interest from Canadian customers and the order book is filling up to fulfill these projects that will heighten their visibility in the coming months and years.
It’s started them thinking, what else can they do in the Sault? What more investments can they make, and scope of new products can they introduce to help them meet the expected demand?
“We play an important role in supplying natural gas and crude oil development and we want to do more and more of that here in the Sault,” said Castro.
As a Luxembourg-based multinational, Tenaris has 26,000 employees spread around the world wherever oil and gas is developed and invests about $700 million a year globally as a corporation.
Of the company’s 1,200 employees in Canada, 800 reside in the Sault.
As a one-of-a-kind steel manufacturer in Canada, senior leadership stressed Sault Ste. Marie is an important facility to keep updated with advanced manufacturing technologies to make the site as productive as possible.
Without question, Castro said, Tenaris would like to invest more in the Sault facility and hire more people, something in the order of 200 more employees.
“We are considering and hoping to work with the federal government to bring more jobs here to the Sault.”
Tenaris first arrived in the Sault in 2000, then under the banner of Siderca S.A.
The company signed a lease with Algoma Steel to restart the idled tube mill. They renovated the place and began production within six weeks. Tenaris finally acquired it in 2004.
The plant’s manufacturing capacity is more than 600,000 tonnes annually, amounting to roughly one-fifth to one-sixth of North American production.
Tenaris makes two products at its Canadian Industrial Centre in the Sault: seamless steel pipe, a fixture at the mill, and electric resistance welded (ERW) pipe, introduced with a major $150-million investment.
Rocca told the gathering at the anniversary event to expect a similar investment in that range in the coming year.
To be competitive as a global leader in these steel products, Tenaris habitually invests and reinvests in plant upgrades and modernization programs in advanced manufacturing technologies, equipment, and continuous workforce training.
Since the turn of the century, David McHattie, Tenaris’ vice-president of institutional relations, said $255 million has been invested in the Sault, with more than $100 million in ongoing and future investments this year and continuing into 2026.
Their aim, he said, is to be a “one-stop for Canada’s oil and gas industry.”
Canada provides the fourth largest energy market in the world. That’s why Tenaris is in the Sault, with the scale that they have, he said.
“Wherever oil and gas is, we try to be local,” said McHattie.
A quarter-century of operation in the Sault hasn’t been without its ups and downs.
Though Tenaris puts out a specialty product that’s highly valued by its customers, the company has endured its down cycles, with accompanying layoffs, over the past 25 years when oil and gas activity has declined.
But Castro said the oil and gas industry is taking a “more disciplined approach” to avoid those peaks and valleys, in terms of their own investments, which helps Tenaris have a more stable outlook for its operations.
With a corporate culture focussed on people and education, the company prides itself on its philanthrophic endeavours in the community with donations and scholarships to Sault College and its robotics lab, and promoting STEM careers with local school boards. Whenever a funding gap needs to be filled, Tenaris has made contributions to Sault Area Hospital for equipment and practitioner recruitment.
In reflecting on the 25-year trek, Rocca called the the growth and expansion in the Sault “extraordinary.”
“This has been a long journey, but I think all the people who participated in Tenaris should be proud of what has been built over time," he said.
"We started, we built it and we expanded.”