Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this study. It's an important time for the industry, and it's an important time for our operations in Canada. We appreciate the multi-party support and the multi-party aspect of this, in particular on trade remedy effectiveness. It was included in the budget released yesterday and had been in the previous two budgets, with multi-party support.
I'm David McHattie. I'm responsible for institutional relations for Tenaris in Canada. I've worked for the company for 20 years, and I was one of the first three employees hired. I've been responsible for our strategic planning—the commercial, industrial, and economic planning. Now I'm responsible for institutional relations.
In addition to my paid work, I'm vice-chair of the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, and I'm on the board of the Petroleum Services Association of Canada. I have contributed to a couple of Chamber of Commerce studies. I'm able to speak about advanced manufacturing, about manufacturing goods for Canada's energy industry in general, and about Tenaris specifically.
To give you some context, I'll share a little bit about the company, a little about challenges and opportunities, and wrap up with what I think is a fantastic opportunity for the government to work together with industry.
Tenaris is one of the world's leading steel companies, particularly as measured by its market capitalization. Not only is it a leading steel company, but it's also one of the world's leading oil field services companies. We're a world leader in advanced manufacturing. We manufacture steel pipes for use in many applications, but primarily in energy development and oil and gas development.
We operate wherever oil and gas is located, including Canada, which happens to be the fourth-largest market in the world for these products. These include steel casing, tubing, threaded connections, and accessories used in oil and gas development and extraction; the line pipe that transports from the well to the facilities; and the pipes inside the facilities, enabling the further value added of the oil and gas.
We have three manufacturing facilities in Canada and nine service facilities spread out in the field. Our three manufacturing facilities are in Sault Ste. Marie, Calgary, and Nisku, which is on the edge of Edmonton.
We are an advanced manufacturer of high value-added products. That's why we're interested. We are not making steel in Canada necessarily; we are buying from Canadian steelmakers. They are our partners in these businesses. We work together in designing the steels that the energy industry demands. We continually invest in our manufacturing processes. Before the most recent crisis that hit the energy sector, we were investing about $100 million every three to four years in our manufacturing facilities.
Among the several reasons we are here in Canada are our valued oil and gas clients. This is an important market for developing our oil and gas. It's a global player. We are here to manufacture in Canada and to add value, in Canada, to this industry. This is an industry that has the scale, the differentiation, and the competitiveness to thrive sustainably.
Can Tenaris compete internationally from Canada? The answer is yes. This is a market that is large enough. It's a market, though, where prices need to be determined based on fair competition, and effective trade remedy is what enables fair competition.
Trade policy is one of the most important drivers in our investment decisions. It's a strategic industry. I'll highlight a few of the challenges today as they relate to trade policy. There are three topics: overcapacity, its drivers and impacts; the importance of trade remedy rules; and how this relates to competitiveness for capital investment.
We've all heard about the issue of overcapacity. Our Prime Minister has spoken positively, at major international forums, about Canada's interest in resolving this global problem.
I'd like to drill down a little bit. We know there are 700 million metric tonnes of overcapacity of steel. This is 45 times the size of the Canadian market.
What we need to think about is downstream, and that's just the start of the problem in steelmaking. There is overcapacity in things made from steel. I appreciate the comments from my colleague that this is a global problem and it's something I'm very pleased you are interested in, and I think we can work together to resolve it.
In terms of the products we make—