We are numb with grief over last weekend’s mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, a neighboring community to M. Holland’s headquarters and home to many Mployees. Fortunately, all Mployees are safe and accounted for, but our hearts and thoughts are with the community after this tragic attack. Our President and CEO Ed Holland shared this message with Mployees this week.
Supply
Oil prices fell 2% to a 12-week low in volatile trading Wednesday, extending steep losses from the prior session.
In mid-morning trading today, WTI futures were up 5.5% at $103.90/bbl, Brent was up 4.8% at $105.50/bbl, and U.S. natural gas was up 12.0% at $6.17/MMBtu.
The average U.S. gasoline price fell to $4.779 a gallon yesterday, a 9-cent decrease for the month.
The American Petroleum Institute says U.S. crude inventories rose by 3.825 million barrels this week, a reversal of expectations for a drawdown. Government data will be released today.
Prices for frack sand are up 150% year-to-date, hampering American producers’ efforts to turn on the taps at the nation’s largest shale sites.
Roughly 83% fewer U.S. college students are graduating with petroleum engineering degrees than five years ago as the energy transition clouds industry prospects.
A Russian court told one of the world’s largest pipelines carrying oil from Kazakhstan to the Black Sea to suspend operations for 30 days over document issues, although exports were still flowing yesterday.
The U.S. and its allies are discussing methods of capping the price of Russian crude somewhere between $40/bbl and $60/bbl, a bid to limit funding for Moscow’s war effort.
Austria is preparing to cut some ties with Gazprom over the Russian firm’s continuous failure to deliver gas.
A British bill attempting to overhaul the nation’s energy security could attract almost $120 billion of private-sector investment to renewables by 2030, officials say. The bill scrapped plans for a complete phaseout of coal by 2024.
Supply Chain
Northern California’s Electra Fire spread to 4,000 acres on Wednesday, forcing over 1,000 people to evacuate and threatening thousands more structures.
Hundreds more British rail workers voted to strike Wednesday in a dispute over pay.
The average FEU spot price from Asia to the U.S. West Coast fell 15% in the final week of June to $7,599, according to the Freightos Baltic Index.
DRAM memory chip prices in the quarter ended June 30 were down 10.6% from the year-ago period, suggesting the semiconductor boom may have peaked.
Revenue at Samsung Electronics rose a better-than-expected 21% in the second quarter, relaxing fears of a severe inflation-driven slump in global tech demand. The firm’s three-quarter run of record revenues ended, however.
Skinnier and taller 12 oz. aluminum beverage cans are rising in popularity for their differentiation on display and smaller footprint on store shelves and in shipping.
The FDA could allow overseas makers of baby formula to continue sending product to the U.S. beyond the emergency measure’s current November deadline.
Medical device supplier Medtronic says some of its supply constraints are easing.
Vermont-based less-than-truckload carrier LandAir, among the largest carriers in the Northeast with 54 years in business, shuttered its operations this week.
Domestic Markets
The U.S. reported 197,297 new COVID-19 infections and 734 virus fatalities Wednesday.
The seven-day average of COVID-19 hospitalizations is up 13% from two weeks ago to its highest level since early March.
The fast-spreading BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron now comprise over 70% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., the CDC said.
California’s COVID-19 test positivity rate hit 15% this week, its highest level since January.
The COVID-19 test positivity rate in parts of Manhattan is above 20% as cases rise to a two-month high.
New York City lifeguards will see a 20% pay raise as more than half of positions remain unfilled.
Electric vehicle maker Rivian reaffirmed its annual production target of 25,000 vehicles after ramping up output in the second quarter.
Minnesota-based 3M faces the prospect of additional liabilities on top of the $581 million it agreed to pay to the Netherlands over its use of PFAS chemicals in consumer goods.
International Markets
COVID-19 infections are up 30% globally the past two weeks on rising infections in the U.S. and Europe, the WHO said.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are set to hit an 18-month high in Britain.
China’s northwestern megacity of Xi’an went under partial lockdown Wednesday after authorities detected the first case of a fast-spreading COVID-19 subvariant of Omicron.
Hong Kong abandoned its “circuit breaker” rule that severely punished international airlines arriving with COVID-19 infected passengers and virtually shut down the city’s airport.