Oil prices rose more than 2% Thursday, extending their new year’s rally. Futures eased in mid-morning trading, with WTI off 0.4% at $79.08/bbl and Brent down 0.1% at $81.95/bbl. U.S. natural gas was 2.8% higher at $3.92/MMBtu.
Oil contracts for delivery in a few months are much pricier than those further out, a signal of near-term rising demand that could keep supply tight for the first part of 2022.
OPEC pumped 27.8 million bpd in December, a 70,000-bpd increase from November but well short of the 253,000-bpd increase planned as part of its monthly output boost.
Libya’s oil output currently stands at 729,000 bpd, down from a high of more than 1.3 million bpd last year, due to maintenance and oilfield shutdowns.
Year-end data shows the drastic, though temporary, impact of last February’s Texas Freeze on U.S. LNG prices:
A global shortage of natural gas is worsening as emerging economies in South and Southeast Asia return to the spot LNG market.
German officials plan to send financial aid to households struggling to pay exorbitant energy costs, which resumed a rally at the start of the new year after more than tripling in 2021.
France’s next batch of six advanced nuclear reactors should come online between 2035 and 2037, officials said.
New York will invest $500 million to develop 4.3 GW of offshore wind energy this year, enough to power nearly 3 million homes.
With resin supply improving and most 2021 force majeures lifted, we are ending our force majeure link. Please contact your M. Holland account manager if you have questions concerning availability of specific products.
Supply Chain
A gusty winter snowstorm is blowing through the northeast and mid-Atlantic today, bringing up to one inch of snow per hour and severely disrupting morning commutes.
China will test hundreds of thousands of workers for COVID-19 in the eastern metropolis of Zhengzhou today, home to Apple iPhone supplier Foxconn, after two COVID-19 cases put authorities on high alert.
Georgia’s Port of Savannah has lowered the number of waiting container ships to less than five from earlier backlogs as high as 30 vessels.
Cargo volume at Minnesota’s Port of Duluth-Superior was up 30% the first 10 months of 2021 after falling to the lowest level in 83 years in 2020.
Emirati logistics giant DP World began construction of a 1.2-million-TEU container port near Senegal’s existing Port of Dakar in northwest Africa.
LNG carrier charter rates have tumbled up to 40% on falling gas prices after a surge of American exports to Europe.
Maersk upped its newbuild orders for eight methanol-powered ultra large container ships to twelve vessels.
Orders from Chinese shipbuilders overtook South Korean builders in 2021 based on vessel tonnage capacity, year-end data shows.
For the first time under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the Mexican government has requested a panel to resolve a dispute with the U.S. over how to calculate the regional content of vehicles.
The Institute for Supply Chain Management’s index of U.S. manufacturing activity slipped to 58.7 in December from 61.1 in November, indicating a modest easing of supply chain disruptions.
Record quarterly revenue at Samsung will translate to a 52% jump in operating profit, the company forecasts, boosted by resilient demand for memory chips.
Bed Bath & Beyond saw a 28% annual sales drop for the quarter ended Nov. 27, its second straight quarter of declines largely due to supply chain disruptions.
Americans are finding it harder to sell used goods as more consumers pile into the secondhand resale market.
Global spending on industrial digital twin technology will reach $4.6 billion in 2022 and climb to $33.9 billion by 2030, ABI Research forecasts.
The FAA approved a North Carolina drone service’s radius to one nautical mile, covering roughly 10,000 households in the state for five-minute food and retail delivery.
Many large logistics industry conferences are scheduled to be in-person this year, including this month’s 20,000-person forum put on by the National Retail Federation in New York City.
Domestic Markets
The U.S. reported 786,824 new COVID-19 infections and 1,870 virus fatalities Thursday.
New U.S. COVID-19 cases have more than tripled over the past two weeks to an average of 550,000 per day, a record.
Roughly 35% of the U.S. population is boosted against COVID-19, compared to 62% who only received their first two doses.
About 10% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in New York state are winding up in the ICU, compared to 35% in previous waves of the Delta variant.
More than one-fifth of New York City’s subway operators called out sick this week, forcing lines to shut down and changes to route schedules.
Chicago has added every U.S. state and territory to its COVID-19 travel advisory list. Public schools canceled classes for a second day on continued pushback from the city’s teachers union over returning to in-person classes.
Nearly every COVID-19 patient on a ventilator in North Carolina is unvaccinated, officials said.
Florida is sending out 1 million at-home COVID-19 tests to nursing homes and long-term care facilities in a bid to boost virus tracking in high-risk populations.
The world-famous Sundance Film Festival is scrapping its in-person audience for the second consecutive year amid rising COVID-19 infections throughout the U.S.
The CDC officially brought pandemic quarantine guidelines for K-12 schools in line with the relaxed five-day recommendation for the general public.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by a lower than expected 199,000 in December as the unemployment rate dipped to 3.9%.
The U.S. goods deficit rose to a record $99 billion in November as Americans started spending for the holiday season.
The average U.S. 30-year mortgage rate is up to 3.22%, the highest since May 2020.
Sales of U.S. residential properties worth more than $50 million were up considerably in 2021 compared to the prior year.
Apartment occupancy in the U.S. rose to an all-time high 97.5% in December, tightening supply and likely leading to higher rent for new residents.
Despite its status as the world’s most valuable automaker, Tesla’s electric vehicle (EV) dominance could wane as other major brands, including Volkswagen and Toyota, gain from hundreds of billions of dollars in planned battery EV investments over the next several years.
Walgreens’ sales rose 10.6% for the quarter ended Nov. 30, the largest gain in two decades on strong demand for pandemic-related medical supplies and services.
Global COVID-19 cases surged 71% for the week ended Jan. 2, with the largest gains in the U.S. The World Health Organization is warning that COVID-19 hospitalizations will continue rising to dangerous levels due to the sheer number of new cases globally, despite evidence showing Omicron is less likely to cause serious illness.
The U.K. reported 179,756 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, bringing its seven-day total 29% higher than the week before. Hospitals are expecting a similar rise in virus patients in the coming weeks, as military troops are being deployed in London to provide assistance to strained medical facilities.
Volkswagen’s legendary hippie-era bus will return as an electric vehicle this March, the automaker announced.
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