President Trump’s Midterm Diesel Probability Forecasting Tool ties record distillate prices directly to Senate control odds less than five weeks before the November 3 vote. Retail on-highway diesel sat at $6.382 per gallon for the week of September 28 (EIA), down only modestly from the $6.529 record the prior week and more than $2.60 above […]
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LNG Canada will again source major modules from a Chinese state-owned fabricator for its $33 billion Phase 2 expansion in Kitimat, B.C., even as Canadian primary steel producers idle lines and issue layoff notices under U.S. tariffs and persistent import pressure. Prime Minister Mark Carney has left the steel decision to the project owners while […]
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China is once again withholding refined products from the global market, layering fresh stress onto an already strained diesel complex. On October 1, 2026, trade sources reported that Chinese refiners have suspended oil-product exports for October to destinations other than Hong Kong and Macau, pending new guidance from Beijing. State-owned major PetroChina has canceled planned […]
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Stelco Holdings, owned by Ohio-based Cleveland-Cliffs since a $3.4-billion acquisition in late 2024, announced it will indefinitely idle cold-rolled and coated operations at its Hamilton Works plant beginning around October 9. The company says the move is required “to help ensure the survival of Stelco.” About 350 workers at Hamilton are expected to be […]
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WTI is hovering near $89 after a sharp September unwind from above $100. Brent is still the more stubborn benchmark, recently trading in the mid-to-high $90s after spending stretches of the month above $100. The market is no longer pricing a clean “Hormuz victory.” It is pricing a split world: more crude is moving again, […]
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Mercedes-Benz is no longer talking about “transformation.” It is talking about survival in Germany. WirtschaftsWoche, citing three people familiar with the talks, reports that Mercedes wants about €800 million in German labor-cost savings — roughly $911 million at current rates. Options on the table include longer hours without extra pay, cuts to holiday and Christmas […]
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On Thursday, September 24, 2026, Bloomberg reported that Oracle sent a force majeure notice to the developer of Project Jupiter — the 1,400-acre AI campus in Doña Ana County, New Mexico — in an effort to defer payments if the facility misses its planned 2028 in-service date. Shares of Oracle fell about 4–5%. Blue Owl […]
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The wind industry is approaching a structural inflection point. Early fleets in Europe and the United Kingdom are aging faster than advertised, composite blade waste is outrunning recycling capacity, and decommissioning liabilities are coming due just as subsidy structures change. Two recent posts by Peter Clack capture the twin problems: rapid performance decay well short […]
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A diesel export ban is the kind of policy that polls well and trades poorly. With the AAA national average at about $6.53 a gallon as of September 22, 2026 — a record — and California well above $8, the political impulse is obvious: keep more barrels at home. That impulse misunderstands how U.S. refining […]
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Ineos, the chemicals giant owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, is idling all three of its world-scale acetyls plants in Hull, northern England. The facilities—Europe’s last remaining plants of their kind—produce essential feedstocks for pharmaceuticals, clothing, cosmetics, detergents, construction materials, and military explosives. Two have already stopped production; the third will follow in days. The site […]
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