OPEC

Crude production cuts are inherently bad for tanker shipping, but analysts are downplaying the fallout.

The DOE/EIA benchmark diesel price declined for a ninth consecutive week, but developments in the oil market point higher.

“Brent Blend” sounds like something Loretta Lynn’s forebears might have distilled in West Virginia.

Here’s how omicron variant could impact tanker, container and dry bulk shipping rates.

EIA forecasts global crude oil demand will exceed global supply through the end of the year.

Crude-tanker owners continue to pile up huge losses, but hopes are high for next year.

Stephen Jones of Argus Media is one of the company’s leading analysts. He shares the Argus view of the market at the FreightWaves Fuel Buyers Summit.

An expected increase in output has been put on hold over failure to reach consensus on a dispute involving the UAE.

After a February decision not to increase output, which was unexpected, the group does the unexpected this time again and decides to put more oil on to the market.

Analysts tally tanker fallout after OPEC+ stuns market with decision to hold the line of production cuts.

Prices continued to rise into Friday on the news that threw conventional wisdom aside.

Short of a conflict in the Middle East and its adjacent shipping lanes, it is hard to see a spike in tanker spot rates in the near term.

Move holds off a return of almost 2 million barrels per day to the market

The deal runs through 2022 so plenty of time to judge its impact.

Reduction would be record-breaking but isn’t likely to be adequate to stabilize markets.

The three countries to keep an eye on: U.S., Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Oil exporting countries might lose upto 85% of income this year; big 3 automakers partially close plants; Amazon suspends shipment of non-essential items.

As the world reels from coronavirus, crude-tanker owners are raking in massive returns.

Tanker rates are back in the stratosphere as the Saudis move ahead with production push.

Here’s why tanker stocks are rising as the rest of the U.S. stock market is crashing.

Saudi Arabia’s actions have sent markets plunging on top of earlier declines.

OPEC recommended steep cuts and a Russian-led group balked.

Spike in demand for household essentials; Chinese manufacturers suffer under virus attack; H&M opening up its supply chain.

Autonomous electric shuttles hit Columbus; global auto market might slowdown over coronavirus; Nikola Motor to produce trucks in Germany

Saudi Arabia angry at low oil prices; consumer spend set to increase during holiday season; European wine production battles climate change.

All the numbers at your fingertips to help you navigate figuring out what’s going on at OPEC this coming week.

Court indicts a few UPS employees for drug trafficking; EU commercial vehicle registrations decline; pop-up electric charging stations come up in Oxford.

Governments need to bolster electric vehicle battery recycling infrastructure; American worker productivity declined by 0.3% this quarter; Brazil plans to double oil output.

Fiat Chrysler and PSA merge to become a €40 billion automaker; global maritime shipping volumes growth slow; OPEC meeting this December to discuss production cuts.

Oil markets completed their first full day of trading following the drone attacks on Saudi processing facilities, with the global crude Brent benchmark rising more than 14% at the close and heading back up toward where prices were when trading began late Sunday U.S. time. The one comforting fact for truckers is that ultra low […]

Refinery repairs and OPEC wreak havoc on rates, but there is always the next quarter.

Shale oil wells in the Permian basin were underreported by 20 percent; U.S. FDI flows reduce; UPS pursues drone delivery services

Peak oil demand “lurks like a monster in the shadows,” warns Stifel analyst Ben Nolan.

Three reports issued this past week all with the same conclusion: there will be a lot of excess oil in the world next year.

Port Corpus Christi could emerge as the United States’ top crude oil export hub over the next decade, thanks to more than $380 million in new shipping facilities and three oil pipeline projects worth $5.2 billion, according to a new study. Wood Mackenzie’s North America Crude Markets Service reported that the startup of three new […]

Also in the oil report: the closure of an East Coast refinery is not good news for IMO2020 preparation

The structure of the Brent market says tightness, but the inventory numbers in the U.S. beg to differ

If a trade war pares GDP growth, OPEC cuts may be extended, weighing tanker rates.

Saudis and UAE are on board with filling in the gap from lost Iranian oil exports.

Markets are tightening. Full implementation of sanctions on Iranian oil could make them tighter.

OPEC’s cuts have brought its output down to the level where forecasts are saying it needs to be to keep markets in balance.

China ramps up its pork import from the U.S.; Lyft is all set for its IPO; Saudi Arabia looks to push oil prices to over $70 per barrel.

Major agencies are checking in on what OPEC production was in February, and reductions are starting to bring world output level down to where the group said it wanted to get to when it met back in December.

Also this week: another hint at what IMO2020 might do to prices; more signs that the OPEC cuts are real and are taking hold.

Stockpiles in the country are building up. Also: more hints on the price of fuel in a post IMO2020 market; Russia’s lack of assistance to OPEC

Two major agencies see a supply/demand balance that is tightening on the back of steep cuts coming out of OPEC.

Crude prices are stuck in a $50-$55 range for WTI, as news that would drive prices higher inevitably gets offset soon after by something pushing it lower.

Three key agencies have completed their January forecasts and they are all reasonably confident about OPEC’s ability to balance oil markets this year.

A new rule in Mexico will boost demand for ultra low sulfur diesel. Also: the Saudis pull back from the U.S. and why it isn’t a big deal.

It was a great week if you are an oil buyer, but if you produce it, it was one to forget as oil prices break substantially below $50.

Uber and Lyft are battling on who would go public first; oil production sees a dip in November; Amazon Go to venture into airport retail.

Keeping track of a week-long series of events that on the surface should be driving prices higher.

Also in the pickup: the sad state of interstate 81; farmers and truckers in the news; Saia’s fourth-quarter status report

EU guns towards a new regulation that forces fleets to provide minimum wages to drivers; OPEC meets today over oil price turmoil and production ceiling; China agrees to resume U.S. soybean and LNG imports.

Saudi Arabia and Russia agree on further production cuts to prop up crude prices; Qatar leaves OPEC to focus on nat gas; heavy sweet crudes are trading at a premium in anticipation of IMO 2020.

Tesla cuts prices of Model S and Model X; oil prices are down to a one-year low; Hong Kong bats for free trade; Hapag-Lloyd is launching a premium product based on extensive market research.

Also in the pickup: vets get a shot at free CDL training; another dispatch from the parking wars

Oil prices fall on the back of a possible supply glut; highly populated cities are fighting back to regulate traffic during peak hours; U.S. companies are finding it hard to continue working in Iran after the now-in-effect trade sanctions.

It’s been quite a few weeks in the discussions regarding precision railroading vs. not-precision, for lack of a better term. Also: OPEC pumping strong, Bangkok a growing intermodal hub

Iran’s truckers are on strike in 100 cities for the second time this year, causing fuel shortages. Meanwhile, the Iranian rial is rapidly losing its value, and the country’s biggest crude oil customers are cutting it off.

$200B of tariffs imposed on Chinese imports today; the 4PL era is here; China cancels further trade talks; Germany’s maritime fleet shrinks by 1/3; air cargo not yet feeling tariff pain; oil rallies.

In today’s pickup, CEOs on analysts calls don’t see a peak and see better driver retention for their companies. Also: OPEC output and a change in Chinese scrap policy.

Oil production faces volatile times, as multiple OPEC countries witness geopolitical problems and unstable governments, leading to the possibility of yet another rise in fuel prices.

The FMCSA and ATA talk regulations at SMC3; Cummins has to pay tariffs to import its own engines; Canadian National and Canadian Pacific investing in Port of Vancouver; why protectionist rhetoric is roiling the markets; key takeaways from OPEC’s Vienna meeting.

Cutbacks dating back to 2015, strong economic growth and problems in a lot of producing countries have brought the oil market to this point.

The U.S. trade tariffs on Chinese exports is due to come into force on July 6, with U.S. businesses looking for different manufacturing options in South Asia to adapt their supply chains around the new reality.

U.S. shale oil production is fast-growing, but pipeline bottlenecks at the Permian basin could mean that it can’t completely fill the gap being created by the drop in Venezuelan oil production.

“We’re still in a little bit of wait and see mode in terms of detail, but I think the outcome is pretty positive in my mind,” said Clive McDonnell, the Singapore-based head of emerging market equity strategy at Standard Chartered Bank.

Mexico, Canada, and the EU announce retaliatory tariffs; Dow Transports still above 200 day average; the US asks OPEC for a production hike; DHL remains largest air freight forwarder; containership loses 86 boxes in storm off Australia; how China beats US steel tariffs.

Oil, which helped drive a rally for stocks Wednesday, began pulling back ahead of U.S. supply data.

TMC offers a free dashboard for unscheduled maintenance data using VMRS codes; Omnitracs gets into software; OPEC meets with shale producers in Houston; the Port of Virginia begins using truck reservations to manage traffic.

The news out of the Middle East on Thursday that OPEC would continue recent production cuts in an effort to boost oil prices may have upset some oil traders, but it shouldn’t have much effect on diesel fuel prices at the pumps, according to experts.

A boom in U.S. oil production is not only helping keep fuel prices low, but it is driving more trucking business. The addition of a 2-rig, 8-well design could drive between “5,850 to 8,905 truckloads of equipment, drilling fluids, sand, water, etc.”