AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report for Friday, 3/8/24

Stora Enso and Swedish electric car company Polestar have started collaboration to create a truly climate-neutral car by 2030. Stora Enso joins Polestar 0 project as a partner to contribute to the car’s climate neutrality with their bio-based battery material Lignode® by Stora Enso, made from trees. The Polestar 0 project, launched in 2021, aims to create a climate neutral car by 2030 by eliminating all sources of CO2 emissions – not only offsetting them – throughout the supply chain and production. Reaching full climate neutrality throughout the value chain, however, is a challenge for such a complex product as a car. Stora Enso takes on the challenge to contribute to the car battery’s climate neutrality with its bio-based battery anode material, Lignode® by Stora Enso, with the aim to become a commercial supplier for the outcome of the Polestar 0 project. Graphitic carbon in car batteries today is either mined or made from fossil-based materials. Lignode® by Stora Enso is made of lignin which comes from sustainably managed Nordic trees that grow back once harvested. It is essential to revolutionise battery technology to sustainably cover the needs for energy storage in an electrified future. Stora Enso believes that the key to combating climate change involves the use of renewable materials.

The market “looks a lot more bullish than it did three or four months ago,” said James Williams, president of London, Arkansas-based energy researcher WTRG Economics. The stockpile declines aren’t surprising since “refinery utilization is coming down this time of year because it’s turnaround season,” he said. Nonetheless, he predicted prices will rally again Wednesday if the government confirms the drops. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is expected to extend supply cuts beyond their March expiration date, which has supported oil above the key $50-a-barrel psychological threshold. In addition, oil demand is proving more resilient than some expected, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy and Industry Khalid Al-Falih said in Riyadh. Stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for New York-traded futures contracts, probably declined by 500,000 barrels, according to a separate forecast compiled by Bloomberg. A Bloomberg survey estimated that U.S crude stockpiles slid by 3 million barrels last week, while gasoline stockpiles probably rose by 1.7 million barrels. The API report also showed crude stockpiles rose by 519,000 barrels, while Cushing supplies fell by 55,000 barrels last week. A draw at Cushing would be the first since August if the Energy Information Administration confirms it in its data release on Wednesday. Click Read More below for additional information.

Futures dropped 1.7 percent in New York, snapping eight straight sessions of gains. Russia wants to continue with the current deal and any further supply curbs would send the wrong message to the market, according to government officials. The U.S. dollar gained, reducing the appeal of commodities denominated in that currency. While prices have surged during the past week, oil remains in a bear market after concerns that rising global supply will offset output cuts from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners. Libya and Nigeria, exempt from the OPEC-led curbs, accounted for half of the group’s production boost last month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Click Read More below for more of the story.