• At press time, Brent crude futures settled up $2.32 at $95.99 a barrel, extending a 1.1% rise from the previous session but falling 2.6% on the week. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled up $2.49, or 2.9%, at $88.96 a barrel, after climbing 0.8% in the previous session but down nearly 4% on the week.
• An article in the Houston Chronicle notes that the sand mining industry that has emerged in West Texas is under increasing pressure to produce more oil to squash rising gasoline prices, but they’re faced with a new problem – how to get enough sand to their drilling operations. Quickly. And without incurring more costs that could trickle back to consumers at the gasoline pump. The answer is mobile mining.
• October 2020 was the “the best month ever” for U.S. rail intermodal, with volumes up by one-third from April 2020, “a stunning increase in six months,” Association of American Railroads (AAR) Senior Vice President John T. Gray said on Nov. 4. “Changes in energy markets continue to pressure carloads of coal, petroleum products, and frac sand.”