• Benchmark U.S. crude oil for January delivery fell 44 cents to $71.02 a barrel at press time. Brent crude for February delivery fell 5 cents to $76.10 a barrel.
• Ryan Hassler, a senior analyst with analytics firm Rystad Energy, told Wisconsin Public Radio that around 50 million tons of sand production in Wisconsin and Minnesota has gone offline since 2019. Hassler estimates around 15 million tons of sand production has come back online in Wisconsin since late 2021. But he said he’s not anticipating another boom of new frac sand mines like the state saw between 2010 and 2015.
• Oil-and-gas companies are anticipating a friendlier environment in Washington as the House comes under Republican rule next year, while the clean-energy sector is bracing for a slowdown in the Biden administration’s aggressive push away from fossil fuels, notes the Wall Street Journal.