Welcome to the Fuel Matters Blog

There has been a lot of talk in the news recently about the Phase One United States and China trade deal that was signed on January 15^th. There are several topics that have been in discussion between leaders of the top two economies in the world including trade deficit, intellectual property, tariffs, and currency.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, Andrew Wheeler recently said that he anticipates the new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards rule to be finalized within the next month or two.  The primary questions to answer at this point are, what does the rule seek to accomplish and how does this affect heavy-duty trucks?

Yesterday, the trucking industry received a much-needed jolt to kick off 2020.  The United States and China signed a trade agreement that is expected to create a boost in U.S. manufacturing and an increase in the number of exported American goods.  While this deal will not completely mend the transportation industry after a historically turbulent 2019, it does provide a solid base from where negotiations can continue.  Vice Premier Liu He filled in for Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the meeting, reading a letter to President Trump from Jinping stating, “the first phase is good for China, the U.S. and the whole world.”

Let’s talk about the weather so far this year (or lack thereof). For the first 12 days of 2020 in our hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, we had the 11th warmest start on record. Most of Pennsylvania saw temperatures last Saturday averaging 20 - 30 degrees higher than normal. This is not welcomed news to the energy industry, which obviously loves to sell fuel in the wintertime to keep us warm. Despite the warm start, it looks like cooler-than-average temperatures are on the way over the next two weeks, including the possibility of the first significant snowstorm of the year during the weekend.