Futures in New York rose as much as 1.3 percent after climbing the most in eight months on Tuesday. President Donald Trump has intensified preparations for a response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, a move that could place the U.S. in direct conflict with Russian forces. While the Middle East country’s own oil production is limited, prices often respond to the risk of war in a region that holds almost half of the world’s crude reserves. “The focus is on the West’s probable military strike against the Syrian regime,” said Carsten Fritsch and Eugen Weinberg, analysts at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. Click Read More below for additional information.

Beginning in April 2018, Sun Chemical and its parent company, DIC Corporation, will increase the production capacity of its DAILUBE® extreme pressure additives by 6,000 tons per annum at its eco-friendly plant in Kashima, Japan. The move will better serve customers around the globe as well as promote and deliver its trusted and market leading sulfurized extreme pressure additives into new and existing markets. Optimized for metalworking fluids used in cutting, forming and rolling, DAILUBE extreme pressure additives are light in color, low odor and available in a range of chemistries, including olefin, lard, vegetable, ester, and fatty acid. Click Read More below for additional information.

The U.S.-led war in Iran is costing Hapag-Lloyd $40 million to $50 million per week, its chief executive said, as fuel, insurance and other costs skyrocket during the conflict. The world’s fifth-largest container line also has six ships trapped in the Persian Gulf as Iran chooses which vessels can safely transit the Strait of Hormuz.  “Costs are increasing sharply. If we look at the impact that this has on us, then we talk easily about $40 million or $50 million per week that we are facing at this point in time,” said Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen, on an earnings call, “mainly related to bunker [fuel], but also insurance costs are up significantly and so are costs related to storage and in some cases also inland transportation.”