Underscoring the need for long-overdue freight rail reform, American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) President and CEO Donna Harman urged the United States Senate to quickly confirm the nominations of Patrick Fuchs and Michelle Schultz to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation approved the nominations on Wednesday, April 25. “As one of the largest manufacturing sectors in the nation, the paper and wood products industry relies on the nation’s rails to move millions of tons of materials to production mills and final markets. Revoking the outdated commodity exemption policy and addressing harmful service failures and higher pricing will help ensure the accessibility of effective, streamlined and competitive rail service to our companies all rail customers. We thank the committee for its approval and urge the Senate to quickly confirm Mr. Fuchs and Ms. Schultz.”

Oil is heading for the longest run of weekly gains since October 2016 as global supplies tighten and on signs the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will extend output curbs past the end of March. Saudi Arabia on Thursday advised its nationals to leave Lebanon, fueling fears of a confrontation with Iran in a country long known for being a battleground for proxy wars in the Middle East. “Geopolitical risks have taken center stage in the oil market again,” said Jens Naervig Pedersen, senior analyst at Danske Bank A/S in Copenhagen. “The rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran have raised concerns in the oil market of an imminent supply disruption.” Saudi Arabia said it plans to cut crude exports to all the regions it ships to next month. Shipments will fall by 120,000 barrels a day in December from November, a spokesman for the Energy Ministry said, without specifying what those levels would be. Bloomberg calculations from vessel-tracking data estimated flows in October at 6.989 million a day. Click Read More below for additional information.

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