News

A quick look at a few of the bigger things affecting our business this week.

Steel: Another $15 this time. Nucor moved hot-rolled coil to $1,255/ton the week of October 19, with its West Coast joint venture up $15 to $1,320. That’s roughly 45% above this time last year and the fourth increase in a row. Nucor is still quoting three to five weeks, but Reliance, one of the largest metals distributors, flagged steel availability as a concern for the fourth quarter. We’re not seeing anything that points to relief.

Oil: Another strong week up. Brent settled Friday at $116.72, up about 6% on the week and well above where it was a month ago. WTI settled at $103.27. Alaska crude has pulled further ahead, and Petroleum News’s latest weekly report has ANS approaching $128. Attacks on Saudi export ports and Red Sea shipping continue to drive it, and the Alaska premium over Brent is wider than usual. It’s a long way from where oil was at the end of June, when Brent was still in the low $70s.

North Slope: The money is going into building facilities. ConocoPhillips’ Willow project is a $8.5 to $9 billion build with construction running through 2028 and first oil in early 2029. At Prudhoe Bay, Hilcorp’s 2026 plan includes 40 sidetrack wells and facility upgrades, its Omega Pad project starts in 2027, and a $180 million well at Point Thomson is due online in the second half of this year. Pikka is now pushing daily North Slope volumes regularly past 500,000 barrels. Bidding opened October 20 on the state’s fall lease sales and runs through November 12. Facilities work is where tanks and fabrication get bought, so this is the stretch to get projects scoped and priced early.

Infrastructure: No change. Federal highway and transit programs are funded through December 11. Core formula-funded highway work is steady, while some grant-funded programs are working with less.

Bottom line: Steel keeps climbing, oil and especially Alaska crude are at their highest in months, and North Slope operators are putting real money into facilities. Reach out if you want to talk through what any of this means for your project.

A quick look at a few of the bigger things affecting our business this week.

Steel: Another $10. Nucor moved hot-rolled coil to $1,240/ton the week of October 12, with its West Coast joint venture up $15 to $1,305. That’s more than 40% above this time last year. Nucor’s own lead time is still quoted at three to five weeks, but the broader market is running longer, and nothing here says the climb is slowing.

Oil: A big week up. Brent settled Friday at $109.86, up about 5%, its highest since May. WTI jumped more than 10% to $101.41. Alaska crude was $123.83 as of Saturday, up from $116.94 a week earlier, and has been running well above both benchmarks. A missile aimed at the Saudi export port of Yanbu, Iranian attacks on shipping through Hormuz, and a Ukrainian strike on a Russian refinery all added to supply worries, while U.S. crude and diesel stocks fell hard. Emergency reserve releases weren’t enough to hold prices down.

North Slope: Activity is up. Baker Hughes counts 12 rigs working in Alaska, up from 9 a year ago, with 10 of them on the Slope. Pikka is pushing daily North Slope volumes regularly past 500,000 barrels. Santos plans to drill the Stirrup 2 appraisal well this winter, and the BLM issued new winter seismic and exploration rules for the NPR-A. State lease sales for the Beaufort Sea, North Slope, and North Slope Foothills open for bidding tomorrow, October 20.

Infrastructure: No change. Federal highway and transit programs are funded through December 11, which is also the date Congress has to deal with spending, transportation, and the farm bill all at once. Core formula-funded highway work is steady, while some grant-funded programs are working with less.

Bottom line: Steel keeps climbing, oil jumped on Middle East supply fears, and the North Slope is busier than a year ago. Reach out if you want to talk through what any of this means for your project.

A quick look at a few of the bigger things affecting our business this week.

Steel: Another $10. Nucor moved hot-rolled coil to $1,230/ton in its October 5 customer letter, with its West Coast joint venture at $1,290. That’s more than 40% above this time last year, when spot hot-rolled was running $825 to $865. Mill lead times are still long, and the supply shortage on sheet and plate is expected to carry into the fourth quarter. Nothing here says relief is close.

Oil: Prices moved up this week. Brent settled Friday at $104.72, up about 2.4%, and WTI at $91.85, up about 0.8%. Alaska crude moved more: ANS was $116.94 as of Saturday, up from $107.54 a week earlier, its highest level in weeks. Two things drove it. Hurricane Isaias shut in roughly 70% of U.S. Gulf offshore oil output, about 1.5 million barrels a day, and attacks on Saudi Arabia and Middle East tankers kept the premium on international crude. Talk of progress with Iran and China restarting fuel exports took some of the edge off. The EIA now expects Brent to average $105 in the fourth quarter, $14 higher than it forecast a month ago, and it points to tight diesel supply as a big part of the reason.

North Slope: Activity keeps building. Narwhal Exploration has filed to drill up to three on-ice winter exploration wells in nearshore West Harrison Bay in the Beaufort Sea. The state approved facilities work at Prudhoe Bay. State lease sales for the Beaufort Sea, North Slope, and North Slope Foothills open for bidding next week, October 20. Winter drilling season is also close, which is when a lot of our Slope work gets planned. If you’re lining up a project, now is the time to get it scoped and priced.

Infrastructure: No change. Federal highway and transit programs are funded through December 11, and a longer-term bill most likely waits until after the elections. Core formula-funded highway work is steady, while some grant-funded programs are working with less.

Bottom line: Steel keeps climbing on tight supply, oil and especially Alaska crude jumped on a Gulf storm and Middle East risk, and the North Slope is heading into a busy winter. Reach out if you want to talk through what any of this means for your project.

Each week we share a look at a few of the bigger numbers and trends affecting our business — steel, oil, and infrastructure funding — and what they mean for our customers.

Steel

Another $10 increase. Nucor moved hot-rolled coil to $1,210/ton on September 22, with its West Coast joint venture up to $1,270. That’s roughly 38% higher than this time last year, when Nucor’s price sat at $875. Fall mill maintenance outages are tightening what’s available on the spot market right now, so buyers are competing for the tons that are out there. Nothing this week points to that easing up.

Oil

A split week between the benchmarks. Brent settled Friday at $104.32, basically flat for the week, while WTI dropped about 8% to $92.41 — its first weekly decline since late August. ANS held up better, closing Friday at $108.68, tracking closer to Brent than to WTI. Growing hope for a U.S.-Iran path back to a truce (Iran has floated reopening the Strait of Hormuz and resuming nuclear talks if its conditions are met) pulled WTI down, while continued Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia are keeping a premium on the international and Alaska benchmarks. For perspective, Brent was still in the low $70s at the end of June.

Infrastructure

September 30 was the deadline for federal highway and transit funding, and it’ll pass quietly. The stopgap extension signed into law September 2 carries that funding through December 11. Core highway formula money is steady. The extension didn’t renew the advance appropriations behind several grant programs, so those are working with less in the meantime. Congress is still negotiating a longer-term bill, and December 11 is the next date to watch.

Bottom line

Steel keeps inching up on tight supply, oil is being pulled in two directions by the Iran talks and the Saudi attacks, and federal funding is stable for now. If you’d like to talk through what any of this means for your project, reach out to your Greer Tank representative.

A quick look at a few of the bigger things affecting our business this week.

Steel: Nucor raised hot-rolled coil again on September 8, up $10/ton to $1,200, with SMU’s broader average jumping $20 to $1,225/ton the same week — one of the sharper single-week moves we’ve seen this year. One thing worth watching: the labor contract between the United Steelworkers and U.S. Steel/Cleveland-Cliffs was extended 30 days past its original September 1 deadline while negotiations continue. If that doesn’t resolve cleanly, it’s a real risk to supply on top of everything else already driving prices up.

Oil: A genuinely alarming week. ANS crude rocketed to $115.38 on September 15, up $16.31 — a 16.5% jump — in a single trading week. WTI and Brent followed, up to $105.83 and $108.75. The trigger this time is different from the Iran story we’ve been tracking all summer: Saudi Arabia suspended oil loading operations at its Yanbu port after a Houthi attack on the East-West pipeline that feeds the Red Sea. That’s a direct hit on Saudi export infrastructure, not just a shipping-lane risk, and it’s a new front in what’s already been the most volatile year we’ve seen. Don’t expect this to be the last surprise.

Infrastructure: No new developments this week. Funding remains stable, tracking toward the December 11 deadline for the next round.

Bottom line: Steel just had one of its sharper weekly jumps of the year with a labor risk sitting in the background, and oil just took its biggest single-week move yet on a direct attack on Saudi export infrastructure. Reach out if you want to talk through what any of this means for your project.

Steel: GMK Center, Steel Market Update. Oil: Petroleum News. Posted weekly for our customers — not investment advice.

A quick look at a few of the bigger things affecting our business this week.

Steel: Spot tons are getting genuinely hard to find. Hot-rolled coil is now pushing toward $1,300/ton in some transactions, and mills are increasingly turning away spot business in favor of contract customers. Plate is even tighter — lead times have doubled compared to a year ago. On top of that, steel exports fell 8% in July after hitting a 17-month high in June, another sign that domestic supply is staying at home rather than heading overseas. If you’ve been holding off on a purchase hoping for better terms, this isn’t the environment for it.

Oil: We just crossed a real milestone. Brent crude broke $100 a barrel on September 9, closing at $101.21 — its highest level since May. WTI jumped to $96.05, and ANS closed at $99.07 the day before. Both benchmarks are up 60% year-to-date. The EIA’s latest outlook confirms this isn’t just a blip: global oil prices averaged $91/barrel in August, up $7 from July, driven by falling global inventories — down 400 million barrels this year and expected to keep falling through year-end. The agency now forecasts Brent averaging around $90 for the second half of the year. This is elevated and durable, not a spike we should expect to fade quickly.

Infrastructure: Quiet week here — no new developments since the funding extension was signed into law September 2. Still tracking toward the December 11 deadline for the next round.

Bottom line: Steel is as tight as it’s been all year with spot tons hard to come by, oil just cleared a symbolic $100 threshold on genuinely bullish fundamentals, and infrastructure funding remains stable through early December. Reach out if you want to talk through what any of this means for your project.

A quick look at a few of the bigger things affecting our business this week.

Steel: Sixth straight week of increases. Nucor raised hot-rolled coil another $5/ton on August 31, and domestic HR coil prices are up roughly 9.4% for the month of August alone. Same drivers as the past two months — tight supply, low imports, mills holding pricing power. Still no sign of a ceiling.

Oil: After a brief pullback in late August on hopes of an Iran-Oman deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, prices have climbed right back — Brent is up nearly 11% over the past month and back near $97. The diplomatic progress hasn’t translated into real de-escalation: the U.S. continues hawkish rhetoric against any shipping corridor deal, and both sides have kept up strikes on vessels. On top of that, the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve just fell to its lowest level since 1982, which limits our own cushion if things escalate further. Volatile and elevated remains the theme.

Infrastructure: Resolved, for now. The House passed the Senate’s stopgap funding bill 370-48 on September 1, and President Trump signed it into law September 2 — avoiding the September 30 cliff and extending highway/transit funding through December 11. The catch we flagged a few weeks back is still real, though: the extension doesn’t include the advance appropriations that fund transit and passenger rail grants, so those programs are looking at real cuts (APTA estimates transit funding around 20% below this year’s levels) even with the government funding fight avoided. Core state highway formula funding is in solid shape either way.

Bottom line: Steel keeps climbing with no relief, oil is back near its highs despite some diplomatic progress, and the immediate government shutdown risk is off the table, though grant-funded transit work still faces real cuts. Reach out if you want to talk through what any of this means for your project.

A quick look at a few of the bigger things affecting our business this week.

Steel: Fifth straight week of increases. Nucor raised hot-rolled coil another $10/ton to $1,180 for the week of August 24, bringing the total climb to roughly $55/ton over the past five weeks. Same story as always — tight domestic supply and low imports, no ceiling in sight yet.

Oil: A real reversal this time, and a hopeful one. Iran and Oman announced an agreement to jointly manage and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, including a proposed “joint temporary navigational corridor.” Prices dropped hard on the news — ANS fell $3.47 to close at $87.68, WTI dropped $2.65 to $82.36, and Brent fell $3.59 to $88.58. It’s the first genuinely constructive development we’ve seen on this front in weeks. Still too early to call it settled, but worth watching whether it holds.

Infrastructure: Decision time is close. The House returned from recess on August 24 and is expected to vote on the Senate’s stopgap funding bill this week, well ahead of the September 30 deadline. If it passes as written, the highway/transit funding cliff moves to December 11. We should know either way very soon.

Bottom line: Steel keeps climbing with no letup, oil just had its best week of news in a while on the Hormuz front, and infrastructure funding should get resolved one way or another in the next few days. Reach out if you want to talk through what any of this means for your project.

Steel: Steel Market Update, Yieh Corp. Oil: Petroleum News. Infrastructure: Washington Times, AASHTO, Roll Call. Posted weekly for our customers — not investment advice.

A quick look at a few of the bigger things affecting our business this week.

Steel: Prices are still climbing, just at a slower pace. Nucor raised hot-rolled coil another $5/ton to $1,160, with its West Coast joint venture up to $1,220. SMU’s broader average actually held flat week over week at $1,180/ton — the first real pause in weeks. One thing worth watching: steel import licenses jumped 9% in July, the highest level since last summer. That’s still a small crack in the wall, not a flood, but it’s the first sign that some import relief could be on the way eventually.

Oil: A rough week, and it’s not over. Talks between Oman and Iran over reopening the Strait of Hormuz fell apart on August 10 after Iran came back with a list of demands — full U.S. troop withdrawal, unfreezing assets, reparations, tolls on ships — that one analyst compared to “a child’s wish list to Santa Claus.” ANS jumped $4.58 that day to $83.11. Things got worse from there: Iran attacked two Abu Dhabi oil tankers in the strait midweek, and Brent is now up roughly 5% for the week, pushing toward $90-plus and within range of $100. On top of that, the interim U.S.-Iran ceasefire is set to formally expire today, and the IEA just warned of the widest global oil supply deficit in five years. No sign this settles down soon.

Infrastructure: Some real progress, with a catch. The Senate voted 90-6 to push the infrastructure funding deadline from September 30 out to December 11 — the House still needs to act, expected when they’re back in session late this month. But that extension only covers the core highway/transit authorizations, not the roughly $36.8 billion a year in advance appropriations that fund grant programs like Mega Grant, Bridge Formula, and rail/transit funding. Those programs are looking at cuts of 50-100% even with the extension in place. If any of your pipeline touches those specific grant programs rather than core highway funding, it’s worth checking which bucket it falls into.

Bottom line: Steel’s holding closer to flat for the first time in a while, oil is heading the wrong direction again with real geopolitical risk behind it, and infrastructure funding got a partial reprieve that doesn’t cover everything. Reach out if you want to talk through what any of this means for your project.

Steel: Steel Market Update, GMK Center, Yieh Corp. Oil: Petroleum News, Fortune, Barchart. Infrastructure: ENR, Roads & Bridges, Holland & Knight.

A quick look at a few of the bigger things affecting our business this week.

Steel: Prices keep climbing. Nucor raised its hot-rolled coil spot price for the third straight week, up another $10/ton to $1,155/ton, and its West Coast joint venture (California Steel Industries) went even higher, up $15 to $1,215/ton. SMU’s broader price indices are at multi-year highs across the board. The driver hasn’t changed — 50% Section 232 tariffs are keeping imports out and giving domestic mills room to keep raising prices. If you’ve been waiting for a dip, there’s still no sign of one.

Oil: Sharp reversal this week, the other direction for once. ANS dropped $6.08 on August 3 to close at $75.54, with WTI down $4.33 to $80.34 and Brent down $6.35 to $83.77, after President Trump paused U.S. hostilities again to give diplomacy with Iran another shot — reportedly with an outline in place to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. We’ve seen this pattern before this summer: prices spike on conflict, drop on ceasefire hope, then it’s anyone’s guess which way it breaks next. Don’t read too much into any single week’s number.

Infrastructure: Some actual good news here. The Senate has negotiated a continuing resolution that would extend highway and transit funding under the infrastructure law through December 11 — pushing back what had been a September 30 cliff. It’s contract authority only, not the full advance appropriations, and it still needs to pass, but it buys some breathing room for anyone with government-funded work on the books this fall.

Bottom line: Steel’s still climbing with no relief in sight, oil just swung back down on ceasefire hopes (don’t bank on it holding), and the infrastructure funding deadline just got a bit of breathing room, assuming the CR passes. Reach out if you want to talk through what any of this means for your project.

Steel: Steel Market Update, Nucor, Yieh Corp. Oil: Petroleum News. Infrastructure: FFIS, Congress.gov.