European carbon posted a 1% weekly gain, jumping to a two-week high on Friday amid a spell of aggressive buying before retreating late in the session as reports circulated that EU member states had begun handing out free allowances for 2026 (Carbon Pulse, August 21). On the integrity front, enforcement tightened visibly: Germany withdrew carbon credits from at least 30 China-based projects found suspicious or overstated (Carbon Pulse, citing Bloomberg, August 21), and a German probe subsequently reported forged documents and bribery behind a "shadow structure" of Chinese projects (Carbon Pulse, August 24). In Australia, a landfill-gas operator reported ACCU revenue up 28% amid renewed buying activity.
US base oil supply tightened further. Lubes'N'Greases' Weekly Americas report (August 19) records Calumet raising Group I SN600 and bright stock 35 cents/gal and Group II 50 cents/gal, and Chevron lifting Group II 100N/600N by 20 cents/gal and 220N by 40 cents/gal, both effective August 18 — joining ExxonMobil and HF Sinclair from the prior week. Group III sits at all-time highs, with spot barrels offered above $13/gal even without approvals; Repsol's ILBOC plant flagged Yubase 4 constraints from August through October, and re-refiners report sold-out positions for several weeks. WTI September settled at $84.94/bbl on August 18 (from $83.20); Brent traded at $91.70/bbl on August 19 (from $89.48); US Gulf diesel stood at $4.40/gal.
Takeaway: with Paulsboro's five-week Group I outage and Petro-Canada's 30-day Group II turnaround both ahead, and Group III at records, re-refined barrels are the only slack left in the system. Sellers: hold for term structure rather than spot. Buyers: lock Q4 volumes now — availability tightens from here.
Our indicative CXF US Gulf assessment stands at $21.20/t and CXF re-refining credits at $19.90/t — both held unchanged in this week's Monday re-mark (August 24, 2026). Week-over-week: flat.
Indicative desk marks — not financial advice. Current levels: CXF Price Index.