Carbon markets: European carbon logged a fourth straight weekly gain, though Friday snapped a five-day winning streak as energy prices pulled back (Carbon Pulse Euro Markets, September 11); the benchmark closed Friday near €85.5/t (Trading Economics). Politics drove the tape. Rapporteur Peter Liese's draft would slow the annual cap decline after 2030 and strengthen the mechanism against price swings (Carbon Pulse, September 10), traders warned that the price-triggered supply adjustment could push speculative liquidity out of the market (September 11), and both the environment committee and member states opted to keep the Market Stability Reserve's invalidation mechanism — raising its threshold or delaying it rather than scrapping it. The Q3 RGGI auction cleared at an all-time high above $37 (Carbon Pulse, September 11). On the voluntary side, the Climate Action Reserve adopted a modular Nitric Acid Production Protocol with an India module (September 12), Google agreed to buy 1 million nature-based super-pollutant credits from rice-farming methane reductions by 2030 (September 10), and a UN Special Rapporteur called for an “urgent reassessment” of carbon credit markets (September 10).
Waste oil and base oil: SK Enmove raised Group II+ and Group III postings 50 cents per gallon effective September 8, following Motiva's $1.00/gal increase on September 1 (Lubes'N'Greases Weekly Americas Base Oil Price Report, September 9). Group III remains the critical global shortage: Persian Gulf plants are still shut with Hormuz closed, at least one US distributor of Middle East base oils remains under force majeure, and the ILBOC outage in Spain restricts 4 cSt supply until November. Crude jumped on US–Iran escalation: WTI October settled at $93.03/bbl on September 8 (from $90.22) and Brent traded above $100 on September 9; Gulf Coast low-sulfur diesel rose to $4.56/gal. Group I and Group II tightness, by contrast, is expected to ease after Labor Day, and competitively priced Asian spot cargoes are pressing US export prices into Brazil and Mexico, where Petrobras is back from turnaround and lubricant demand is subdued. Paulsboro's five-week Group I outage starts mid-September.
Takeaway: the market is splitting by group. Group III and II+ postings are still rising; Group I and II are losing their summer premium as Asian arbitrage barrels and post-hurricane inventories arrive. Collectors and re-refiners: high diesel keeps vacuum gasoil flowing to fuels, which supports base oil values including re-refined Group II, but do not price Q4 export spot off Group III headlines. Buyers: hold Group III and II+ term allocations; on Group II, use Asian offers as leverage, net of vessel space, freight and insurance.
Our indicative CXF US Gulf assessment stands at $21.50/t and CXF re-refining credits at $19.90/t — desk marks, updated September 14, 2026, unchanged from last Monday's note. Our price-history database was unreachable this run, so no independent week-over-week series is quoted.
Indicative desk marks — not financial advice. Current levels: CXF Price Index.