Getting down to business: Stupp Coatings has begun work to coat over 26,000 tons of pipe at its new facility at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge. The company, which in March extended its lease at the port for another year, has constructed a facility on 24 acres at the port’s Inland Rivers Marine Terminal on North Line Road that is served by rail, truck and barge. It requested a lease extension to fulfill a new contract to coat 147,000 feet of pipe, the port says in a news release. Stupp is paying the port $156,000 for the one-year lease extension. The company coats pipes for the oil and gas industry.
It’s a global game: China may relinquish its new status as the world’s biggest oil importer back to the U.S. in coming months as demand from refineries slows. The country bought about 7.4 million barrels a day of crude from overseas in April, overtaking U.S. imports of about 7.3 million, government data compiled by Bloomberg show. The Asian nation’s purchases may drop in the next few months as processing declines, according to ICIS China, a Shanghai-based commodities researcher. China’s new ranking shows how the U.S. shale boom is reshaping flows of oil around the world as suppliers hunt for buyers amid a global glut. Read the full story.
Down and up: The number of available jobs in the U.S. fell in March, though companies filled more of their open positions in a sign they are still confident enough to hire. The Labor Department says job postings fell 2.9% to just under a seasonally adjusted 5 million in March. Meanwhile, total hiring ticked up 1.1% to 5.1 million, the most since December. The Associated Press reports the figures underscore that lackluster job gains overall in March reflected a temporary slowdown. Last week’s jobs report showed that businesses ramped up hiring in April. The government also says layoffs jumped in March.
