The roller-coaster ride for diesel markets is unlikely to end anytime soon. Prices for the fuel that is a bedrock of the logistics sector have settled somewhat after reaching record highs last summer. Denton Cinquegrana, chief oil analyst of the Oil Price Information Service, a sister company of The Wall Street Journal, writes in the Logistics Report that the decline in the pump prices in recent months won't likely be duplicated in 2023, however, because many of the same elements that drove the surge in prices remain in place. Diesel supplies remain tight by historical standards, and there are still strong constraints in replenishing stocks. One factor is that refineries that have deferred maintenance since the pandemic began will have to resume the critical work, likely putting a cap on output. Europe’s looming restrictions on Russian refined products also looms over world markets and diesel supplies.

• Chevron banked its highest-ever annual profit of $35.5 billion. (WSJ)
• Oil-exporting Colombia is halting fracking operations and oil exploration. (WSJ)

Governments are more actively cooperating in efforts to reset global semiconductor supply chains. Japan and the Netherlands took the latest steps in agreeing to go along with the U.S. in restricting exports of advanced chip-manufacturing equipment to China. The WSJ’s Yuka Hayashi and Vivian Salama report the agreement is a result of the Biden administration’s effort to convince allies to implement export controls on companies with critical technologies. The new pact has far-reaching significance because it includes blocks on key technology that is critical to the manufacture of advanced chips. The Netherlands will bar ASML Holding from selling to China some of the company’s advanced gear and Japan will set similar limits on Nikon. The support of the Japanese and Netherlands governments is critical to the U.S. export-control policy because of the importance of a small number of chip-manufacturing equipment makers, which include ASML, Nikon and Tokyo Electron.

New clouds are forming over the supply chain for rechargeable batteries. Mining companies are ramping up their sourcing of critical minerals like lithium, cobalt and nickel. But the WSJ’s Scott Patterson and Amrith Ramkumar report that some of the world’s biggest auto and battery makers and the U.S. government now are racing to secure supplies of graphite amid looming signs of shortages of the mineral suitable for batteries. Graphite is unusual among the sector’s crucial materials because it can be man-made as well as mined. Most lithium-ion batteries use synthetic graphite, which is produced from a petroleum byproduct, mostly in China. But the process is carbon-intensive, defeating the purpose of renewable batteries, and the increase in demand for natural graphite is running headlong into a supply shortage. Existing production has kept supplies and prices steady, but analysts expect that to change as demand for batteries grows.

• Converting the existing U.S. car fleet to electric vehicles would require more lithium than the world currently produces. (Scientific American)

U.S. consumer spending fell for a second straight month in December. (WSJ)

Amazon raised the minimum order level for Prime members to get free grocery delivery. (WSJ)

Goodyear is cutting about 500 jobs, or roughly 5% of its salaried staff around the world. (WSJ)

Fast-fashion retailer H&M’s annual profit fell 68% despite rising sales. (WSJ)

Intel expects to post a loss for this quarter after swinging to a quarterly net loss of $664 million in the last three months of 2022. (WSJ)

Hong Kong’s exports fell 28.9% in December, the steepest decline since 1953. (South China Morning Post)

Brunei LNG struck a deal to supply liquefied natural gas to Japan Petroleum Exploration. (Nikkei Asia)

A range of issues signal automotive parts suppliers are in for another bumpy year. (Automotive News)

Walmart plans to spend $2.5 billion to boost its presence in India’s e-commerce market. (Axios)

FedEx founder Fred Smith doesn’t view Amazon as a direct competitor of the package carrier. (DC Velocity)

A.P. Moller-Maersk is eliminating the Hamburg Süd and SeaLand brands as it consolidates under the Maersk name. (Splash 247)

John Fredriksen raised his stake in Frontline rival tanker operator Euronav to 24.99%. (Lloyd’s List)

Less-than-truckload carriers are adding handling capacity ahead of an expected rebound in trucking demand. (Journal of Commerce)

Administrators are weighing a sale of Cargologicair, the freighter operator in the U.K. version of bankruptcy. (The Loadstar)

Cargo airline Ameriflight ordered 20 autonomous feeder aircraft from startup Natilus. (Air Cargo News)

Indiana-based logistics operator FitzMark acquired Georgia-based refrigerated freight specialist GTO 2000. (Indianapolis Business Journal)

Paul Page is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at paul.page@wsj.com.

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage, @bylizyoung and @pdberger. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics.