Crude oil prices fell further in mid-December 2025, as concerns over a glutted market and weak demand worldwide persisted, despite a large draw in U.S. crude inventories. Despite the API information that U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 4.8 million barrels, growing gasoline and diesel stockpiles pointed to slow pace of downstream usage. The worries of oversupply were exaggerated due to increasing output and cheaper exports from OPEC+ members and Russia and India and China continue to buy massive amounts of Russian oil. Crude oil also came under pressure from macroeconomic, weak manufacturing activity and signs of abundant supply growth beginning in early 2026. As per ChemAnalyst, diminishing price support and cautious demand forecasts imply that crude oil markets could continue to be under pressure in the short term.
Selenis has effectively manufactured recycled PET chips using terephthalic acid sourced from Circ®, a textile-to-textile recycler based in Virginia. The chip production took place through a series of batches at Selenis' pilot plant in San-Giorgio, Italy. By utilizing inputs recovered from polycotton textile waste, Selenis has created high-quality PET chip, which has been further processed into DTY yarn. This yarn will play a crucial role in product development as Circ prepares for additional capsule launches. Selenis is leveraging the success of this initial collaboration phase and is committed to advancing towards an offtake partnership to support Circ's inaugural industrial facility.
Eduardo Santos, Head of Corporate Strategy at Selenis, remarked that the monomer synthesis showed a performance comparable to virgin terephthalic acid. He expressed optimism about the consistent quality of Circ's monomer output and anticipated future commercial success. Santos pointed out that the Circ partnership complements Selenis's existing mission and goals for a more sustainable textile industry. He further stated their anticipation of expanding upon this collaboration and providing support for Circ's forthcoming commercial production trials.
