Major steel manufacturer US Steel announced layoffs in excess of 700 employees and said deteriorating market conditions were to blame. “’This action is a result of a decline in tubular market conditions, which is impacting demand for the plant’s products,’ U.S. Steel wrote in a letter addressed to USW President Leo Gerard.” [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

Excelerate Energy asked FERC to delay review of a permit to build an LNG export project at the Port of Port Lavaca-Point Comfort, Texas. The company cited falling oil prices as a major reason for the request. “Excelerate states that ‘[r]ecent global economic conditions—including, among other things, a steep decrease in the price of oil—have created uncertainty regarding the economics of the Project,’ and therefore Excelerate has determined to place the Project on hold pending a change in circumstances.” [Sutherland LNG Law Blog]

The number of rigs drilling for oil in the US fell for the fourth week in a row amid plummeting oil prices and corporate spending cuts. “The shrinking rig count comes at a time when a slew of exploration and production companies, among them Marathon Oil, Linn Energy and Continental Resources, have said they plan on pairing back spending in 2015 in response to falling commodity prices.” [Fuel Fix]