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WASHINGTON — Americans shopped at a healthy pace in July, buying more cars, clothes and appliances, evidence that confident consumers are helping drive robust economic growth.

New rules limiting the amount of sulfur allowed in shipping fuel is expected to cut demand for high-sulfur fuel oil and the sour crude that yields it. In Canada, that could extend — or worsen — the biggest price slump in nearly five years.

PetroChina, a unit of the state-owned China National Petroleum Corp., may suspend its buying of U.S. liquefied natural gas cargoes during the colder months, just as new American LNG terminals start up.

A trailer makers group is asking a federal appeals court to require that two federal agencies state when they plan to make a final decision on a 2016 Obama-era heavy-truck greenhouse gas rule. Whether revised or kept in place, the rule would regulate trailers for the first time.

One of Oklahoma’s fastest-growing companies, Mammoth Energy Services, continued to expand in the second quarter, buying up two more companies and securing new contracts throughout the country.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched a study of the potential economic impact forthcoming regulations that require shipping vessels to burn cleaner fuel might have on other transportation sectors, including trucking.

Last week, President Donald Trump proposed gutting California’s unique ability to write greenhouse gas emission limits for cars and trucks.

The Trump administration’s plan to ease vehicle-emission mandates lifts some burdens for automakers but also would strip away options that have made it easier for them to comply and have encouraged the development of electric cars.

Shippers beware: Oil refineries are starting to eradicate stockpiles of sulfur-rich fuel that powers the merchant fleet in anticipation of a demand collapse in fewer than 18 months.

WASHINGTON — Oil and gas executives have watched wearily in recent years as the relationship between the United States and Russia deteriorated, steadily closing off their ability to drill the vast shale plays underlying Siberia and the deep-water oil fields off Russia’s Arctic coast.