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Biden’s Department of Energy will not be refilling the nation’s emergency reserves, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, any time soon as the agency has rejected bids received for the February fill since the bids are above $70 a barrel. Today’s price for Texas Intermediate oil is $75.87 a barrel . Biden depleted the emergency oil reserve of 260 million barrels to keep gasoline prices down going into the mid-term election last year. Biden promised to refill the reserve starting this...

To Senator Manchin’s dismay, Biden’s Treasury Department is allowing the tax credit for electric vehicles to be claimed if the vehicle is leased  regardless of where the battery components and vehicle were manufactured. The intent of the Inflation Reduction Act was for the tax credit to be applied to electric vehicles that were manufactured from components made in the United States or its allies to develop those industries at home and not to be reliant on autocratic countries. Europe’s...

Coal generation worldwide is expected to increase to a new record in 2022, driven by robust coal power growth in India and the European Union and by increases in China. In Europe, high natural gas prices led to fuel switching to coal in electricity generation. However, both natural gas and coal generation increased due to lower hydroelectric and nuclear power production, low wind speeds in some European countries and insufficient growth in wind and solar power. Many thought global coal...

The European Union added 41.4 gigawatts  of solar capacity in 2022, increasing 47 percent from the 28.1 gigawatts added in 2021. It was led by Germany with 7.9 gigawatts of solar capacity added and Spain with 7.5 gigawatts. Other European countries also added solar capacity in 2022 as follows: Poland (4.9 gigawatts), the Netherlands (4 gigawatts), France (2.7 gigawatts), Italy (2.6 gigawatts), Portugal (2.5 gigawatts), Denmark (1.5 gigawatts), Greece (1.4 gigawatts), and Sweden (1.1...

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing is all the rage among those who are frustrated that democracy and freedom are not making others do what the ragers want them to do.  It is also popular among some firms who repeat the chants and don the mantle of ESG in hopes that the ragers won’t try to cancel them.  However, these hardcore ESG advocates want to mandate their  version of ESG, dictate which firms can get bank loans, who, in addition to stockholders, directs the firm’s...

It is not enough for China to be the dominant economy in the electric vehicle battery supply chain and the biggest processor of critical minerals, but it is now making inroads in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker business with nearly 30 percent of this year’s record orders. Local and foreign ship owners turn to China’s shipbuilders because shipbuilders in South Korea are fully booked by orders to service Qatar’s massive North Field expansion . Three Chinese shipyards, with only...

After recently denying a permit to an enormous U.S. refinery in St. Croix, U.S Virgin Islands, which could supply petroleum products to the Northeast, President Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is denying a renewal permit to a coal-fired plant in Ohio that generates 11 percent of the state’s electricity. EPA denied  the James M. Gavin plant—a 2,600-megawatt supercritical coal plant– in Gallia County permission to release coal ash into an on-site coal ash pond that was...

Net zero proponents, such as Net Zero America at Princeton University, believe the United States needs to build between 2x and 5x as much electricity transmission as we have today. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that to meet President Biden’s goal of a zero-carbon gird by 2035, the transmission capacity must increase up to 3 times today’s capacity “or between 1,400 and 10,100 miles of new high-capacity lines per year starting in 2026 .” One big question is whether...

Switzerland may ban electric vehicles  from being used except for “essential” purposes this winter as government officials plan for a possible energy crisis during the winter months. Swiss officials drafted emergency proposals that restrict power usage if electricity shortages occur this winter. They include fewer hours for shop owners, limited use of streaming services, lower temperature settings on buildings of 20 degrees Celsius or 68 degrees Fahrenheit, bans on concerts, theater...

President Biden is continuing with his program of “anywhere but the United States” when it comes to oil investment and future production. The United States is allowing Chevron to resume pumping oil from its Venezuelan oil fields that U.S. sanctions had halted almost three years ago. The license was granted to Chevron after President Nicolás Maduro’s government agreed to implement an estimated $3 billion humanitarian relief program  and continue dialogue in Mexico City to supposedly...