** Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez has suspended the 8% tax on oil imports and is working on other legislative steps so the country can rebuild its oil and natural gas production. He’s hoping to make Vaca Muerta, one of the world’s largest shale plays a global exporter.
** A Massachusetts city becomes the first in the nation to post climate warnings on gas pumps reported Grist.
** Iraq confirmed that it’s selected a Chinese company for a multibillion-dollar oil-supply deal, as the Arab nation seeks funds to bolster an economy reeling from the coronavirus-triggered collapse in energy prices. SOMO, which oversees Iraq’s petroleum exports, picked a Chinese company after receiving bids from several traders.
** Kentucky replaces 18,000 roadside lights with LEDs, which will reduce energy consumption by more than half reported Spectrum News 1.
** Iranian state television has acknowledged that Tehran seized a South Korean-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. The report on Monday alleged that the MT Hankuk Chemi had been stopped by Iranian authorities over alleged “oil pollution” in the Persian Gulf and the strait.
** A federally funded effort has contributed to the buildout of electric vehicle charging and compressed natural gas stations along an interstate highway corridor connecting Michigan and Montana according to the Energy News Network.
** OPEC sees plenty of downside risks for oil markets in the first half of 2021, its secretary general said on Sunday, a day before meeting allies led by Russia to discuss output levels for February reported Reuters.
** South Sioux City, Nebraska, filed suit against the owner of a shuttered waste-to-energy plant last month claiming the company misrepresented its ability to operate the facility according to the Sioux City Journal.
** Pressured by strict U.S. sanctions, Venezuela’s oil exports are down to 1940’s levels and plunged by 376,500 barrels per day (bpd) in 2020, according to Refinitiv Eikon data and internal documents from state-run PDVSA, financially squeezing socialist President Nicolas Maduro.
