Other energy stories and headlines

** Panasonic on Monday unveiled a new large prototype battery designed to help Tesla Inc lower electric vehicle (EV) production costs, in a move the Japanese company’s battery chief said would deepen business ties with its key U.S. customer.

** Toyota said Monday it is testing hydrogen combustion engines in race cars as it works toward using the technology in commercial products.

** JPMorgan Chase Citigroup and Bank of America collected the most fees from the oil, gas and coal sectors in the past six years, according to a Bloomberg study released Monday. The news service said these and other major banks have drawn in at least $17 billion in fees and floated about $4 trillion in loans for fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement on climate was reached in 2015.

** Hertz is buying 100,000 Tesla vehicles, the car-rental firm announced Monday. It’s potentially the largest ever single purchase of electric vehicles, Bloomberg estimates.

** U.S. power utility Dominion Energy and Spanish turbine maker Siemens Gamesa said on Monday they will build the first U.S. factory to make blades for offshore wind power, part of plans to make a regional supply hub for the industry.

** The Biden administration releases a draft environmental impact statement for a proposed 1 million acre oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet.

** A U.S. House subcommittee will hold a hearing Wednesday scrutinizing the federal coal leasing program.

** Rivian draws attention from onlookers as it test drives its new electric truck in Chicago for the first time. 

** The FBI is assisting a Michigan law enforcement agency’s investigation into a tampering incident last week that briefly shut down the Line 5 pipeline.

WORLD

** Germany, Denmark, Ireland and six other European countries said on Monday they would not support a reform of the EU electricity market, ahead of an emergency meeting of energy ministers to discuss the recent price spike.

** Demand has jumped for relatively cheap Canadian natural gas, driving exports to the United States to three-year highs and prompting producers in Canada to boost capital spending and drilling activity.

** Cracks are emerging in the global solar industry, threatening to flatten its growth trajectory just as the world needs clean power more than ever. The sector is being slammed by a barrage of obstacles, with rising materials costs, forced labor accusations and a worsening trade war all hitting at once reports Bloomberg.

** QatarEnergy has signed a deal for a 40% stake in one of ExxonMobil’s major offshore explorations in Canada, the Qatar state-owned oil and gas firm said on Sunday.

** Saudi Arabia said it would use one of the world’s biggest natural-gas projects to make blue hydrogen, as the kingdom steps up efforts to export a fuel seen as crucial to the green-energy transition.