** Biden’s $1.7 trillion Build Back Better bill probably won’t get handled by the U.S. Senate until the second week in December because the Senate has yet to finish its defense policy bill and a bill to fund the government past Dec. 3.
** The Coast Guard named another ship as a party of interest as it investigates last month’s oil spill off the Southern California coast, with investigators boarding the Greek-operated, Liberian-owned ship on Thursday.
** Sustainable Oils, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Global Clean Energy Holdings, Inc. announced the company has purchased 45 acres in Havre, Montana. The company is close to selecting its contractor to begin construction of the planned 600,000 bushel storage and rail loading facility for its proprietary camelina grain in the first-quarter 2022.
** Two versions of the Lucid Air, featuring a 500-mile driving range, sit atop the updated EPA and DOE guide to the most fuel-efficient vehicles.
** Ford and Rivian no longer plan to develop an electric vehicle together, Automotive News reported. Ford CEO Jim Farley suggested his company had the confidence to build EVs without Rivian’s help.
** Ford announces it will increase electric vehicle production to build 600,000 cars by 2023.
** Between 2022 and 2025, 27.3 gigawatts (GW) of new natural gas-fired capacity is scheduled to come online in the United States, according to the EIA’s latest Monthly Electric Generator Inventory.
** Black Hills Energy in Nebraska forecasts that natural gas prices for home heating could increase an average of 58% this winter.
World
** Japan is considering releasing oil from its strategic stockpiles, joining China and the U.S. in a coalition of consumers that wants to tame a surge in energy prices that’s triggered a jump in inflation.
** A senior executive of carmaker General Motors (GM) raised concern about the future of renewable energy usage in Mexico, saying that without a solid legal basis for it, automotive investment in Latin America’s no. 2 economy would suffer.
** Asia is stocking up on liquefied natural gas (LNG) to avoid a repeat of last winter’s crunch when colder than usual temperatures sent 2020/2021 winter spot LNG prices to records. This week, Pacific spot LNG freight rates jumped above $300,000 per day to a new record high.
** Just over a week after some 200 nations struck an agreement aimed at intensifying global efforts to fight climate change, the finance minister of France warned on Sunday that the cost of the energy transition will be “much higher than expected.”
** Israel is set to sign a declaration of intent with neighboring Jordan on building a major solar power plant in the kingdom that will be used to generate electricity for Israel, as well as power a desalination plant there to send water onto Jordan, an Israeli official said Sunday.
** China’s market regulator on Saturday said it was fining companies including Alibaba, Baidu and JD.com for failing to declare 43 deals that date as far back as 2012 to authorities, saying that they violated anti-monopoly legislation.
** Environmental activists are welcoming the end of electricity generation from coal in Portugal, though they said Monday the possible conversion of the country’s last coal-fired power plant into one that burns wood pellets would be a step in the wrong direction.