Thursday energy news headlines

** A pair of New York businessmen filed a lawsuit in a U.S. court seeking to block Mexico’s state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) from taking control of a Texas refinery, claiming the sale would raise U.S. gasoline prices.

** The United States has enough reserves of lithium, copper and other metals to build millions of its own electric vehicles (EVs), but rising opposition to new mines may force the country to rely on imports and delay efforts to electrify the nation’s automobiles.

** The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is assessing whether the weed killer dicamba can be sprayed safely on soybean and cotton plants genetically engineered to resist the chemical, without the procedure posing “unreasonable risks” to other crops, an agency official said on Tuesday.

** The Biden administration announced Tuesday it has approved two major solar projects on federal land in California’s desert and moved to solicit interest in more solar power developments in other Western states.

** Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he had sold “enough stock” to reach his plan to sell 10% of his shares in the world’s most valuable car company, according to an interview released on Tuesday.

** Three House Democrats from New York on Tuesday called on a federal watchdog to investigate pollution generated by “peaker” power plants, or those that only generate electricity during periods of high demand. House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) joined Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) in calling on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the effects of such plants on local communities.

 

 

World

** Europe’s energy crisis got even worse on Tuesday as a shortage of natural gas, nuclear outages, declining wind power output, and cold weather boosted prices. The gas price at the Dutch TTF hub, the benchmark gas price for Europe, soared 10% to a new record high of 165 euros per megawatt-hour after gas entering Germany at the Mallnow compressor station plunged to zero.

** Cyprus announced on Wednesday it has resumed searching for oil and gas with US energy giant ExxonMobil after drilling operations stopped for more than a year because of coronavirus.

** Norway’s Aker BP will buy the oil and gas business of Sweden’s Lundin Energy, forming the second-largest listed petroleum firm on the Norwegian continental shelf, the two companies said on Tuesday. The cash and stock transaction values the acquired assets at approximately 125 billion Norwegian crowns ($13.9 billion), they said.