** Reps. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) and Don McEachin (D-Va.) are introducing a bill to eliminate 11 tax breaks for oil and gas companies, including for marginal wells and enhanced oil recovery, to fund a $500 direct cash rebate for consumers reeling from high prices.
** President Biden seems to praise high gas prices as ‘incredible transition’ Americans must go through. It’s what he suggested Monday in a statement on gas prices during a joint press conference with Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishido.
** Electrical-grid operators are warning Michigan residents that blackouts could be needed during the hot summer months, with a hurried changeover to renewable energy sources at the forefront of the issue.
** The Coalition for American Battery Independence launched this week with members including General Motors, Ford, Panasonic, Tesla, Form Energy, Albemarle, Proterra and the Zero Emission Transportation Association.
** A new Ernst & Young poll shows 52% of respondents to its annual Mobility Consumer Index who are looking to buy a car want an EV.
** Pacific Gas & Electric begins its effort to bury 10,000 miles of power lines to reduce wildfire risk.
World
** India’s Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday that a crude oil price of $110 a barrel was not sustainable, as the world faces an energy price crisis which is contributing to rising global inflation.
** Germany plans to bring back coal- and oil-fired power plants should Russia cut off natural gas shipments to Europe’s largest economy.
** A longtime contractor for Shell has publicly called out the oil and gas company’s climate plans, accusing the company of “double talk” by saying it wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions while working on tapping new sources of fossil fuel.
** Toyota Motor Corp will cut its global production plan by about 100,000 to roughly 850,000 vehicles in June due to the semiconductor shortage, it said on Tuesday.
** The European Union is increasingly unlikely to approve a ban on Russian oil when the bloc’s leaders meet next week as Hungary continues to oppose the measure, according to people familiar with the matter.
** Russia’s biggest oil company, Rosneft, has taken the brunt of the hit from a slowdown in production. Bloomberg analysis showed that Rosneft’s output has fallen by around 560,000 barrels per day since February.