** President Joe Biden will leave the Middle East this week with no announcements on increasing oil supply before a scheduled meeting of producers next month, people familiar with the matter said.
** Sen. Joe Manchin’s decision to come out against the Democrats’ plan for solar and wind industry incentives not only killed the Biden administration’s climate change plans but left others in his party fuming and angry. Manchin’s refusal to support the climate legislation effectively dooms the chances that Congress will pass any new law to tackle global warming for the foreseeable future.
** The deadline for President Joe Biden to intervene and keep 115,000 railroad workers from going on strike and disrupting deliveries of cars, crops, containers of imported goods and countless other products and raw materials is looming.
** Chevron Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth continues to push back against President Biden’s repeated attacks on U.S. energy producers. On Thursday the head of the second largest U.S. oil company doubled down on calling for a stable regulatory environment for the industry.
** GM announced that it is partnering with Pilot Company and EVGo to construct a coast-to-coast national DC fast charging network.
** In a letter sent to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE), six Democrats led by Rep. Jared Huffman of California and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts requested those agencies require greater emissions and energy use reporting from the crypto mining industry.
** The Sinclair oil refinery in southern Wyoming — one of the region’s largest such facilities — lays off 87 workers after its parent company is sold.
** The Biden administration announces a new $56 million program to help spur U.S. solar product manufacturing.
World
** An oil tanker carrying 700,000 barrels of Russian oil reached Cuba on Thursday, Reuters first reported. The ship’s cargo is worth roughly $70 million at the current market price.
** Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that attempts by the Group of Seven to cap oil prices may in fact cause them to rise.
** The European Union is reportedly seeking an oil deal with Azerbaijan as it attempts to distance itself from Russia amid its war in Ukraine.