** Coal stockpiles at U.S. power plants decreased significantly from December 2020 to February 2021, including a draw of nearly 16 million tons in February 2021. February’s draw was the largest monthly coal inventory decrease since July 2011, when stocks were drawn down by 18 million tons reports the EIA.
** A controversial oil refinery in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, is shutting down “indefinitely” because of “severe financial constraints,” its owner, Limetree Bay Energy, announced on Monday.
** Culver City, California’s city council votes to phase out oil drilling and remove all existing wells in the city’s 78-acre portion of an oil field by 2026.
** Exxon Mobil Corp. is preparing to reduce headcount at its U.S. offices by between 5% and 10% annually for the next three to five years by using its performance-evaluation system to remove low performers, according to people familiar with the matter.
** Volvo has intended to establish a joint venture with Swedish battery company Northvolt to develop and produce sustainable batteries, which will power future pure electric Volvo and Polestar (Volvo’s electric sub-brand) cars.
** Lucid Motors is rolling full steam ahead in its production of luxury electronic cars that could compete with Tesla. The company announced updates to its rollout and said a flagship New York City studio will open this week. A studio in Chicago opened on June 11.
** Colonial Pipeline Co. was sued by a gas station seeking to represent thousands more over the ransomware attack in May that paralyzed the U.S. East Coast’s flow of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. EZ Mart 1 LLC, a two-pump station in Wilmington, North Carolina, buys its fuel from a distributor supplied by Colonial, according to a complaint filed Monday in a Georgia federal court.
** Wisconsin based Oshkosh Defense will invest $155 million and create 1,000 jobs in Spartanburg County, South Carolina in a plant to manufacture the next generation of vehicles for the United States Postal Service.
** European natural gas extended its unprecedented rally as supply curbs sent prices to the highest in almost 13 years and stoked concerns over energy inflation.
** Campbell County, Wyoming, which produces nearly half of the nation’s coal, sees property valuation plummet to 20-year lows.
** A proposed 350-mile underground transmission line that would connect the MISO and PJM grids between Iowa and Minnesota moves forward after the developer selects an engineering firm for the project.
** The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Tuesday stated in its June 2021 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), it expects U.S. natural gas prices to increase during 2021 and 2022 from 2020 prices as a result of expected growth in natural gas consumption and natural gas exports that outpace expected growth in production and imports.