** Oil prices rose on Monday, driven higher after the OPEC+ group of producers again called off talks on output levels, failing in its third attempt to resolve a deadlock on increasing production, and leaving the oil market facing tight summer supplies and rising prices, Reuters, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported.
** The International Energy Agency sees natural gas demand growing by 3.6% this year after falling sharply in 2020, and then growing at a slower pace, averaging 1.7% in 2022-2024. The increase stems from recovery from the pandemic but also the continuing replacement of more emissions-intensive coal and oil with gas in some applications.
** Mexico’s state-owned oil company said Monday that a bizarre chain of events, including a lightning storm and a simultaneous gas pipeline leak, set off a strange subaquatic fireball seen last week in the Gulf of Mexico.
** The federal government backs up officials in South Portland, Maine, who want to block crude oil tanker loading in the city harbor.
** The Port of Corpus Christi’s plans to become a major petrochemical hub jars residents of a largely Black neighborhood boxed in by refineries, oil tanks, an interstate and now a bridge under construction.
** The Tennessee Valley Authority considers shutting down three of its five remaining coal-fired power plants and replacing them with natural gas.
** North Carolina’s governor signs into law a farm bill that includes streamlined permitting for hog farmerswho want to convert methane from waste ponds into energy.
** Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signs a bill prohibiting municipalities from enacting local bans on natural gas or propane usage, mirroring similar statewide efforts across the U.S.
** Environmental groups urge state regulators to block Ameren’s proposed permit that would govern how wastewater is discharged from Missouri’s largest coal plant into the Missouri River.
** The U.S. Justice Department has launched an inquiry into Lordstown Motors in the latest challenge to the Ohio-based electric vehicle startup.
** North Dakota regulators will hold public hearings on a proposed 7-mile pipeline that will move carbon dioxide to a series of storage wells.
** General Motors invests in a lithium mine paired with a geothermal power facility near the Salton Sea in California, which is expected to be the nation’s largest lithium extraction project by 2024.