** The United States and Germany are expected to announce in coming days a deal resolving their long-standing dispute over Russia’s $11 billion Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.
** Record U.S. Coal Shipment to China Highlights Australia’s Pain. On June 28, the Frontier Unity bulk vessel left the port of Newport News, Virginia with a 136,400-ton cargo bound for steelmakers in China. It was the biggest shipment of its kind from a U.S. east coast port, according to miner Coronado Global Resources Inc.
** A judge considering legal challenges to government approval of a Nevada mine at the largest known U.S. deposit of lithium said Wednesday she’ll decide by the end of the month whether to grant the conservationists’ bid for a temporary ban on any digging at the site because of potential harm to sage grouse and other wildlife.
** Electric cars will be profitable within “two or three years”, according to Volkswagen’s boss, while Mercedes-Benz plans to spend more than €40bn (£34bn) to electrify its range. Herbert Diess, chief executive of the Audi, Seat, Skoda and Porsche owner, made the prediction at VW’s annual meeting on Thursday.
** After posting blowout numbers in the first quarter due to winter storms in Texas, Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) returned to its usual steady self during the second quarter. The natural gas pipeline giant produced slightly higher earnings and cash flow.
** Venezuela’s state-owned oil company imported a key component needed to achieve its goal of almost tripling crude production, defying U.S. efforts to isolate the Maduro regime’s grip on power.
** The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Thursday that domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 49 billion cubic feet for the week ended July 16. IHS Markit had forecast an increase of 51 billion cubic feet.
** Pacific Gas & Electric says it will bury 10,000 miles of power lines to reduce fire hazards as yet another wildfire potentially sparked by its equipment burns in California.
** New Mexico’s Democratic governor and Congress members oppose a plan to build an interim spent reactor fuel storage facility in the southeastern corner of the state.
** Nearly 41,000 gallons of oilfield wastewater spills from a broken pipeline in western North Dakota.
