** Regional prices of crude oil pumped in Western Canada and in North Dakota have risen this week to lower their discounts to the U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, after freezing winter temperatures disrupted crude flows from Alberta’s oil sands and the Bakken shale play in the United States.
** Coal burned for electricity spiked 17% in 2021, the first time it has grown since 2014.
** An official at manufacturing giant Komatsu on Friday apologized and told Milwaukee elected leaders that the company should have communicated more quickly in the wake of an oil spill on the Menomonee River in early December.
** Ford Motor Co., concerned about its reputation and customer complaints related to the upcoming launch of the F-150 Lightning, is warning dealers not to upsell reservations for the popular EV truck and also wants customers to sign a contract preventing them from reselling it within a year, according to a letter from the automaker to its dealers.
** General Motors Co on Sunday said it had agreed to recognize California’s authority to set vehicle emission standards under the Clean Air Act. The move will make the Detroit automaker eligible for government fleet purchases by the state of California, GM said.
** Volkswagen Chattanooga is boosting wages by 10% for production employees as the company expects assembly of an electric SUV to hit large numbers at the plant this fall, an official said Friday.
World
** Levels of planet-warming carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere hit record highs in 2021, which was one of the world’s hottest years ever and underlined the need for change, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said.
** Mexico’s government said it had slashed Petroleos Mexicanos’ debt burden by $3.2 billion through a refinancing operation
** 2021 ended with a report that Nigeria experienced a deficit of almost 200 million barrels of crude in the first 11 months of the year, mainly due to oil theft. But these experiences are all too common, and not limited to Nigeria alone. Year on year, we are seeing huge oil losses because of theft.