** GasBuddy says we haven’t seen anything yet when it comes to rising gasoline prices, which now average $3.47 a gallon in the U.S. It predicts higher prices this summer.
** The Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest public power company is launching a program to develop and fund new small modular nuclear reactors as part of its strategy to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
** Executives from EQT Corp., a major customer of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, told Wall Street analysts that they aren’t expecting it to go into service until the middle of 2023.
** Duke Energy Corp., which plans to shutter all of its coal operations across six states by 2035, says it is expanding its decarbonization efforts.
** U.S. utilities plan to retire a record-setting 23 GW of coal-fired power plant capacity in 2028, on top of 51 GW expected to go offline before that year.
** California regulators sue Tesla, alleging the electric vehicle maker discriminates against Black employees at its San Francisco factory.
World
** Canadian oil companies exported a record amount of crude out of the U.S. Gulf Coast at the end of 2021, a trend that should continue in coming months, as tight international oil markets are in need of the nation’s heavy, sour crude.
** Norway’s Equinor will pay out $10 billion to shareholders this year after it reported record fourth-quarter pretax profits, joining European rivals in cashing in on a boom in oil and gas prices and sending its shares to a new high.
** Chronic oil supply issues among a group of major producing nations threaten to heighten tightness and volatility in the energy market and push prices higher still, the International Energy Agency said Friday.