** Americans are “really, really down” after two years of a pandemic and amid rising gasoline prices but the economy is in better shape than many think, President Joe Biden said in a recent interview with the Associated Press.
** The Biden administration is working to finalize a meeting between Energy Department officials and oil companies that is likely to take place in the “next couple of days,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
** SpaceX has fired employees who participated in writing and distributing an open letter criticizing Elon Musk, The New York Times has reported. First revealed yesterday, the letter called Musk’s behavior on social media “a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment” and asked SpaceX to condemn his actions.
** Local Florida police are on the lookout for two men who stole about $6,000 worth of diesel. The police told a local Fox News station that the two men had a pair of Ford F250 trucks that had massive fuel tanks hidden in the truck beds to carry the stolen fuel. They continually visited one pump that they had tampered with throughout the day, according to the outlet.
** Tesla keeps raising the price of its luxury electric cars, while automakers like GM and Nissan steadily cut the prices of their more affordable EVs to appeal to the mass market.
** Volkswagen AG’s top U.S. executive said on Thursday the United States faces major challenges in ramping up battery production to facilitate a shift to electric vehicles including attracting skilled workers, mining for key metals and supply chain issues.
World
** Ukrainian forces attacked drilling platforms in the Black Sea owned by a Crimean oil and gas company, the pro-Russian head of the annexed peninsula said on Monday, giving no details of what weapons were used.
** OPEC foresees continued economic growth this year despite numerous headwinds and global oil demand rising in the second half of 2022 compared to the first half of the year. The prediction was included in its June 2022 Monthly Oil Market Report.
** Canada said it was in talks with Germany to resolve an issue with a Siemens Energy turbine for Russia’s Nord Stream 1 pipeline that was sent to Canada for maintenance, reducing gas supply to Europe.
** Gas flows from Germany to France have stopped since June 15 after what German officials on Friday described as Russia’s politically motivated decision to reduce supplies to the European Union.
** Germany has taken a “bitter” decision to fire up idle coal power plants to reduce its reliance on Russian natural gas, as Vladimir Putin throttles supplies to the country.
** China continued to snap up Russian energy products last month, including a record quantity of crude oil, lifting purchases to $7.47 billion — about $1 billion more than April and double the amount of a year ago.
** Australia’s biggest building materials manufacturers are cutting back operations, hiking prices and considering moving production offshore to manage a spike in power and gas bills, adding to pressure on the government to resolve the country’s energy crisis.
** Other countries have higher gasoline prices than the U.S. Several European countries pay north of $7 or $8 per gallon, including Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. At the top of the expensive list is Hong Kong, where prices per gallon are higher than $11, followed by Norway at more than $10.