Other headlines

** Former Vice President Al Gore said Sunday that now is the time to act on climate change as the U.S. experiences record heat and wildfires rage across Europe. Gore said global warming pollution is trapping the heat equivalent of 600,000 Hiroshima-class atomic bombs.

** The U.S. still remains ‘a ways away’ from reaching an international agreement to impose a price cap on Russian oil exports, with limited enthusiasm from the world’s largest energy buyers India and China, so far, a Senior Biden energy advisor said.

** Opposition from friends, not foes, is creating potential roadblocks to President Joe Biden’s green energy agenda on federal lands in the blue-leaning, Western swing state of Nevada. Two lithium mines and a geothermal power plant in the works in the biggest U.S. gold-mining state are under attack from conservationists, tribes and others who otherwise generally support Biden’s efforts to expedite the transition from fossil fuels to renewables.

** Warren Buffett’s company has bet about $27 billion on Chevron and Occidental Petroleum this year.

** New car sales in the second quarter of 2022 were down more than 20% from 2021 figures. But sales of electric vehicles are growing.

** Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo said Sunday that the real climate-change emergency is America’s declining investment in fossil fuels, not finding renewable sources to gain energy independence.

** A group of climate activists and their kids protested at White House chief of staff Ronald Klain’s Maryland home on Saturday to demand that President Biden declare an official climate emergency, which would dramatically expand his executive power to enact environmental regulation.

World

** A sudden crash in global gasoline prices in the past two weeks has dented refiners’ profits, pushing up inventories in key trading hubs around the world while looming exports from China and India also add to pressure on growing stockpiles.

** The world’s largest international oil and gas companies are expected to accelerate share repurchases, and some could raise dividends next week when Big Oil is expected to report another very strong quarter. Shareholders could be in for higher returns as Shell, BP, TotalEnergies, Exxon, and Chevron are all forecast to post exceptional and possibly record quarterly earnings for the second quarter.

** Russian natural gas giant Gazprom said on Monday that sanctions were still hampering maintenance of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, a strong signal that energy supplies to Europe remain at risk unless the West eases sanctions imposed over Ukraine.

** The European Union is seeking additional gas supplies from Nigeria as the bloc prepares for potential Russian supply cuts, Matthew Baldwin, deputy director general of the European Commission’s energy department, said over the weekend.

** As the burgeoning Guyanese offshore oil and gas industry goes from strength to strength, powered by the Stabroek block, government revenue from domestic production is on track to break the $1 billion mark this year and accelerate to $7.5 billion annually in 2030, according to Rystad Energy research.

** Toyota Motor Corp has stopped taking orders for its current Harrier sports utility vehicle model, a spokesperson said on Monday, as output was delayed by pandemic-linked curbs and a world semiconductor shortage.