** California regulators have taken away a key incentive for builders to use natural gas in new homes and commercial buildings as the state seeks to reduce greenhouse gasses and reach its climate goals.
** U.S. climate envoy John Kerry cautioned against investing in long-term gas projects in Africa as countries in the region, some hoping to tap recent oil and gas discoveries, wrestle with how to power their development with clean energy.
** The Biden administration announced plans to develop floating platforms in the deep ocean for wind towers that could power millions of homes and vastly expand offshore wind in the United States. The plan would target sites in the Pacific Ocean off the California and Oregon coasts, as well as in the Atlantic in the Gulf of Maine.
** The Biden administration accepted nearly $190 million in bids from an offshore oil and gas lease sale that was held nearly a year ago but rejected by a federal judge.
** Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee took aim at Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler’s plan to implement a new rule requiring disclosure of climate change risks during a recent hearing.
** Senator Joe Manchin said he needs as many as 20 Senate Republicans to vote for his plan to streamline the federal approval for energy projects to counter Democratic defections — further casting doubt on the effort to tie his bill to a must-pass spending bill this month.
World
** Germany is taking control of three Russian-owned refineries in the country to ensure energy security before an embargo on oil from Russia takes effect next year, officials said Friday.
** Russian President Vladimir Putin said that pipeline gas supplies to Pakistan were possible and part of the infrastructure was already in place, Russian state-owned new agency RIA reported.
** Russian gas exports to Europe will fall roughly 66% this year, according to the Kremlin’s deputy prime minister. Russia accounted for 40% of Europe’s gas supply before the invasion of Ukraine, but that share is now 9%.
** Volkswagen AG is set to receive hundreds of millions of euros in trading profits as it offloads a massive natural-gas hedge, selling large amounts of fuel it previously purchased back into the German market.