Headlines

** Texas residents grilled U.S. energy regulators on Saturday over their supervision of liquefied natural gas processing plants at a meeting to discuss conditions at the fire-idled Freeport LNG plant. The second-largest U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility was knocked offline by a fiery blast last June and operations halted while regulators review operations and staffing.

** Ford is reportedly days away from sharing a plan to increase its supply of US-made electric vehicle batteries. According to Reuters, the automaker could announce as early as Monday that it’s partnering with China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co (CATL) to build a $3.5 billion iron phosphate battery plant outside of Marshall, Michigan.

** White House climate czar Ali Zaidi, who also serves as an assistant to President Biden, privately met with three officials with the Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), an environmental group pushing gas stove bans.

World

** U.K.-based environmental law firm ClientEarth is suing Shell’s 11-member board, saying they are failing to properly manage the business risks associated with climate change. The lawsuit, filed in England’s high court, claims that the company’s current climate strategy is inadequate.

** OPEC’s top official urged countries to invest much more in oil to meet the world’s future energy needs and said climate policies need to be more “balanced and fair.”

** Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, Finland, Luxembourg and Latvia have warned Brussels not to rush into major changes to the European Union’s electricity market in response to the energy crisis, calling instead for limited tweaks to the system.

** European countries have spent close to 800 billion euros to fight soaring energy costs. That’s approaching $850 billion. The number came in a report Monday (February 13) by Brussels-based think tank Bruegel.

** Specialists from Russia’s defence ministry are building a water pipeline system that would connect the country’s Rostov region bordering Ukraine with the Donbas region inside Ukraine, the state TASS news agency reported late on Sunday.