** Plains All American Pipeline (PAA) reported strong second-quarter results highlighted by improved operations and a $225 million bolt-on acquisition in the Permian Basin. Plains All American closed on its Permian bolt-on deal July 28 to acquire Diamondback Energy’s 43% share in the OMOG JV LLC pipeline.
** In a letter to Granholm sent Monday afternoon, 29 Republicans led by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers expressed concern that the energy secretary privately consulted China National Energy Administration Chairman Zhang Jianhua, a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party, before the White House announced its first Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) release.
** The University of Texas Permian Basin has named Jacqui Gore as the new Vice President of Community Engagement and Partnerships. Gore will begin her role at UT Permian Basin on Sept. 1.
** Proterra Inc., which makes heavy-duty electric vehicle components like chargers and batteries, filed for bankruptcy on Monday. The Burlingame, California-based company listed assets and liabilities of at least $500 million each in a Chapter 11 petition in Delaware. The filing gives Proterra protection from creditors while it finds a way to repay them. Shares of the company fell as much as 65% in premarket trading on Tuesday.
** President Joe Biden is set to designate the fifth national monument of his presidency and unveil new climate resilience funding for national parks during a visit to lands surrounding one of the seven natural wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon. The designation would protect the area from potential uranium mining.
** US gas prices are on the rise again, threatening to worsen an inflation problem the Federal Reserve has worked hard to fight over the past year. The average gallon of gas traded at $3.89, its highest level since October 2022, per AAA.
World
** China’s exports suffered their biggest drop in more than three years in July as global demand slowed, adding further pressure on Beijing to find ways to reinvigorate the world’s second largest economy. The value of exports, measured in US dollars, fell 14.5% last month from a year ago.
** Australia’s bid to become a major refiner of battery-ready chemicals is taking a knock as smaller producers look to form joint ventures with major Asian conglomerates to manufacture lithium hydroxide overseas.
** New Zealand’s government said Tuesday it will partner with U.S. investment giant BlackRock in its aim to become one of the first nations in the world to have its electricity grid run entirely from renewable energy.
** LNG Japan Corp. agreed a deal worth as much as $880 million for a stake in a giant natural gas project off Australia, a new step to secure supply of a fossil fuel the nation expects to retain a key role in its energy mix.
** Greta Thunberg will no longer appear at a large Scottish book festival this week, saying she does not want to be “associated with events” connected to the fossil fuel industry. The climate activist was set to appear at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, starting August 12, for an event called “Greta Thunberg: It’s Not Too Late to Change the World,” but said Friday she would no longer attend, accusing the main sponsor, Baillie Gifford, an investment management firm based in the UK, of “greenwashing.”