Energy quick reads

** U.S. power consumption will rise to record highs in 2024 and 2025, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO) on Tuesday. EIA projected power demand will rise to 4,099 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2024 and 4,128 billion kWh in 2025.

** U.S. energy firm CNX Resources said on Tuesday it expects lower production volumes in 2024 as it is delaying some well completion activities amid weak natural gas prices. CNX said it would delay completion activities on three upcoming Marcellus Shale pads consisting of 11 wells.

** U.S. natural gas production will decline in 2024 while demand will rise to a record high, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO) on Tuesday.

** Many planned US solar factories probably won’t be built as cheap imports from Chinese companies push global cell and panel prices so low that even federal subsidies can’t sustain domestic plants, a report warns.

** The Biden administration is rolling out its plan for deploying electric vehicle charging and hydrogen fueling infrastructure on the nation’s freight corridors — part of a bid to decarbonize US supply chains and accelerate the adoption of emission-free big rigs.

World

** Japan should accelerate its renewable energy roll-out and focus on technologies including offshore wind, John Podesta, the top US climate envoy, said on a visit to the Asian nation.

** Toyota Motor agreed to give factory workers their biggest pay increase in 25 years on Wednesday, heightening expectations that bumper pay raises will give the central bank leeway to make a key policy shift next week. Toyota, Panasonic, Nippon Steel and Nissan were among some of Japan Inc’s biggest names that agreed to fully meet union demands for pay hikes at annual wage negotiations that wrapped on Wednesday.

** Shell Plc has been considering slowing the pace of its carbon-emissions cuts as it updates its energy-transition strategy, according to people familiar with the matter. Any changes to the company’s climate targets could come as soon as Thursday, when Shell is due to publish an update of its long-term plan for clean energy and greenhouse gas emissions, said the people, who asked not to be named because the information is still private.

** Ukraine pounded targets in Russia on Tuesday with dozens of drones and rockets in an attack that inflicted serious damage on a major oil refinery and sought to pierce the land borders of the world’s biggest nuclear power with armed proxies.

**  BP Plc and the United Arab Emirates’ state oil firm suspended a $2 billion bid to buy a major stake in Israel’s NewMed Energy as the war in Gaza upends politics across the region.