** Members of an Arizona tribe are trying to persuade a federal judge to extend a temporary ban on exploratory drilling for a lithium project near lands they have used for religious and cultural ceremonies for centuries. Leaders of the Hualapai Tribe and others are scheduled to testify in U.S. District Court before the judge who issued a temporary restraining order last month for work at a site halfway between Phoenix and Las Vegas.
** A tribe in Oregon whose culture is tied to the ocean is suing the U.S. government over plans to hold an offshore wind energy auction next month, saying the environmental analysis underpinning the sale was too narrow and based on a “predetermined political decision.” The lawsuit, filed by the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, alleges the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management “failed to take a hard look at the impacts to the environment from private offshore wind energy development.”
** The Biden administration is offering $1.6 billion in financing to an Indiana-based ammonia production facility in an effort to create a domestic supply of low-carbon fertilizer. The conditional loan guarantee would help finance the commercial-scale waste-to-ammonia production facility using carbon capture and sequestration technology being built in West Terre Haute by Wabash Valley Resources LLC, the Energy Department said.
** BP is plotting a $2bn (£1.5bn) sale of its American onshore wind energy business as the oil giant backtracks on its green energy ambitions after an investor revolt. The company is planning to offload its American wind energy unit, BP Wind Energy, which has interests in 10 onshore wind farms across seven US states, in a bid to put greater focus on its solar energy ambitions.
World
** Two oil refiners in China run by chemical conglomerate Sinochem Group Co. were declared bankrupt, highlighting the headwinds older units face as margins plummet.
** Canada’s newly expanded oil pipeline to the Pacific is opening new markets for the country’s crude in Asia while reducing flows off the US Gulf Coast, at least partly fulfilling the project’s promise of diversifying the industry’s customer base.
** International negotiations on money to help developing countries tackle climate change concluded without a breakthrough this week, just two months before Azerbaijan hosts the United Nations climate summit. The Azerbaijani chair of the COP29 summit voiced concern after the four-day talks concluded on Thursday, while NGOs accused richer nations of blocking efforts to reach a deal.
** As Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, prepares to host the COP29 climate conference, also has a growing production of oil and gas. Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Azerbaijan has produced 1.05 billion tonnes of oil and is set to increase its natural gas production from 37 billion cubic metres (bcm) this year to 49 bcm over the next decade, according to official figures.
** Electric cars could reach a market share of as much as 24% in Europe next year as carmakers start to release cheaper models to turn around the slump in EV demand, according to the Transport & Environment lobby group.
** India will connect a record 35 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind energy capacity to its grid during the year ending March 2025, a top bureaucrat told Reuters, as it scrambles to achieve its 2030 clean energy target after falling short of a much publicised 2022 renewables goal.
