Energy briefs

** Biden administration officials say they’ll race to allocate the remaining $46 billion from four climate and infrastructure bills before the year ends, but $303 billion will remain that cannot be spent until after Trump takes office.

** A clip from Billy Bob Thornton’s new show “Landman” went viral on X for slamming the use of renewable energy like wind turbines, that are intended to combat the effects of climate change.

** Big US utilities’ climate goals are in peril as artificial intelligence turbocharges electricity demand and Donald Trump’s reelection signals policy shifts that would favor fossil fuels.

** The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it will not reconsider a landmark rule finalized in April requiring nearly all new cars and trucks by 2029 to have advanced automatic emergency braking systems.

** Oil and gas producers in the US will not raise output significantly in the coming years despite calls from President-Elect Donald Trump to “drill, baby, drill,” said Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Upstream President Liam Mallon.

** Constellation Energy is asking U.S. regulators to make new rules for connecting customers directly to power plants, saying insufficient guidance has let electric utilities unfairly thwart attempts to site, or co-locate, data centers at its nuclear facilities.

** TechCrunch has confirmed with sources close to the company that Meta plans to build a new, major, fibre-optic subsea cable extending around the world — a 40,000+ kilometer project that could total more than $10 billion of investment.

** Solar imports from Southeast Asia are being unfairly sold in the US below their production costs, according to initial findings of a Commerce Department review that laid out duties of as much as 271% to counteract the practice.

World

** Volkswagen, under pressure from high costs and Chinese competition, rejected union proposals for cost savings on Friday, just days ahead of planned walkouts meant to avoid unprecedented plant closures.

** OPEC+ has few options when it comes to bringing back the oil production capacity it has been keeping off the market, according to some of the world’s top energy trading houses. The group will discuss on Dec. 1 whether to return barrels to the market, and senior trading executives said they expect the supply increase to be pushed back again.

** Iran, despite holding some of the world’s largest natural gas and oil reserves, has grappled with massive energy shortages in recent months. Years of Western sanctions and a lack of investment in infrastructure have exacerbated the situation, especially during peak consumption months in summer and winter.

** Germany’s highest court on Thursday rejected complaints by renewable energy producers against a government decision in 2022 to use their “excess profits” to help finance a cap on electricity prices.

** While sales of electric vehicles surge in China, adoption of more environmentally friendly vehicles is stumbling in the United States and Europe as carmakers and governments struggle to meet years-old promises about affordability and charging stations.

** Norsk Hydro ASA will shut its battery materials and green hydrogen businesses, in a further sign of the commercial pressures on companies striving to meet Europe’s green-energy goals.

** Russia’s seaborne crude exports saw their biggest drop since July, with shipments sliding to a two-month low, as flows to key buyer India fell sharply.

** Saudi Arabia has agreed nine investment deals in metals and mining worth more than 35 billion riyals ($9.32 billion) with companies including India’s Vedanta and China’s Zijin Group.