** Drivers are set for a boost at the pump in the new year as economists predict Donald Trump’s plans to ramp up US oil production will lower prices. Oil is forecast to fall to as low as $60 per barrel in 2025, which in turn could knock as much as 10p from the price of a litre of petrol, analysts said.
** Tesla has recorded its first drop in annual sales for a decade after Elon Musk’s support for Donald Trump provoked a backlash from Left-wing motorists. The US car giant delivered 495,570 electric vehicles (EVs) in the final three months of 2024, it revealed on Thursday, taking its yearly tally to 1.79m.
** A recent update on the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project showed it is on track to meet its projected late 2026 completion date.
** On December 30th, the North Dakota Public Service Commission approved a $13.1 million net increase to Otter Tail Power Company’s, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Otter Tail Corporation , electric service rates. While overall costs of living have increased since the company’s last North Dakota rate review, filed in 2017, this average net increase of 6.18 percent keeps the company’s electric service rates among the lowest in the nation.
** Massachusetts lawmakers just approved a bill that will make it easier and quicker to build renewable energy projects across the state, while putting new limits on natural gas growth, reported Canary Media. The new law creates a one-stop approval process for clean energy projects through the Energy Facilities Siting Board, removing red tape that often slows construction.
** Lucid officially rolled out its Gravity electric SUV at its Casa Grande plant in Arizona, marking another leap forward in the shift toward cleaner, more sustainable transportation, Electrek reported.
World
** Finnish officials on Sunday said they found miles and miles of tracks on the bed of the Baltic Sea that indicate a Russia-linked tanker could be responsible for slicing a cluster of valuable data and power cables.
**The “Global LNG Regasification Industry to 2028 – Capacity and Capital Expenditure Outlook with Details of All Operating and Upcoming Terminals” report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s offering. Global Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) regasification capacity is expected to grow by 53%, potentially increasing from 55.3 trillion cubic feet (tcf) in 2023 to 84.8 tcf in 2028.
** Britain’s net zero drive risks driving up household bills unless the “Soviet”-style grid is overhauled, the boss of the country’s biggest electricity supplier has warned. Greg Jackson, chief executive of Octopus Energy, criticised rules that encourage developers to build wind and solar farms far away from cities.
** On Jan. 1, Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom was set to halt gas supplies to the European Union candidate country over an alleged $709 million debt for past supplies, a figure fiercely disputed by Moldova’s pro-Western government, that has accused Moscow of weaponizing energy as a political tool to destabilize the country.
** Russian officials warned of severe environmental damage Wednesday as thousands of people came out to clean up tons of fuel oil that spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers more than two weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, near Moscow-occupied Crimea. More than 10,000 people, largely volunteers, raced to rescue wildlife and remove tons of sand saturated with mazut, a heavy, low-quality oil product, according to Russian news reports.
** Leading Chinese electric car maker BYD’s vehicle sales surged in 2024, the company said in a statement, as the firm grows its overseas presence. BYD sold 4,272,145 vehicles last year, up 41.3 percent from 2023’s 3,024,417 units, the company said Wednesday.
