** As promised, President Donald Trump began reversing the country’s energy policies his first day in office with a spate of orders largely favoring oil, gas and coal. But there is one renewable energy that did find favor: geothermal. Energy experts say that makes sense — geothermal energy makes electricity 24/7. Many people working in the field came from the oil and gas industry and they use much of the same technology for drilling wells.
** Trump’s rollback of a $7,500 tax credit for the purchase of electric vehicles could delay or halt South Carolina’s new and planned electric vehicle and battery plants, which it’s already spent millions to attract.
** Shell and Mitsubishi name a startup company to provide carbon capture technology at a direct air capture hub they want to build in Louisiana, although the project is contingent on clean energy funding the Trump administration might roll back.
** Boeing warned that it expected a fourth-quarter loss of about $4 billion to close a year marred by a production quality crisis, stricter regulatory scrutiny, supply chain delays and a crippling strike by U.S. West Coast factory workers.
** A South Carolina utility wants to restart construction on a power plant that was mothballed eight years ago after running over budget and pushing an iconic American company into bankruptcy. Hoping to capitalize on the data center power boom, state-owned utility Santee Cooper is looking for partners to help finance and complete the two reactors at the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Power Station, the Wall Street Journal reports.
** Batteries could “suddenly fail” in some recalled Ford cars, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Ford Motor Company recalled some 272,817 cars including the 2021-2023 Bronco Sport and 2022-2023 Maverick. In about 1% of cars, the 12-volt battery may experience “degradation and suddenly fail.”
** Texas Instruments Inc. gave a disappointing earnings forecast for the current period, hurt by still-sluggish chip demand and higher manufacturing costs. Profit will be 94 cents to $1.16 a share in the first quarter, the company said in a statement.
World
** The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces confirmed an attack overnight that hit Russia’s Ryazan Oil Refinery and the Ryazan Thermal Power Plant, leaving them ablaze Thursday morning. “As a result of the strikes, fires broke out at the production facilities of the Ryazan Oil Refining Company and at the Ryazan oil pumping station,” the General Staff statement said.
** Thousands of wind turbines are to be switched off during Storm Éowyn because the power generated by its 100mph gusts would overwhelm the UK’s electricity grid. The extreme weather will generate an unusably large amount of energy when Éowyn hits wind farms in Scotland and the North Sea on Friday, forcing operators to disconnect their machines.
** More than five years after Mexico’s energy minister unveiled a bold plan to fast-track construction of the country’s largest oil refinery to date, the Dos Bocas refinery is still unfinished. Its price tag recently surpassed $20 billion, making it one of the costliest projects to emerge during the administration of Lopez Obrador, known as AMLO.
** Liquefied natural gas shipping costs are plummeting as the market grapples with a glut of vessels, a development that could provide relief for gas importers and help pad profits for traders. The cost to hire a modern tanker with 174,000-cubic-meters of capacity in the Atlantic Basin fell to $9,750 per day on Thursday, down about 59% from a month earlier, according to data from Spark Commodities.
** Tata Electronics said on Friday it has bought a 60% stake in Taiwanese contract manufacturer Pegatron’s India unit that operates an iPhone plant, beefing up the Tata group firm’s position as an Apple supplier in a fast growing market.
** Hungary wants the European Union to persuade Ukraine to resume gas transit from Russia to Europe, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday, signalling a tough debate as the EU seeks to extend its sanctions against Russia over the coming week.
** Asian oil refiners — from Chinese teapots to processors in Singapore and South Korea — are either cutting run rates or considering it as the impact of US sanctions on Russia ripple through the market.
** Rio Tinto Group, the world’s biggest iron ore exporter, warned shipments of the steelmaking material will be impacted this quarter after a tropical cyclone in Australia’s northwest damaged a port facility.
** Volkswagen AG estimated it will take a €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) hit this year from stricter European Union standards for car emissions that the manufacturer will struggle to meet.