** The oil industry says Trump’s executive orders lifting drilling restrictions in parts of Alaska are unlikely to spur new oil and gas development because companies are focused on more accessible areas.
** U.S. tech giants criticized Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement eight years ago, but have remained silent this time around.
** In an announcement that thrilled many and alarmed many more, the U.S. pipeline operator Energy Transfer announced a 20-year agreement with oil and gas giant Chevron to provide them with liquefied natural gas (LNG), Reuters reported.
** TerraPower, the nuclear energy company founded by former Microsoft CEO and co-founder Bill Gates, announced it has a memorandum of understanding with a major U.S. data center developer to deploy advanced nuclear reactors to power existing and future facilities.
** Texas Instruments Inc. shares declined the most in nearly five years after the chipmaker gave a disappointing earnings forecast for the current period, hurt by still-sluggish demand and higher manufacturing costs.
** The American Gas Association applauded the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) action to reinstate the Transco Regional Energy Access Expansion Project’s (REAE Project) certificate. The facilities, which are currently transporting natural gas to customers, were at risk of being taken out of service unless FERC acted quickly. The certificate allows for the continued delivery of critical energy to millions of Americans in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania.
** Executive actions signed by President Donald Trump have put a hold on $38 million in grants that Kansas City was counting on to pay for electrical vehicle charging stations and other clean energy programs.
World
** A catastrophic explosion of a fuel tanker in the Suleja region of Niger State, Nigeria, resulted in 98 fatalities and at least 69 injuries on Saturday, January 18. The incident happened during an early morning attempt to transfer fuel and is one of many tragic events in recent months due to Nigeria’s escalating fuel prices.After a tanker tipped over, locals rushed to collect the spilled fuel, shortly after which the tanker ignited. The flames rapidly spread to a second nearby tanker.
** Volkswagen is prepared to let Chinese electric carmakers take over production lines in its struggling factories as Germany’s automotive industry is struck by a downturn. Executives at the car-making titan signalled they would be open to tie-ups with Chinese rivals to use up some of the excess capacity in their factories as they scale back production.
** Swedish authorities have seized a ship over the “aggravated sabotage” of an undersea fibre-optic cable linking Latvia with a strategically important island in Sweden. Prosecutors announced on Sunday night that they had ordered the detention of a vessel in the Baltic Sea suspected of damaging an underwater fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland earlier that day.