Energy briefs

** President Donald Trump on Monday indicated that he wants to reach an agreement with Ukraine to gain access to the country’s rare earth materials as a condition for continuing U.S. support for its war against Russia.

** Colombian energy company Ecopetrol is renewing its oil joint venture with U.S. firm Occidental Petroleum in the Permian basin of Texas. The agreement had been thrown into question after Ecopetrol backed out of another deal in August to acquire $3.6 billion in other assets in the Permian from Occidental.

** A lawsuit alleging for the first time that people died because of the disastrous 2023 East Palestine train derailment was announced on Monday’s second anniversary of the toxic crash near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border amid a flurry of new litigation.

** Demand for new electric vehicles has flatlined in California, new sales figures show, raising questions as to whether automobile manufacturers can meet ambitious state mandates for zero-emission vehicle sales. Aside from Tesla, which sells only EVs, no other major manufacturer will meet the state’s 35% threshold for zero-emission vehicles in the upcoming 2026 model year.

** Cleanup is underway after thousands of gallons of oil spilled Monday into Allegheny County river near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

** Energy from oil, gas and electricity make up nearly two-thirds of Minnesota’s imports from Canada, exposing an economic hit the state could take under now-delayed tariff threats from the Trump administration.

** More than 100 recently hired employees in the Chicago-based regional office of the U.S. EPA receive notices that they could immediately be fired, as agency workers already expect to be handcuffed by the Trump administration.

World

** Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is promoting “drill baby drill” and wants to build multiple oil and gas pipelines along with LNG terminals on each coast (projects that are hamstrung by Trudeau’s environmental extremism).

** Pakistan has signed an agreement to defer by one year a $1.2 billion payment on the country’s Saudi oil imports. The deal is with the Saudi Fund for Development.

** Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers is running out of options to export oil. The US, UK, and EU have all levied heavy sanctions on Russian shadow fleet vessels in recent months as part of an effort to hamper Russian oil exports and hinder the country’s ability to fund its invasion of Ukraine.

** The world’s longest wind-powered cargo ship was recently launched in Tuzla port of Turkey. Dubbed Neoliner Origin, the 450-foot vessel promises to slash carbon emissions and usher in a greener era of maritime transport. Interestingly, it can carry 5,842 tons of cargo over long distances.

**  Israel is turning to its citizens to help produce electricity and profit from it as demand grows rapidly by putting solar panels on their roofs to take advantage of the sun as a key natural resource.

** Volkswagen has sued Indian authorities to quash an “impossibly enormous” tax demand of $1.4 billion, arguing the ask is contradictory to New Delhi’s import taxation rules for car parts and will hamper the company’s business plans, court papers show.