Energy briefs

** President Trump wants to increase drilling to lower oil prices, but producers are hesitant. Sources told The Wall Street Journal that White House advisers recognize this and don’t expect the US shale industry to increase output. Corporate leaders have hinted as much in recent earnings commentary, cautioning not to expect a major drilling ramp-up.

** President Donald Trump’s executive order banning offshore wind projects has brought New Jersey’s first offshore wind project to a standstill. Federal permitting uncertainty and Shell pulling back on clean energy halted negotiations, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities said.

**  clean energy trade association says chaos within the Trump administration has virtually paralyzed solar and wind permitting on federal and even some private lands even though the Republican party espouses an “all of the above” energy platform.

** Texas’ largest university plans to be a test bed for small nuclear reactors that could help meet the state’s skyrocketing electricity demand from data centers, population growth, and extreme weather. The Texas A&M University System on Tuesday said it’s leasing land to four nuclear startups that specialize in small modular reactors.

** New Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chair Mark Christie says he plans to prioritize grid reliability, proposals to co-locate large loads with power plants, and high electricity costs in his tenure.

** The U.S. EPA tells agency officials to continue distributing Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure law funds to some programs after a two-week-long pause.

** Energy industry leaders and former U.S. EPA officials say EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin will have a much easier time revoking Biden-era emissions rules if he doesn’t try to replace them.

World

** Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday ordered the state-run oil company Ecopetrol to cancel a joint venture with a U.S.-owned company that was expected to produce around 90,000 barrels of oil per day, citing environmental concerns.

** China issues retaliatory tariffs on U.S. coal imports, potentially affecting some Western mines.

** The governor of Russia’s Astrakhan region told residents not to panic on Wednesday after its main city, close to a huge gas chemical complex that was attacked by Ukrainian drones this week, was enveloped in a cloud of natural gas.

**  India’s palm oil imports in January plunged to their lowest level in nearly 14 years as refiners replaced the tropical oil with cheaper rival soyoil because of negative refining margins for palm oil, five dealers said.

** Thailand cut electricity supplies on Wednesday to several areas in neighboring Myanmar that are home to site. As of Wednesday afternoon, at least one of the scam compounds was still operating, according to a local NGO in contact with workers inside one location.