** The U.S. on Wednesday seized an oil tanker flying a Russian flag that is linked to Venezuela, according to a multiple news reports. The reported seizure in the North Atlantic concludes a weeks-long chase, two U.S. officials told NBC News. One of the officials said that the ship has been secured, and the Department of Homeland Security is leading the operation with the support from the U.S. military.
** As President Donald Trump vows to return U.S. energy investment to Venezuela, the Latin American country remains on the hook for billions of dollars owed to American energy companies following years-old legal battles over oil contracts. ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips exited Venezuela in 2007 and later filed claims against the government in international arbitration courts. Those courts ultimately ruled in favor of the companies, ordering Venezuela to pay ConocoPhillips more than $10 billion and ExxonMobil more than $1 billion.
** Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are reportedly planning meetings with oil executives to convince them to reenter Venezuelan oil fields.
** A bipartisan spending package introduced Monday largely preserves budgets for the U.S. EPA and the Interior Department.
** Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) affirms permitting negotiations are on pause as long as the Trump administration halt on offshore wind construction continues.
** Tesla’s sales fell year-over-year in 2025, finishing at 418,227 deliveries, putting the company’s sales totals behind emerging Chinese company BYD.
** In 2025, for the fourth year in a row, the world’s biggest banks made more money on their renewables investments than they did working with fossil fuel companies.
** A Houston company faces a record $9.6 million in federal fines for its role in a major oil spill that mystified experts and environmentalists for months following the November 2023 incident. The U.S. Department of Transportation, which regulates pipelines, offered clarity Monday. It said in a statement that Houston-based Panther Operating Co. faces the “largest civil penalty ever” for alleged failures leading up to and during the incident involving its pipeline offshore Louisiana, Main Pass Oil Gathering.
** The left-wing group Media Matters reports that the major four broadcast networks aired 12 hours and 51 minutes of climate coverage in 2024 — a 25% decline in volume of coverage from 2023. Preliminary numbers show that the decline has continued into 2025.
World
** Analysts say there’s a guaranteed, albeit small, market for Venezuelan crude as the world approaches peak oil demand.
** Ukrainian forces used long-range, deep-strike drones to hit a Russian missile arsenal and oil depot supporting the invasion, a security official told Business Insider on Tuesday. The attacks mark Ukraine’s latest deep strikes as it continues to target Russian weapons and the country’s vast energy sector, a major revenue source for the state as it wages war.
** A Chinese petrochemical giant will more than double the size of its oil refinery in Brunei, as China boosts its economic sway in the former British protectorate. Hengyi Petrochemical Company said it would expand the capacity of its refinery to 20 million tonnes by 2028, up from eight million tonnes now. The move will be partly bankrolled by loans and tax breaks from the Brunei government.
**With the pullback in investment and the government’s reluctance to award new licenses, exploration in the UK North Sea plunged to an all-time low. Due to unpredictable fiscal policies, 2025 became the first year since 1960 without a single exploration well in Britain’s offshore, consultancy Wood Mackenzie has warned.