** Iranian attacks on the world’s largest LNG plant in Qatar and refineries in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait sent shock waves through energy markets Thursday as the US said there was no time frame to end the Middle East war.
** Global crude oil prices surged more than 6% early on Thursday, a day after Iran retaliated against an Israeli strike on its biggest gas field by attacking neighboring Qatar’s main energy hub and causing “extensive damage,” as the U.S.-Israel war against Iran continued to disrupt energy infrastructure in the region.
** Amid growing fears over the economic damage from the war, Trump said Iran’s key South Pars gas field would not be attacked again, after Israel struck it on Wednesday, but warned of a furious American response if Tehran did not end its attacks on Qatari energy sites.
** About 90 ships including oil tankers have crossed the Strait of Hormuz since the outset of the war with Iran and it is still exporting millions of barrels of oil at a time when the waterway has been effectively closed, according to maritime and trade data platforms.
** China called for an end to conflict in the Gulf and said the safety of waterways should not be disturbed on Thursday, adding that it was ready to work with Southeast Asia to address energy shortages as oil markets reel from supply shocks.
** A pipeline leak at Libya’s largest oil field, Sharara, caused a fire on Thursday, prompting a redirection of the flow of oil, the National Oil Corporation said in a statement.The Sharara field is a regular target for warring political and military factions in Libya, which boasts the biggest oil reserves in Africa, at an estimated 48 billion barrels.
U.S.
** Google comes forward as the prospective end user of a 1 GW data center in southeastern Michigan, under a deal with DTE Energy that executives say would lower costs for ratepayers and include investments in home weatherization.
** London-based tech company Nscale announces plans to build a data center in West Virginia on a 2,200-acre campus that will be powered by a microgrid.
** A moratorium on data centers in Lowell, Massachusetts — already home to one of the state’s largest such facilities — highlights the way attitudes have evolved since Gov. Healey first announced policies to attract these developments in 2024.
** Attorneys general from New York and 19 other states argue that a Trump administration proposal to require 100% American-made components in EV chargers receiving federal funds would essentially render the $5 billion program unworkable.
** Michigan potato growers are raising concerns about solar development’s short- and long-term impacts on farmland, noting that processors won’t accept crops on ground that houses solar because of risk to consumers.