Tanker reverses course
** An oil supertanker that exited the Persian Gulf on Sunday hauling a cargo of Iraqi crude appears to have stopped shy of the US naval blockade line and is now turning back into the Gulf of Oman.
World oil depletion
** According to an estimate by TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne, the global economy has burned through 500 million barrels from its inventory this year, a figure that is growing by the day. Since inventories are finite, the world can’t continue on its current consumption track unless supplies rebound.
Oil spill
** Venezuela says an oil spill that originated in Trinidad and Tobago, two islands just off its coast, had caused serious environmental damage along the coastlines of at least two of its states and in a gulf area near the Caribbean nation.
Coal
** Shipments of coal have surged in recent months as countries search for alternative fuels to replace oil and gas supplies disrupted by the ongoing Middle East conflict.
Fights merger
** Canadian National urged the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to reject the amended merger application by Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, claiming it still fails to meet the regulator’s requirements.
US energy
** Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs a bill requiring data centers to pay their own utility service costs and prevent them from shifting the bill to ratepayers.
** A surge of as many as 70 proposed data centers converging on Cheyenne, Wyoming has rallied residents and a councilman to propose a 12-month moratorium on new construction.
** Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R) opposes Democratic rival Graham Platner’s Friday call for ending federal gasoline and diesel taxes. Collins noted that the gas tax funds highways and transit projects, so Platner’s plan “would exacerbate Maine’s already grossly underfunded roads.”
** Blackstone Inc. and Halliburton Co. are investing a combined $1 billion into VoltaGrid, a startup that makes gas-powered microgrids for data centers.
** EPA unveiled two policies aimed at speeding development of data centers, power plants and other infrastructure. A proposed rule would allow construction to begin on “non-emitting components or structures” before getting air permits under “new source review” requirements.
** The Interior Department rescinded a Biden-era rule that aimed to put conservation of public lands on equal footing with other uses like mining and oil and gas extraction.