WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Thursday, readers! Today kicks off the 34th annual Environmental Film Festival in Washington, D.C. There will be films shown across the D.C. area until the 28th – you may also run into Callie or Maydeen at one of the showings. 📽️🍃⛰️🌊
In other news – the war in the Middle East has escalated in the past 24 hours, as key energy facilities in Qatar and Iran were struck by missiles. The strikes have caused global natural gas prices to soar, while raising concerns about the global gas supply chain.
Meanwhile, the United States is now considering lifting tariffs on Iranian oil to address the soaring energy prices. We have all the details below. 🛢️⬇️
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner energy and environment writers Callie Patteson (@CalliePatteson) and Maydeen Merino (@MaydeenMerino). Email cpatteson@washingtonexaminer dot com or mmerino@washingtonexaminer dot com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.
EX-IM PRESIDENT TALKS PROJECT VAULT: Export-Import Bank President John Jovanovic said the administration’s new critical mineral stockpile is aimed at diversifying and de-risking the domestic supply chain.
Jovanovic spoke at an event yesterday hosted by the American Critical Minerals Association about the Trump administration’s new critical minerals stockpile, dubbed Project Vault.
Ex-Im authorized the program last month, providing a $10 billion loan and nearly $2 billion in private capital to purchase and store critical minerals.
Several tech and manufacturing companies have also committed to participate in the initiative, including Boeing and GE Vernova.
Jovanovic said that, for Project Vault, “there are no preferred suppliers. There are no preferred providers,” adding that it is an “open source, demand driven model.”
Participants in the initiative help to initiate what minerals should be included in Project Vault. There are currently 60 minerals deemed critical in the U.S.
“The real measure for success is kind of already starting to percolate a little bit, is, where can this model help us in other sectors?” Jovanovic said.
“Unfortunately, the challenges we have are enormous as we think about how to deliver economic security to American companies large and small, there are other sectors that could perhaps benefit from it,” he said.
TRUMP WEIGHS LIFTING IRAN OIL SANCTIONS: The war may result in an unexpected result for Iran, as the U.S. is now considering lifting sanctions on Iranian oil to boost flows to global markets and ease surging prices.
The details: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed earlier today that the administration is considering lifting long-standing sanctions on Iranian oil, similar to the U.S.’s decision earlier this month on lifting sanctions related to Russian oil.
“In the coming days, we may unsanction the Iranian oil that’s on the water,” Bessent told Fox Business, adding that it would affect roughly 140 million barrels of oil.
Under existing sanctions, Iran’s oil has primarily been sent to China. The lifting of sanctions would allow the oil to be transported elsewhere, such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, and India, Bessent said.
The secretary added that allowing this flow of crude would help keep prices down for the next 10 to 14 days.
While not formally finalized, this is just the latest creative solution from the administration to tackle surging crude prices. You can catch up on all the others in Callie’s latest here.
ONE THING THE U.S. IS NOT CONSIDERING: As the U.S. scrambles to allay market concerns over a prolonged war in Iran and weeks-long disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, oil executives have warned the administration not to take too drastic of measures.
This morning, Vice President JD Vance and Energy Secretary Chris Wright met with industry bosses at an American Petroleum Institute board meeting. Ahead of the meeting, executives had been warning against the U.S. banning oil exports. There had been rumors that the administration was considering a ban in response to high prices. The industry said such a restriction would cause economic damage.
“You can ban exports all you want, but it’s not going to affect the price of gasoline or diesel, which is based on a world price,” Scott Sheffield, former CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources, told the Financial Times.
The administration appeared to heed that warning, and reportedly affirmed during the API meeting that the White House would not implement a ban on crude exports.
Cabinet officials aimed to further dispel the rumors. Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum shared the following text via their X accounts: “Thanks to @POTUS, the United States is the world’s top oil and natural gas producer. We are also the largest natural gas exporter and a top oil exporter. To be clear, the Trump administration has no plan to implement restrictions on oil and gas exports.”
WHERE PRICES STAND: The markets appeared unfazed by Bessent’s remarks this morning, particularly as energy infrastructure in the Persian Gulf faces heightened risk of attacks.
International and domestic benchmarks extended their gains today, hovering around the $100 per barrel line.
Just after 3 p.m. EDT, West Texas Intermediate stayed just below that line at $96.13 per barrel, and was up by 0.70%. Brent Crude had also jumped by 1.39%, and was settling lower, at $108.92 per barrel.
The national average price of gasoline surged again today, hitting $3.884 per gallon, up from $2.929 per gallon seen one month ago. Diesel is nearing record highs, with the average price around $5.099 per gallon today. The highest ever recorded for diesel was $5.816 in June 2022. With prices only set to rise, analysts are warning of the strain consumers will continue to feel when heading to their local stations to pump gas.
“Higher gasoline and diesel prices are now costing the U.S. economy half a billion dollars more every single day (and rising) versus three weeks ago. A staggering rise and near record-setting,” GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan said today.
STRIKES ON QATAR LNG FACILITY: Several key energy facilities were hit by missiles in Iran and Qatar yesterday, escalating the conflict in the Middle East.
Israel carried out attacks on Iran’s South Pars gas field, which prompted retaliatory Iranian strikes on Qatar’s state-owned energy giant, QatarEnergy.
QatarEnergy said attacks on its LNG facilities at Ras Laffan Industrial City resulted in “extensive further damage.” The company’s CEO, Saad al Kaabi, told Reuters that the Iranian attacks disrupted nearly 17% of its export capacity, causing an estimated $20 billion in lost annual revenue.
Trump warned that any further attacks against Qatar’s LNG facilities would result in further retaliation against Iran’s South Pars gas field. The president noted that the U.S. had no prior knowledge of the attacks.
Europe and Asia rely heavily on LNG supplies from Qatar. Ras Laffan is also the world’s biggest LNG export plant, making up almost 20% of global LNG supply.
Read more about what the attacks against the Qatari LNG facility means for global supply here.
WHITE HOUSE UNVEILS NEW POWER PLANT FOR PENNSYLVANIA: A massive $17 billion natural gas power plant is set to be built in southwestern Pennsylvania, the White House confirmed today.
The natural gas facility, known as South Mon, is set to be fueled by Trump’s $550 billion trade deal with Japan, a White House official told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The deal was finalized earlier in the week and will support three major energy projects, including the Pennsylvania gas-fired power plant as well as a similar facility in East Texas.
The Pennsylvania project is expected to be developed by NextEra Energy Resources and generate up to 4.3 gigawatts of energy. The facility will also be hooked up to existing natural gas pipelines in the region, and later connected to the PJM regional transmission network.
RUSSIAN OIL TANKERS HEAD TO CUBA: Shipments of Russian oil are heading toward Cuba, despite Trump’s energy embargo.
The Financial Times reports that two vessels carrying Russian oil and fuel could reach the island as early as next week. The shipments would be the first time the island has received fuel in three months.
Cuba badly needs provisions, as it faced a nationwide blackout earlier this week. The Trump administration has actively blocked fuel from entering the island and threatened to impose tariffs on any country that provides fuel. The pressure from the U.S. is part of an effort to push out the current Cuban regime.
Trump earlier this week said that he would have the “honor” to take the island. But Russia has expressed solidarity with the island.
The first shipment is expected to arrive on Monday, Samir Madani, co-founder of maritime intelligence company TankerTrackers.com, told the FT. The shipment is expected to be carrying about 27,000 tonnes of Russian gas.
Madani said there is another shipment expected to reach Cuba by April 4, carrying more than 700,000 barrels of crude.
NET-ZERO PUNTED TO 2070: As Callie touched on in a piece published earlier this month, net-zero targets set under the 2016 Paris Agreement are slipping further out of reach amid pressure from the Trump administration and growing energy demand.
Now, hundreds of energy executives are admitting that net-zero cannot be reached until 2070.
The details: The shift in attitudes came in a survey polling more than 800 executives for oil, gas, utilities, chemicals, mining, and agribusiness across the world. The survey, conducted by consultancy firm Bain and first shared with the Financial Times, found that 44% of these executives believe the world will hit net-zero emissions by 2070 or later.
Just three years ago, a similar survey found that around 45% of executives believed this goal could be achieved by 2050 or earlier.
Some of the shift is directly attributed to the U.S.’s shift away from investments in renewable technologies and slashing of clean energy tax credits.
“This is a very policy-driven industry,” Bain partner Grant Dougans told the outlet. “The US is still an attractive region but less attractive as a destination of capital than it previously was.”
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