WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon, Daily on Energy readers – HAPPY SPRING! Winter is finally over, and we couldn’t be happier to see temperatures ticking up on our weather apps. 🌸🌿☀️💐
Speaking of ticking up, guess what? Gas prices are still rising. The national average of gasoline is now just shy of $1 a gallon more than it was before the war in Iran. New polling also suggests that most Americans are expecting those prices to jump even higher. Keep reading for more. ⛽💵📊
Plus, climate regulation rollbacks are hitting New York State as Gov. Kathy Hochul announced today her plans to revise the state’s landmark climate-change-related law, which includes steep emissions reduction goals. 🗽♻️🌱 Read on for all the details.
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.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Iranian retaliatory strikes on Qatar’s natural gas facilities sent global LNG prices soaring and sparked supply concerns in Europe and Asia, both heavily dependent on Qatari gas.
“I woke up this morning and thought, ‘No, please no,’” Anne-Sophie Corbeau, a former head of gas analysis at BP who is now at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told the Financial Times. “This has always been my nightmare scenario, my Armageddon scenario, the one I didn’t want to happen.”
MOST AMERICANS EXPECT GAS PRICES TO CONTINUE SURGING: While the Trump administration has repeatedly insisted that high gas prices are temporary, most Americans believe that prices at the pump will continue to rise, according to a new poll.
The details: The Reuters/Ipsos poll, released today, found that roughly 55% of respondents had seen “somewhat” of a hit on their finances from high gas prices. Around 21% said their finances had been affected “a great deal.”
Not many are confident in the administration’s ability to quickly reverse the price hikes, as 87% of respondents said they believe it’s likely prices will jump even higher over the next month.
Where prices stand now: Speaking of gas prices, the national average of gasoline now sits at $3.912 per gallon, just $0.02 shy of being a whole dollar more than where the average price was one month ago, according to estimates calculated by AAA.
GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan now estimates that these hikes translate into Americans paying roughly $575 million more on gasoline each day.
International and domestic benchmarks for oil also remained elevated today, rising by around 2%. At around 2:30 p.m. EST, West Texas Intermediate was up 2.18%, selling at $97.63 per barrel. Brent crude also jumped 2.60% and was priced at $111.48 per barrel.
It’s worth noting that WTI is actually slightly down from last Friday, when it sat at $98.71 per barrel. Brent, however, is significantly up from $98.91 per barrel.
IEA CALLS FOR INDIVIDUALS TO CUT BACK TO SPARE OIL AND GAS: The International Energy Agency released suggestions today on how to protect countries from oil shocks, specifically by lowering demand. While most of the suggestions relate to road transportation, they also address air travel and cooking.
The recommendations are:
- Work from home to reduce oil consumption by vehicles
- Reduce speed limits on highways
- Increase use of public transportation
- Alternate private car access to roads in large cities on different days to reduce traffic congestion and reduce vehicle oil use
- Increased car-sharing
- Encourage eco-driving practices
- Divert liquefied petroleum gas use from transport
- Avoid air travel when possible
- Switch to modern cooking solutions, such as electric stoves, to avoid the use of gas
- Prioritize the processing of oil feedstocks
Read more from Callie here.
TREASURY SAYS CUBA IS BANNED FROM TAKING RUSSIAN OIL: Shipments of Russian oil and gas are headed to Cuba, but the Treasury Department has prohibited the island from taking the energy assets.
The Treasury Department yesterday added Cuba to a list of countries that would be prohibited from transactions involving the sale, delivery, or offloading of Russian oil or other petroleum products.
It was reported yesterday that two Russian ships carrying oil and gas were heading toward Cuba as the island has suffered for three months with no imports of fuel. The earliest shipment is expected to arrive on Monday. The lack of fuel has caused islandwide blackouts, a spike in the prices of food and transportation, and a pileup of trash.
Russia has expressed solidarity with Cuba, following President Donald Trump’s comments earlier this week that he would have the “honor” to take the island.
NEW YORK GOVERNOR PROPOSES ROLLING BACK CLIMATE STATE LAW: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is proposing changes to the state’s climate law, citing concerns about affordability and federal government partnership.
In 2019, New York passed the Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act, which sets a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and 85% by 2050 from 1990 levels.
In a statement, Hochul said she is proposing to revise the law, citing challenges to reducing emissions, along with the Trump administration, which has canceled clean energy grants and tax credits, and blocked new offshore wind projects. She added that imposing 2030 targets would raise costs for New Yorkers.
“I have repeatedly said that utility rates in our state are too high,” Hochul said. “And while the Climate Act is not the driver of the high energy prices we are experiencing, the undeniable fact is we cannot meet the Climate Act’s 2030 targets without imposing new and additional crushing costs on New York businesses and residents.”
The governor is proposing to amend the law to require regulations to reduce state emissions to be issued at the end of 2030. Hochul said the state would seek to change which emission target the regulations are tied to, including a new 2040 target along with the existing 2050 goal.
ENERGY DEPARTMENT TEAMS UP WITH SOFTBANK FOR OHIO DATA CENTER: SoftBank Group will be building a massive data center facility on federally owned land in southern Ohio in a deal backed by the Departments of Energy and Commerce, as part of Trump’s $550 billion trade deal with Japan.
The details: The Energy Department announced the deal earlier today, revealing that the Japanese investment firm will be partnering with AEP Ohio to redevelop land owned by the agency in Pike County for the facility.
The project will consist of building a 10 gigawatt data center development facility as well as 9.2 gigawatts of new natural gas generation. This new power, which will be used to power the data center operations, is being funded by $33.3 billion in Japanese funding. Softbank’s subsidiary SB Energy will also be investing $4.2 billion with AEP Ohio to upgrade and build new transmission lines in the region to prevent additional costs from being passed on to consumers.
‘DRILL, BABY, DRILL’ UPDATE: The number of active oil and gas drilling rigs fell again this week, dropping by one, bringing the total count to 552, Baker Hughes reported this afternoon. The total count is now down by 41 on the year.
Broken down further, Baker Hughes found that, on net, two oil rigs were brought online while two gas and one miscellaneous were taken off, bringing the total number of rigs removed to one.
Taking advantage of high prices: If you’ve been reading Daily on Energy for some time, you likely have been aware that low oil prices seen over the last year have made it more difficult for domestic oil and gas producers to pursue new drilling and exploration projects.
With prices toeing the $100 per barrel line, there has been some speculation that those in the Permian Basin and elsewhere will jump on the surging spot prices to prop up their business and drill new wells. But it’s not that simple.
Matthew Bernstein, vice president of North America oil and gas analysis at Rystad Energy, told Callie earlier in the week that he thinks it’s unlikely U.S. shale producers will significantly increase production in response to the higher prices.
He pointed to several reasons including a “capital discipline mindset” as well as “high backwardation” of the oil price curve.
“We’re seeing $100 on the April futures, maybe the May futures,” Bernstein said. “But if you look into 2027, the curve is back below $70 a barrel…if we saw a sustained $100 environment for a year plus, sure, you will start to get higher growth investments. You would then be in a kind of new paradigm where all of a sudden you have a lot more acreage that’s commercial. But we’re not there right now.”
ICYMI – STATES SUE EPA OVER ENDANGERMENT FINDING: More than 20 states filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Environmental Protection Agency over its termination of the 2009 Endangerment Finding.
The coalition of states were co-led by the attorneys general of New York, Massachusetts, California, and Connecticut. The states argued that the EPA’s repeal of the finding contradicts scientific evidence and it is inconsistent with the agency’s statutory authority under the Clean Air Act.
More than 10 cities and counties also joined the states in filing a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Last month, several environmental and health groups brought a lawsuit against the EPA for repealing the finding.
Read more by Maydeen here.
RUNDOWN
Bloomberg Welcome to Paris, the City That Said No to Cars
Politico ‘Hormuz has to reopen’: Why the oil industry can’t help Trump tame rising gasoline prices
The Guardian ‘It’s not sustainable’: US farmers reeling as Iran war pushes fertilizer costs up
