WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Monday, readers! The knockout stage of the World Cup is underway this week with some exciting games teed up, including the USA men’s national team playing Bosnia on Wednesday. 🇺🇲⚽🇧🇦In today’s newsletter, we take a look at a potential billion dollar acquisition between two natural gas pipeline operators. The deal comes at a time when domestic liquified natural gas exports are forecast to continue rising through 2027. 🛢️⚡Meanwhile, the Department of the Interior has reached a deal with yet another energy company to abandon its offshore wind projects, marking the fourth time the department has repaid a company to end its offshore wind leases. 🌬️
In a final note – be sure to look up tonight as the Strawberry Moon (first full moon of summer) will light up the night sky! 🌕🍓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.U.S. NATURAL GAS PIPELINE EYES BILLION DOLLAR ACQUISITION: Oklahoma-based natural gas pipeline operator William Cos. is reportedly in talks to acquire gas pipeline operator Momentum Midstream in a deal estimated to be worth $5.5 billion. In the next few weeks, Williams could announce a deal to purchase Momentum Midstream from private equity firm EnCap Flatrock Midstream, Bloomberg reported. There has yet to be a final decision made, anonymous sources told the publication, adding that EnCap could opt to hold onto the company. Williams owns more than 30,000 miles of pipeline infrastructure. Momentum Midstream operates about 4,000 miles of pipeline across the Haynesville Shale region in East Texas and northern Louisiana.If the acquisition is successful, it would provide Williams with more capacity to move gas from Haynesville fields to export terminals in the U.S. Gulf Coast. The potential deal comes as U.S. liquefied natural gas exports continue to increase with companies expected to boost production by the end of 2027. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has forecast that net exports of U.S. natural gas will grow by 18% this year, with net exports to increase another 10% in 2027. U.S. EMERGENCY OIL STOCKPILES FALL FURTHER: The Strategic Petroleum Reserve saw its oil inventories drop even lower in the last week, with reserves hitting 325.7 million barrels. This is the lowest level U.S. crude stocks have been since April 1983, when the reserves were a bit over 317 million barrels. The SPR fell by 5.5 million barrels over the last week, marking the latest draw from the Trump administration, which plans to sell around 172 million barrels in order to keep gasoline prices down in the fallout of the oil supply crisis caused by the Iran war. Quick reminder: The SPR has a total capacity of around 714 million barrels across four main facilities. It requires roughly 20% of its full capacity to remain operational.The current drawdown is expected to send the SPR to its lowest level since it was created, hitting as low as 243 million barrels.LATEST ON OIL PRICES: While oil prices collapsed to pre-war levels last week, they ticked back up slightly today, a sign that traders may have been overly confident last week that the end of the war in Iran was in sight. Right around 2:30 p.m. EDT, international and domestic benchmarks were up by more than 1%, with Brent crude rising by 1.29% and trading at $72.92 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate had also jumped 1.94% and was selling at $70.57 a barrel. The price increase is primarily attributed to clashes between the U.S. and Iran, who exchanged a series of strikes over the weekend. The escalation appeared to start after Iran launched an attack on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz. In retaliation, the U.S. struck a number of Iranian military targets. Before markets opened however, both governments said they would stop the strikes and allow traffic to resume through the strait – an apparent effort to keep prices from skyrocketing like they did earlier this spring. Some analysis: “At this time, we might witness an attempt by oil-exporting countries to offload as much of their exports as possible into the global market, either to compensate for a previous export shortage or because importing countries are trying to fill their inventories during the summer season, anticipating renewed fighting,” Simon-Peter Massabni, Head of Business Development at XS.com said. “This could keep oil demand extremely high even if we see a breakthrough in supply, which in turn could slow the downward path of crude prices a bit.”TRUMP’S OFFSHORE WIND BUYOUTS GROW: The Trump administration is killing yet another offshore wind project, marking the fourth time the Interior Department has moved to repay project developers in exchange for abandoning their offshore wind leases and increasing investments in fossil fuels. Interior announced earlier today that it reached what it described as a settlement agreement with Duke Energy, over its offshore wind lease located in the Carolina Long Bay. Under the agreement, the agency is offering a partial reimbursement of the lease – valued at $129 million – which Duke Energy has agreed to reinvest in other sources of energy. In exchange, Duke Energy is also voluntarily terminating the lease, killing the offshore wind project. The lease was acquired in 2022, with the company estimating that its project could generate up to 1.6 gigawatts of wind energy – roughly equivalent to the amount of energy needed to power 375,000 homes. The project was initially paused last year. “President Trump’s vision of unleashing affordable, reliable American energy for our country’s communities and using common sense to put the American people first is being implemented,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said. “Duke Energy will now be able to convert a national security concern into projects that will lower the costs for its customers in North Carolina and surrounding states.”For more information on the other three similar agreements struck this year, check out this article from Callie. TRUMP HAS PUT $121B IN CLEAN ENERGY INVESTMENTS AT RISK, NEW REPORT SUGGESTS: The Trump administration at put more than $121 billion of investments in clean energy technologies and new electricity generation at risk due to its policies focused on slowing the development of wind and solar power, according to a new report. The details: The report, released by Wood Mackenzie, found that the Trump administration’s new policies pulling federal funding for renewable energy projects and increasing federal permitting hurdles directly caused 7 gigawatts worth of project cancellations of inactivity last year. For comparison, the city of San Francisco is estimated to require around 1 gigawatt of electricity during peak load.Specifically, Wood Mackenzie pointed to policies imposed by the Department of Interior which require nearly every step of the federal permitting process for wind and solar to receive direct approval from the interior secretary, prohibiting renewable developers from using an online government tool aimed at streamlining environmental reviews, and an order that effectively barred wind and solar projects on federal land. The agency was ordered by a district court to end the policy in April. These policies could further put another at risk another 12 gigawatts worth of energy projects on federal lands and 80 gigawatts on private land, the report projected. The report found that 30% of the solar industry’s pipeline is at risk of additional review, while wind has seen 62% of its pipelines affected by the policies. Key quote: “Permitting remains one of the most critical barriers to advancing new projects, and without more coordinated and predictable processes, delays and uncertainty will continue to weigh on development timelines and investment decisions,” Gaby Ackermann Logan, a research associate at Wood Mackenzie, said. You can read the full report here. NEW DELHI PLANS TO OFFER CASH INCENTIVES TO SCRAP OLD CARS FOR EVS: New Delhi plans to offer over $1,000 in cash incentives for car owners to scrap old vehicles for an electric vehicle, Reuters reports. The move is aimed at reducing pollution in the capital of India, which is one of the most polluted cities in the world. New Delhi plans to offer $1,060 as scrapping incentives to those who trade in cars bought before April 1, 2020 for an EV. The new policy also offers an exemption from paying road tax and registration fees for those who purchase a battery EV priced at up to 3 million rupees. Hybrid vehicles have not been included in the policy. The incentives are expected to go into effect on July 1. New Delhi also plans to set up 32,000 EV charging ports across the city. NATION’S LARGEST WILDFIRE: The Cottonwood Fire in Utah has burned nearly 94,000 acres, making it the largest fire in the country. The fire sparked last Monday in the Fishlake National Forest. As of yesterday the fire remains 0% contained with severe damages to the Eagle Point ski resort and summer cabins. Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox announced a state of emergency last week, restricting fireworks due to the growing wildfire. Smoke is expected to affect the communities in Marysvale, Junction, Circleville, and Beaver through Monday. EAST COAST BRACES FOR HEATWAVE: A dangerous heatwave is expected to hit the East Coast later this week just in time for the Fourth of July holiday. The heat wave is expected to start on Wednesday impacting major East Coast cities like New York City and Washington D.C. Temperatures are expected to reach more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The National Weather Service said yesterday that “dangerous to record setting heat will expand across the eastern two-thirds” of the country. “With the combination of high humidity, heat indices may reach 100-110 Degrees,” said the NWS, according to NPR. “Much of the central and eastern U.S. is under a Moderate to Major HeatRisk, which can pose health impacts on those without hydration or cooling.”A LOOK AHEADJune 29 – 30 The International Energy Agency’s 11th annual global conference on energy efficiency is taking place in Montreal, Canada. June 29 Advanced Energy United is holding a virtual event focused on how companies and utilities can partner on affordability. June 30 The Center for the National Interest is holding a webinar called “Geo-Connectivity and the Death of Eurasia.” July 1 The United States Energy Association is hosting a webinar titled “Fueling the Last Mile: How Rising Energy Costs Are Hitting Beverage Distributors.” July 1 The Cato Institute is hosting an online policy forum focused on data centers. July 1 The House Natural Resources subcommittee on Federal Lands is holding a legislative hearing. July 4 is Independence Day! 🎇🎆RUNDOWN Canary Media California’s choice: Cleaner air for schools or money for utilitiesE&E News Energy megamerger looms over Virginia, FloridaWashington Post See where dangerous heat will envelop the Midwest and East this week
