Back and forth
** Although U.S. officials said Sunday that there was an agreement in principle in which Iran would allow commercial ships to begin passing through the Strait of Hormuz safely, American airstrikes in southern Iran have endangered a fragile ceasefire between the parties and further cast doubt on the status of shipping through the conflict-ridden conduit.
BP leader sacked
** The chair of BP has been fired after less than a year, after “serious concerns” about his conduct were lodged with the energy major’s board. Albert Manifold was stripped of his roles as chair and director of the London-listed petrochemicals giant having only taken the reins last July, with director Amanda Blanc saying the board had unearthed several cases of serious misconduct during his tenure. The ousting was reportedly on account of his “volcanic” temper towards colleagues, which stretched to verbal abuse and bullying.
Alaska delivers
** Santos said Tuesday that its recently launched Barossa LNG project and Pikka oil development in Alaska are expected to drive a major increase in free cash flow as the company pivots toward large-scale LNG and oil basins across Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Alaska.
China
** Donald Trump returned from Beijing calling his two-day summit with Xi Jinping a “success,” but the rare earth market is less convinced. Despite closely watched talks on May 14-15, no formal agreement emerged on China’s export controls, and shipments of the critical heavy minerals that power everything from F-35 fighters to electric vehicles remain well below historical levels.
US Energy
** Nine employees remain missing after a chemical tank ruptured at a facility in Washington state, resulting in multiple critical injuries and at least one death, authorities said.
** Big industry groups are urging the Supreme Court to rule that federal law preempts state and local litigation that seeks climate damages from oil companies. The many new amicus briefs in the case — which SCOTUS agreed to hear in February — highlight the depth of concern over the litigation in state courts nationwide.
** A new American Clean Power Association report expects the U.S. clean energy manufacturing industry will include more than 950 factories supporting 374,000 jobs by 2030, up from 825 plants and 215,000 jobs today.
** Energy company Enbridge proposes a major expansion to a pipeline that carries natural gas from New Jersey into Massachusetts, likely igniting more debate about the Northeast’s reliance on fossil fuels.
** Grid operator PJM gets federal permission to curtail power to data centers and other large loads in its 13-state region as hot weather and planned power plant outages are expected to strain the grid.
