Details coming
** The agreement between Iran and the US lays out the terms of the ceasefire between the bitter rivals, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, some financial relief for Iran and a reiteration from Tehran that it will never produce a nuclear weapon, according to a draft copy of the text obtained by CNN.
Help for Iran
** A $300 billion private fund designed to trigger investment into Iran is outlined in the U.S.-Iran framework agreement and more than half that sum has already been committed, a source with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters.
Oil glut?
** Donald Trump’s peace deal with Iran could leave the world with more oil than it needs, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has forecast. The IEA predicted that the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz would spur a “gradual” increase in supply but said demand was not expected to return to pre-conflict levels. As a result, a glut is expected by next year.
Blocked
** Protesters blocked copper exports from a huge Rio Tinto mine in Mongolia on Wednesday, partially cutting off the supply of a mineral vital to China’s renewable energy ambitions.
US Energy
** A federal judge vacates about 1.7 million acres of Trump-era oil and gas leases in Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas after finding the federal Bureau of Land Management violated environmental laws when auctioning the parcels in sage grouse habitat.
** The Trump administration urges a federal court to dismiss the NAACP’s lawsuit against Elon Musk’s xAI for allegedly building and expanding a gas plant near the Tennessee-Mississippi border without required permits or pollution controls.
** The Trump administration plans to weaken restrictions on oil and gas wells that release large amounts of methane but produce little energy, which would boost profits for a Texas oil billionaire and Trump donor who has specialized in buying up that kind of well.
**Advocates file a lawsuit seeking to overturn the federal Bureau of Land management’s approval of a proposed oil-hauling highway in eastern Utah, saying it would harm wildlife and cultural resources.
** A marketing agency looks to hire social media influencers to promote the controversial Project Jupiter hyperscale data center under development in southern New Mexico.
