Another attack?
** At least three tankers trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz via a route Iran has warned ships against using appeared to come under attack Tuesday. Iran did not claim any of the attacks, but its state TV network said at least one vessel ignored warnings from Iranian forces. Iran’s top diplomat said Tuesday that Tehran would not resume negotiations if U.S. threats continue, after President Trump said the U.S. would “finish the job” if a peace deal isn’t reached.
Explosion danger
** A Qatari LNG tanker was at risk of exploding and a Saudi crude tanker was damaged near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, prompting maritime authorities to raise the threat risk for vessels transiting the strategic waterway to “severe” following reports Iran attacked commercial ships overnight.
Glut?
** JPMorgan warns of an oil glut as Hormuz barrels flood back. JPMorgan Chase, sent clients a note on July 4 spelling out the problem. “The market is facing the risk of a temporary glut as trapped oil finally re-enters a system that has already spent months learning how to function without it,” she wrote. “The barrels now exiting Hormuz increasingly have nowhere to go except China. But China is not buying.”
No power
** Cuba was dealing with another national blackout Monday, its third since the beginning of the year, the country’s state energy company said. The country’s energy crisis, already a major issue, has worsened since an oil blockade imposed by the United States. The Cuban energy company said the electrical grid suffered a total collapse and that it is investigating the cause and working to restore power, CNN reported.
US Energy
** Several school districts across the U.S. will experiment with using electric school buses as grid resources while they’re not shuttling kids around this summer.
** The Environmental Protection Agency greenlit the use of three pesticides containing toxic “forever chemicals” last Tuesday. The public officials who oversee their regulation previously worked as lobbyists for trade groups representing the agrichemical firms that applied for their approval.
** The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected a request for a waiver from certain PJM Interconnection rules for a roughly $2 billion, gas-fired project that is in the grid operator’s fast-track Reliability Resource Initiative interconnection review process.
** Toyota said Monday it will shift most production of its midsize Tacoma pickup truck from Mexico to the United States as part of a $3.6 billion investment in its San Antonio, Texas, plant. The transition from Toyota’s Tijuana, Mexico, facility will take roughly four years, the Japanese auto giant said.