Threats and attacks
** Iran threatened to take a tougher line in its war with the United States on Wednesday after the heaviest exchanges in weeks left at least 19 Iranians dead, including four at a wedding — an incident slammed as a “war crime” by Tehran. A wave of Iranian attacks earlier targeted U.S. bases in Jordan, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, after extensive U.S. bombardment hit sites across Iran.
Syria’s response
** Nearly 5,000 trucks a day carry oil from the Persian Gulf across Syria’s barren desert toward the Mediterranean Sea. The trucks began shuttling between the refineries of southern Iraq and the Syrian port of Baniyas in April, initially as an experiment by Iraqi oil exporters seeking to circumvent the Strait of Hormuz after cargo traffic in the waterway was stopped by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
Venezuela
** America’s second-largest oil company, Chevron, has announced it will develop two additional oil fields in Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt, more than doubling its output in five years, in a deal worth $7 billion. The joint venture between Chevron and Petroindependencia, in which Chevron has a 49% stake, will develop two greenfield sites near existing work and lift output to around 600,000 barrels per day, according to a company press release.
Diesel
** The re-escalation in the Middle East and the Russian ban on diesel exports amid incessant Ukrainian drone attacks on refineries have pushed middle distillate cracks to record highs this week.
U.S. Energy developments
** Gasoline prices are almost certain to remain north of $4 per gallon over Labor Day weekend, with crude oil prices spiking again this week.
** Wind energy development has fallen out of favor in North Dakota, as residents grow tired with the presence of turbines in rural areas despite decades of economic benefits from the industry.
** Enbridge will temporarily stop construction on a Line 5 reroute project in northern Wisconsin after 31,000 barrels of natural gas liquid leaked when the pipeline was struck by an unoccupied vehicle.
** A coalition of environmental groups are suing the Department of Energy over its order keeping a Florida coal plant running past its planned shutdown date. Separately, a Jacksonville, Florida, group is suing the owners of a shipping terminal, alleging it’s polluting a river with coal ash.
** California follows the lead of seven East Coast states, filing a lawsuit to challenge the Trump administration’s agreements to pay offshore wind developers to abandon their federal leases.
** The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity (OE) announced an $11.5 million research project led by Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and supported by partner institutions through President Trump’s historic Genesis Mission. The project will develop advanced AI tools to help utilities plan and expand the electric grid faster and more affordably as electricity demand grows.
