We’re watching for any movement on the permitting proposal released by the House Democrats, which is likely to kick off negotiations with House Republicans who have already released their priority energy legislation. The Democrats are more focused on renewables and transmission, while the GOP package prioritizes fossil fuel production.
We will, as always, keep our eye on what’s happening in Congress regarding the debt ceiling bill and what it means for clean energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. House Republicans managed to barely pass the measure last week, which has remotely no chance of passing in the Democratic-controlled Senate, especially after the addition of new cuts to IRA funding intended for pollution reduction, energy efficiency and environmental justice initiatives.
European majors BP PLC and Shell PLC are set to release their first-quarter earnings on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.
Despite lower commodity prices this year, American majors Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. surprised Wall Street with their first-quarter earnings. Exxon posted a record first-quarter net profit of $11.43 billion, more than doubling last year’s gains during the same period, while Chevron reported a net profit of $6.57 billion, boosted by higher oil refining margins. It’ll be interesting if profits across the pond also surprise Wall Street analysts.
OurEnergyPolicy on Wednesday will host a webinar titled “Biofuels: Agriculture and Energy” to discuss the role of biofuels in the nation’s energy transition. The panel features Reyhaneh Shenassa, chief engineer at the Energy Department’s BioEnergy Technologies Office, and industry experts from Advanced Biofuels and the Renewable Fuels Association.
There will be plenty to chat about during the panel. The EPA on Friday said it would allow the sale of higher-ethanol gasoline, or E15, this summer after issuing an emergency waiver set to take effect on Monday. The move is expected to keep gasoline prices down, although the Biden administration had issued a similar waiver last year when prices at the pump reached record highs.
Additionally, biofuel credits were a major sticking point for Midwestern lawmakers during the GOP’s debt ceiling negotiations. So much so that House Republican leaders tweaked the bill at the last minute to remove a section that would have scrapped biofuel tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act.
