BOEM carried out three lease sales in all: one in the New York Bight off the coasts of New York and New Jersey in February, one off the Carolinas in May, and the Pacific wind lease sale off California this week.

The New York Bight lease sale concluded with a record $4.37 billion in winning bids.

Another first: The bureau awarded bids Wednesday in the California wind energy auction, which totaled $757.1 million. It’s the first offshore wind lease sale to be held in deep water, requiring the use of still-nascent floating turbine technology.

What’s next: The Biden administration is targeting the installation of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030, 15 of which it envisions being installed in deep water.

BOEM has already set aside acreage for wind leasing in the Gulf of Mexico, which could be auctioned next year, and officials have stated interest in leasing additional areas in deep water off Oregon’s and Maine’s coasts.

Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writers Jeremy Beaman (@jeremywbeaman) and Breanne Deppisch (@breanne_dep). Email jbeaman@washingtonexaminer.com or bdeppisch@washingtonexaminer.com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.

PUTIN THREATENS PRODUCTION CUTS OVER PRICE CAP: Vladimir Putin said Russia may reduce its oil production in response to the G-7-led $60 oil price cap.

“I’m not saying now that this is a decision, but if necessary we’ll think about possible production cuts,” Putin said on state television, reiterating his pledge not to sell to countries participating in the cap.

Production cuts could be a major test of the price cap’s functionality, as its purpose was not to limit production but to keep Russian oil flowing into the global market.

Biden administration officials who helped design the price cap made clear their expectation that Russia’s considerable reliance on oil revenues would keep Putin from curtailing production and exports in retaliation to the price cap.

“The Russian economy is contracting. They’re depleting their sovereign wealth fund and are facing extremely tough budgetary choices,” an administration official told reporters a week ago when the price cap threshold was announced, saying the goal was to “enable the continued trade of Russian oil, not to be a roadblock.”

Where prices are this morning: Brent crude is trading around $77 per barrel as of this writing, while West Texas Intermediate is trading around $72 per barrel.

At this price, WTI is flirting with the range at which the Biden administration intends to purchase crude oil to replenish barrels it drew down from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The benchmark will have to stick in this price range on a “consistent basis” for that process to occur, though, Biden energy adviser Amos Hochstein said in a recent interview.

PRODUCER GROUP PRESSES HOUSE GOP FOR NEPA REFORMS: Independent oil and gas producers want House Republicans to take up reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act and other environmental laws when they take control of the chamber next month.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America sent a list of legislative and oversight priorities to Leader Kevin McCarthy yesterday, asking for measures to speed up permitting for pipelines to enable continued growth with rising demand

“If natural gas can’t be transported to markets, it won’t be produced,” the group said.

Amending NEPA and the Endangered Species Act is on the list of energy priorities for the House GOP, and party leadership is also interested in reforming the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s mandates, something IPAA also requests.

House Republicans have already been gearing up to take on the Biden administration’s energy policies, recently launching a committee investigation into Biden’s use of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to bring down fuel prices.

SENATORS TO FINANCE CORP: SUPPORT NUCLEAR PROJECTS: A bipartisan group of senators wants the Development Finance Corporation to begin financing nuclear energy projects abroad now that it has formally ended its prohibition against financing such projects.

The DFC lifted a prohibition against financing nuclear abroad in 2020. It should begin financing the export of U.S. technologies, particularly advanced nuclear reactors, the group said.

“Given the current war between Russia and Ukraine, and the threat that conflict poses to the global nuclear fuel supply, we urge the DFC to begin financing nuclear energy projects,” Sens. Cory Booker, Kevin Cramer, Lisa Murkowski, and six other members wrote to the finance body.

They also said DFC-financed nuclear projects are needed to ensure the U.S. remains competitive with China and Russia, which are state financiers of nuclear technologies.

American nuclear companies are doing business with foreign markets even without public financing.

Last Energy, a privately financed company developing modular nuclear plant designs for microreactor technology, has agreements with manufacturers and governments in Poland, Romania, and the U.K., including orders for 10 of its plants to serve an industrial cluster in Poland.

NORTH CAROLINA TREASURER CALLS ON FINK TO RESIGN FROM BLACKROCK: North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell called today for Larry Fink to resign as CEO of BlackRock over his promotion of ESG in investing.

Folwell said North Carolina Retirement Systems has approximately $14 billion invested through BlackRock, but he didn’t say that he would seek to drop the asset manager, as other Republican treasurers have done over its ESG stance recently – most notably, Florida said earlier this month that it would divest from the firm.

Still, Folwell’s broadside adds to the GOP pressure on BlackRock. This week, a Republican Texas legislator subpoenaed the firm for information about its ESG policies.

OVERSIGHT RELEASES DOCUMENTS IN FOSSIL FUEL ‘DISINFO’ PROBE: House Oversight Democrats accused major oil companies of greenwashing and obstructing their monthslong investigation into the industry’s “disinformation campaign” on climate change.

The panel’s Democrats released a memo this morning with internal documents and presentations from several oil majors detailing their business strategies for fossil fuel production but criticized the companies for redacting other subpoenaed documents.

Outgoing Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney said the series of documents “makes clear that these companies know their climate pledges are inadequate” and accused the companies of “prioritizing Big Oil’s record profits over the human costs of climate change.”

CLEAN POWER GROUP GETS NEW HEAD: The American Clean Power Association today announced Jason Grumet as the organization’s new CEO.

Grumet takes the reins in January after spending 15 years at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

The Rundown

Wall Street Journal Prices on lithium deals start to move with the times

Politico ‘It was all about the United States’: Democrats unrepentant as allies fume over trade rules

Calendar

TUESDAY | DECEMBER 13

10 a.m. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on the Interior Department’s implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.