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TRUMP RETURNS TO TWITTER TO HOUND OPEC OVER OIL PRICES: If you succeed once, try again. President Trump returned to Twitter diplomacy Thursday to nudge countries of the OPEC oil cartel to boost production, as prices hover around $80 per barrel ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.

“We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us, and yet they continue to push for higher and higher oil prices! We will remember,” Trump tweeted Thursday morning. “The OPEC monopoly must get prices down now!”

We’ve heard this all before: The tweets should sound familiar to oil watchers. Trump has tweeted three times previously, first in April, and last in July, demanding OPEC bring oil prices down. Those earlier rounds worked, spurring OPEC and Russia to reach a deal that became effective in July to increase oil production by a collective 1 million barrels per day. Before that, the oil cartel and Russia had had conspired for a year-and-a-half to cut crude production to boost prices that had fallen to below $30 in 2016 because of massive new supply from the U.S. shale boom.

Trump wants more from his ally: Trump’s tweet Thursday shows he wants even more from OPEC, specifically his close ally Saudi Arabia, which holds the most spare capacity, or idle production that be brought online in 90 days.

OPEC is scheduled to meet again Sunday in Algeria with big non-member producers, led by Russia, to discuss its oil production strategy.

Meanwhile, Perry seems content: That gathering comes after Energy Secretary Rick Perry met separately in recent weeks with his his Saudi counterpart, Khalid al-Falih, and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak.

After meeting with Novak in Moscow, Perry credited those two countries, the two largest oil producers outside the U.S., with avoiding “a spike in oil price.”

Trump is hedging against the Iran question: Let’s not forget that Trump’s own policies are what is threatening higher future prices.

The president has tried to thread the needle on oil prices, pushing OPEC to boost production to offset expected losses as a result of his hardline approach to sanctions on Iran. Oil exports from Iran, OPEC’s third largest producer, are already falling fast ahead of sanctions Trump will impose in November, tightening global supply and pressuring prices.

But oil prices — to the surprise of some — have only risen modestly since Trump revealed his hardline approach to Iran earlier this summer. And most importantly to Trump, gasoline prices, a key voting concern for Americans, have stayed steady at about $2.85 on average. Trump appears to be hedging against that changing.

MEANWHILE … RICK PERRY IS ON A MISSION TO END RUSSIAN ENERGY DOMINANCE: Perry is working this week to cement a new partnership with Central European countries to push more U.S. natural gas into the European Union, while countering Russian energy dominance there.

Perry announced, in a tweet Wednesday from the Three Seas Initiative Summit in Bucharest, Romania, the creation of the U.S.-led “Partnership for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation” meant to help enable the nations of Central Europe to, as he explained, “work together to meet collective challenges while charting their own energy futures.”

Perry closed the meeting with a speech that discussed “cutting dependence on Russia and the importance of diversifying energy sources,” the Energy Department said in a readout from the summit. Perry also met with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to discuss energy security.

Read more here on the Trump administration energy “diversification” effort.

Welcome to Daily on Energy, compiled by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writers John Siciliano (@JohnDSiciliano) and Josh Siegel (@SiegelScribe). Email [email protected] 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.  

ENERGY SECURITY GROUP MAKES CASE FOR CAR RULES AS TRUMP TWEETS:

The military cost of defending oil trade routes makes a solid case for keeping in place strong fuel-economy standards, the group Securing America’s Future Energy said in a report released soon after Trump began tweeting about OPEC prices on Thursday.

“Following President Trump’s OPEC tweet this morning, in which he points to the Middle East as benefitting from protection, this brief highlights the military and taxpayer cost of our oil dependence and reinforces why the administration should take actions here at home to reduce oil’s monopoly as a transportation fuel,” said Bridget Bartol, spokeswoman for the group, in releasing the report Thursday morning.

Trump’s direction for fuel economy: To her point, the Trump administration is doing the opposite. The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a rule to freeze fuel-economy standards at, or near, current levels, instead of increasing them as the previous administration had paved the way for.

More oil and more fuel-sipping cars go together: The group is made up of both business CEOs and former military leaders, and supports both increased oil production and maintaining strong fuel economy rules for cars and trucks.

The goal is to “lessen U.S. vulnerability to the OPEC-manipulated oil market — particularly while fuel economy standards are under review,” Bartol explained in summarizing the report’s recommendations.

Autonomous vehicles would help: The group supports including autonomous vehicle technology in federal fuel economy rules, arguing that the new technology will make driving more efficient by anticipating speed changes and other factors that lessen fuel consumption.

The report finds that EPA and other federal agencies must “more accurately assess the military cost to the U.S. of protecting global oil supplies” to better understand the “military cost/benefit of the Fuel Economy Standards program.”

An $81 billion price tag: One of report’s top findings is that the U.S. military spends at least $81 billion per year to protect global oil supplies. That is nearly 16 percent of recent Department of Defense budgets.

The report recommends reducing oil use in the transportation sector through the vehicle rules would allow for the possibility of shifting U.S. military priorities toward more critical strategic threats.

Other things to spend money on: “If we can reduce our dependence on oil, we could reduce our presence in the Gulf and use the funds for other critical military priorities, like cybersecurity or hypersonic weapons,” said General Duncan McNabb, former commander of the U.S. Transportation Command and member of the group’s leadership council.

“The same funds could support different security priorities. We would make different choices, that would make us safer and more secure,” McNabb added.

TRUMP AGAIN GETS PRODDED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT BIOFUELS: The biodiesel industry became the latest group on Thursday to prod President Trump to do something to help farmers by increasing the annual federal target for blending renewable fuels into the nation’s fuel supply.

“Biodiesel adds value to every bushel of soybeans and plays an important role by providing a market for surplus soybean oil,” the National Biodiesel Board and American Soybean Association wrote in a Thursday letter to Trump. “Today, farming income is at its lowest level in more than a decade. Even as soybean growers set production records this year, they are experiencing depressed prices and market uncertainty.”

House members add to the pressure: The letter followed lawmakers from the House sending a letter to EPA acting administrator Wheeler on Wednesday, urging him to make good on Trump’s promise to allow year-round blending of 15-percent ethanol fuel blends — an idea the oil industry is adamantly opposed to, as is made clear in an Internet ad campaign it has been running.

Refiners push back: At the same time, the refinery industry is urging the administration not to listen to the ethanol industry’s arguments that EPA’s refinery waiver program is causing “demand destruction” for farmers seeking to sell more ethanol.

The agency issued over two dozen waivers, allowing refineries to avoid the cost of buying expensive ethanol credits to comply with the federal Renewable Fuel Standard. Coincidently, the waivers have lowered the cost of the ethanol credits that the refiners must buy to comply with the standard.

EPA rolls out new dashboard: EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler on Thursday unveiled a refinery waiver dashboard to show which companies received a waiver and for how much fuel.

An industry source told John it is a step toward meeting a list of actions the renewable fuel industry and its defenders on Capitol Hill have been pressing for at EPA.

“For the first time, EPA is providing new information to the public on small refinery exemptions and RIN trading,” said Wheeler. “Increasing transparency will improve implementation of the RFS and provide stakeholders and the regulated community the certainty and clarity they need to make important business and compliance decisions.”

ENERGY DEPARTMENT WARNS THAT OIL DRILLERS ARE LEAVING TEXAS AMID PIPELINE WOES: The Energy Department says a lack of pipelines is beginning to drive oil companies out of the big shale region known as the Permian Basin, as they focus investment in regions where the oil is easier to get to market.

A lack of pipelines: The Energy Information Administration released its latest weekly oil analysis on Wednesday, focused on the lack of pipeline “takeaway capacity,” which translates to there being plenty of oil, but not enough ways to move it to refiners or export terminals.

The implication: The report highlights the case for more spending on pipes and for easing or expediting permitting decisions.

The broader trend: The federal agency said it is tracking 45 publicly-traded oil companies’ investment strategies, and spotted a trend. “As a result of these constraints, some producers with a geographically diverse portfolio of upstream assets announced plans in their second-quarter earnings releases to redirect capital expenditures from the Permian Basin to other regions,” read EIA’s Week in Petroleum report.

The Permian Basin, which covers Texas and New Mexico, is one of the richest shale oil deposits in the United States. But the lack of pipelines to move the oil to market is dropping the price, and making it economically unattractive for some companies to continue production there.

REFINERS FIND WAYS AROUND BUYING OPEC CRUDE OIL BY USING BARGES: Refiners on the East Coast, historically beholden to crude oil from overseas, have been using barges to import cheaper U.S. crude oil from America’s own Gulf Coast, the Energy Department reported on Thursday.

Getting around America’s pipeline deficit: The situation shows how U.S. energy firms are attempting to get around the lack of pipeline infrastructure in the U.S. to move crude oil, according to the Energy Information Administration.

It also underscores the potential need for policy changes at the federal level to relax restrictions on tankers in order to ship more U.S. oil from the Gulf to Delaware, New Jersey and other points East.

The existing regulations: For instance, the century-old Jones Act restricts the use of ships that are foreign-made, or foreign-flagged, from moving cargoes from port-to-port within the United States and its territories. This became an issue in providing Puerto Rico with disaster relief last year. Since most new vessels are made outside the U.S., this limits the number of tankers that can be used.

The workaround: However, EIA points out that oil companies in the Gulf are using barges to move the oil across the distance. Barges are a more commonly used to move grain and coal up rivers.

The technique is even outpacing the use of rail cars used to move oil from the shale oil fields of North Dakota, the agency says.

Rail shipments fall significantly: Crude oil shipped to the East Coast by rail from the Midwest fell 77 percent from its peak in late 2014, EIA reported.

“In April, the volume of crude oil transported by tanker and barge from the Gulf Coast to the East Coast reached the highest level since mid-2014,” the report added.

Price is the reason: The higher Brent-priced oil from overseas is making it easy to see why the refineries are turning to alternative transportation methods to gain access to lower-priced West Texas Intermediate crude oil from the U.S. Gulf.

AMERICAN OIL AND GAS GIANTS JOIN CLIMATE GROUP: U.S. oil and gas giants Exxon and Chevron are planning to join a global coalition of companies vowing to combat climate change, according to a report Wednesday,

The American companies had previously held out of joining the four-year-old pact, called the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative. U.S. based Occidental Petroleum is also signing on to the group, Axios reported.

They are acting out of pressure: The companies’ assent shows that they are feeling the heat from investors and lawsuits to demonstrate a commitment to act against climate change and recognize their role in contributing to it. Existing members include Shell, BP, Saudi Aramco, China’s CNPC and Mexico’s Pemex, among others.

What the climate group aims to do: Its two major goals are to address emissions of methane, the potent greenhouse that is the primary component of natural gas, and to contribute to a $1 billion investment fund for new clean technologies, such as carbon capture and storage. But the group, critics note, does not actually advocate for federal policy to encourage force action, and does not expressly mandate they do anything.

MASSACHUSETTS FAMILIES SUE UTILITY OVER GAS EXPLOSIONS: Massachusetts families sued local utility Columbia Gas days after deadly natural gas explosions forced residents to evacuate their homes.

The class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of a woman who couldn’t return to her home for three days because the authorities warned Boston-area neighborhoods could be unsafe from gas leaks. The suit claims the utility’s negligence caused the explosions, and altered the life of residents of more than 8,600 homes forces to evacuate.

Federal authorities are investigating the cause: Authorities say the explosions were caused by too much natural gas being pumped into a pipe owned by Columbia Gas, which owns and operates nearly 5,000 miles of gas pipeline across Massachusetts.

The overpressure forced the gas to leak into homes, and destroyed dozens of them in the Boston-area communities of Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover. Twenty-five people were injured in the explosions, and 18-year-old Leonel Rondon was killed.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating why the overpressuring occurred, and if it was related to Columbia Gas’ work to replace old cast iron pipes with new plastic ones.

EPA LOOKS TO ROLL BACK OBAMA-ERA REFRIGERANT RULE: The Trump EPA is looking to soon propose rescinding regulations to phase out conventional refrigerants that will increase greenhouse gas emissions.

The rules were meant to phase out the use of Hydrofluorocarbons, a very potent greenhouse gas blamed for increasing the global temperature of the Earth.

The rule was part of former President Barack Obama’s Climate Action Plan, which Trump pledged to dismantle.

Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, blasted the proposed action.

“My hope is that this Administration will stop pursuing these senseless rollbacks and instead focus on policies that help address climate change and the business community,” Carper said Thursday after the proposal was circulated in the media.

SOLAR ENERGY PROJECTS BEGIN TO TAKE AIM AT THEME PARKS: The Six Flags Great Adventure theme park has become the staging ground for one of the largest solar arrays in New Jersey, the company KDC Solar announced Thursday morning.

The 23.5-megawatt solar photovoltaic power plant will be used to provide electricity to the park, which is one of the only Six Flag theme parks to feature a staged safari with live lions and elephants.

Once completed, the project will be the largest net-metered solar installation in the State of New Jersey.

New Jersey is a leader in solar energy: Net metering refers to New Jersey’s policy of having solar projects feed into the grid as well as provide energy to the user’s facility. This policy has made New Jersey a leader in solar energy development, in which only stalwart California, and perhaps North Carolina, are doing more.  

The project will provide enough electricity to supply 2,787 homes for a year. Its emissions reductions will equal removing approximately 108,000 cars from the road.

RUNDOWN

Bloomberg Why Trump’s moves to unchain methane terrify climate scientists

Wall Street Journal Oil giants use size to overcome fracking challenges

New York Times Humans are making hurricanes worse. Here’s how

The Guardian ‘It’s hyped up’: climate change skeptics in the path of Hurricane Florence

Quartz As US oil giants join a climate initiative, an Indian titan quits

SPONSOR MESSAGE: Interested in learning more about pipelines and the important role they play in the energy industry? Check out this clip on the pipeline permitting process and regulatory oversight.

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