WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Monday, readers! Team USA took home the gold in the team figure skating event yesterday, thanks to Virginia’s own Ilia Malinin (also known as the Quad God). Hoping to see his historic quad axel during his other events later in the week ⛸️.
Venezuela’s oil industry is back in the spotlight as Energy Secretary Chris Wright has confirmed his plans to visit the South American country in the coming weeks. His trip will make him the first high-level administration official to visit Venezuela since U.S. operations picked up in January. 🇻🇪🛢️✈️ Plus, keep reading for all the details on the latest Venezuelan-linked oil tanker seized by U.S. forces.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner energy and environment writers Callie Patteson (@CalliePatteson) and Maydeen Merino (@MaydeenMerino). Email cpatteson@washingtonexaminer dot com or mmerino@washingtonexaminer dot 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.
MEXICO HALTS OIL TO CUBA: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her country does not have plans to resume sending oil to Cuba as President Donald Trump threatens to impose tariffs.
“It’s currently on hold and we are seeking to avoid any negative impact on Mexico and, as always, to find the best diplomatic solution for Cuba to receive the fuel,” Sheinbaum said at her daily press briefing today.
Mexico had become Cuba’s main source of oil following the U.S. military operation capturing former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, which stopped shipments of Venezuelan oil to Havana.
Now, the Trump administration is seeking new leverage to remove the communist regime in Cuba. The president recently threatened any country that sends oil to Cuba with tariffs.
As a result, Sheinbaum has been facing a major dilemma about whether to send oil to the communist nation.
Mexico halted oil shipments to Cuba, and it is now facing a dire fuel shortage, leading to blackouts across the region, including in Havana. The fuel shortage has also affected food prices and transportation.
“You can’t hurt the people just because you disagree with the government,” Sheinbaum said. “It’s not right. They don’t have fuel for hospitals or schools. The people are suffering.”
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION GETTING ON THE GROUND IN VENEZUELA: Energy Secretary Chris Wright is set to travel to Venezuela in the coming weeks, becoming the highest-ranking official from the Trump administration to visit the country since the capture of former dictator Nicolas Maduro last month.
The details: Wright first confirmed the trip during a press conference at the Department of Energy’s headquarters on Friday, saying he would be meeting with “all the leadership” in the country.
The energy secretary offered up further information about the trip during an interview with Politico‘s James Bikales on the Politico Energy podcast. Wright told the outlet that he hopes to travel to some oil fields and see on-site operations while in the South American country.
“Really just to make direct human connections, get direct visibility and access into what’s happening on the ground,” Wright said.
A top priority for Wright during the trip will be improving the management of state-owned oil firm PDVSA, he said, saying it is in the United States’ and Venezuela’s best interest to have “professional, competent” management of the firm.
“We’re early on in this situation, but certainly enhancing and professionalizing, improving the quality of PDVSA is absolutely on the agenda,” Wright said.
Read more from Callie here.
Plus – oil tanker seizures continue: Early this morning, the Department of War announced that U.S. forces seized yet another Venezuela-linked oil tanker, bringing the total number of vessels seized to eight.
The tanker, known as the Aquila II, was tracked by U.S. forces from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean. It was traveling under a Panamanian flag and reportedly left Venezuela last month, carrying around 700,000 barrels of crude oil. The vessel was bound for China.
TOTALENERGIES TO SUPPLY SOLAR TO TEXAS GOOGLE DATA CENTER: The French energy company TotalEnergies has agreed to supply solar power to Google’s data centers in Texas.
As part of the agreement signed today, TotalEnergies will supply 1 gigawatt of capacity of renewable energy from two sites that will begin construction in the second quarter, Reuters reports.
The energy company has continued to invest in renewable energy sources, as well as gas-fired power plants. TotalEnergies Vice President Marc-Antoine Pignon told Reuters that the deal marks the largest renewable energy purchase agreement it has made in the United States.
SALES DROPPED FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES BUT ROSE FOR HYBRIDS IN 2025: The Energy Information Administration reports that about 22% of light-duty vehicles sold last year in the United States were hybrid, battery electric, or plug-in hybrid cars.
However, sales of hybrid electric vehicles have continued to increase, while they have dropped for battery EVs and plug-in hybrids. Battery EV sales dropped at the end of September due to the termination of the EV tax credit by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
EIA said that, before the expiration of the tax credits, the battery EVs market share hit record highs, with 12% of light-duty vehicles sold in September. Then, battery EV sales declined to under 6% of the market for the rest of the year. EIA said that 2025 was the first year where battery EV annual sales and market share declined.
JUDICIAL CENTER DROPS CLIMATE SCIENCE CHAPTER AFTER GOP PUSHBACK: The Federal Judicial Center has moved to withdraw a climate science chapter from its reference manual after dozens of attorneys general publicly criticized the organization over the text.
The background: At the end of last year, the Federal Judicial Center released its fourth edition of its Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence. The latest edition included a chapter on “climate science.”
The inclusion was quickly criticized by Republicans, namely from a coalition of 27 attorneys general who claimed the chapter was written by authors connected to university climate studies programs “that promote legal warfare against States and energy producers to push their left leaning political agendas.” Given that there are numerous ongoing climate lawsuits, the coalition asked the judicial center to remove the chapter from its reference guide.
What’s new: Late Friday, the director of the Federal Judicial Center sent a letter to West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey informing him that the chapter was omitted from the guide. He did not offer any additional reasoning as to why the center decided to remove the chapter.
“I’m proud of the effort of our coalition. As we stated in our letter to the Center, impartiality is a cornerstone of our judicial system,” McCuskey said. “Judges across the country use the Manual to help guide their decisions and bias towards left-leaning climate policies would have absolutely tipped the scales in many cases. I’m glad the Center heard our rational and commonsense argument for removing the chapter. It’s a win for domestic energy production, American prosperity and security, and West Virginia.”
CLAIM – LOSS OF NATURE POSES RISK TO ECONOMY: Businesses across the globe need to make significant investments and changes to protect biodiversity or risk extinction themselves, a landmark report released by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services now claims.
The report, which has been endorsed by more than 150 countries and took three years, found that in 2023, roughly $7.3 trillion in global public and private financing directly contributed to a loss of nature. Only $220 billion in public and private financing went to conservation and restoration of biodiversity.
Key quote: “The loss of biodiversity is among the most serious threats to business,” said Stephen Polasky, co-chair of the report. “Yet the twisted reality is that it often seems more profitable to businesses to degrade biodiversity than to protect it.”
ICYMI – TRUMP OPENS ATLANTIC NATIONAL MONUMENT TO COMMERCIAL FISHING: Late Friday afternoon, Trump moved to reopen a sweeping area of protected water in the Atlantic Ocean to commercial fishing, the latest move from the White House to roll back conservation- and environment-related regulations.
The proclamation issued last week allows fishing in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, a nearly 5,000-square-mile sanctuary located off the coast of New England. The marine refuge was first established under the Obama administration, and Trump attempted to roll back protections during his first presidency. Former President Joe Biden later reversed Trump’s decision.
In his proclamation, Trump claimed that “appropriately managed” commercial fishing would not put any objects of historic and scientific interest within the monument at risk.
Some background: This is not the first time Trump has moved to boost the commercial fishing industry. In April of last year, the president opened the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument to commercial fishing. The marine sanctuary was first established in 2009 under the Bush administration. It was later expanded to nearly 500,000 square miles under former President Barack Obama.
A LOOK AHEAD:
Feb. 9 – 11 The National Association for Regulatory Utility Commissioners winter policy summit is taking place in Washington, D.C.
Feb. 9 – 12 Oceantic’s International Partnering Forum will be held in New York City.
Feb. 10 – 12 The Energy Workforce and Technology Council is bringing a delegation of oilfield service leaders to Washington, D.C., for a fly-in, meeting with over 75 congressional and administration officials.
Feb. 10 – 12 The U.S. Nuclear Industry Council is hosting The Advanced Reactors Summit XIII and Technology Trailblazers Showcase in Seattle, Washington, featuring remarks from Deputy Energy Secretary James Danly and Nuclear Regulatory Commission chair Ho Nieh.
Feb. 10 – 12 The ERCOT Market Summit will take place in Austin, Texas.
Feb. 10 The Atlantic Council is holding a discussion on how global affairs may unfold over the next decade, analyzing issues like climate change, geopolitics, artificial intelligence, and more.
Feb. 10 The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies is holding a hearing to review broadband deployment funding at the Department of Commerce.
Feb. 10 The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands is holding a legislative hearing on a number of conservation and fire mitigation bills.
Feb. 10 The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will receive a closed briefing on the recent developments in Venezuela.
Feb. 11 The House Natural Resources Committee will hold a full committee markup on numerous critical minerals related bills, as well as wildfire and conservation-related pieces of legislation.
Feb. 12 The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a full committee meeting on conservation and federal land and oceans management related bills.
Feb. 14 is Valentine’s Day.
RUNDOWN
Associated Press In the Arctic, the major climate threat of black carbon is overshadowed by geopolitical tensions
Grist What over a century of ice data can tell us about the Great Lakes’ future
The Hill Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show: Why did he perform on a utility pole?
