WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Wednesday, readers! While not everyone got a chance to see the rare total solar eclipse that hit the Northern Hemisphere earlier today, 🌔 space lovers will get another opportunity to see something cool tonight.
The Perseid meteor shower will be visible in the skies tonight, with the best viewing starting around 11 p.m. and lasting until dawn. 🌠💫🌌 Your best chance of seeing the meteors will be somewhere with dark skies, away from city lights. They appear to radiate primarily from the Perseus constellation and will be active for another two weeks!
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- 🛢️💸 Earlier today, the Trump administration held its third out of 30 lease sales for oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of America (formerly Gulf of Mexico). Curious how much the high bids generated and who was involved? Read below.
- ⛽📈 Plus, we may not have touched on it for a bit in Daily on Energy, but we’re still closely tracking gas price trends. In fact, gasoline prices have hit the highest they have ever been – in history – this late in a calendar year. How high are we talking? Keep reading to find out.
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.
RESULTS OF THE THIRD GULF LEASE SALE:
The Trump administration held its third offshore lease sale for oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of America this morning, drawing weaker bidding and less than a third of the revenue generated from the first auction last year.
The details: The sale generated more than $82 million in high bids from 16 companies, including Shell, Chevron, Equinor, and BP.
The auction offered just over 15,000 unleased blocks in the western, central, and eastern areas of the Gulf, spanning roughly 80.4 million acres. The blocks ranged from 3 to 231 miles offshore, with depths reaching more than 11,115 feet. Ultimately, the companies submitted a total of 69 bids on 59 tracts — less than 1% of what was offered.
Wednesday’s lease sale is the third of 30 that are expected to take place through 2040, with two held each year in March and August. The auctions were mandated by President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in July 2025.
The second lease sale held in March drew in nearly $47 million for 25 blocks, stretching across roughly 141,000 acres. While the third auction brought in nearly double that amount, it is still significantly lower than the $279.4 million generated during the first auction in December.
Notable timing: The most recent auction was also the first held for leases offshore since the Endangered Species Committee, led by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, voted to lift protections for endangered species in the Gulf region, exempting all oil and gas drilling activities in the region from Endangered Species Act requirements.
The decision, which was pushed for by the Pentagon in March, was the latest effort by the Trump administration to ease regulatory constraints on the oil and gas industry and fulfill the president’s “Drill, baby, drill” agenda.
Read more from Callie here.
GAS PRICES ARE REACHING NEW RECORD HIGHS
The national average price of gas is hitting historic levels this month.
U.S. average price of gasoline rose above $4 per gallon today for the third time this year, setting a new record, according to Gasbuddy analyst Patrick De Haan. An average price above $4 per gallon has never been reached this late in the calendar year.
The Trump administration has attempted to lower gas prices ahead of the midterm elections, which is less than 100 days away. This includes waiving the Jones Act, releasing oil reserves, and allowing for the sale of higher-ethanol blends. The president has also pressured major oil companies to cut consumer prices.
A Politico poll last month found that three in five Americans believe that gas prices have risen more than they actually have. The poll said that about 46% of Americans said that the change in gas prices will impact how they plan to vote this upcoming November.
The president recently admitted that as the war in Iran continues, gas prices could climb.
“As soon as the situation with Iran ends, oil is going to go down, and we will have completed something in such a short amount of time, that is a miracle,” Trump said in Las Vegas last week.
Read more by Maydeen here.
All the rest
ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY PRICES STILL TREND UPWARD: Americans have yet to see significant relief from high electricity and energy bills, as those prices are still soaring above inflation.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released an update to its consumer price index this morning, revealing that inflation fell one-tenth of a percentage point in July to 3.4%.
Month-over-month, some of this drop was attributed to small declines in gasoline and fuel oil prices. BLS reported that for the month of July, gasoline prices dropped 2.9% and fuel oil prices dipped 1.7%. Electricity prices still increased, ticking up by just 0.10%, while utility papered gas service prices jumped 0.7% for the month.
For the year ending in July, all energy related prices are up, with the cost of energy overall increasing by 14.7%. The biggest price jump was seen for fuel oil, which was up 39.1% for the year. Electricity prices are also up by 4.2% year over year.
You can find the full breakdown from BLS here.
WHAT ABOUT OIL PRICES? Crude oil prices saw little change today as traders still waited for a ceasefire deal between the U.S. and Iran.
With the markets essentially in purgatory, the Trump administration has continued to insist that oil is able to move through the Strait of Hormuz. Late last night, Trump claims the U.S. had “total control over” the waterway.
“We own it,” he said at Joint Base Andrews.
However, daily traffic still remains far below prewar levels, when around 130 ships were passing through each day. Kpler data cited by Reuters revealed only eight vessels passed through the Strait yesterday.
Before 3 p.m. EDT today, both international and domestic benchmarks were slightly up. Brent crude rose by 0.09% and was selling at $88.99 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate also increased by 0.14% and was priced at $83.36 a barrel.
IRAN WAR CONTINUES TO STRAIN OIL DEMAND: Pressure on global oil markets is growing as the Strait of Hormuz crisis drags on, the International Energy Agency said its monthly oil market report today.
The Paris-based agency is estimating that global oil demand will fall even further this year by 1.6 million barrels per day, roughly 510,000 barrels a day more than it predicted last month. This is heavily due to consumers using fewer petroleum products because of higher fuel prices, which will remain elevated until normal flows through the Strait of Hormuz resume.
You can read the full report here.
U.S. NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION INCREASES: The U.S. natural gas industry is expected to produce an average of 122.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2026, surpassing the last year’s production record of 118.5 Bcf/d.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration most of the U.S. natural gas expansion is occurring in the Permian region in states like Texas and New Mexico. EIA forecasts that gas production in the Permian region will be 6% higher than in 2025.
U.S. natural gas production is rising to meet growing energy demand and increased liquified natural gas exports.
ICYMI – PADILLA SEEKS TO REWARD OFFSHORE WIND DEVELOPERS WHO RESIST TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DEMANDS: Democrat Sen. Alex Padilla of California and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine introduced a bill yesterday that would reward offshore wind developers who go against the Trump administration’s demands.
The senators said the bill would give companies that reject Trump’s payouts an expedited route to more development.
Last week, the German energy developer RWE agreed to cancel three offshore wind leases in the U.S. after reaching a $1.22 billion deal with the administration to invest in fossil fuels. The administration has reached several similar deals with other energy developers to abandon their wind development projects and redirect funds towards fossil fuels.
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