WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Monday, readers! Did you remember to set your clock forward an hour yesterday? If the time change has thrown you off, consider taking a little nap later today – it is National Napping Day, after all. 😴
Today marks the 10th day of war in Iran, and there’s little sign of deescalation that could allow for normal flows of oil and natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz. Prices have appeared to settle this afternoon, though, after hitting record highs overnight. 🛢️💲 We have the latest below.
Few, if any, tankers have been able to pass through the Strait of Hormuz over the last week, but that’s not stopping President Donald Trump from saying the vessels should just go through regardless of the risks. 🚢 Keep reading to see what he said.
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.
THE LATEST ON OIL MARKETS: We’ve entered the second week of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which has been hallmarked by soaring oil and gas prices, sending prices to their highest levels in years. Late last night, international and domestic benchmarks of crude oil prices surged to more than $119 per barrel, the highest seen since 2022.
Where prices stand: Prices settled this morning and afternoon after finance ministers with the G7 met earlier today to discuss ways to stabilize the markets. Just after 2 p.m. EST, Brent Crude was up 7.31%, selling at $99.47 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate was also up 4.49%, and priced at $94.98 per barrel.
The high crude prices have also sent domestic gas prices soaring. As of this morning, the national average price of gasoline was around $3.478 per gallon, up nearly $0.50 from last week, according to data compiled by AAA.
The G7 decision: There was speculation before the virtual G7 meeting that the member nations would agree to jointly release hundreds of millions of barrels of crude from reserves to curb further price hikes. However, the ministers decided against the collaborative action.
One G7 official with insight into the discussions told Reuters that while there was “broad consensus” on resuming normal energy flows, the discussion is more about “timing.” Energy ministers from the G7 nations are expected to hold a separate virtual meeting tomorrow, with nations’ leaders meeting later in the week.
Read more from Callie here.
Where prices could go: Unless there is a significant deescalation in the Middle East, or serious efforts taken to resume oil and gas flows in the global market, oil and gas prices will continue to rise.
Neil Atkinson, former head of oil at the International Energy Agency, told CNBC today that the “sky is the limit” for prices. Analysts with banking and research firms Barclays, Capital Economics, and Rystad have warned prices could spike to anywhere between $120 and $150 a barrel.
This will result in even higher prices at the pump. GasBuddy has forecast that there is an 80% chance the national average price of gasoline could hit $4 per gallon within the next month, or even sooner. Average prices are expected to hit around $3.75 to $3.95 per gallon this week.
Trump’s steadfast confidence: While prices soar, President Donald Trump remains unfazed. Over the weekend, Trump again insisted that high oil prices were “short term,” claiming they were a “small price to pay” in the Iran war.
The president reiterated that sentiment this morning, telling the New York Post in a brief phone call that he has “a plan” for tackling the surging prices. He did not elaborate on what this plan entails, simply adding, “I have a plan for everything. You’ll be very happy.”
NATURAL GAS PRICES RISE IN EUROPE: Natural gas futures continue to tick up in Europe, rising as high as €60 per megawatt-hour today and almost doubling since the war in Iran started.
European natural gas futures today settled up 4.7% at €55.89 per megawatt-hour. The increase in natural gas prices comes as Europe’s winter is ending and stored supplies are low.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters in a news conference in Berlin that the war could affect the economy, adding “So we’re doing all we can to increase our independence, also with the aim of bringing energy prices down in the longer term.”
TRUMP TELLS TANKERS TO SAIL THROUGH THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ: The president is calling out oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, telling them to “show some guts” and sail through the trading route.
“These ships should go through the Strait of Hormuz and show some guts, there’s nothing to be afraid of. … They have no Navy, we sunk all their ships,” Trump told Fox News.
The key trading route, which sees the movement of nearly 20 million barrels of crude oil per day, has been effectively closed since the war started two weeks ago.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright yesterday said on CBS’s Face the Nation that there soon could be some tanker movement on the strait.
“We’re in engagement right now with people that want to get tankers moving out of the Gulf,” Wright said. “So, yes, there could be — early tankers probably will involve some direct protection by the U.S. military, but most importantly, is to defang their ability to threaten these ships.”
The administration last Friday announced it would provide reinsurance for ships in the Gulf of up to $20 billion to stabilize the transit of oil and gas shipments.
LEASE SALE COMING UP THIS WEEK: Later this week, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will be holding its second offshore lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, which has been renamed the Gulf of America.
The details: The lease sale, announced in early February, will offer more than 15,000 unleased blocks for development, spanning 80.4 million acres in the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf region. These blocks are located as close as 3 miles to shore and as far out as 231 miles offshore. The water depths span from 9 to more than 11,000 feet.
The sale is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, starting at 9 a.m. CST.
This is the second of 30 oil and gas lease sales required to take place in the Gulf through 2040 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The first sale took place in December, generating more than $300 million in bigs for 181 blocks. And a third, offering another 15,000 blocks, is scheduled for August.
LAWMAKERS FILE AMICUS BRIEF OVER EPA’S CANCELLATION OF THE SOLAR FOR ALL GRANTS: Forty-nine members of Congress signed an amicus brief opposing the Environmental Protection Agency’s effort to repeal the Solar for All program.
Among them were Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Environmental and Public Works Committee, and Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the ranking member of the Budget Committee.
In the filing, the congressmen argued that Congress had already authorized the funding for Solar for All and Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act only rescinded the unobligated funds.
“President Trump’s EPA illegally pulled the plug on Solar for All – a program Congress established and appropriated funds for – to protect the interests of the polluting megadonors who put him in office,” Whitehouse said in a statement.
As a reminder: The EPA last year moved to cancel $7 billion in federal grants from the Solar for All program. The initiative is part of the Biden administration’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was established as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The program helps to install solar energy in households across the country.
The EPA is currently facing legal challenges brought by the state of Washington and 22 other plaintiffs. Members of Congress are asking the federal court in the Western District of Washington at Tacoma to vacate EPA’s termination and reaffirm that the OBBBA only canceled unobligated funds.
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE UNVEILS RETURN OF MOUNT RUSHMORE FIREWORKS: For the first time in over five years, Fourth of July fireworks are returning to Mount Rushmore.
The details: The Interior Department’s National Park Service announced earlier today that it would be launching fireworks above the Mount Rushmore National Memorial on July 3 as part of the administration’s broader 250th anniversary celebrations.
The event will be ticketed, with a ticket lottery running from April 8 – 12, which can be found here. Festivities and special events at the park will start at around 4 p.m. that day.
Some background: The fireworks celebration held during Trump’s first presidency in 2020 was the first in over a decade. The displays, which started in 1998, were discontinued in 2009 over fire safety and environmental concerns.
Former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem attempted to resume the fireworks celebrations several times after the 2020 display, but was repeatedly denied by the National Park Service. In 2024, the agency told the state’s department of tourism that a fireworks event would pose threats to the environment and Memorial resources, with chemicals including perchlorate having been found in surface water, groundwater, soil, and even drinking water.
The agency also cited risks of wildfires in the area as well as the potential interference with other activities in the park and impairment on the operation of public use facilities. Plus, the parks service pointed out that multiple tribes in the region have said fireworks would have an “adverse effect” on the traditional cultural landscape.
ICYMI – WATER UTILITY FACES CLASS ACTION OVER POTOMAC SEWAGE SPILL: A class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of property and vessel owners on the Potomac River against D.C. Water and its alleged oversight related to the massive sewage spill in January.
The details: The lawsuit, filed by Hagens Berman on Friday, accused D.C. Water of failing to implement “adequate interim safeguards, emergency preparedness plans, or monitoring protocols to prevent or contain a catastrophic failure in the highest-risk unremediated sections of the system.”
The lawsuit claims D.C. Water was aware of corrosion that led to pipeline collapse and wastewater spill. It cites public statements from the utility between 2011 and 2015, in which D.C. Water inspected the line and found signs of corrosion.
“DC Water had extensive, actual, and documented knowledge of the deteriorated condition of the Potomac Interceptor for over a decade prior to the January 19, 2026 collapse,” the lawsuit claims.
The law firm said the class action is being brought against the utility on behalf of owners of property and vessels in the area who incurred out-of-pocket costs, business interruption damages, property contamination, cleaning costs or other concrete economic losses associated with the sewage spill.
Key quote: “We expect DC Water will try to play the victim,” Hagens Berman managing partner and co-founder Steve Berman said in a statement. “As we see it, this is an instance of high-risk infrastructure that was operated without reasonable safeguards, not an inevitability.”
Quick reminder: The sewage spill began when the Potomac Interceptor sewer line in Maryland collapsed on Jan. 19, releasing more than 240 million gallons of untreated sewage into the Potomac River. As a result, E. coli levels were dangerously high for human contact. Drinking water was not affected in the incident.
A LOOK AHEAD:
March 9 – 11 The Illinois Geothermal Conference is taking place in East Peoria, Illinois.
March 9 – 13 Water Power Week is being held in Washington, D.C.
March 10 Arnold & Porter is holding a policy briefing on the state of federal permitting reform at its Washington, D.C., office.
March 10 The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry is holding a hearing to examine increasing domestic consumption of U.S.-grown agricultural products.
March 11 The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works is holding a hearing on a bill that would require the Environmental Protection Agency administrator to authorize manufacturers of certain vehicles to suspend engine derate or shutdown functions amid cold weather.
March 11 – 12 The AEE West Energy Conference and Expo will be held in Bellevue, Washington.
March 12 The Environmental and Energy Study Institute is holding a webinar titled “Strategies to Lower Utility Bills Now for Households and Small Businesses.”
March 14 – 15 The Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum is taking place in Tokyo, Japan.
RUNDOWN
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