Oil fell after President Donald Trump signaled a decision on whether to strike Iran will be made within two weeks, easing concerns about an imminent attack from the US. Global benchmark Brent slid about 2.3% to settle as just above $77 a barrel after the White House comments on Thursday and a Reuters report that Tehran is ready to discuss limitations on uranium enrichment. Trading volumes for West Texas Intermediate were muted because of the US holiday and a contract expiration on Friday. The US benchmark for August delivery settled just below $74 a barrel. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with counterparts from the UK, France and Germany on Friday in Geneva. Araghchi said Iran is ready to hold another meeting with the Europeans in the near future, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. But, he warned, “As long as the attacks continue, we will not negotiate with any party.” “We are keen to continue ongoing discussions and negotiations with Iran, and we urge Iran to continue their talks with the US,” UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy told reporters after the meeting. “This is a perilous moment, and it’s hugely important that we don’t see regional escalation of this conflict.” Trump’s decision on Iran will take some time due to the “substantial chance of negotiations,” he said in a message through White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. The UK, meanwhile, is withdrawing embassy staff from the Middle Eastern nation, AFP reported. The oil market has had a turbulent week, with futures swinging in a range of around $8, volatility spiking to the highest since 2022, key premiums significantly widening and options at one stage more bullish than after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Still, both Brent and WTI notched their third straight weekly gains. Brent crude closed almost 3% higher on

WASHINGTON— U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright today announced the release of the fourth loan disbursement to Holtec to help fund the restart of the Palisades Nuclear Plant. Today’s action disburses $100,451,904 of the up to $1.52 billion loan guarantee to Holtec for the Palisades Nuclear Plant, which will be America’s first restart of a commercial nuclear reactor that ceased operations, subject to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approvals. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Energy is taking a leading role in unleashing the American nuclear renaissance,” said Secretary Chris Wright. “The Palisades Nuclear Plant will help to reinvigorate our nuclear industrial base and will reestablish the United States as the world’s nuclear energy leader.” This disbursement marks Holtec’s fourth disbursement of funds from the Loan Programs Office (LPO) since the September 2024 announcement of the loan’s financial close. To date, $251,878,038 of DOE guaranteed loan funds have been disbursed to Holtec to help fund the reopening as it continues to make important milestones toward plant restart, including the NRC’s issuance of the final environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact. Today’s announcement highlights the Energy Department’s leading role in advancing President Trump’s Executive Order 14302, Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base, through funding the restart of nuclear plants. DOE remains committed to fulfill this mission in order to maximize the speed and scale of nuclear capacity in the United States, ensuring American’s have access to reliable, abundant, and affordable energy. ###

Germany’s economy ministry is studying options for how to exit nationalized energy company Securing Energy for Europe GmbH, people with knowledge of the matter said.  Some officials have been holding early-stage deliberations as they evaluate a range of possible ways to exit SEFE, which could include a sale or breakup of the business, or a potential merger with fellow nationalized energy company Uniper SE, according to the people. The economy ministry department overseeing SEFE is tasked with drawing up a plan by mid-2025. SEFE, a former Gazprom unit, has itself been speaking with Boston Consulting Group as it seeks to examine the economic rationale for various options including a potential merger with Uniper, the people said. It previously studied that possibility during the energy crisis in 2022.  A spokesperson for Germany’s economy ministry, which manages the SEFE holding, said it “cannot confirm” whether it is studying exit options, adding that it’s not currently considering a merger with Uniper. A SEFE spokesperson said it works with diverse consultancies including BCG, declining to comment on the nature of the work. The finance ministry, which oversees the Uniper stake, declined to comment. Uniper and BCG also declined to comment.  Combining the two nationalized energy companies would only be considered as a potential fallback option in case the government’s sale of Uniper fails to gain traction, some of the people said. While at least three suitors – including Equinor ASA, Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s EPH and Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. – are considering bids for Uniper, talks to sell the company in one piece are complicated by the utility’s diverse portfolio. Some involved parties are skeptical of the merits of a potential merger between Uniper and SEFE, since any tie-up would have to pass rigorous antitrust hurdles and could delay the government’s exit, according to the

Talks aimed at de-escalating the week-long war between Israel and Iran got under way in Geneva on Friday after US President Donald Trump signaled he would give diplomacy a chance before deciding whether to intervene militarily. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is meeting counterparts from the UK, France and Germany to discuss what he called “nuclear and regional issues” around the ongoing conflict. French President Emmanuel Macron is among those leaders urging Iran to return to negotiations over its nuclear program. Oil prices fell following a report from Reuters that Iran is ready to discuss limitations on uranium enrichment, but won’t consider stopping entirely while it’s under military attacks. Before negotiations with the US were suspended, Tehran had signaled its willingness to accept some restrictions on its enrichment activities, while Israel and US have said the Islamic Republic shouldn’t be allowed to enrich uranium at all. Araghchi on Friday accused Israel of derailing the diplomacy with its strikes, telling the United Nations Human Rights Council that Iranian officials were scheduled to hold a next round of indirect talks with their US counterparts to “craft a promising agreement” that would make progress in resolving the nuclear issue. Israel launched its surprise attack on Iran last week, saying the threat of its sworn enemy acquiring nuclear weapons had to be neutralized. Iran responded with waves of missiles and drones of its own, and there have been heavy casualties on both sides.  Trump, who is scheduled to attend a national security meeting in the Oval Office on Friday, has publicly mused for days about the US joining the fray, but appears to have taken a step back after a run of tough rhetoric, including demands for Tehran residents to relocate and threats toward Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “Based on the fact

CenterPoint Energy will deploy 15 large mobile generators to the San Antonio area to help reduce the risk of energy shortfalls this summer, the Texas utility said Monday. Installation of the first five units has begun and the remaining 10 will be installed in the coming weeks. The move “will immediately lower monthly bills for our Houston-area customers,” Jason Ryan, CenterPoint’s executive vice president of regulatory services and government affairs, said in a statement. The deployment is expected to reduce bills for Houston-area customers by approximately $2/month by 2027, the utility said. The generators range from 27 MW to 32 MW and were acquired following Winter Storm Uri, which devastated the Texas grid in 2021. CenterPoint subsequently came under fire when the mobile units were not deployed after Hurricane Beryl last summer.  The utility opted to forego some profits associated with the mobile generation lease, amid the controversy. “CenterPoint will receive no revenue or profit from the 15 large units based on the agreement” with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the utility said Monday. According to the June agreement, ERCOT determined that the proposed retirement of CPS Energy’s V.H. Braunig Units 1, 2, and 3 “poses a significant risk” to its system because those units “help to mitigate risk of cascading outages associated with the post-contingency overload of certain transmission lines importing power into the greater San Antonio area.” ERCOT recommended Unit 3 continue operating under a reliability must-run agreement, but said CenterPoint’s mobile fleet “could help further mitigate the identified reliability risks more cost-effectively than committing V.H. Braunig Units 1 and 2 through RMR agreements.” According to CenterPoint, it’s generators will deliver approximately $200 million of value to the state’s grid. The agreement with ERCOT indicates the generators could run until March 2027. In the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl,

In early May, sources from within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported that the federal government intended to end its long-running Energy Star program for energy-efficient appliances, according to the New York Times — spelling the possible end of a widely used voluntary tool in the multifamily industry.  The sunset of the Energy Star program would be part of a larger agency initiative to eliminate divisions that oversee efforts related to climate change and energy efficiency, as reported by the New York Times. As of now, the program is still active, and no further reports or official announcements have been made on its status.  Energy Star has saved consumers and businesses $500 billion in energy costs since its founding in 1992, according to the program’s 2023 report. On a yearly basis, it creates roughly $40 billion in energy savings at a cost of $32 million to taxpayers, according to the Institute for Market Transformation, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit focused on high-quality buildings. The program counts thousands of private organizations as its partners, including nearly 40% of Fortune 500 companies, according to the report. Its Sustained Excellence award winners, recognized for years or decades of support, include a number of multifamily companies: Houston-based Hines, Dallas-based CBRE, New York City-based Nuveen Real Estate and New York City-based Tishman Speyer, among others. Since media reports surfaced last month about the program’s demise, more than 1,200 organizations have signed letters appealing to the EPA to continue the Energy Star program, according to the IMT. “The real estate industry is really aligned … on the idea that it is essential to maintain the Energy Star program within the federal government,” Alex Dews, CEO of the IMT, told Multifamily Dive. “It is a public good that cannot be replicated in the same way outside of government.”