Oil advanced after the US ramped up measures to hobble Iran’s crude exports, increasing pressure on Tehran amid a push for a new nuclear accord. West Texas Intermediate rose 1.6% to settle above $68 a barrel for the first time in more than two weeks, while global benchmark Brent climbed to settle at $72. The US Treasury Department sanctioned a Chinese oil refinery and its chief executive officer for allegedly buying Iranian oil as well as multiple vessels allegedly linked to a “shadow fleet” of ships that carry the OPEC member’s crude. The moves herald a return to the so-called maximum pressure campaign against Iran that squeezed the nation’s crude exports during US President Donald Trump’s first term. Trump told Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a recently delivered letter that his country has a two-month deadline to reach a new nuclear deal. “Trump is positioning to significantly impact Iranian exports if negotiations fail,” said Rebecca Babin, a senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Group. “A modest price move higher makes sense, but I’d be surprised if this drives more than a $1 to $2 increase,” given the two-month deadline, she said. A maximum-pressure campaign could remove as much as 1.5 million barrels of daily Iranian exports from global markets, according to Jorge Leon, head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy A/S. The sanctions injected a jolt of bullishness into a session that had earlier seen crude drift between gains and losses as markets assessed the Federal Reserve’s US economic outlook. While Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that the central bank is in no hurry to cut rates, the Treasury market boosted its bets on lower rates because of the uncertainty that he highlighted. Still, crude remains markedly below its mid-January peak, as bearish factors pressures prices.

Dive Brief: The Midcontinent Independent System Operator on Monday asked federal regulators to approve an Expedited Resource Addition Study process, or ERAS, to provide a framework for the accelerated study of generation projects “that can address urgent resource adequacy and reliability needs in the near term.” MISO asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve the ERAS proposal to be effective May 17. The grid operator is on pace for near-term capacity shortfalls, should resource retirements continue as planned, it said. MISO proposed for projects entering the ERAS process, as opposed to MISO’s standard Generator Interconnection Queue, to be studied serially each quarter and granted an Expedited Generator Interconnection Agreement within 90 days. Renewable energy stakeholders, however, warn the ERAS proposal “adds chaos to an already complex process.” Dive Insight: Recent surveys and forecasts demonstrate the urgency with which MISO needs to “address significant resource adequacy needs in its footprint that are compounded by the addition of unexpected large spot loads,” the grid operator told FERC. NERC’s 2024 Long-Term Reliability Assessment projected MISO will experience a 4.7 GW shortfall by 2028 if the current expected generator retirements occur, the grid operator said. And last year the grid operator and the Organization of MISO States published a report warning of possible capacity shortfalls beginning this summer. The ERAS proposal “is MISO’s answer to addressing these resource adequacy and reliability needs in the near-term,” it said in its proposal. “ERAS is a unique process which recognizes that the responsibility for providing grid reliability and resource adequacy in the MISO region is shared by Load Serving Entities … the states, and MISO.” According to MISO’s application, as of March 13 its generator interconnection queue contained 1,603 active interconnection requests. “This considerable backlog of applications is spread over all five of MISO’s study regions and includes queue cycles going

A federal judge issued an order Tuesday blocking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s freeze order on Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants, finding that the EPA did not provide sufficient evidence of waste, fraud or abuse. “Based on the record before the court, and under the relevant statutes and various agreements, it does not appear that EPA Defendants took the legally required steps necessary to terminate these grants, such that its actions were arbitrary and capricious,” said U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Tanya Chutkan in a Tuesday memorandum opinion.  The case was brought before Chutkan on March 8 by the Climate United Fund, the recipient of a $6.97 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grant which was frozen Feb. 18 after the EPA issued a notice of termination regarding the $20 billion GGRF fund.  The Climate United Fund said in a Monday release that the group, along with two other National Clean Investment Fund awardees, had been granted a temporary restraining order “halting the [EPA’s] termination of the grant agreements and preventing Citibank from transferring funds out of grantee bank accounts.” “Climate United will continue its legal process to fully restore its program,” the group said.  The other two NCIF awardees, the Coalition for Green Capital and Power Forward Communities, had $5 billion and $2 billion frozen, respectively, PBS reported. In a March 2 letter to Acting Inspector General Nicole Murley, Acting Deputy EPA Administrator Chad McIntosh said the EPA “launched certain oversight and accountability measures” to investigate GGRF disbursement for “financial mismanagement, conflicts of interest, and oversight failures.” But Chutkan said that when questioned at a March 12 hearing, “EPA Defendants proffered no evidence to support their basis for the sudden terminations, or that they followed the proper procedures.” “In the termination letters, EPA Defendants vaguely reference ‘multiple ongoing investigations’ into

The U.S. regular gasoline price and the U.S. on-highway diesel fuel price are both in a declining trend, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest gasoline and diesel fuel update showed. This update, which was released this week, put the average U.S. regular gasoline price at $3.078 per gallon on March 3, $3.069 per gallon on March 10, and $3.058 per gallon on March 17. It put the U.S. on-highway diesel fuel price at $3.635 per gallon on March 3, $3.582 per gallon on March 10, and $3.549 per gallon on March 17. Of the five Petroleum Administration for Defense District (PADD) regions highlighted in the EIA’s latest fuel update, the West Coast was shown to have the highest U.S. regular gasoline price as of March 17, at $4.061 per gallon. The Gulf Coast was shown to have the lowest U.S. regular gasoline price as of March 17, at $2.629 per gallon. In the update, the West Coast was also shown to have the highest U.S. on-highway diesel fuel price as of March 17, at $4.203 per gallon. The Gulf Coast was shown to have the lowest U.S. on-highway diesel fuel price as of March 17, at $3.245 per gallon. A glossary section of the EIA site notes that the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia are divided into five districts, with PADD 1 further split into three subdistricts. PADDs 6 and 7 encompass U.S. territories, the site adds. According to the AAA Fuel Prices website, the average U.S. regular gasoline price is $3.121 per gallon, as of March 20. Yesterday’s average was $3.102 per gallon, the week ago average was $3.079  per gallon, the month ago average was $3.165  per gallon, and the year ago average was $3.515 per gallon, the site showed. The average U.S. diesel price

Power generation firm Excitation & Engineering Services (EES) is expanding operations its operations to the Scottish Highlands amid a boom in energy investment in the region. EES said its new Inverness base will strengthen its ability to support its customers in the power sector as investment in hydroelectric and long duration energy storage (LDES) projects “continues to grow”. This includes the 1.3 GW Coire Glas project, set to be the first large-scale pumped storage scheme developed in the UK in 40 years. SSE Renewables is developing the £1.5 billion project in the Great Glen near Loch Lochy, around 50 miles from Inverness. When complete, the Coire Glas scheme will double the UK’s LDES capacity. With nine other pumped hydro schemes in development in Scotland, EES has launched a recruitment campaign for two engineers with local expertise to capitalise on opportunities in the region, “with potential for further expansion”. Inverness base EES director Ryan Kavanagh said establishing an Inverness base is a “major step towards enhancing our support for the region’s power generation industry”. “With more investment flowing into renewable energy, it’s crucial that we can offer specialised, responsive support locally,” he said. © Supplied by SSEAerial view of Loch Lochy, where the Coire Glas scheme will be built. “This office will help us serve our customers, improve collaboration with plant operators and support the maintenance and improvement of Scotland’s electricity supply.” EES founder and director Douglas Cope said the growing sector is a “great opportunity for engineers to develop their careers”. Cope founded the Tamworth-based firm in 2011 alongside a group of electrical engineers from firms including RWE and Alstom. “Scotland has a wealth of talent and we want to contribute to the region’s growth while fostering local expertise,” Cope said. Scotland pumped hydro boom Pumped storage projects and other

Nigeria’s push to revive oil production and encourage investment has been put at risk by sabotage at the heart of its crude pipeline system. Better security has been key to a recovery in the nation’s output, which rose 40% over the past few years after slumping to little more than half its historic peak. In January, Africa’s biggest producer even breached its once-distant OPEC quota.  The vandalism on a segment of the Trans-Niger Pipeline — which handles about 15% of the nation’s exports — is a setback for a government that had already taken measures to increase security in the area. President Bola Tinubu responded by imposing a state of emergency in Rivers State on Tuesday, citing an 18-month political standoff between local officials who he said failed to stop acts of sabotage by militants.  “This is a blow to the Tinubu government’s recent successes on oil output, gains driven in part by improved security measures,” said Clementine Wallop, director for sub-Saharan Africa at political-risk consultant Horizon Engage. “It is also a very difficult investment signal during a period where the government seemed to be turning a corner on energy.” Renaissance Africa Energy, a local consortium that only last week took control of assets including the TNP that it bought from Shell Plc, said it has no plans to issue a force majeure over exports of Bonny Light crude. Two tankers are waiting to load from the Bonny terminal, according to ship tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. In 2022, when Nigeria nearly dipped below a million barrels a day, security on the TNP had deteriorated to such an extent that the pipeline system had been illegally tapped in about 150 places. That meant producers only received a small fraction of the volumes they pumped through. Tightening security on oil pipelines