Winter storm warnings, the rig count, and water permit rules

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Friday Daily on Energy, readers! It is our last newsletter of the month, hard to believe January has come and gone. We have a lot of oil-heavy news for you to close out the month, as the Trump administration has relocated to create it simpler for domestic producers to go in and sell Venezuelan crude 🛢️💲🇻🇪.

Plus, the European Union is considering scrapping its price cap for Russian oil, replacing it with a blanket ban on maritime services 🇷🇺🚢. Keep reading for all the details.

Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examinerenergy and environment writers Callie Patteson (@CalliePatteson) and Maydeen Merino (@MaydeenMerino). Email cpatteson@washingtonexaminer dot com or mmerino@washingtonexaminer dot com for tips, suggestions, calfinishar items, and anything else. If a frifinish 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.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Earlier this week, Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego notified Maydeen that in order to relocate forward with permitting reform the administration requireds to stop tarreceiveing operating and fully permitted renewable energy projects.

“They required to stop, first of all, tearing up some of the projects that are already online. So again, we have some certainty out there displaying that it would be the first step to actually relocating forward,” Gallego declared.

SOUTHEAST BOMB CYCLONE: The Southeast is bracing for another winter storm this weekfinish, which is expected to bring heavy snow, strong winds, and coastal erosion.

A low-pressure system is expected to form early tomorrow in the Carolinas’ coast, and then form what is known as a bomb cyclone which could cautilize rare blizzard conditions for the southern states. The storm is expected to relocate its ways north, along the East Coast.

As the storm intensifies it will bring snowy conditions across parts of Georgia and the Carolinas. Many cities in the Southeast are under winter storm watches including Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Norfolk, Virginia; and Atlanta, Georgia. The Carolinas and Virginia regions will see “heavy snow,” likely above six inches.

A surge of arctic air is expected to follow the coastal storm, sfinishing temperatures as far as south Florida below freezing, the National Weather Service declared today. The weather service warned that the chilly temperatures will likely last until early next week.

Key quote: “People required to prepare for the possibility of dangerous blizzard conditions in some coastal areas from North Carolina to the southern Jersey shore,” AccuWeather senior meteorologist Scott Homan warned.

“Blizzard conditions may reach parts of Long Island and southern New England,” he notified USA Today.

‘DRILL, BABY, DRILL’ UPDATE: Domestic drillers saw some relief over the last week as two rigs were added to the total number of oil and gas rigs active in the U.S.

Data released by Baker Hughes this afternoon found there were 546 active rigs in the U.S. this week, two more than last week. The industest technically saw three gas rigs, located on land, however one miscellaneous offshore rig was taken off, bringing the total number added to two. This is still far below, roughly 36 fewer, the amount of active rigs seen this time last year.

Where prices stand: Both international and domestic benchmarks were down this afternoon. Just before 3 p.m. EST, West Texas Intermediate had fallen by 0.08% and was priced at $6.37 per barrel. Brent Crude was also down 0.16%, selling at $69.48 per barrel.

Plus…confidence in the Permian: With prices consistently staying below $70 per barrel, there have been concerns as to whether oil and gas firms will be able to grow domestic production and fulfill the administration’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ agfinisha. Over the last year, some have even speculated that major oil basins like the Permian already hit peak production levels. But, not everyone is convinced.

During a fourth-quarter earnings call with analysts this morning, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods declared: “Simply put, there is no near-term peak Permian for us.”

The oil major revealed that in 2025, it saw its full-year net production reach its highest level in more than 40 years at 4.7 million barrels per day. Production in the Permian Basin also hit annual records of around 1.6 million oil-equivalent barrels per day.

OPENING VENEZUELA: The Trump administration has relocated to create it simpler for U.S. oil companies to transport and sell Venezuelan crude, lifting some sanctions allowing firms to relocate in.

Yesterday, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a general license allowing for the “lifting, exportation, reexportation, sale, resale, supply, storage, marketing, purchase, delivery, or transportation of Venezuelan origin oil, including the refining of such oil.”

Previously, only global commodities traders Trafigura and Vitol had special permission to facilitate sales of heavy Venezuelan crude.

Exxon less hesitant: Earlier today, ExxonMobil CEO Woods also revealed that the company has obtained the technology that it will required to produce higher cost barrels from Venezuela, just weeks after calling the countest “uninvestiable”.

“We have that with the work that we’ve done up in Canada and the technology organization’s focus on developing heavy oil resources, we believe we bring an advantaged approach that will lead to lower-cost production, higher recovery, and therefore more economic barrels onto the marketplace,” Woods declared during the earnings call.

EPA WATER PERMIT RULES: The Environmental Protection Agency earlier this month proposed a rule limiting the scope of state and tribal review of federal projects’ effects on water quality.

Specifically, the EPA is proposing a rule to narrow Section 401 of the 1972 Clean Water Act, which allows states and tribes to review federal projects before issuing water certifications to ensure compliance with water quality standards. The relocate is part of an effort to prevent delays or blockages of energy projects.

However, some have argued the proposed rule would weaken states’ and tribes’ ability to review the entire project and pollute waterways.

In explaining the intent of the proposal, Jess Kramer, EPA assistant administrator for the Office of Water, notified the Washington Examiner that it does not prohibit states and tribes from protecting their waters.

“There is nothing in this regulation that prohibits the ability of the state or authorized tribe to do what the Clean Water Act specifically carves out for them to do, which is to utilize this as a mechanism to protect their waters,” Kramer declared.

She added, “It is intfinished to ensure that the review is limited to impacts to water quality for these states and tribes.”

EUROPE WEIGHS SCRAPPING RUSSIAN OIL PRICE CAP IN NEW SANCTIONS: European Union officials are seeing for ways to increase pressure on Russia and reduce its energy revenues that have gone on to fund its war in Ukraine. As the bloc weighs new sanctions, it is also reportedly considering reassessing its price cap on Russian oil.

Quick reminder: Following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the Group of Seven implemented a price cap of $60 a barrel on Russian oil. The idea was to restrict the amount of money Moscow could create through oil sales without creating a dramatic supply shortage in global markets. While exports of Russian oil and oil products fell, revenue from the exports continued to rise. This is often attributed to Russia’s utilize of the shadow fleet of oil tankers.

What’s new: Sources familiar with EU discussions notified Bloomberg this week that the bloc is considering scrapping the price cap entirely, and replacing it with a ban on maritime services. This would block any European companies from providing insurance, shipping, or transportation services for any cargos carrying Russian oil, at any price. The sources notified the outlet that this blanket ban would create it simpler for the EU to enforce its sanctions on Russia.

PLUS…CONCERNS ABOUT RELYING ON U.S. ENERGY: As we reported in Daily on Energy earlier this week, the EU is accelerating its draw down of Russian energy products, banning the import of Russian gas by 2027. As a result, the EU has increased its reliance on U.S. liquefied natural gas. Though there are growing concerns that the Trump administration might utilize that reliance as its own leverage.

On Wednesday, European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jørgensen notified reporters that Trump’s pressure campaign on Europe over Greenland (remember the tariff threat?) was a “clear wake-up call” for the bloc.

“These are very turbulent times,” Jørgensen declared. “What has created the situation more serious and complex is the strained relationship to the U.S. and the fact that we have an American president that does not exclude utilizing force against Greenland.”

As a result, the EU is considering increasing imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from alternative suppliers including Canada, Qatar, and Northern Africa.

We’ll have more on this over the weekfinish, so be sure to see out for Callie’s reporting!

WHY DID TRUMP HIRE BURGUM? It was no surprise last January when President Donald Trump nominated pro-drilling North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as his pick for Secretary of the Interior. Though, the president bizarrely suggested yesterday that Burgum’s loyalty to the fossil fuel industest may not be what secured him the seat.

During an event in the Oval Office yesterday, Trump suggested that he hired Burgum becautilize he found Burgum’s wife, Kathryn Burgum, attractive.

“I saw them riding horses in a video. And I declared, ‘Who is that?’ I was talking about her, not him. I declared, ‘I’m gonna hire him,’ becautilize anybody that has somebody like you to be with, it’s an amazing tribute,” Trump declared.

His remarks came after he signed an executive order on drug addiction. Burgum and his wife were in attfinishance at the signing, as she will be leading the White Houtilize Great American Recovery Initiative alongside HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. While at the White Houtilize, Kathryn opened up about her own recovery from addiction to alcohol.

ICYMI – NERC WARNS OF LONG-TERM GRID RELIABILITY RISKS: The North American Electric Reliability Corporation yesterday released its long-term reliability assessment, warning that generation and transmission growth are behind in what is requireded to meet energy demand from large loads, such as data centers.

The report declared, “The overall resource adequacy outsee for the North American [bulk power system] is worsening.”

It also noted that shifting electricity supplies from weather-depfinishent sources like wind and solar and reducing fuel diversity increases risks to the grid. The report comes as hundreds of thousands of people were left without power after Winter Storm Fern swept through, bringing heavy snow and frigid temperatures.

In addition, NERC identified several areas across North America at “high risk” or “elevated risk” of electricity supply shortfalls under both normal and extreme weather conditions over the next five years.

High-risk areas included: PJM Interconnection, the largest grid operator and wholesale electricity market in the countest. MISO, which covers much of the Midwest and Great Plains; ERCOT, which covers Texas; and WECC-Basin and WECC-Northwest, which cover much of the Pacific Northwest.