The U.S. trade deficit shrank unexpectedly in June as American oil production helped to wean the economy off foreign imports.The trade gap narrowed by 7% to $41.5 billion from May’s $44.7 billion, according to a Commerce Department release. The drop was better than the expansion to $44.8 billion that economists had predicted, according to Bloomberg data.
Elon Musk announced that Tesla will deliver 100,000 electric vehicles in 2015. This is a big jump up from the 22,000 vehicles Tesla produced in 2013 and the 34,000 projected for this year.
Tesla has a new competitor, and it’s not from BMW or General Motors. It’s from Australian university students, whose electric Sunswift eVe set a new world record for fastest average speed—more than 60mph—over 500 kilometers (310 miles) on a single battery charge, on July 23. That’s a big deal: Range is the biggest issue holding back the widespread adoption of EVs, and this record shows the car can drive hundreds of miles at a reasonable highway speed. It stomped on the old record, a mere 45 mph, and drove farther than even the Tesla Model S, the current king of EVs, can go on a full charge.
Chinese shipyards are seeking to take about $10 billion in orders for new liquefied natural gas tankers over the rest of the decade, part of a plan to restructure the country’s ailing shipbuilding sector and secure China’s energy supply chain.
The Renewable Fuels Association will host several Ethanol Safety Seminars this month in Alabama and Kansas.
Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores Inc. will introduce fast-fill compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling capabilities for heavy-duty trucks and a CNG fueling option for passenger vehicles at existing travel stops in Ardmore and Webbers Falls, Okla.
The White House is expected to issue goals soon for the country’s use of renewable fuels during 2014 and its coming under pressure from the biofuels industry and some Democratic senators to set higher long-term objectives.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is holding its second and final hearing on proposed new standards for oil refinery emissions as part of a 60-day public comment period.
Gov. John Hickenlooper on Monday created a task force to address oil and gas development in Colorado, in an eleventh-hour attempt to foster compromise over the highly divisive topic before it hits the polls in November.
Crude-oil futures rose Monday, recouping some of their steep losses last week and notching their largest one-day percentage increase in nearly two weeks. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September CLU4 -0.91% ended at $98.29 a barrel, up 41 cents, or 0.4%. That broke a five-session losing streak.
