Canada Qualifies First Companies to Bid for Offshore Wind Energy Licenses

Prequalification of companies for Canada's first offshore wind energy license auction were completed (Nova Scotia Government)

Published Jun 28, 2026 6:59 PM by The Maritime Executive

Canada and the province of Nova Scotia took a key step forward in their ambitions to develop offshore wind energy by designating the firms prequalified to enter the bidding. Government officials highlighted a strong field of international participants, saying it further confirms the opportunities to become a world-class site for offshore wind energy.

The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator (CNSOER), an independent joint agency created by the government of Canada and Nova Scotia, conducted the pre-qualification. It established criteria for the financial status of the bidder as well as technical, legal, and social elements that were considered during the review process. 

“By attracting companies with the experience and know-how to deliver large energy projects, we are setting the stage for a successful offshore wind industry here at home,” said Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston.

Among the five companies that were announced as having been pre-qualified were well-known names of developers, including DEME from Belgium, Jan De Nul based in Luxembourg, and Ming Yang from China. Two groups were also among those pre-qualified, and included in one of the groups is Hanwha Ocean, which would be working with Q Energy France. The regulator noted, however, that companies also had the option of not revealing their status in this phase of the program.

Canada plans to open the formal bidding for the first offshore wind sites in the country later this year. Bids will be reviewed both at the federal and provincial levels before the designees for the licenses are announced.

 

The first areas designated for the leases were announced in July 2025 (Province of Nova Scotia)

 

The first wind lease areas that will be put up for auction were designated in July 2025. A total of four areas were announced, including three to the east of Nova Scotia and one to the north. Three (Middle Bank, Sable Island Bank, and Sydney Bight) would each be at least 25 kilometers (15 miles) from shore and are at depth for fixed-bottom turbines. The fourth, French Bank, would be closer at 20 kilometers (12.5 miles), with significantly deeper waters, which could require floating turbines. The province has additional areas under consideration.

The government said the first call for bids would be for a modest 2.5 GW and would be followed by additional rounds. The goal is to license 5 GW by 2030.

Nova Scotia’s Premier, Tim Houston, is advocating a bold vision for the industry. He looks to make Nova Scotia an energy exporter. While Nova Scotia currently has peak electrical usage of approximately 2.4 GW of power, Houston predicts the industry could grow to a generation capacity of 40 to 50 GW by 2050, making it an energy exporter. 

Massachusetts is reported to be one of the potential markets for Canadian wind power. The state is looking to develop new sources of renewable energy after the Trump administration stalled New England’s efforts to develop more offshore energy capacity.

California to Sue Trump Administration for Canceled Offshore Wind Lease

Golden State Wind was to be one of the first floating wind farms in the United States (rendering from Ocean Winds)

Published Jun 23, 2026 4:53 PM by The Maritime Executive

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Energy Commission filed a notice of intent on Tuesday, June 23, to challenge the Trump administration’s deal to cancel a California offshore wind lease in exchange for investments in fossil fuel energy projects. The state contends the effort puts at risk its energy policy and more than $100 million in investments in an unlawful agreement that violates the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

The Trump administration’s latest step to end offshore wind energy has focused on a series of deals that it says reimburse the bidders for the money spent on leases in exchange for reinvestment in other energy projects. The first deal was struck for nearly $1 billion with TotalEnergies, followed by a second that canceled California’s Golden State Wind (GWS) and another project in the New York Bight, and a third deal which cancels projects in the New York Bight, the central coast of California, and the Gulf of Maine. All told, the administration has promised nearly $2.6 billion of reimbursements.

“At a time when the country needs more reliable and sustainable power supply, the Trump administration is busy using taxpayer money to strike backroom buyouts that make clean-energy projects disappear. California won’t stand idly by as the Trump administration illegally strikes deals to kill offshore wind projects and replace them with more windfalls for his fossil fuel friends; we’re putting the administration on notice that we intend to sue,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta.

The California Energy Commission in May served an administrative investigative subpoena to GSW seeking documents and information related to the company’s buyout deal with the Department of the Interior. Under the law, the state filed its notice of intent today, and the federal government and GSW have 60 days to correct the alleged violations, or the state can then proceed to file the lawsuit.

The lease for Golden State Wind was acquired in 2022 as a 50/50 joint venture between Ocean Winds (a 50/50 joint venture of EDP Renewables and ENGIE) and Reventus Power, a portfolio company of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). They paid $120 million for the lease in the Morro Bay Wind Area. The proposal called for a 2 GW floating wind farm located 53 miles northwest of Morro Bay and 22 miles from the closest point to shore. The project was in the early stages, having started in 2024 with its geophysical survey after receiving its permits. It had not filed environmental or construction and operations plans with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

The Department of the Interior announced on April 27 that Golden State Wind had committed to voluntarily end its offshore wind lease. It is the project would be eligible to recover approximately $120 million in lease fees after an investment has been made of an equal amount in the development of U.S. oil and gas assets, energy infrastructure, and/or LNG projects along the Gulf Coast.

California, in its notice, alleges this violates the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which requires that California have a say in the offshore wind leasing program. Bonita said in a statement that the Department of the Interior alleges the agreement settles purported litigation. However, Bonita asserts that Golden State Wind never brought litigation, and it was not challenging actions that the Department of the Interior had never taken. He said DOI claimed unspecified national security concerns justified the cancellation, although the federal government had already reviewed and approved the lease area after years of analysis and consultation with the U.S. Department of Defense.

The Trump administration made similar claims to challenge the first under-construction offshore wind farms on the East Coast. Five separate courts found for the wind farm developers and issued injunctions to prevent stop-work orders on the construction.

The California Energy Commission, last week, after the DOI announced another deal, this time with Invenergy, to cancel offshore wind leases in California, New York, and Maine, also moved to challenge the strategy. It served an administrative investigative subpoena to Invenergy regarding the planned cancellation of another lease in Morro Bay for a further 2 GW of capacity. The subpoena demands a copy of the settlement agreement and information concerning its basis, negotiations, and impact.

California says it has invested more than $100 million to ready its ports, transmission systems, and industries to support offshore wind energy. Further, it says the actions threaten to set back California’s wind strategy, which calls for 25 GW of offshore wind power by 2045, which is critical to the state’s energy transition and increased energy demands. It highlights that the agreements also redirect the investments to other states.

A coalition of eastern states filed a similar challenge against the administration’s agreement to cancel the wind farms planned by TotalEnergies. They also contended it jeopardizes their economies, efforts to meet growing energy demands, and significant investments made to support the projects.

First U.S.-Built Rock Installation Vessel Delivered into a Changed Market

Arcadia was delivered and will pivot to the international market after completing two U.S. offshore wind contracts (Hanwha Philly Shipyard)

Published Jun 25, 2026 7:12 PM by The Maritime Executive

A first-of-its-kind vessel, a rock installation vessel designed originally to focus on the emerging U.S. offshore wind energy industry, was delivered today, June 25, to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company by the Hanwha Philly Shipyard. The vessel, however, faces a different market, which has caused its owners to pivot to a new strategy.

Ordered in November 2021, it was hailed for the opportunities as the first Jones-Act compliant vessel of its kind. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock ordered the ship as part of a growth strategy to expand its well-established dredging business with new opportunities in the offshore market, but during the construction, the outlook for the industry changed dramatically.

The ship is state-of-the-art and, as such, will be able to pursue broader opportunities. Today, they highlighted that it is equipped to safely and efficiently transport and precisely place rock material on the seabed to protect subsea infrastructure, including cables and foundations for offshore wind. They also highlighted the opportunities with pipelines and the expansion of its deployment internationally.

Named Arcadia, the ship is 140 meters (460 feet) with a capacity to transport 20,000 metric tons of rocks. It is equipped with a DP-2 dynamic positioning system, which the company reports makes it accurate to a 65-meter (nearly 215-foot) depth. It has an advanced design, is biofuel-ready, and has battery and shore power capabilities for when it is docked. It can accommodate up to 45 people.

“This highly specialized vessel positions us at the forefront of subsea rock installation in the U.S. and international markets," said Lasse Petterson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company. He highlighted that the vessel also marks a significant milestone for the company’s strategic expansion into the offshore energy sector, both in the U.S. and internationally.

 

Arcadia is the only vessel of her kind built in the U.S. (Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co.)

 

Following delivery, Acadia will mobilize to begin work on Equinor’s Empire Wind 1 project offshore New York. Upon completion, the vessel is expected to proceed directly to Ørsted’s Sunrise Wind project, also located offshore New York. Other U.S. contracts, including Empire Wind II, did not materialize as the Trump administration has sought to shut down the offshore wind sector. As such, Great Lakes reports that upon completion of the two U.S. projects, the Acadia will mobilize to Europe to begin rock installation for a major offshore wind developer, keeping the vessel utilized for the majority of 2027. 

"This delivery of Acadia represents far more than the completion of a vessel," said David Kim, CEO of Hanwha Philly Shipyard. He points out that the project demonstrates the yard’s capability to deliver highly specialized vessels that support critical infrastructure.

The project was one of the legacy contracts that Hanwha took over after acquiring the yard. The project, however, was fraught with delays and disputes between the companies, including a lawsuit in late 2024 by Great Lakes. The company had originally said the vessel was expected to be sea-ready by Q4 2024. In the suit, it was reported that the yard had communicated  an “estimated delivery date of September 30, 2026.” 

Hanwha Philly Shipyard highlights the project as one of the legacy contracts that it is completing. It still has two training vessels to deliver for MARAD. The Lone Star State recently completed sea trials and is expected to be delivered before the end of the summer, while work is progressing on the training ship for California. The shipyard also has assembly now underway on two of the three Matson-ordered containerships. Matson expects to receive the first new vessel in the first quarter of 2027, with subsequent deliveries in the third quarter of 2027 and the second quarter of 2028. 

The yard continues to look to position itself with the anticipated revival of American shipbuilding with Korean investments. It has already been linked to projects for its sister company Hanwha Shipping, which ordered 10 medium range (MR) oil and chemical tankers last year and ordered the outfitting of an LNG-carrier, which would be the first ordered in the U.S. in many years. The vessel would be for the U.S. export market, as it will be using a Korean-built ship.

 

Turning food waste into carbon captors

ETH Zurich

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Still life featuring protein beads loaded with potassium hydroxide. The porous act as a sponge for CO2. 

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Credit: Mezzenga Lab / ETH Zurich

In order to stabilise global warming at less than 1.5°C in the long term, there is a need not only for a drastic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions but also for technologies to remove and store hundreds of billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. This is also the underlying basis of the scenarios set out in the latest Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 

For years, research groups and start-ups have therefore been working on ways to remove CO2 directly from the air – a process known as “direct air capture”. The company Climeworks, which was founded as an ETH spin-off in 2009, is one of the world’s first commercial providers of DAC. To this day, however, the direct removal of CO2 from the air remains an energy-intensive and expensive process. 

Porous protein beads bind carbon dioxide 

In a study recently published in the journal PNAS, researchers present a promising new approach to DAC. A group led by materials scientist Raffaele Mezzenga, a professor at the Department of Health Sciences and Technology of ETH Zurich, uses whey and by-products from tofu production for CO2 absorption. 

Dairy and tofu production generate large quantities of protein-containing solutions, only a small part of which is reprocessed in food production – the remainder goes to waste. From this waste, the researchers isolate proteins that they use to form long, threadlike chains known as amyloid fibrils. They then load these fibrils with potassium hydroxide and process them into beads with a diameter of between half and one centimetre. “The resulting material is like a sponge that can absorb large quantities of CO2 via the potassium hydroxide,” Mezzenga explains.  

When the porous beads are exposed to ambient air, the potassium hydroxide reacts with CO2 to form hydrogen carbonate, a salt of carbonic acid. This process removes the CO2 from the air. “In our tests with ambient air, we were able to extract 97 milligrams of CO2 with one gram of material,” explains Zhou Dong, a postdoc in Mezzenga’s group and lead author of the study. This is a very high rate, he says, and 10 to 50 percent greater than the capacity of conventional DAC methods. Dong assumes that, with one kilogram of protein beads, it would theoretically be possible to bind and isolate 100 grams of CO2 per process cycle.  

Technique for a circular economy 

Conventional DAC methods generally use heat and negative pressure to release the carbon dioxide from the absorption material again. This is necessary in order to then store the CO2 or convert it into other materials, thereby removing it from the atmosphere on a long-term basis. However, this process requires a great deal of energy, which is why DAC generally only makes sense nowadays – in terms of both energy and economics – where large amounts of renewable energy are available. 

This is another area in which the researchers in Mezzenga’s team are taking a different approach: in order to release the carbon dioxide from the protein beads again, the beads are alternately sprayed with a mild acid and base for around 10 minutes at room temperature. This breaks the chemical bonds so that the CO2 can be isolated.  

The acid, base and beads can then be reused. “The synthetic materials that are used to capture CO2 today decompose quickly,” says Dong. “By contrast, our protein beads remain stable for a long time.” In the lab, the researchers tested 30 cycles of CO2 adsorption and release without observing significant losses of efficiency. 

Mezzenga assumes that the material would nevertheless need to be replaced after a few thousand cycles due to a decrease in adsorption capacity. However, the protein beads could then be used as fertiliser in agriculture or converted into biofuel, the researcher explains. The beads are made up entirely of organic material, he says, and are readily degradable – meaning that the system could therefore become part of a circular economy.

“The materials we use for this process are non-toxic and are food-grade,” Mezzenga points out. In a life cycle analysis, the researchers show that their method generates less environmental pollution across the entire life cycle than other DAC methods.  

Expected to be cheaper than other capture methods 

Further tests are needed to reveal whether the technology is scalable for practical use and the high CO2-absorption capacity will remain intact on a larger scale. For the recently published study, the researchers tested the method in a controlled laboratory environment with a few grams of protein beads, binding and isolating around 50 grams of CO2.  

Mezzenga is optimistic. He has been working with amyloid fibrils for nearly 20 years and is well acquainted with the material. In the past, he has used it to develop biodegradable alternatives to plastics as well as techniques for water purification. “We’re confident that the technology is scalable,” he says. According to Mezzenga, the spray system used to separate the CO2 from the protein beads is geared towards existing techniques that are already used in industry. Postdoc Zhou Dong will now further examine the question of scalability.  

Although the researchers are yet to make an exact calculation of the costs per captured tonne of CO2, Mezzenga expects them to be significantly lower than with conventional DAC. “Our technology is cheaper and more sustainable because it requires little energy and is based on a widely available waste product,” he says. “That could be a game changer for the future of removing CO2 from the air.”  

---

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2535689123 

Article Title

Circular and athermal atmospheric CO2 capture by waste-derived amyloid sorbents

Article Publication Date

8-Jun-2026

Twelve Launches First U.S. Commercial E-Jet Fuel Plant

By Charles Kennedy - Jun 11, 2026

Twelve has started commercial operations at AirPlant One in Washington state, the first U.S. facility producing power-to-liquid sustainable aviation fuel and e-naphtha from captured carbon dioxide, water, and renewable electricity.

Twelve has officially opened AirPlant One in Moses Lake, Washington, marking the launch of what the company says is the first commercial-scale U.S. facility producing E-Jet sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from carbon dioxide, renewable electricity, and water. The plant is also producing E-Naphtha, a synthetic chemical feedstock used in plastics, packaging, solvents, and other industrial products.

The opening was celebrated alongside Alaska Airlines and Microsoft, two early partners that helped support the project through fuel purchase commitments and investments. AirPlant One has begun producing ASTM-certified jet fuel suitable for use in existing aircraft, engines, and airport infrastructure without modification, with Alaska Airlines planning to operate regular domestic flights using the fuel.

Twelve's technology uses a power-to-liquid process that converts captured CO2, water, and renewable electricity into hydrocarbon fuels. Unlike biofuel-based SAF pathways, which depend on agricultural feedstocks, the company argues its process relies on more abundant and scalable inputs while reducing exposure to feedstock constraints. According to Twelve, its E-Jet fuel can reduce lifecycle carbon emissions by up to 90% compared with conventional jet fuel.

The company also highlighted a potential commercial advantage for airlines. Because production costs are tied primarily to long-term electricity contracts rather than crude oil prices, Twelve said it can offer long-term fixed-price fuel agreements, providing greater cost predictability for carriers facing volatile fuel markets.

AirPlant One's second product, E-Naphtha, is intended to serve as a drop-in replacement for conventional fossil-derived naphtha. Twelve has previously demonstrated the material in pilot projects with companies including Mercedes-Benz, P&G, and apparel brand PANGAIA, producing components and consumer products derived from captured carbon.

The facility comes online as governments and airlines increase efforts to scale SAF production. Demand is expected to grow significantly due to emerging mandates in regions such as Europe and Singapore, where airlines are increasingly required to use sustainable aviation fuels. Twelve said AirPlant One demonstrates that commercial-scale power-to-liquid fuel production is now viable in the United States and could be replicated at additional sites as renewable power infrastructure expands.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

 

Oil Markets Stop Believing Trump’s Peace Narrative

By Tom Kool - Jun 05, 2026

Fresh strikes on Kuwait and Oman undermine hopes of a U.S.-Iran de-escalation, keeping oil markets on edge and traders skeptical of diplomatic progress.

Friday, June 05, 2026

This week’s strikes on Kuwait and the Friday morning attack on Oman have dented hopes for a de-escalation between US and Iran following the much-publicized Israel-Lebanon ceasefire. Whilst Oman’s main port is reportedly up and running again, capping ICE Brent around the $95 per barrel mark, most global crude benchmarks will post weekly gains of 2-3%. Against this background, announcements of the Trump administration are increasingly discounted as tactical price-signalling rather than meaningful diplomatic progress.

Drone Disrupts Key Middle Eastern Export Terminal. Oman's authorities suspended operations at the Middle Eastern country's main crude export terminal in Mina al Fahal after an explosion was reported next to its single-buoy mooring berths, disrupting the flows of the 900,000 b/d Oman benchmark.

India Shields Refiners from Surging Fuel Costs. The Indian government has agreed to provide a one-time financial boost of $1 billion to domestic refiners and aviation retailers as compensation for keeping jet fuel prices at affordable prices for both domestic and international flights.

Russia Admits to Spring Upstream Pain. Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak acknowledged that the country's oil producers have been underperforming their 9.64 million b/d OPEC+ production target, blaming the lower crude output on 'unscheduled maintenance" across refineries.

Delfin Signs Off on 1^st US Floating LNG Terminal. Privately held US LNG developer Delfin Midstream has announced a final investment decision on the first-ever floating LNG terminal in the States, aiming to operate some 13.2 mtpa of export capacity about 45 miles off the coast of Cameron Parish.

Venezuela Pitches Long-Term India Alliance. Visiting India this week, Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodriguez announced that Indian refiners are seeking a long-term crude supply agreement with the Latin American nation's state oil firm PDVSA, boosting imports to 300,000 b/d in April-May.

Iranian Crude Oil Loses Value on Slackening Demand. Iranian oil prices dipped into discounts for the first time in three months as Chinese teapots are lowering refinery run rates on negative margins, sending differentials of Iranian Light cargoes to -$1 per barrel below ICE Brent futures.

BP's New CEO Springs to Action. Simultaneously to the ouster of former BP chair Albert Manifold, the UK oil major BP (NYSE:BP) is reportedly in advanced talks to sell its UK North Sea assets to Ithaca Energy (LON:TTH) in a deal worth $2.7 billion, the first major divestment deal under new CEO Meg O'Neill.

Refiners Sue EPA Over Biofuel Mandates. The AFPM trade group, representing US refiners, stated that it had filed a lawsuit challenging the US Environmental Protection Agency's biofuel blending mandates, arguing they sharply increase compliance costs and trigger unnecessary fuel price hikes.

Indonesia Centralizes Control over Commodities. Indonesia finally issued regulation to bring exports of strategic commodities (such as ferroalloys, coal or palm oil derivatives) under government control, creating a new state company whose main task would be to facilitate exports out of the country.

Uganda Goes for Oil Antics, Weeks Before First Oil. Sowing market confusion, Uganda's long-standing president Yoseri Museweni replaced the country's energy minister Ruth Nankabiwa weeks before the commissioning of the Central African nation's inaugural field, the 190,000 b/d Tilenga project.

Iraq Wants Kurdish Oil Back in the Market. The Iraqi government has ordered the resumption of operations by all upstream companies present in the country's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, despite ongoing drone attacks, seeking to return to pre-conflict production levels of some 430,000 b/d.

Nigeria Lures Upstream Investors Again. Nigeria's upstream oil regulator NUPRC said the African country would start its 2026 licensing round in Q3 after President Tinubu’s approval, lowering entry barriers to attract investors, having secured $5.3 billion of new upstream capital with its 2025 auction.

Sweltering Heat Lifts Henry Hub to 16-Week High. US natural gas futures jumped above $3.3 per MMBtu this week, the highest since February, as meteorologists forecast temperatures to be higher-than-average through June 19, just as Lower-48 dry gas output fell to 108.5 BCf/d so far in June.

Mozambique Tightens Control over Mining Sector. Mozambique's President Daniel Chapo has signed a new law requiring 15% state ownership in all mining ventures and local ore processing plants, impacting current graphite and ruby mining, whilst also prohibiting the exports of untapped unprocessed minerals

By Tom Kool for Oilprice.com

 

Brazil Launches World-First Ethanol-Powered Grid Engine

By Haley Zaremba - Jun 04, 2026

 

• Brazil has launched the world's first ethanol-powered engine designed specifically to generate grid electricity, at the Suape II power plant in Pernambuco, developed with Finnish firm Wärtsilä.
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• The pilot comes as the U.S. proposed a 25% tariff on Brazilian ethanol on June 1, citing unfair trade practices — adding geopolitical weight to Brazil's push for domestic ethanol applications.
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• Brazil's ethanol sector is worth roughly $20 billion and already supplies mandatory blends of up to 100% for flex-fuel vehicles; if the grid engine proves viable, it could reshape how countries use biofuels to back up intermittent renewables.
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Brazil is undertaking a major biofuels experiment that could be majorly disruptive for the global energy landscape if it proves effective. The South American country is filthy rich in biomass, and is seeking to use ethanol in novel applications – in this case, to power the energy grid. A new ethanol-powered engine designed specifically to provide electricity to the grid was just launched at the Suape II power plant in Pernambuco, in a world first.

Brazilian energy company Suape Energia has partnered with Finnish technology firm Wärtsilä to develop the engine, a pilot model which will test whether or not the technology is viable in real-world conditions. The testing will be extensive, providing thousands of hours of data over the coming years that will tell the researchers a lot about the approach's performance, sustainability, and economic viability.

The engine will run on ethanol sourced primarily from sugarcane grown in Brazil. Brazil is the top producer as well as the top consumer of sugarcane-derived ethanol in the world, and finding a way to convert it into usable and affordable electricity would be a major win for the nation's energy autonomy and security. Typically, this ethanol is used to power vehicles. Using it in grid applications is a novel and potentially majorly disruptive approach.

“Brazil is a world leader in ethanol production, but its potential use in electricity generation has up to now been overlooked,” said José Faustino Cândido, the technical director of Suape Energia.

This innovation comes at a time of broad experimentation with ethanol in Brazilian markets. “A new wave of biofuel innovation is sweeping the nation,” Reuters reported this week.

Brazil's ethanol sector is huge, representing around USD $20 billion. It's the second largest ethanol industry in the world, behind the United States. The country has been a longtime champion of “flex-fuel” cars able to run on a mandatory blend of at least 30 percent ethanol, and up to 100 percent ethanol. This policy has helped to shield Brazilian consumers from the current oil and gas prices that are causing so much pain at petrol pumps around the world.

While Brazil is “uniquely positioned” to test out this technology thanks to its robust ethanol supply chains and infrastructure, the ramifications of this test extend far beyond the Brazilian context. According to a recent report from Interesting Engineering, “the project's developers hope to show that ethanol can provide a source of dispatchable power, electricity that can be generated on demand, at a time when many countries are seeking ways to complement intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.”

This new domestic use for ethanol also comes at a politically fortuitous time for Brazil, as the United States proposed a 25 percent tariff on Brazilian ethanol just this week. On June 1, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released a report finding that “Brazil's acts, policies and practices with respect to ethanol market access are unreasonable and burden or restrict U.S. commerce.” In other words, the federal government conducted an investigation into Brazil's ethanol trade policies and determined that they have unfairly disadvantaged the United States and other trading partners by unduly restricting the market.

But while Brazil is leaning more heavily than ever into biofuels, the United States is in turmoil over how to regulate ethanol on its own soil. The Republican party is sharply divided over biofuels quotas of the kind that have benefitted Brazil during this latest oil price shock. Last month the House narrowly passed a bill to codify year-round sales of E15 ethanol fuel with a 15 percent ethanol blend in a major win for the corn lobby and for agricultural states. The bill will now have to go through the Senate, where its future is uncertain.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com