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Keystone XL.  The Keystone XL Pipeline cleared two key legal hurdles today as a Nebraska state court ruled in favor of the project and the House of Representatives passed legislation to approve it. The Senate will begin debates next week — but the White House has indicated that even after the Nebraska ruling, it remains opposed to the Keystone bill. WSJ

Natural Gas.  A new study finds that recent Ohio earthquakes were partially caused by hydraulic fracturing — more commonly known as fracking.  The fracking process built up subterranean pressures that repeatedly caused slippage in an existing fault near the wells. A representative for Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources said that the wells “remained in production but that further fracking has been banned”.  NY Times

Oil.  According to analysts at Wood Mackenzie, a corporate research firm, 1.6% of the world’s oil supply — approximately 1.5 million barrels-per-day — would be cash-negative at crude prices of $40 a barrel.  Additionally, the firm noted that oil producers would be more likely to store oil than shutdown production at this price.  Reuters

Renewable Energy.  Despite the recent slump in oil prices, investment in wind, solar, biofuels, and other low-carbon energy technologies increased by 16% in 2014, the first growth since 2011.  The surge in new funding was due to trends including China’s recent commitment to renewables, offshore wind project commitments that were years in the making, and electric car investments made prior to the oil-price decline.  Bloomberg

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Energy Finance.  Investors in high-yield debt issued by riskier oil and gas companies are in danger as borrowers seek “second lien” loans secured against their assets. Moodys — a leading credit-rating agency — found that many energy bonds include provisions with weaker investor protections, allowing the companies to take on additional debt and leave unsecured bondholders vulnerable to losses in the case of default.  FT

Oil.  U.S. oil producers are beginning to cut back on the number of drilling rigs as oil prices continue to decline — an early indication that the oil industry is in the early stages of a downturn. Despite these reductions, large-scale layoffs are not yet expected as producers will likely need to continue drilling existing rigs to retain leases or keep revenues up.  NY Times

EPA.  Senior EPA climate change official Janet McCabe said that states who do not submit customized plans under the new Clean Power Plan will be forced to comply with a federal “model rule” to cut their carbon emissions. McCabe indicated that the model rule was created due to an expectation that some states will refuse to submit plans. NY Times

Energy Policy.  Mexican state-owned oil producer Pemex has submitted a request to the U.S. Department of Commerce to import light crude oil. The company said that the proposal would reduce transportation costs and improve refining margins at Mexico’s refineries, while also maximizing the refining potential at U.S. refineries best equipped to handle heavy crude from places like Mexico and Venezuela.   WSJ

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Oil. Weekly inventory data released today shows that supplies of refined petroleum products rose more than expected last week.  These large increases in product inventory suggest that refineries are continuing to turn the crude-oil surplus into a petroleum-product surplus, despite the fact that demand has not risen enough to absorb growing supplies.  WSJ

Energy Policy.  In an interview with Reuters, top aide to President Obama John Podesta said that the White House “does not feel pressure to loosen restrictions on U.S. oil exports further and views debate over the issue as resolved for now”.  Podesta also noted that additional climate change measures — such as methane emission restrictions — will be introduced prior to the President’s State of the Union address.  Reuters

EPA.  The Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it would issue a trio of climate-change regulations this summer, as well as a federal plan to impose rules on states that don’t adopt their own.  The regulations, which include rules to govern carbon emissions from power plants, represent the cornerstone of President Obama’s climate change agenda —and a top target for congressional Republicans.  WSJ

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Energy Outlook. Bloomberg reports that while oil prices dropped steeply last year, U.S. investments in pipelines and storage tanks have fared very well. Investment analysts project increasing demand for investments tied to the transporting or processing of energy commodities, even amid concerns that U.S. production will taper due to lower oil prices. Bloomberg

Oil. Tensions are escalating between Canadian and Saudi Arabian producers of heavy crude oil over refining capacity in the Gulf Coast — threatening to drive oil prices even lower. While new oil pipelines from the North are pumping record volumes of Canadian crude to Gulf Coast refineries, Saudi Arabia has been discounting its crude prices in an “attempt defend its remaining share of the important regional market”. Reuters

Energy Policy.  Lawmakers will discuss legislation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline as early as this week — opening up a broader Congressional debate about U.S. energy policy for the first time in eight years.  While additional broadly popular energy measures such as expediting federal reviews of natural gas exports and energy efficiency measures are likely to be added to the bill, the White House today reported that “if this bill passes this Congress, the President wouldn’t sign it”. WSJ, WP

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Oil.  Many industry analysts and economists are questioning the impact of the recent energy-price downturn on the Texas economy — particularly in light of Texas’ deep recession after the 1980s oil bust and banking crisis. Some industry analysts assert that Texas will weather the energy price slump due to a well-rounded economy and more prudent banking sector, while others argue that history is likely to repeat itself because the oil-and-gas industry accounts for roughly the same share of Texas’ economic output today as it did during the 1980s.  WSJ

Energy Outlook.  The Energy Information Administration reports that energy commodity prices remained relatively stable for the first eight months of 2014 but fell dramatically during the last four months. While price movements in major commodity groups often move together due to strong underlying trends in global economic growth, the energy component of the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index fell 43% in 2014 while grains, industrial metals, and precious metals fell 8%, 8%, and 6%, respectively.  EIA

Energy Policy. Proposals to increase the gasoline tax amid recent price drops are not faring well among anti-tax policymakers in Washington. Many argue that a gas tax is needed to finance the highway trust fund — which is estimated to have a $160 billion deficit over the next 10 years — while others are looking towards solutions such as more state responsibility for transportation infrastructure, more private-public partnerships, or even a carbon tax. NY Times

Natural Gas. Nick Butler of the Financial Times argues that U.S. natural gas prices are likely to continue falling for some time because gas supply contracts will continue to be tied to oil prices for the foreseeable future and Japan appears ready to accept the gradual reintroduction of nuclear power. Butler furthermore asserts that the duration of the present downward trend will be mostly dependent on the pace of demand growth in China and India. FT