Alaska’s three-member congressional delegation—US Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Rep. Don Young—reiterated their strong opposition to US President Barack Obama’s possibly withdrawing more of the state’s offshore acreage from future oil and gas leasing under Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). Source: News

The US light, sweet crude oil futures contract for January delivery jumped by about $1 to settle at nearly $51/bbl on the New York market Dec. 8. Analysts said oil prices appeared to be holding fairly steady in early Dec. 9 trading pending a Dec. 10 meeting of producers. Source: News

Public-sector refining firms Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPC), and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPC) have formed a consortium to pursue a previously announced plan to jointly develop a grassroots 60 million-tonne/year integrated refining and petrochemical complex in India’s Maharashtra state. Source: News

The National Association of Manufacturers called for more research and development to improve energy efficiency, reduced regulatory barriers to energy development and transportation, and maintenance of a reliable electrical grid in energy policy recommendations it submitted to US President-elect Donald J. Trump’s incoming administration on Dec. 8. Source: News

US Senate and House Republicans anticipate working well with President-elect Donald J. Trump’s administration to reverse energy and environmental policies and regulations they believe were imposed unconstitutionally during Barack Obama’s presidency and earlier, four GOP federal lawmakers said on Dec. 8. Source: News