According to the German press agency (dpa), the German cabinet took a notable decision on Wednesday --- to grant tax relief for electric or hybrid company cars. The move is apparently aimed at increasing the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in Germany.

As a result of the decision by the German government, the large scale subsidy will be applicable to electric or hybrid company cars which are either purchased or leased between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2021.

Till now, employees driving company cars privately were required to file a monetary benefit of 1 percent of the official list price of the car. This tax will be reduced by half -- to 0.5 percent -- for electric and hybrid vehicles in the future.

UK industry regulator Ofgem has recently announced plans aimed at encouraging electric-vehicle (EV) owners to charge their vehicles during off-peak periods or during sunny/windy periods when plenty of renewable energy -- from solar farms or wind turbines -- is being generated.

With cheaper ‘time of day’ tariffs already available in the UK to around 11 million homes in which smart meters have been installed, the plans announced by Ofgem are essentially aimed at promoting the practice of ‘flexible’ or smart charging among EV owners in the country.

New Delhi [India], Apr 7 : The clean energy arm of Hindustan Power commissioned a 10 MW solar plant at Shergati, Gaya in Bihar to power the cumulative solar capacity in Bihar to ~ 100 MWs.

The plant commissioned at an investment of Rs. 81 crore is spread over 56 acres of land using 34920 modules has been generating 45000 units of clean energy per day, since its commissioning in November 2016.

The PPA for the 10 MW project has been signed with Bihar State Power Holding Corporation Ltd. and the power is evacuated to 33 kV Sherghati Substation.

New Delhi [India], Jan 19 : Indian economy is poised to grow five-fold by the year 2040. Hydrocarbons will continue to play an important role in this growth story. This is also important that we increase our domestic oil and gas production to reduce overdependence on oil imports.

While delivering the inaugural address at PETROTECH 2016, Prime Minister Modi said, "I have to set a target to reduce import dependence by ten percent by 2022. This will have to be achieved during a period of increasing oil consumption."

He also stated that his government accords high priority to move towards a Gas Based Economy and efforts should be made to increase domestic production.

Tokyo [Japan], Dec.2 : An enterprise jointly established by Kyocera Corporation, Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc., Tokyo Century Corporation and Yonden Engineering Company Incorporated has announced the completion of a 14.5-megawatt solar power plant in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.

The installation, which began operation on November 2, will generate an estimated 16,060 megawatt hours (MWh) per year - enough electricity to power approximately 4,930 typical households.

Kyocera, Mitsubishi Research Institute, Tokyo Century and Yonden Engineering began project planning in May 2013 based on candidate sites disclosed by Hyogo Prefecture.

Islamabad [Pakistan], Nov.30 : Pakistan will soon have the world's largest solar park of 1,000 megawatts, the country's Minister of Climate Change Zahid Hamid has said.

Addressing a press conference here, Hamid briefed them about Pakistan's participation in the COP22 Conference in Morocco recently, which provided an opportunity to highlight the significant achievements made by the country to address the impact of climate change, reports the Express Tribune.

Hamid said the world community was informed that Pakistan's contribution to global warming was minimal as "we emit less than one percent of the annual global greenhouse gas emissions. Yet we are ranked amongst the top 10 countries that are most vulnerable to climate change."

Tehran [Iran], Oct. 24 : Iranian leaders have urged oil producing countries outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to back the resolve of the oil cartel to stabilize the oil market and boost crude prices.

According to local media reports, Iran's Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zanganeh said that he expects the non-OPEC producers to cooperate with OPEC to boost market stability, reports Xinhua.

Commenting on the meetings between Russian and Saudi energy officials, Zanganeh said that "we hope the two sides will reach agreements and the non-OPEC states and Russia will accompany members of the organization."

PBF Energy Inc's purchase of Mobil Corp's California refinery marks Chairman Tom O'Malley's biggest bet on US refining in the country's toughest market. Under the $537.5 million deal PBF will buy Exxon's 55,000 barrels per day plant in Torrance with dock, storage and pipeline infrastructure.

California is isolated without having any good pipeline connections with rest of the country. Therefore, majorly the state is dependent on costlier foreign crude imports as output in California and Alaska is declining putting California refiners at a disadvantage relative to the US peers who can easily tap domestic oil.

On Tuesday, US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton proposed a $250 monthly cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs and other measures for stopping what she called ‘price gouging’ by pharmaceutical companies.

In Iowa, at a campaign stop, Clinton rolled out an idea to push the development and generic drugs use, and to stop pharmaceutical companies' ability to write off consumer-directed advertising as a business expense.

As a part of Clinton's plan, the monthly cap would put restrictions on what insurance companies could ask patients to pay for drugs used in the treatment of chronic or serious medical conditions.

The ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ star Leonardo DiCaprio is all set to join a campaign against global warming, while shedding his personal investments in fossil fuels, an activist group announced on Tuesday.

DiCaprio is learnt to have joined Divest-Invest Coalition. In the crusade against global warming, experts said, traditional energy producers are being convinced enough to cut down heat. Certain industrial players, however, have been terming the campaign as less focused and significant.

The campaign that saw hundreds of college students voicing concerns over fossil fuel holdings, in 2011, has come a long way in inspiring the market players to invest more in renewable energy resources.

Amid falling commodity prices, the world's biggest miner BHP Billiton has reported 86% fall in annual profit on Tuesday. The company has warned that China's slowing economy would result into more market instability.

In a statement, the Melbourne, Australia-based Company said it saw a net profit of $1.9 billion for the 12 months, down from $13.8 billion in previous year. Revenue fell 22% to $52 billion.

While responding, the mining giant has mentioned that it is looking forward to cut costs, by bringing down its target for capital spending from $9 billion to $8.5 billion in the coming financial year.

President Barack Obama, on Monday night at a green energy conference in Las Vegas, blamed the critics of his energy policies for attempting to limit the consumers from accessing solar power, wind power and other alternative energy sources.

During the speech at a green energy conference in Las Vegas, Obama mentioned that this is not the American way as it is focused on past versus the future whereas America believes in future.

He singled out billionaire brothers, who are major donors to Republican political candidates too, Charles and David Koch. He blamed them, along with ‘big fossil fuel interests’ and ‘conservative think tanks’ of ideological inconsistency. He said that they are the champions of free market solutions except when the free market boosts renewable energy.

Japan's economy, the second biggest in Asia and No. 3 in the world shrank in the second quarter from a year earlier. The shrinking Japan economy led to drop in oil prices to near six-year lows on Monday.

The shrinking economy of Japan has added to fears that slowdowns in Asia's biggest economies will weigh on oil demand.

U. S. crude, or West Texas Intermediate (WTI), was trading 57 cents lower at $41.93 a barrel at 0211 GMT, close to more than six-year lows. Brent futures were down 65 cents at $48.54 a barrel, still far from their 2015-low of $45.19.

Reports have shown that the US solar market is on fire. Installation of solar panels is expected to soar by one-third this year. The price of solar power is now cheap enough and can efficiently compete with gas and coal-fired power in places like California.

President Obama has also announced a groundbreaking plan aiming to curb power plant emissions. And there are expectations that China's currency devaluation can also cut panel costs for US solar installers.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) in its monthly report mentioned that it was sharply increasing its demand growth outlook for present year and for 2016. It also mentioned that the non-OPEC supply growth is expected to decline next year.

IEA said, “While a rebalancing has clearly begun, the process is likely to be prolonged as a supply overhang is expected to persist through 2016 - suggesting global inventories will pile up further”.

IEA’s view is in line with the US government’s which on Tuesday lowered its production forecasts, signaling that a 60% rout in benchmark prices since last summer may finally be weighing on shale output.

According to reports, it is for the first time that Valero Energy Corp, which is among the biggest oil refiners, is looking forward to sell ethanol for export. The company based in San Antonio is the third-largest ethanol producer in the US. According to US trade sources, it has been providing export-grade ethanol to shippers and hiring tank space for it, making its way to major markets in Brazil and Asia.

For the time being, the company will be selling material on a freight-on-board basis. In due course, it will be looking forward to sell its material and third-party production directly to customers abroad. According to Valero spokesman Bill Day, "We are looking at increasing sales and expanding markets, including export markets".

On Sunday, there was no power supply for approximately 40,000 DTE Energy customers at evening across southeast Michigan following strong winds gusts and heavy rain hit the area. The company announced that DTE crews have restored service to nearly 110,000 customers.

According to DTE, 150,000 customers lost power on Saturday. The company said that by Sunday night, most of the customers will have their power restored, however some will not get the service until Tuesday. As per DTE Energy spokesman Scott Simons, work is being done by crews to get the power back on.

Austin Energy's proposal has beat out around 30 other solar power proposals. It is said that Austin Energy is going to sign, which can be considered as the world's cheapest solar-power deal. However then also the utility has advised City Council to take a 'measured' approach when it comes to buying more solar in the next few years.

Khalil Shalabi, the utility's vice president of energy market operations and resource planning, was of the view with regard to solar energy, "This is new to a lot of us, that the technology is actually declining at such a rate. I think we're all very happy about that, especially since our goals are so aggressive for solar".

According to a petroleum pipeline company, oil from a Santa Barbara, California, leak spread over 100 miles to Los Angeles County beaches. As per Plains All American Pipeline, oil from its pipeline was found even at Redondo Beach.

Earlier, it was announced by the Houston-based company and state officials that oil from the spill had spread to Manhattan Beach, which is located two miles north of Redondo.

The spill of up to 101,000 gallons of crude oil along the scenic shore is being investigated by federal regulators and prosecutors. It has been confirmed by reports that tar was leaked from the pipeline that washed ashore in Los Angeles approximately a week after the spill.

On Monday, oil prices rose above $63 a barrel after European Union (EU) welcomed new proposals from Greece.

Commerzbank analysts said, "Hopes that agreement could be reached in the debt dispute with Greece at today's EU summit are lending buoyancy to oil prices as the new week begins".

However, high levels of global oil production and stocks are still exerting pressure on crude prices. For August delivery, Brent crude was up 30 cents at $63.32 a barrel by 0822 GMT. Front month US crude was 44 cents higher at $60.05 a barrel.

In a research note on Monday, Morgan Stanley said that despite strong summer demand, around 10 million barrels of unsold crude are held in offshore storage. It is creating negative outlook for oil in the second half of the year.