Barack Obama Administration News

President Joe Biden's administration on Friday unveiled a five-year proposal for offshore oil and gas development in areas of existing production, and said the final plan may have anywhere from zero to 11 lease sales.The range of options, between two auctions a year and none at all, sought to balance the administration's efforts to fight climate change with its calls to increase oil and gas supplies in the face of soaring fuel prices.The proposed plan includes no more than 10 possible sales in the Gulf of Mexico and one in the Cook Inlet off the coast of Alaska…

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has withdrawn an Obama-era proposal to modify a law that governs shipping, which would have revoked waivers that make it easier for oil and gas operators to skirt restrictions, according to an agency bulletin published Wednesday. For nearly 40 years the CBP has provided exemptions to the Jones Act, which mandates the use of U.S.-flagged vessels to transport merchandise between U.S. coasts. The exemptions have allowed oil and gas operators to use often cheaper, tax-free, or more readily available foreign flagged vessels. The CBP has weighed revoking these waivers after President Barack Obama's administration proposed to put them on the chopping block two days before President Donald Trump took office.

A US Navy guided-missile destroyer sailed close to China’s man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea, drawing an angry rebuke from Beijing, which said its warships tracked and warned the American vessel, reports Reuters. China summoned the American ambassador to protest the U.S. Navy's sailing of a warship close to one of China's artificial islands, in an act that challenged Chinese sovereignty claims. According to a report in AP, the Executive Vice Minister Zhang Yesui said that the U.S. had acted in defiance of repeated Chinese objections and had threatened China's sovereignty and security. While offering no details, Zhang said the "provocative" manoeuvr also placed personnel and infrastructure on the island in jeopardy.

The White House is drafting sweeping regulations to further weaken the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba that would ease restrictions on U.S. companies and make it safer for Americans to travel there, U.S. government sources said on Thursday. The regulations could be announced as soon as Friday. U.S. companies would be allowed to establish offices in Cuba for the first time in more than half a century, according to a draft of the new rules seen by Reuters. The regulations make it easier for airlines and cruise ships to import parts and technology to improve safety in Cuba; loosen restrictions on software exports; and allow authorized companies to establish subsidiaries with Cuba, possibly via joint ventures with Cuban firms such as state telecommunications monopoly Etecsa.

The White House said Tuesday's deadline for negotiators in Vienna to come to a final, firm agreement on Iran's nuclear program could slip. When asked if President Barack Obama's administration expects the deadline "to slip," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Monday, "I wouldn't set any expectations at this point ... I would say that it's certainly possible." Reporting by Lisa Lambert and Doina Chiacu

MOL President, Mr. Akimitsu Ashida, released a New Year Message to the MOL Group companies and their customers. MOL is a multi-modal transport company, operating more than 800 vessels and a network of liner and logistics services, including weekly Transpacific, Transatlantic, Americas and Asia-Europe services. Mr. In the United States, the Barack Obama administration starts this year. As you know, he won a long, hotly contested election race under the campaign slogan "Change…