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Editor's note: We sent out yesterday's version of Daily on Energy by accident earlier today. Please excuse the repeated emails...

THE FALLOUT FROM THE OPEC+ DECISION: Seven days after the OPEC+ cuts were announced, here’s what we do—and don’t—know.

Saudi leadership has defended its decision to back oil production cuts of 2 million barrels per day by insisting that the move was purely economic—intended to stabilize the market rather than drive a wedge in U.S.-Saudi relations.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said in an interview yesterday that the decision had earned “unanimous” support from OPEC+ members and insisted, despite all evidence to the contrary, that their relationship with U.S. remains “strong.”

There were intense eleventh-hour efforts to delay the cuts: The UAE privately urged caution and lobbied for a one-month delay in any cuts, multiple outlets reported, in line with the timeframe advocated by the U.S.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Emirati officials had been “communicating intensely” with both U.S. and Saudi counterparts to try and prevent the decision from going forward. Meanwhile, it said, Kuwait, Iraq, and Bahrain had also pushed back privately, citing fears of a recession. (All ultimately voted to approve the cuts in the interest of maintaining unity within the alliance.)

There have been private assurances to increase production: The New York Times reports that Saudi officials have privately assured the U.S. that they are prepared to increase production “significantly” in December, when the EU’s ban on Russian seaborne crude exports is slated to take effect.

But the White House has not yet offered details on its response to the cuts, and has not consulted with congressional leaders about its plan. Speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview last night, Biden said there would be “consequences” for the kingdom, but stopped short of saying what those might entail.

Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writers Jeremy Beaman (@jeremywbeaman) and Breanne Deppisch (@breanne_dep). Email [email protected] or [email protected] for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.

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UN NUCLEAR WATCHDOG CHIEF MEETS WITH PUTIN: International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi met yesterday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to ask for the creation of a safety protection zone around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

Grossi, who led a team of inspectors to the site last month, described the situation around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant as one that has “become increasingly dangerous, precarious and challenging, with frequent military attacks that can also threaten nuclear safety and security.”

Putin responded by saying Moscow is "happy to discuss all the issues that are of mutual interest to us," according to Russian news outlets. Moscow has repeatedly blocked inspectors from visiting the site and has so far not been willing to concede in negotiations about a potential protection zone.

"Now more than ever, during these extremely difficult times, a protection zone must be established around the ZNPP,” Grossi said. “We can’t afford to lose any more time, [and] the stakes are high.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine state-owned energy company Energoatom said yesterday that Russia kidnapped a deputy head of the plant, Valeriy Martynyuk, and has been keeping him hostage in an “unknown location” since Monday. He is the second Ukrainian official at Zaporizhzhia to be kidnapped by Russian authorities this month.

MANCHIN TO BIDEN: FOLLOW THROUGH ON IRA’S OIL AND GAS PROVISIONS: Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Joe Manchin is back in Biden’s ear, this time to press the administration to more heartily support domestic oil and gas production in response to OPEC+’s production cut.

Manchin has set himself apart as a pro-oil and gas voice within his party and secured provisions in the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act that have revamped the federal oil and gas leasing programs.

Now that the Interior Department has accepted bids under Lease Sale 257 in the Gulf of Mexico, and moved forward on other lease sales, per the new law’s instructions, the administration “must follow through on issuing drilling permits and rights-of-way for these leases, and other existing leases, to realize the IRA’s benefits at the pump,” Manchin told Biden in a letter dated yesterday.

The Biden administration, moreso earlier on in the current price and supply crisis than recently, has urged domestic oil and gas producers to increase their output while also maintaining support for restrictions on new leasing on federal lands and in federal waters.

Calls on the Saudis and the larger OPEC coalition to produce more oil have been more consistent, and Republicans and Manchin have taken issue with the strategy.

Manchin, in his letter, urged Biden to “take steps within your power to increase responsible energy production here in the U.S.” rather than try to negotiate more oil from OPEC or other currently sanctioned oil producers.

The Biden administration should “support our producers in the Marcellus and Utica, the Permian, Alaska” and “our neighbors in Alberta” rather than pleading with the Saudis to keep it up, or negotiating deals that ease up on Iran and Venezuela, he said.

GOP BILL WOULD CUT OFF FOREIGN ENTITY ACCESS TO SPR OIL: Sen. Dan Sullivan introduced legislation yesterday that would prohibit the sale of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to any entity outside the United States.

The bill, dubbed the Replenishing Our American Reserves Act (ROAR), would also restrict the barrels eligible to be placed into the reserve to only petroleum products produced in the U.S.

“We need to refill the SPR, and every drop of that oil should be produced by the hard-working men and women of the American energy sector,” Sullivan said in a statement.

The Biden administration made the SPR the central component of its strategy for relieving high retail fuel prices, having committed to sell or exchange more than 200 million barrels from the 714 million-barrel capacity reserve over the last year.

Biden’s use of the SPR has generated criticism from many Republicans, who have accused him of misusing the reserve. GOP lawmakers further fumed at news this summer that SPR barrels were sold to foreign markets including China, criticizing the Biden administration for providing reserve oil to what many consider to be the no. 1 geopolitical foe.

The Department of Energy may only award oil to eligible bidders, and Chinese and other non-U.S. based companies are eligible to compete for SPR oil under law. The Trump administration also oversaw sales to a Chinese company.

Biden’s SPR strategy has also left many Democrats wanting. A number of them have urged the administration to order sale of even more of the reserve’s barrels, and at least one legislative proposal, from Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, would reorganize the reserve into a market tool that DOE and the president could use any time prices spike.

BIDEN ESTABLISHES NEW NATIONAL MONUMENT IN COLORADO: Biden established a new national monument today encompassing Camp Hale, a former U.S. Army base, and the site of the Continental Divide in North Central Colorado.

Camp Hale was used to train the Army’s first and only mountain infantry division, the 10th Mountain Division, which fought in the Italian Alps during World War II. Soldiers trained at Camp Hale learned skills such as snowshoeing, climbing, and skiing.

The monument is meant to honor military veterans and indigenous people, the White House said. The site covers the ancestral homelands of the Ute Tribes.

Another proposed mineral withdrawal: The Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service, in conjunction with the monument’s creation, have proposed to withdraw lands in the area from consideration for new oil and gas leasing. The proposal would withdraw approximately 225,000 acres in the Thompson Divide area from eligibility for new mineral leasing for 20 years.

The administration took a similar course of action last November, proposing to withdraw acreage located within a 10-mile radius of Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico.

NEW GOP MOMENTUM FOR CLIMATE AND CLEAN ENERGY GOALS: A new Climate Leadership Council poll found that more than 50% of likely Republican voters support a climate agenda, as well as more than 70% of younger conservative voters—a trend that climate Leadership Council CEO Greg Bertelsen said indicates growing momentum for climate and clean energy initiatives across the aisle.

On this week’s “Plugged In” podcast, Bertelsen told Breanne and former FERC chairman Neil Chatterjee that the polling shows how much the party has shifted ideologically on the issue.

“Republicans who are working on climate today, the ones who are really leading, are in lockstep with where their base voters are,” Bertelsen said. “In fact, our analysis showed there’s more terrain that they can cover, they can step out further than they are, and remain in safe territory.”

CLC also analyzed how House Conservative Climate Caucus members fared in their primary elections, and found they did “very well,” netting 62 wins and only five losses — a successful result that could also serve as a roadmap for Republicans as they craft their energy policies going forward. Listen to the full episode here.

The Rundown

Utility Dive GE begins restructuring its onshore wind unit to adjust for ‘market realities’

E&E News FEMA plan sparks fears of renewables slowdown

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Calendar

THURSDAY | OCTOBER 13

10:00 a.m. The United States Energy Association (USEA) will hold a virtual discussion on challenges to the reliability of U.S. power grids, including challenges posed by transmission constraints or various types of energy that supply them. Learn more and register here.

FRIDAY | OCTOBER 14

8:00 MT Rep. John Curtis, chairman of the Conservative Climate Caucus, hosts the Conservative Climate Summit at the University of Utah. Former national security advisor Robert O’Brien will be among the speakers.