China has enacted new measures to improve air quality, including a mandate that heavy polluters, such as coal-fired power plants, reduce emissions by 30% per unit of economic output by the end of 2017, and publicly release environmental information. Certainly seems like a step in the right direction for a country whose capital city’s pollution levels are frequently described as “hazardous”.  [NY Times]

Escalating conflict in Syria – in particular, President Barack Obama allegedly authorizing the arming of Syrian rebels – has added some geopolitical risk premium to oil prices, with West Texas Intermediate hitting a four-month high late last week. “No one really wants to be short crude with escalating tensions in the Middle East.” [Bloomberg]

Chevron has finally started LNG production at the $10 billion, 5.2 million ton per year Angola LNG project after repeated delays. Other project partners include Angola’s Sonangol, France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and the UK’s BP. [Chevron]