A National Research Council report, which was mandatory under a 2011 pipeline safety law, found that Canadian heavy oil is no more likely to spur pipeline leaks than other crude oils are, which could bode well for the future of the Keystone XL pipeline. Of course, there is still the issue of the cold, dead rats. [Reuters]

Seven new pipelines, including Magellan Midstream Partners’ Longhorn pipeline from West Texas to Houston, are set to carry as much as 2 million bbls/d of domestically produced crude to the Texas Gulf Coast. “Domestic oil production is at such a high level that the Gulf Coast refineries won’t be able to process all of the crude.” [WSJ]

President Obama’s pledge to pull financing of coal-fired power plants outside the US (with certain exceptions) will bring an end to some Export-Import Bank backing of coal plants overseas. “Until now, Obama’s push to double exports of U.S. goods and services had conflicted with his environmental goal of reducing the greenhouse gases linked to climate change, as the US-backed Export-Import Bank had expanded financing that, by its own accounting, led to more and more greenhouse-gas emissions.” [Bloomberg]