Tax reform talk is heating up in Congress as they hurry to pass a tax extenders bill before year end. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley wants the controversial wind energy production tax credit included in the bill. “I’m concerned about rumors that some are working to leave out or shorten the extension of the wind energy tax credit,” Grassley said on the Senate floor Thursday. “I agree the tax code has gotten too cluttered … but it doesn’t mean we should pull the rug out from under domestic energy producers.” [The Hill]

Noble Energy and its partners developing the Tamar and Leviathan gas fields offshore Israel could invest up to $2 billion dollars to expand operations and ship natural gas to Egypt for export via an LNG liquefaction facility located there. “Arrangements have been made with Jordanian businesses and the Palestinian Authority to export gas extracted from the Tamar field, where operations have begun. In May, the partners signed a non-binding letter of intent to supply 2.5 trillion cubic feet of Tamar gas per year to Union Fenosa’s LNG plant in Damietta, Egypt. The plant stopped operating in 2012 after the Egyptian government decided to keep the gas for its use rather than export it.” [Fuel Fix]

And a little Friday humor courtesy of The Onion: “Excavating hundreds of miles of trench following the defeat of a Senate bill that would have approved the project, dozens of desperate GOP congressmen were reportedly spotted in rural South Dakota Thursday trying to build the Keystone XL pipeline system themselves.” [The Onion]