Today: The U.S. president wants to put Venezuela’s viscous crude into play but the world doesn’t have much appetite for more oil; Cook Islands games U.S.-China rivalry over minerals; Britain’s grid can’t handle its green push.

Welcome back: The Trump administration’s move to oust Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro will pave the way for U.S. oil companies to regain a foothold in the South American nation, the U.S. president said. 

But the world doesn’t have much of an appetite for more oil at the moment. U.S. oil prices are languishing below $60 a barrel, a level that discourages investment for most American producers. Global supplies are expected to continue rising. And many U.S. energy companies have pledged to reduce their share of burning fossil fuels, which contributes to climate change. 

Venezuela, a founding member of OPEC, holds the world’s largest oil reserves but today pumps less than 1% of global crude. Much of its production infrastructure has suffered from a lack of capital and regular maintenance for years, meaning any rebound in output would likely be slow and require significant investment.

Getting foreign companies to flock back to Venezuela will be a huge challenge. Chevron is the only major U.S. oil company there and is the country’s largest foreign investor. Other oil executives will be forced to gauge the stability on the ground in a country where the industry has fallen into disarray after decades of mismanagement and corruption.

• Why oil prices are barely moving after the Venezuelan incursion. (WSJ)
• Trump’s punt could turn into an oil-drilling own goal. (FT)
• U.S. refiners could be big winners. (WSJ)
• Trump’s Venezuela plan is a $100 billion gamble. (Bloomberg)
• Trump says U.S. needs to control Greenland. (WSJ)
• Oil companies face sanctions uncertainty. (Dow Jones Risk Journal)

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In October, a U.S. research vessel arrived in a remote South Pacific nation to capture high-definition images of the seafloor. A few weeks later, a Chinese ship arrived to do the same thing.

WSJ Pro Sustainable Business's Yusuf Khan reports from the Cook Islands that the visits marked the opening of an unexpected new front in the rivalry between the U.S. and China over the world’s mineral resources.

Both countries want to unlock new deposits of rare earths, which are essential to make electric cars, wind turbines and even jet fighters, as well as other strategic minerals needed for products such as batteries. China currently controls around 90% of the world’s refined supply of rare earths, giving it significant leverage over the U.S.

While prospectors have long proposed mining the ocean floor, such efforts have come to nothing. The costs and environmental damage of ripping up the seabed are expected to be high. But now, U.S.-China competition is putting offshore mining back in the spotlight.

In an age of energy-hungry data centers, countries around the world have raced to install solar panels and wind turbines. One unexpected bottleneck: aging electricity grids that can’t handle the power.

The Journal's Rebecca Feng reports that in the U.S., decades-old transmission lines have been blamed for hindering the rollout of new energy projects. In Europe, a sweeping blackout in Spain in April highlighted how big power swings can overwhelm the system. Meanwhile, China’s rollout of ultrahigh-voltage transmission lines is now seen as giving it an edge in the artificial-intelligence race.

Global investment in electricity generation has surged almost 70% over the past decade to $1 trillion a year, but annual grid spending has only risen to $400 billion, according to the International Energy Agency.

The U.K. offers a cautionary tale. Britain built a vast network of wind and solar farms and generates a higher proportion of its power from renewables than most places in the world. But it didn’t build the transmission lines needed to move all that clean energy around.

• Private equity-backed chemical company Alyeschem plans to build Alaska’s first methanol production plant. (WSJ)
   
• Haven Energy raised $40 million to install more solar panels in California homes with batteries that it leases. (WSJ)
   
• NGP Energy Capital Management is seeking $1.5 billion for a fund to back entrepreneurs looking to buy and build clean-energy assets. (WSJ)
   
• Revived Siemens Energy fends off activist call for wind spin-off. (FT)
   
• The Trump administration faced complaints from state utility regulators over a plan for federal oversight of data center grid connections. (WSJ)
   
• Shares of Sable Offshore fell after environmental groups filed a lawsuit to prevent the oil producer from restarting a California pipeline. (Barron's)
   
• Growth of biofuel production could have destructive effects on bee populations, food production and the environment. (Bloomberg)
   
• Product returns are now as much a part of the holiday shopping season as Black Friday discounts. (WSJ)
   
• China releases corporate climate reporting standard. (ESG Today)
   
• Tiger moms battle for hottest ticket in China: A tour of Xiaomi's electric-vehicle factory floor. (WSJ)

WSJ Pro Sustainable Business gives you an inside look at how companies are tackling sustainability. Send comments to bureau chief Perry Cleveland-Peck at perry.cleveland-peck@wsj.com and reporters Clara Hudson at clara.hudson@wsj.com and Yusuf Khan at yusuf.khan@wsj.com. Follow us on LinkedIn at perrycp, clara-hudson and yusuf_khan.