Energy news in brief

** Hurricane Ida shut down enough petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants to make a dent in national manufacturing activityand slow industrial growth to 0.4% in August.

** The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports as a result of the storm, 96% of crude oil production and 94% of natural gas production in the U.S. federally administered areas of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) were shut in, according to estimates by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. At least nine refineries shut down or reduced production.

** President Joe Biden will convene a meeting Friday of the Major Economies Forum in a bid to convince his fellow world leaders to do more to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and European and U.S. climate negotiators said he will ask other countries to sign onto a global pledge to reduce methane emissions by at least 30 percent by 2030.

** Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) introduced a bill to stop major lenders from financing fossil fuel projects and, eventually, companies.

** Los Angeles County supervisors voted unanimously Wednesday to phase out oil and gas drilling and ban new drill sites in the unincorporated areas of the nation’s most populous county.

** Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs a sweeping clean energy bill that he calls a “giant leap forward” by phasing out fossil fuel plants, bolstering clean energy spending, and investing in climate resilience.

** U.S. natural gas company Spire Inc got permission from federal regulators on Tuesday to keep operating its STL natural gas pipeline in Missouri for another 90 days while regulators consider the next steps for the pipe.

** Tribal members organize a 160-mile walk across northern Minnesota in opposition to construction on the Line 3 pipeline.

** Chevron CEO Mike Wirth warns of high energy prices and supply crunches. He told Bloomberg News that he expects strong prices for gas, liquefied natural gas and oil, at least “for a while,” without specifying a timeframe.

** California-based Tigo Energy, Inc., a solar energy supplier announced a partnership with Advanced Solar and Electric, one of the largest solar energy providers in South Texas.

** Vineyard Wind LLC became the first major offshore wind-farm project in the United States to secure funding, to the tune of $2.3 billion from investors including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and seven other financial firms. The project, located off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, expects to start construction in 2022 and offer power by 2023.

** San Antonio-based Victory Capital has a deal to buy New Energy Capital Partners, a New Hampshire asset management firm focused on investments in clean energy. The deal is said to be for $65 million.

** China has ordered its companies that broke laws and environmental standards in the Democratic Republic of Congo to cease operating and leave the country – at a time when the African nation’s government is aiming to renegotiate “infrastructure for minerals” deals with Beijing.