** British oil major BP plans to write down up to $17.5 billion in assets after oil prices collapsed during the coronavirus pandemic.
The supermajor said the value of the company’s assets is expected to fall by as much as $17.5 billion during the second quarter, when coronavirus-related travel restrictions plunged demand for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
** A drilling revival may soon be underway in the Permian Basin of West Texas where a flurry of permits for new horizontal wells have been filed. Some 42 companies filed for 109 drilling permits with the Texas Railroad Commissions from June 3 to 9. That’s more than double the 53 permits filed one week prior.
** Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue issued a broad secretarial memo on Friday directing the U.S. Forest Service to expedite environmental reviews in a bid to increase grazing and oil and gas development.
** Weeks after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection May 22, car rental company Hertz is selling vehicles in its fleet at discount prices. As of Saturday morning, Hertz had thousands of used cars available on its website HertzCarSales.com. The volume of cars for sale in an area depends on the location used in the search, and vehicles are delivered free up to 75 miles.
** Pennsylvania’s attorney general will pursue charges, including nine felonies, against an oil and gas operator for pollution incidents made notorious by the 2010 film Gasland.
** The Trump administration asks the Supreme Court to block a judge’s order temporarily halting the use of the Army Corps of Engineers’ water crossing permitting program for new oil and gas pipelines.
** Groups and individuals file hundreds of comments with federal regulators opposing a proposal that would upend net metering and remove state-level control.
** Michigan lost another 1,000 clean energy jobs in May due to the pandemic, placing it fourth in total clean energy job losses since mid-March, according to an analysis of federal data.
** A pipeline leak causes more than 34,000 gallons of brine to spill in western North Dakota.
** PG&E is reportedly set to plead guilty to 84 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with 2018’s deadly Camp Fire during a court hearing
** The impending closure of a Portland General Electric-owned coal-fired plant will mark the end of coal power in Oregon.
** The BLM postpones its Wyoming oil and gas lease sale scheduled for June 22, adding to the uncertainty already faced by companies working in the state.
** The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants the Supreme Court to block a court order that stopped the use of a nationwide permitting program to greenlight oil and gas pipelines.
** Two Alaska oil tax policy advocates say a ballot measure aiming to raise the state’s oil production taxes is bad for business and comes at the worst possible time.