** Exxon Mobil Corp is preparing deep spending and job cuts, according to people familiar with the matter, as it fights to preserve a 8% shareholder dividend with a multi-billion-dollar quarterly loss looming. It was unclear how extensive the cuts will be. The largest U.S. oil company slashed this year’s budget by 30% in April.
** Mexico’s Pemex’s trading arm is overhauling its fuel importing practices, five sources close to the matter said, which includes shifting to swapping crude oil with major partners in exchange for gasoline and other fuels to save cash.
** French energy major Total reported a 96% fall in second-quarter net profit to $126 million on Thursday as the coronavirus knocked oil prices and demand but said it would maintain its dividend. Total said its cash flow from operations fell 44% to $3.47 billion, but its adjusted net income was positive and its gearing was under control.
** With the Atlantic Coast Pipeline canceled, some North Carolina landowners whose property was seized by developers are left with damaged land and questions about how it will be restored.
** The EPA changes a rule to extend the life of coal ash ponds, allowing facilities that were supposed to stop taking waste by 2021 to keep doing so for two to seven more years.
** Texas lost 46,100 jobs in drilling and oil-field service companies from February to June as the coronavirus pandemic crushed demand for crude and send prices plummeting.
** The Nasdaq stock exchange has begun the process of delisting Houston-based Rosehill Resources Inc. now that the company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Nasdaq is set to suspend trade on Rosehill’s stock on Aug. 5.
** Wichita, Kansas company Integra Technologies received a new $20.7 million contract for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program defense work that will help keep around 250 people employed at the Wichita facility.
** A 3.7-magnitude earthquake rattled the tiny community of Capulin and surrounding towns in rural Northern New Mexico on Thursday morning. The epicenter of the earthquake was in the Santa Fe National Forest about 2½ miles east-southeast of Capulin along N.M. 96, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
** Tesla files suit alleging EV startup Rivian persuaded employees recruited from Tesla to share trade secret information.
** The Department of Energy stands to lose up to $225 million on a $425 million Nevada solar energy farm due to the owner filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy.
** GE Renewable Energy posted a $195 million loss for the second quarter of 2020, totaling a $498 million loss in the segment for the year.
