** In the Wednesday night vice presidential debate, Kamala Harris emphatically stated that Joe Biden does not support a ban on fracking, a position many see as an appeal for votes in Pennsylvania, which President Trump narrowly won in 2016.
** A federal court vacates a FERC order holding that California utility PG&E could not back out of wholesale power contracts without the agency’s consent.
** Chevron’s market value leapfrogged that of Exxon Mobil for the first time on Wednesday during a week in which it closed a $4.1 billion, all-stock deal for Noble Energy, a smaller oil and gas producer. Chevron’s market cap ended the day around $142 billion, topping Exxon Mobil’s $141.65 billion market value at the end of trade, according to Refinitiv data and Chevron SEC filings pertaining to the Nobel deal.
** Poland said it was fining the pipeline builder, Russian energy giant Gazprom, 7.6 billion dollars for constructing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline without its approval. The country’s competition watchdog says Nord Stream 2 threatens the continuity of gas supplies to Poland, and will probably also mean higher prices.
** Sri Lanka on Thursday indicted the Greek skipper of a fire-damaged supertanker for causing an oil spill and failing to report the environmental damage to the island’s waters. The Panamanian-registered New Diamond, travelling from Kuwait to India with 270,000 tonnes of crude oil, was passing by Sri Lanka’s east coast when the fire broke out on September 3.
** Attorneys for the Bureau of Land Management, an arm of the Department of Interior that oversees nearly 250 million acres of public lands, said a review showed “no relevant acts taken” by William Perry Pendley during the more than 400 days he lead BLM. Pendley was deemed illegitimate by a federal court judge last month who said the BLM actions under him should be invalidated.
** DTE Energy is reportedly considering selling off its natural gas pipelines and other non-utility operations.
** At least two companies express interest in buying the Coal Creek power plant in North Dakota — scheduled to close in 2022 — along with an accompanying transmission line to Minnesota.
** The Energy Information Administration predicts a rise in coal generation and energy-sector carbon emissions next year.
** Massachusetts regulators approve a settlement of $56 million over a series of natural gas explosions that killed one person and injured 20 others in 2018.
** A Danish company that makes threaded bolts for the wind power industry will establish its first U.S. manufacturing facility outside Richmond, Virginia, as part of an emerging offshore wind cluster.
** PG&E has added more than 300 weather stations and 137 fire watch cameras this year, increasing its situational awareness of fire-danger conditions.