** Chevron Corp.’s $3.1 billion purchase of Renewable Energy Group Inc. is a statement of the oil giant’s intent to accelerate its energy transition strategy, according to Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth.
** Firestone will pay $3.35 million in civil penalties for Clean Air Act violations and other infractions at its synthetic rubber manufacturing facility in Sulphur, Louisiana the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in a release.
** Blackstone Inc. CEO Stephen Schwarzman drew in $1.1 billion in 2021 as one of the highest, or potentially the highest, paid executive on Wall Street, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Citing regulatory filings, the newspaper said Schwarzman took in $941.6 million in dividends based on his 19% stake in Blackstone.
** Michigan electric vehicle registrations increased nearly 60% over the past year as state officials and utilities plan to deploy tens of millions of dollars in charging infrastructure funding.
** North Dakota officials will no longer challenge a new state law involving oil and gas royalties, ending an attempt to recoup $69 million from energy development roughly a decade ago.
World
** Germany’s Enercon on Monday said a “massive disruption” of satellite connections in Europe was affecting the operations of 5,800 wind turbines in central Europe. It said the satellite connections stopped working on Thursday, knocking out remote monitoring and control of the wind turbines, which have a total capacity of 11 gigawatt (GW).
** Russia’s Gazprom said Monday it signed a contract to design a huge Russia-China natural gas pipeline. The Soyuz Vostok pipeline would deliver up to 1.77 trillion cubic feet of natural gas each year via Mongolia.
** The company behind Nord Stream 2 has laid off all its staff and is said to be considering insolvency after the controversial pipeline was hammered by sanctions.
** A natural gas pipeline called GIPL linking Poland and Lithuania will open on May 1, earlier than the scheduled mid-2022 start, linking the Polish grid with a route to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Lithuania.
** Mexican state oil company Pemex reported a $6.05 billion fourth-quarter net loss on Monday, driven by higher taxes and currency exchange losses despite more oil output, with the firm set to require further big cash infusions from the government.