** Berkshire Hathaway Inc, run by billionaire Warren Buffett, said it has this week purchased another 4.3 million shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp, giving it a 19.2% stake in the oil company.
** Partisan debate erupts over the Biden administration’s draft offshore drilling plan, with Senate Democrats saying it doesn’t do enough to fight climate change and Republicans arguing it offers too few lease sales in Alaska.
** The state of Alaska is in talks with Hilcorp Energy and ConocoPhillips to secure natural gas for a project that would that would liquefy the fuel for export to Asia.
** The explosion that shut the Freeport LNG natural gas export facility in Texas last month created a 450-feet-high fireball and happened on a section that had been inspected several weeks earlier, according to a report.
** Ameren Missouri adds $1 million to a fund that helps moderate-income customers clear past-due balances on their utility bills.
** Electric vehicle startups are scrambling to cut costs and partner with large corporations as they compete with legacy automakers.
** Tesla plans to close its San Mateo, California, office and lay off 229 employees.
** Tellurian expanded gas production assets with a $125 million acquisition of assets in the Haynesville.
World
** Climeworks, a company that captures carbon from the atmosphere, announced the construction of their newest direct air capture facility, Mammoth, has commenced and will likely become the largest in the world upon completion. Mammoth is located in Hellisheidi, Iceland and is designed to have a multi-megaton storage capacity by 2030 and one gigaton by 2050.
** Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has defended Canada’s decision to return a turbine used in a pipeline that carries natural gas from Russia to Germany.
** Hungary’s government has declared an “energy emergency” in response to supply disruptions and skyrocketing energy prices in Europe, an official said Wednesday.
** A new battle for control of Citgo Petroleum, the eighth largest U.S. oil refiner and Venezuela’s foreign crown jewel, could soon be unleashed under a proposed management shake-up by the South American country’s opposition lawmakers.
** AccuWeather meteorologists are warning of one of the most significant heat waves in western Europe in over 200 years, or a few decades before the Declaration of Independence was signed. The long-duration, extreme weather event could turn deadly across the continent.