** Bloomberg reported this week that, based on data it had compiled, the collective profits of Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP, and TotalEnergies for the last quarter would come in at $50.7 billion. This is palpably lower than the record $62 billion the five supermajors reported for the second quarter—drawing the ire of politicians—but it is still a large number and will, in all likelihood, draw more ire and calls for sharing the money.
** Shell and ExxonMobil sell 23,000 oil and gas wells in California to an asset management group, raising fears the facilities will be orphaned and cleanup costs borne by state and federal governments.
** Electric vehicle manufacturer Via Motors will move its headquarters from Utah to southeastern Michigan, where it plans to invest $12.4 million and create up to 300 jobs.
** Potential environmental permitting hurdles caused a company to relocate a planned nickel processing plant from northern Minnesota to North Dakota.
** Hyundai breaks ground on its planned $5.5 billion electric vehicle factory in Georgia, which the governor used to push his re-election campaign.
** North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signs an executive order requiring more zero-emission vans, buses and commercial trucks over the next decade.
** The Sierra Club and other environmental groups challenge West Virginia regulators’ approval of a permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline to cross streams and wetlands after they’d already issued nearly 140 citations against it.
World
** Venezuela is allowing partners in state oil company PDVSA’s joint ventures to leave – by selling their shares to others or returning them – so long as they forgo payment for past debts and unpaid dividends, four people close to the matter said.
** France’s TotalEnergies on Thursday reported third-quarter net income rose to $6.6 billion despite losses from pulling out of a venture in Russia, with huge oil and gas company profits raising pressure on European governments to shield people from high energy bills.
** TotalEnergies SE agreed to pay as much as $580 million to buy a stake in wind and solar power projects developed by Brazilian firm Casa dos Ventos, the latest move by the French oil and gas giant to expand in clean energy.
** Russia’s huge clout in global energy supplies—which it built up over decades—is shrinking drastically, probably forever. That’s the assessment of the International Energy Agency, the Paris-based agency comprising the world’s biggest producing and consuming nations, in its yearly World Energy Outlook, out on Thursday.
** Europe’s energy crisis, triggered by Russia slashing natural gas flows amid its war against Ukraine, has forced some people to turn to cheaper heating sources like firewood as the weather gets colder. But as more people stock up and burn wood, prices have skyrocketed, shortages and thefts have been reported, and scams are emerging.
