** Chevron Corp.’s mega deal to acquire Hess Corp has thrown into question the future of Hess Midstream Partners. The terms of the deal so far do not specify whether Chevron will purchase Hess Midstream LP, which transports crude, gas and water in and around North Dakota.
** Hess Corp. will continue selling its toy trucks, the company said, after Chevron Corp. on Monday announced that it would acquire the energy company for $53 billion.
** Two people are dead and two others were injured in an industrial incident in Grand Tower, Illinois on Monday afternoon, October 23. On Wednesday morning, October 25, the Jackson County Coroner’s Office identified the two people killed as 47-year-old Barbara L. Reid, of Mississippi, and 43-year-old Brandon C. Durand, of Louisiana.
** General Motors on Tuesday withdrew its 2023 profit outlook just ahead of a new United Auto Workers walkout at one of its most profitable factories. With the UAW clash throttling revenue and profits, Chief Executive Mary Barra told investors the automaker will slow its electric vehicle strategy to put profits ahead of sales targets.
** New York officials on Tuesday said the state has awarded conditional contracts to three offshore wind projects as part of a massive renewable energy procurement that will provide 12% of the state’s power needs in 2030.
** Emerging U.S. businesses in the energy transition supply chain such as hydrogen and wind power should act fast to avoid being dominated by China, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday. Geoffrey Pyatt, assistant secretary for energy resources at the State Department, said the U.S. needs to ensure that China does not dominate wind power, small nuclear power and hydrogen.
World
** An international team of scientists on Tuesday issued a new assessment of planetary health that says the world has entered “uncharted climate territory” and that “life on planet Earth is under siege.” The report, published in the journal BioScience, found that 20 of 35 identified “vital signs” of the planet — from human population and greenhouse gas emissions to sea level rise and ocean acidity — have reached record extremes.
** The Canadian government-owned company expanding the country’s only oil pipeline to the Pacific Ocean may be unable to fund the rest of the project, the government’s auditor general said, just months before the project is scheduled to start operation.
** Less than five years ago, the United Kingdom government committed to reduce its pollution by 100% by 2050 (compared to 1990 levels). But a $9.4 billion drilling project to support the oil and gas industry received approval at the end of September, sparking public backlash, the New York Times reported.
** Extinction Rebellion activists blocked the entrance to the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport in Rome on Tuesday to protest what they said was the government’s inaction on climate change. Some of the protesters dressed up as Pinocchio and accused the government of lying over the scale of the climate crisis.
** The European Union is largely on track to break its dependence on Russian fossil fuels by 2030, according to a European Commission report published on Oct. 24. The EU has reduced coal imports from Russia by 90%, but more importantly, Russian gas imports have dropped by almost 75% from 2021 to 2023.
** Shell will cut around 15% of the workforce at its low-carbon solutions division and scale back its hydrogen business as part of CEO ‘s drive to boost profits, it said on Wednesday. The staff cuts and organizational changes come after Sawan, who took the helm in January, vowed to revamp Shell’s strategy to focus on higher-margin projects, steady oil output and grow natural gas production.