** Occidental Petroleum is one of the finalists in the auction for CrownRock, an energy producer in the west Texas area of the Permian basin, with a bid of more than $10 billion, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.
** The U.S. Coast Guard expands its search for the source of last month’s Gulf of Mexico oil after inspecting more than 40 miles of nearby pipeline without identifying any damage.
** CNBC has dismantled its climate desk and will no longer have staff dedicated to covering climate change,” reports Bloomberg’s Akshat Rathi, noting that CNBC “climate innovation” reporters Catherine Clifford and Katie Brigham among others were being let go.
** The US partners picked by Poland’s government to build the country’s first nuclear power plant pushed back against the suggestion that they should commit to an equity investment in the project. Westinghouse Electric Co. and Bechtel Group Inc., which are set to build 3.75-gigawatt reactors in the country by next decade, seem skeptical of buying a stake in the joint venture as proposed by the incoming government’s energy adviser.
** A new study by Consumer Reports is critical of reliability of electric vehicles. But it also has praise for hybrid vehicles.
** Exxon Mobil Corp Chief Executive Darren Woods is making plans to attend the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, two people familiar with the matter said, in what would mark a first for an Exxon CEO, if confirmed.
** An estimated 400 Ford dealers are dropping out of the company’s EV program, less than a year after 2,000 dealers signed up to be part of electric vehicle sales.
** Amazon has begun work to convert the site of a former coal mine in Garret County, Maryland, into a 300,000-panel solar farm. The company now owns 479 wind and solar projects globally, making it the world’s largest buyer of clean energy, with a portfolio comparable to that of NextEra Energy, according to Bloomberg BNEF.
World
** OPEC+ is discussing additional output cuts of about 1 million barrels a day as it seeks to overcome internal disagreements and shore up flagging crude prices.
** Unprecedented congestion at the Panama Canal could ultimately result in delays at Egypt’s Suez Canal, potentially affecting cargoes of liquefied natural gas, according to a top official at Greek shipping giant Angelicoussis Group.
** The cost of shipping fuels such as diesel across the Atlantic has soared to an almost 16-month high amid ongoing disruption at the Panama Canal.
** Europe needs more liquefied natural gas to provide relief to its market as the region recovers from last year’s energy crisis, according to Uniper SE Chief Executive Officer Michael Lewis.
** Enbridge on Wednesday forecast higher core earnings and raised its dividend for 2024 as the Canadian pipeline operator bets on higher demand to lift volumes transported across its network.
** The UK’s first all-electric airline has signed a deal for 70 new aircraft engines, which it claims will fly with zero carbon emissions. Ecojet was started in July by Dale Vince, an entrepreneur who founded the renewable energy firm Ecotricity in Stroud.
