** Exxon Mobil Corp. warned investors of a $2.5 billion write down of the value of some California operations.
** The U.S. environmental regulatory agency will hold a hearing this week on whether to approve California’s plan to require all new vehicles sold in the state by 2035 to be electric or plug-in electric hybrids.
** Americans in Silicon Valley react to a new California law implemented phasing out gas-powered leaf blowers and other small equipment for electric tools.
** U.S. oil companies and refiners are likely to face another challenging 12 months in 2024, Bank of America (BofA) analysts wrote in a note on Friday, who expect Brent crude to average $80 per barrel this year.
** The Tennessee Valley Authority may delay the closure of its 2,470-MW coal-fired Cumberland power plant if the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission doesn’t promptly approve a gas pipeline project, the federal power agency said this week.
** The No. 2 officials at the U.S. Treasury and Energy departments will testify next Thursday before the Senate Energy Committee on electric vehicle tax incentives, the committee said.
** Car insurance app company Jerry’s 2024 State of the American Driver report released this week found that 41% of respondents said they were interested in buying or leasing an EV as their next vehicle, down from 49% from a year earlier.
** EOG Resources’ EOG CEO, Billy Helms, anticipates the growth rate of U.S. crude oil production for 2024 to be less than half of what was observed in 2023, given the decline in domestic drilling activity.
World
** Azerbaijan has selected its minister of ecology — a former state oil executive — to helm the United Nations climate talks later this year, in a move that stands to fuel debate about the oil and gas industry’s role in international negotiations aimed at reducing fossil fuel use.
** The US-led force in the Red Sea has shot down 19 drones and missiles launched by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen in less than a month, but there’s no sign that the militants are backing off, the commander of US Navy forces in the Middle East said.
** Short-term rates for container shipping between Asia, Europe and the US are climbing on reduced capacity caused by the threats to cargo vessels in the Red Sea. The spot rate for shipping goods in a 40-foot container from Asia to northern Europe now tops $4,000, a 173% jump from just before the diversions started in mid-December, Freightos.com, a cargo booking and payment platform, said late Wednesday.
