** Exxon’s upstream division will take a hit of as much as $1 billion from lower oil and gas prices, the Spring, Texas-based company said in a filing Wednesday. Additionally, earnings will fall by as much as $1.3 billion due to “timing effects,” which include unsettled derivatives from trading.
** Vice President Kamala Harris and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator (EPA) Michael Regan on Thursday announced eight organizations that will oversee the spending of $20 billion in grants to fund tens of thousands of clean energy and transportation projects in disadvantaged communities across the United States.
** An environmental group has sued the U.S. Energy Department over its decision to award over $1 billion to help keep California’s last nuclear power plant running beyond a planned closure that was set for 2025. The move opens another battlefront in the fight over the future of Diablo Canyon’s twin reactors.
** The company that owns New Jersey’s three nuclear power plants said Wednesday it will seek federal approval to operate them for another 20 years. The move comes as New Jersey makes a strong push to become the East Coast leader in offshore wind.
** Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen suggested the US will retain the option to protect new industrial sectors against China after what she described as the Asian nation’s massive state investments in areas including clean energy.
** Tesla could end up plunging as low as $14 a share, according to longtime bear Per Lekander, a longtime bear who’s been shorting the stock since 2020. Lekander, who’s been shorting Tesla’s stock since 2020, calls it the biggest bubble “in modern history.” The Elon Musk-led EV maker is facing demand issues and struggling with its business model, he said.
World
** China’s manufacturers are pumping out so many solar panels that the resulting global glut has caused prices to tank. Solar panels — 80% of which are made in China — are so cheap that they are now being used to line garden fences in Germany and the Netherlands, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
** The expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline is almost complete and the project is on track to start up on May 1 after the government-owned company finished a mountainous segment in British Columbia that had delayed operations.
** The EV winter is continuing to grip on the global car market, as high prices and poor infrastructure continue to put off the next wave of electric customers. Norway, though, doesn’t appear to have gotten the message. The wealthy Scandinavian country is close to cracking a major milestone in EV uptake as electric-powered cars come for the mantle of petrol engines and new car registrations overwhelmingly favor EVs.