Energy briefs

** Bipartisan legislation aimed at speeding up approvals for new energy projects advanced to the full Senate Wednesday. The legislation, put forward by Sens. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), sailed through committee in a 15-4 vote. The lawmakers who opposed the legislation were Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), reported The Hill.

** Refiner HF Sinclair reported a lower second-quarter profit on Thursday as margins slumped due to a tepid summer driving season and a rise in global refining capacity. The Dallas-based company posted a net income of $151.8 million, or 79 cents per share, in the quarter ending June, compared with $507.7 million, or $2.62 per share, a year earlier.

** Nuclear energy stocks soared Wednesday after the largest electrical grid operator in the U.S. said prices at its power market auction increased ninefold year-over-year. Constellation Energy, which operates the largest collection of nuclear plants in the country, saw its shares jump more than 12%, while Vistra shares gained nearly 15%.

** Chevron Corp.’s $53 billion proposed takeover of Hess Corp. suffered another setback as an arbitration hearing to settle an ownership dispute with Exxon Mobil Corp. won’t be held until next year.

** Shares of crop trader Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. and tractor maker AGCO Corp. plunged as disappointing earnings heightened concerns about a slowdown in the farming sector after several boom years.

** The Republican leader of a U.S. congressional committee wrote on Tuesday to demand more than 130 investors explain their environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, highlighting how his party’s scrutiny of such initiatives is continuing.

** An oil company blames “operator error” for a storage tank spilling more than 34,000 gallons into a Louisiana bayou.

World

** Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Ecopetrol SA are gearing up to plumb the depths of Colombia’s Caribbean waters in search of natural gas and oil. The plan is to drill the Komodo-1 well before the year is out in seas roughly 3,900 meters (close to 13,000 feet) deep. That’s equal to about 10 Empire State Buildings.

** Albemarle Corp. is shutting half of its current processing capacity in Australia and is putting the expansion there on hold amid a deepening price slump for lithium, a key ingredient in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles.

** In the first three months of 2024, renewable energy supplied a record-breaking 58.4% of all electricity generated in Germany. That’s the highest percentage since the country started keeping track in 2018.