** An oil company reports it plans to begin operations next summer at a $1.3 billion direct air capture project in Texas as it absorbs one of the Permian Basin’s largest independent oil producers.
** As she looks to secure Pennsylvania voters for the upcoming presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris is trying — and struggling — to dodge her formerly anti-fracking policy positions.
** If you’re currently the owner of any 2023 or 2024 Toyota, you may want to listen up. The automaker is recalling thousands of every model it sells because the vehicles may have been fitted with the wrong load sticker.
** An investigation finds Oregon-based Nike’s private jets’ greenhouse gas emissions have increased since the company first pledged to reduce its carbon footprint.
** In an agreement with Ohio’s attorney general, FirstEnergy will avoid state criminal charges in the corruption scandal surrounding a 2019 bailout law by paying a $20 million settlement — a tiny fraction of the windfall the company continues to receive from ratepayers.
** Eversource faces a $450 million wrongful death lawsuit over a 2021 Massachusetts house explosion that killed a man; the utility calls it an “isolated” incident, while the man’s family says it was the result of gas line negligence.
World
** Global oil markets are poised to swing from a deficit to a surplus next quarter should OPEC+ proceed with plans to boost supplies, data from the International Energy Agency showed.
** German prosecutors have issued a first arrest warrant in their investigation into the undersea explosions in 2022 that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany, according to a media report Wednesday. Prosecutors in neighboring Poland said they received a warrant for a Ukrainian man, but that he left the country before he could be arrested.
** The switch to electric cars risks taking far longer than hoped as demand stalls in Europe and America, the boss of one of the world’s biggest parts suppliers has warned. Liam Butterworth, chief executive of GKN Automotive parent Dowlais, said the scrapping of electric vehicle (EV) tax breaks in countries such as Germany had triggered a sales slowdown that was reverberating through the industry.
** The world’s biggest steel producer sounded the alarm about an industry crisis in China that carries the potential to ripple around the globe and plunge the sector into a deeper downturn.
** An incredible sight has overtaken a field near Guazhou County in China’s Gansu Province: almost 30,000 moving mirrors pointed at two huge central towers. This is China’s new dual-tower solar thermal plant, Interesting Engineering reports.
** Petroleos Mexicanos has reached a deal with an oilfield-services provider to drill in the Gulf of Mexico as the heavily indebted state energy company turns to the private sector to boost crude production.
