** President-elect Donald Trump has picked former New York Congressman and gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin to be the head of the Environmental Protection Agency in his upcoming administration. ** The head of the Arkansas Advanced Energy Association believes the state faces an “energy crisis” due to the imminent closure of coal-fired plants and the rollback of …
Category: Oil & Gas
Austin company fined $3 million for emissions defeating devices
An Austin, Texas company known for selling thousands of car exhaust cheat devices that skirt air pollution regulations has been hit with a nearly $3 million from the EPA. The agency fined COBB Tuning, the firm that sold 90,000 of the “defeat devices” since 2015. The devices increase a vehicle’s performance by disabling …
Tighter drilling restrictions on federal land announced by Biden administration
A confrontation between the Biden administration and re-elected President Donald Trump is in the making after the government announced plans Friday to create tighter restrictions on oil, solar and wind energy development in the name of protecting the greater sage grouse. The new rules could be reversed, if adopted, with the arrival of …
Williams CEO looks forward to Trump energy policies
If there’s one thing Alan Armstrong, CEO and President of Williams Cos. is looking forward to in a second Donald Trump administration, it is the renewed development of energy infrastructure and the removal of constraints on energy development. “The challenge is the infrastructure. It’s not a drilling issue. It’s not a supply issue,” said …
Crude oil prices settled lower on Friday as latest hurricane will avoid major oil operations
Crude oil prices finished the week with a 2% drop and analysts attributed the loss to an easing of concern how Hurricane Rafael will affect oil supplies in the Gulf of Mexico. The storm’s path apparently won’t pose much of a danger to oil production in the Gulf where energy producers had shut in …
Ovintiv made major gains in 3Q earnings
Third quarter earnings made big gains for Ovintiv Inc. as the Denver, Colorado based company reported net earnings totaled $507 million and $1.92 per share beating the second quarter by $167 million. Earnings per share also rose 65 cents from the second quarter to the third quarter. Ovintiv’s report showed the firm generated $1.022 million …
Major drop in 3Q earnings for Unit Corporation
Third quarter earnings results for Tulsa’s Unit Corporation were only about a third of what they were a year ago. Unit released the report showing net income totaled $8.9 million or 89 cents a share, compared to $28.8 million and and $2.94 a share one year earlier. Total revenue for the three months …
More drilling leads to increased rig count in Oklahoma
( Kevin Fujii / Chronicle ) Oklahoma saw its oil and gas rig count grow over the past week while the nationwide numbers were unchanged for another week, according to the Baker Hughes Co. rig count released Friday. The number of active oil and gas rigs in Oklahoma increased by two, reaching a total of …
Energy briefs
** The Biden administration plans to publish a draft study by the end of this year that could have implications for the future of new gas exports. The administration said earlier this year that it would work to more fully assess the impacts of exporting U.S.-produced natural gas on climate change, national security and economics. ** Boeing CEO Kelly …
Icahn plans to increase holdings in CVR Energy
An investment fund controlled by billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn cut its dividend payout by half on Friday and at the same time announched intentions to gain more interest in CVR Energy Inc., the company with refineries in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma and Coffeyville, Kansas. As indicated in a third quarter earnings statement, Icahn Enterprises …