Latest Energy Headlines
All the headlines from our Energy Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Regulator: Thousands of Oil Wells Idled in North Dakota
Apr 16 2020 // A top state oil regulator estimates that North Dakota producers have idled thousands of wells — amounting to more than a quarter of the oil wells in the state — as the U.S. oil industry crashed during the coronavirus...
Texas’ Oil and Gas Regulators Not Ready to Cut Production
Apr 15 2020 // Facing a steep drop in oil demand with much of the world staying home to practice social distancing, more than 55 energy executives, analysts and critics appeared one after another Tuesday at a video meeting of the Texas...
Railroads Resist Oil Companies’ Demands for Storage in Rail Cars Citing Safety Concerns
Apr 13 2020 // Railroads are clamping down on rising demand from oil companies to store crude in rail cars due to safety concerns, sources said, even as the number of places available to stockpile oil is rapidly dwindling. Oil demand is...
Explosion at North Carolina Fuel Plant Damages Nearby Homes; No Serious Injuries
Apr 9 2020 // An explosion at a hydrogen fuel plant in North Carolina has damaged nearby homes but left workers without any serious injuries. News outlets report that the explosion occurred at the OneH2 Inc. hydrogen fuel facility in...
Regulators Mull Reversing $462M Increase in PG&E’s California Wildfire Fines
Apr 1 2020 // California power regulators are weighing a recommendation to back off plans to fine Pacific Gas and Electric an additional $462 million for igniting a series of Northern California 2018 deadly wildfires rather than risk...
As Demand Sinks Amid Pandemic, Texas Shale Producers Ask State to Cut Oil Output
Apr 1 2020 // Two Texas oil companies with large footprints in the West Texas oil patch have sent a letter to state regulators formally requesting an emergency meeting to consider reducing oil production as demand for oil around the...
Oil Industry Seeks Easing of Environmental Regulation During Pandemic
Mar 26 2020 // The Environmental Protection Agency said this week that it’s reviewing a request from the oil and gas industry to ease enforcement of hazardous air and water pollution and other regulatory issues during the...
Overturned Tanker Yields Large Oil Spill Near California Dam, Cleanup Needed
Mar 25 2020 // A tanker truck overturned down an embankment, spilling up to 6,000 gallons of crude oil into a river that flows into a dam and reservoir near the city of Santa Maria, authorities said. The driver was no injured and the...
Pipeline Owner Agrees to Pay $60M in 2015 California Spill
Mar 16 2020 // The owner of an oil pipeline that spewed thousands of barrels of crude oil onto Southern California beaches in 2015 will pay $60 million to to settle allegations that it violated safety laws, the U.S. Environmental...
Fire Kills Five People at Petronas-Aramco Oil Refinery in Malaysia
Mar 16 2020 // A fire killed five people at an oil refining complex in southern Malaysia owned by Petronas and Saudi Aramco, forcing the closure of the facility that was set to begin full commercial operations this year. It was the...
California Public Utilities Commission Fines PG&E $2.1B over Wildfires
Mar 9 2020 // The California Public Utilities Commission issued an administrative law judge decision imposing $2.137 billion in penalties against Pacific Gas and Electric Company for the utility’s role in the catastrophic 2017 and...
One U.S. State May Look at Insurers’ Fossil Fuel Investments and Underwriting to Combat Climate Change
Mar 5 2020 // A Connecticut lawmaker has plans for a bill that not only calls for the state to look at which insurers have fossil fuel investments – a growing trend among government entities as of late – but also which ones are...
Tokio Marine HCC to Buy MGA GCube, Renewable Energy Specialist
Mar 5 2020 // Tokio Marine HCC has agreed to snatch up GCube, a managing general agent with a focus on renewable energy risks. The deal is expected to close in the 2020 second quarter, pending the usual regulatory approval process and...
Popular Climate Change Mitigation, Clean Energy Financing Plan Has Its Fans and Foes
Mar 4 2020 // A decade ago, if a Floridian wanted extra cash to replace a roof, install solar panels or a brand new air conditioner, the most common choice was a bank loan. But for the last few years, homeowners also have had a...
California Public Utilities Commission Fines PG&E $2.1B over Wildfires
Feb 28 2020 // The California Public Utilities Commission has issued an administrative law judge decision imposing $2.137 billion in penalties against Pacific Gas and Electric Company for the utility’s role in the catastrophic 2017...
Coronavirus Fears Drive Up Credit Risk for Gulf Crude Exporters
Feb 25 2020 // The cost of insuring against sovereign debt defaults by Gulf Arab states has risen in recent days as markets price the risk the coronavirus outbreak represents for the crude export-dependent region. Conventional spreads on...
How One County Plans to Vet Insurers for Fossil Fuel Investments
Feb 20 2020 // “We have front row seats,” said Elise Jones, a Boulder County commissioner. Jones along with two other commissioners oversees government affairs in the Colorado county of 330,000 or so at the base of the...
Salvage Firm Wants Judge to Halt Removal of Capsized Cargo Ship in Georgia
Feb 19 2020 // A maritime salvage company is asking a federal judge to stop the Coast Guard and a rival firm from carrying out their plans to remove a cargo ship that overturned five months ago on the Georgia coast. The multiagency team...
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in 2010 Was Bigger Than Satellite Images Showed
Feb 14 2020 // Toxic and invisible oil spread well beyond the known satellite footprint of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to a new study. Scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel school of Marine and...
Report: 6 Texas Refineries Releasing Cancer-Causing Pollutant Above Federal Threshold
Feb 10 2020 // An environmental nonprofit has released an analysis of first-of-its-kind air monitoring data that shows benzene levels at 10 U.S. petroleum refineries exceeded limits Eight years ago, two environmental nonprofits sued the...
