Kinder Morgan gets win in Hill Country courtroom as investor looks to replace Oxy board members
Judge tosses pipeline lawsuit
A state district court judge tossed out a lawsuit that sought to stop a Kinder Morgan pipeline from being routed through the Texas Hill Country. Judge Lora Livingston, sitting in state district court in Austin, dismissed all claims made against the Permian Highway Pipeline, a $2 billion project to move 2.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from the Permian Basin of West Texas to the Katy Hub near Houston.
Icahn eyes shakeup of Oxy board
Famed activist investor Carl Icahn on Wednesday launched a bid to shake up Occidental Petroleum’s board over the $38 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum, which has battered Oxy’s stock price and the value of Icahn’s holdings in the Houston oil company. Icahn, who has a nearly $1.7 billion ownership stake in Oxy, sued the company in May. He is now preparing to call for a special board meeting to replace nearly half of Oxy’s board members, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Oil firms lobby against tariffs
The trade war with China could threaten the energy renaissance underway in the United States and raise costs for U.S. consumers, according to the oil and gas industry’s leading trade group. The American Petroleum Institute — which represents 600 energy companies — has joined hundreds of other lobbyists and business owners who are trying to persuade the Trump administration to forego additional tariffs on thousands of Chinese goods.
Construction jobs cut at $10B plant
Exxon Mobil and its Saudi Arabian partner, SABIC, have cut the number of construction jobs their $10 billion petrochemical plant near Corpus Christi would create to 6,000 from initial estimates of 11,000, according to documents filed with the state and San Patricio County. In those documents, filed to qualify for tax incentives, the companies also committed to fewer permanent jobs at lower salaries than than companies touted publicly in pushing for the project and some $500 million in tax breaks.
Milestone reached for renewables
A new milestone was reached in April when the nation generated more electricity from renewable sources than coal. Wind, solar and other renewable energy generated 23 percent of U.S. electricity in April compared to 20 percent from coal, reflecting the long-term of trend of growing renewable and declining coal generation, the Department of Energy reported. Wind generation set a new monthly record in April with 30.2 million megawatt hours and solar energy hit a monthly high in June with 7.8 million megawatt hours.