Change

ExxonMobil Corp. on Thursday “unequivocally” rejected allegations that it misled investors about how its operations may impact climate change after the New York attorney general launched an investigation.

Even skeptics cannot deny the impact climate change is likely to have on markets moving forward, according to a recent report published by BlackRock Investment Institute.

The CEOs of BP plc, Royal Dutch Shell plc and Mexico’s Petroleos Mexicanos, along with seven other global exploration chiefs, on Friday declared their collective support for the United Nations (UN) to adopt an “effective” climate change agreement.

A 16-word amendment to the Keystone XL bill recognizing that climate change is real but not specifying a cause passed with nearly unanimous support in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday. But five other amendments, including two that put the blame for climate change squarely on “human activities,” foundered.

A notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) issued by FERC last week that would, among other things, start the gas day at 4 a.m. central clock time (CCT) instead of the current 9 a.m. has quickly become a 'lightning rod," but changes to the current system are inevitable, and the earlier start time isn't non-negotiable, according to Acting Chairman Cheryl LaFleur.

The management and governance of Mexico national oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is going to “change dramatically” as a new era of transparency and accountability is ushered in by reforms adopted late last year to open the company’s energy sector to outside investment, former Mexican president Vincente Fox said during a conference call Tuesday.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is proposing a change to the format of itsWeekly Natural Gas Storage Report(WNGSR), adding an estimate of the implied flow of working natural gas into or out of underground storage facilities to its WNGSR summary table.

While acknowledging that rail shipments are a vital part of the burgeoning Bakken Shale play, North Dakota energy officials on Monday refused to speculate on the eventual impact of the oil rail car derailment and fire in Quebec, Canada, on their state’s soaring production (see Shale Daily, July 16).

The news preceded President Obama’s call last week for more action to address climate change, but executives at NRG Energy Inc. and Tenaska Inc. may have been reading between the lines after announcing over the past two weeks that because of abundant U.S. natural gas, coal is going to play a much smaller role in their generating schemes going forward.