Top News
Even as renewables costs fall, energy transition slows
Renewables soon could be the world's cheapest source of electricity, but the prospects for rapid reductions in carbon emissions from the power sector remain discouraging.
FERC to decide on NY authority over Constitution pipeline within 2 months
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit that it intends to decide within two months whether the state of New York waived its Clean Water Act authority when it took an extended period of time to issue a water quality certificate for the Williams Cos. Inc.-led Constitution Pipeline Co. LLC.
US coal betting on exports, technology as climate concerns pressure sector
U.S. coal producers are leaning into the potential of overseas demand even as shifting energy economics and concerns about climate change begin to call into question whether global economic growth will continue to be coupled with increased coal demand.
Devon's departure from Canada to focus on US assets draws analyst support
Devon Energy Corp.'s May 29 announcement that it was selling its Canadian assets met with approval from most analysts, who support the company's plans to focus on its best U.S. assets while reducing debt.
Quoted
"So what we are trying to do here is to actually set up a business in the image of something that doesn't exist yet," said Royal Dutch Shell PLC CEO Ben Van Beurden at Shell's annual shareholder meeting on the company's drive to become the world's biggest electricity company by 2035.
Power
* Duke Energy Corp. announced a plan to decommission the retired Crystal River Nuclear plant in Florida by 2027, nearly 50 years sooner than originally scheduled.
* Ohio state lawmakers advanced House Bill 6, controversial legislation that would prop up the state's nuclear plants, despite a new report arguing the plants are generating enough profit to operate several years past their planned retirements.
* California Gov. Gavin Newsom is not keen on reforming the state's wildfire liability rules in the near future, even though the government-created wildfire commission is recommending for changes as it "imperils the viability" of utilities, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
* Policies to create financial incentives and expand cost recovery mechanisms for energy infrastructure security investments would burden consumers with higher costs without significantly bolstering the U.S. power and natural gas sectors' resilience to cyber and physical threats, according to industrial electricity consumers and a Midwest utility.
* Under a multimillion-dollar settlement, Rhode Island ratepayers will be compensated for overcollections by National Grid USA after Congress passed the tax reform bill.
Natural gas
* Chesapeake Energy Corp. got a slew of new shareholders from the private equity world after its nearly $4 billion merger with WildHorse Resource Development Corp. on Feb. 1, but whether those shareholders stick around for the long term is an unanswered question.
* The Oregon Senate passed a bill that would impose a five-year ban on hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas in the state, the Salem (Ore.) Statesman Journal reported.
* A tanker at the newly operational Cameron LNG terminal in Louisiana could carry the first commissioning cargo of liquefied natural gas from the Sempra Energy-led project.
* U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras ordered a new study on the climate change impact of leasing public lands in Colorado and Utah for oil and gas drilling, according to The Associated Press.
* Rainer Seele, the chief executive of Austrian oil and gas company OMV AG, wants the European Union to defend companies involved in the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline amid the U.S. effort to "dictate" the energy policy of its allies, the Financial Times reported.
Oil
* Shareholders at Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. rejected several investor-led environmental, social and governance resolutions at the oil and gas majors' respective annual general meetings on May 29.
* U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt agreed to defer oil and gas leasing near sacred tribal land in New Mexico by a year, the AP reported.
* Independent shale oil producers have spent well over a year trying to reassure shareholders that they have changed their ways and are putting returns to investors ahead of growth. If first-quarter 13F filings with the SEC are any indication, a lot of institutional investors are still having a hard time believing those assurances.
* Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel vowed to shut Enbridge Inc.'s Line 5 oil pipeline if Gov. Gretchen Whitmer fails to reach a deal a tunnel to house the pipelines, The Detroit News reported.
* The Trump administration plans to appeal a court decision that it cannot reverse the permanent ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic "unless and until revoked by Congress," S&P Global Platts reported.
* Mexican authorities have issued a warrant for the arrest of former Petróleos Mexicanos SA de CV CEO Emilio Lozoya, according to the AP.
* Total SA
* Shell is seeking to acquire an oil-block stake in South Africa, Bloomberg News reported.
Coal
* A U.S. trustee filed an objection
* Guzman Energy LLC, a Florida-based power supplier and trader, has offered to purchase all of Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc.'s coal assets in Colorado and New Mexico for $500 million and shut them down.
ChartWatch
The largest institutional investors of select publicly traded power companies increased their positions by a median value of 10.4% in the first quarter of 2019, according to an analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
* Despite recent legislative discussions around extending the federal tax credits for wind and solar, the production tax credit, or PTC, which has buoyed the wind industry for years, is likely to go away for good after 2019. While wind will inevitably see a temporary decline in installations as a result, the end of the PTC should be a good thing
The day ahead
* The U.S. Energy Information Administration's natural gas report and petroleum status report are due out today.
* Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. equity markets. To view more SNL equity market indexes, click here. To view more SNL Energy commodities prices, click here.
Click here to read about today's financial markets, setting out the factors driving stocks, bonds and currencies around the world ahead of the New York open.
The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 7:30 a.m. ET. Some external links may require a subscription. Links are current as of publication time, and we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later. S&P Global Platts and S&P Global Market Intelligence are owned by S&P Global Inc.