"The world’s largest oil companies this week posted some of their best earnings in years as they control costs and ride rising oil prices that are nearing $70 a barrel," the Houston Chronicle's Jordan Blum writes on the front page.
Why it matters: "The improved earnings are another sign that the energy industry recovery is gaining momentum. U.S. oil production and exports are at record highs, and both Exxon and Chevron are investing billions of dollars to develop their holdings in the Permian Basin in West Texas."
The Trump administration is eyeing significant changes to President Obama's fuel efficiency standards, including a possible freeze on the standards for cars and light trucks, the Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: The draft proposal by the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) calls for freezing the standards at 2021 levels and holding them in place until 2026, per the Post. It also targets California's fuel-efficiency rules by rolling back an Obama administration mandate that allowed the state to set its own emissions limits.
The Trump administration revealed new offshore drilling requirements it's pushing for on Friday, Bloomberg reports, which would relax some rules put in place after the Deepwater Horizon accident, but reject other changes requested by oil companies.
The details: Environmentalists disagreed with the changes, per Bloomberg, arguing that they "could jeopardize safety improvements." But director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Scott Angelle, told Bloomberg: "People were concerned we'd take a sledgehammer to it. Absolutely not. This is a very delicate scalpel to the process."
Exxon Mobil Corp. this morning reported $4.65 billion in first-quarter profits, an increase of 16% from the same period last year.
Why it matters: The U.S.-based multinational behemoth is the latest major oil-and-gas producer to report higher profits this week on the strength of the oil price recovery.
A big question swirling around the news that First Solar is expanding its U.S. manufacturing is how much — if anything — the recent White House import tariffs on solar panel equipment influenced the move.
What they're saying: CEO Mark Widmar said on the company's first quarter earnings call that the move will "further solidify our position as the largest U.S. solar module manufacturer," adding that production will be fully ramped up by the end of 2020 and it will create 500 jobs.
Danish company Ørsted, whose North American President Thomas Brostrøm spoke at The Atlantic Council Thursday, is among numerous firms bidding for government-administered wind leases offshore America’s mid-Atlantic coastlines.
Why it matters: Offshore wind is a rare renewable energy the Trump administration is actively supporting. There’s currently only one offshore wind farm in the U.S., off Rhode Island.
