Chevron Corp. plans to merge Hess Corp.’s exploration team with its own to challenge “conventional thinking” and make new discoveries, Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth in an interview on Bloomberg TV’s Wall Street Week.  Chevron is cutting about 650 Hess jobs after completing its $53 billion takeover last month, but exploration is one area likely to be spared.  “We’re going to bring their talent, their experience, their insights and blend it with ours,” Wirth said. Chevron will have “a stronger team as we move forward to challenge some of our conventional thinking.” Chevron’s exploration team has struggled to find new discoveries in recent years. A highly-anticipated well in Namibia failed to find oil and gas this year. Wirth declared himself “not happy” with the team’s results on the company’s last earnings call earlier this month and vowed to make changes.  Hess, spurred on by its geologists, bought a 30% stake in Guyana’s Stabroek Block just months before Exxon Mobil Corp. drilled its first well, leading to the biggest oil discovery in a generation. The block now has 11 billion barrels of recoverable resource, and was the main reason why Chevron bought Hess in its largest-ever deal.  “Hess has some very talented people in exploration who’ve been quite involved in the identification and appraisal of the resource in Guyana,” Wirth said.  Chevron has several exploration targets in South America, West Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean. It plans to drill an exploration well in Suriname well later this year.   WHAT DO YOU THINK? Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

Dive Brief: Arizona regulators voted unanimously on Thursday to begin the process of repealing the Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff rules, known as REST, which required electric utilities to deliver 15% renewable energy by 2025.  The rule was set by the Arizona Corporation Commission in 2006 and its targets have already been surpassed by the state’s major regulated utilities. Regulators say the REST rule drives up energy costs and is unnecessary, but advocates contend Arizona’s growth and rising electricity demand have kept the requirements relevant.  Arizona Public Service had an energy portfolio of about 19% renewable energy sources in 2024, according to the commission; Tucson Electric Power reported its energy portfolio was about 29% renewable that year. Dive Insight: The debate over Arizona’s REST rules comes as APS, the state’s largest electric utility, has backed away from its pledge to go carbon free by 2050. “The company is updating its clean energy goals from an aspirational ‘zero-carbon’ approach to an aspirational ‘carbon-neutral’ approach by 2050,” parent company Pinnacle West said in second quarter earnings released Aug. 6.  “Our mission is to reliably serve customers at the lowest cost possible. To do that, we need to integrate the most reliable and cost-effective resources available to us to meet Arizona’s fast-growing energy needs,” said Pinnacle West Chairman, President and CEO Ted Geisler. Energy demand is rising quickly in Arizona. Three utilities set new peak demand records earlier this month. Arizona regulators say cost concerns are at the heart of their efforts to repeal the REST rules. The commission estimated the requirements have added approximately $2.3 billion to Arizona customer bills since 2006. “Utilities should have the flexibility to choose the most cost-effective energy mix to deliver reliable, affordable service — without being burdened by government-imposed rules that ultimately increase costs for customers,” Vice Chair Nick

Coastal Bend LNG LLC and Solvanic Inc. have kick-started a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study for electrochemically mediated amine regeneration (EMAR) carbon capture at the Coastal Bend liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility. Solvanic has signed an option agreement for use of the EMAR technology, originally developed by Professor T. Alan Hatton’s research group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Department of Chemical Engineering, Coastal Bend LNG said in a media release. The technology utilizes an electrochemical method to release carbon dioxide (CO2) captured by amines using electricity, rather than the traditional high-temperature steam used in thermal amine systems, the LNG developer said. This novel approach lowers energy consumption and capital costs for carbon capture, offering greater flexibility across various operating conditions and scales, it claimed. “To deliver on our ambitious low-carbon-intensity LNG goals, we need to capture carbon dioxide emissions from both our natural gas pretreatment and cogeneration facilities”, Nick Flores, Chief Executive Officer of Coastal Bend LNG, said. “For post-combustion capture on our onsite cogeneration facilities, we need a step change in carbon capture efficiency. We’re highly encouraged by Solvanic’s preliminary techno-economics and are keen to accelerate their technology readiness with this FEED study”. Researchers Dr. Michael Massen-Hane and Dr. Michael Nitzsche co-founded Solvanic to commercialize the technology. “We have demonstrated our EMAR solution to Technology Readiness Level 4 with low energetics, high stability, and modular scalability across emission sources”, Nitzsche, Chief Technology Officer at Solvanic, said. “This FEED study accelerates our techno-economic analyses for gas processing and post-combustion carbon capture with the full engineering support of Coastal Bend LNG and their contractors”. “We are leveraging over a decade of electrochemical carbon capture research and development at MIT via this option agreement”, Massen-Hane, Chief Executive Officer of Solvanic, added. To contact the author, email [email protected] WHAT DO

Black Hills Corp (NYSE: BKH) and NorthWestern Energy Group Inc (Nasdaq: NWE) have announced in a joint statement that each company’s board of directors has unanimously approved a definitive agreement to combine in an all-stock, tax-free merger. The companies outlined in the statement that the merger “will create a premier regional regulated electric and natural gas utility company with a pro forma market capitalization of approximately $7.8 billion and a combined enterprise value of $15.4 billion, based on each company’s closing stock price as of August 18, 2025”. The joint statement outlined that the deal has a “compelling strategic and financial rationale” and “deliver[s]… benefits to all stakeholders”. Under the terms of the agreement, NorthWestern shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 0.98 shares of Black Hills for each share of NorthWestern they own at the close of the transaction, the statement noted. “The exchange ratio implies an approximately four percent premium based on the volume weighted average price of each company’s common stock since Black Hills and NorthWestern began discussing transaction terms in March 2025,” the companies added in the joint statement. Black Hills shareholders will continue to hold the same number of shares of the combined company that they hold of Black Hills immediately prior to the closing of the transaction, according to the statement, which noted that, upon completion of the merger, Black Hills shareholders will own approximately 56 percent and NorthWestern shareholders will own approximately 44 percent of the combined company on a fully diluted basis. The transaction is expected to close in 12 to 15 months, subject to customary closing conditions, clearance under the Hart-Scott Rodino Act, approval from each company’s shareholders, and regulatory approvals, including approval from commissions in the three states in which both companies operate (Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota) and in

The United States Department of Energy on Tuesday released a 2025-40 schedule for oil and gas area auctions consisting of at least 30 bidding rounds for the Gulf of America and at least six for Alaska’s Cook Inlet. “The predictable schedule meets the law’s requirements while advancing the Trump administration’s priorities of growing the economy, reducing dependence on foreign energy and keeping America a global energy leader”, DOI said in a statement on its website, referring to the One Big Beautiful Bill, signed into law July 4. The first auction under the law is set for December 10, involving only the Gulf of America. Next year will see at least three auctions for the Gulf of America, scheduled for March and August, and Cook Inlet, scheduled for March. “The inclusion of at least 30 lease sales in the Gulf of America underscores the region’s indispensable role in America’s energy ecosystem, accounting for roughly 14-15 percent of U.S. crude oil production and serving as the linchpin of offshore energy output”, DOI said. “These scheduled sales offer the oil and gas sector much-needed clarity and stability, encouraging continued investment in deepwater infrastructure, which is foundational to national energy resilience. “The Gulf supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, contributes tens of billions to GDP annually and generates substantial federal and state revenues. The economic and energy-security gains from these sales are both immediate and long-lasting.  “Alaska plays a vital role in America’s energy future, and Cook Inlet, along Alaska’s south-central coast near Anchorage, is at the center of that opportunity. By including six lease sales in Cook Inlet through 2032, the plan ensures Alaskans benefit from new jobs, stronger local economies and long-term investment in their communities. “Alaska’s unique position as both a strategic energy hub and a gateway to the Arctic makes

U.S. electric vehicle sales continue to grow and the charging market outlook remains strong despite federal policy headwinds, according to Wood Mackenzie. The sector is showing “resilience despite challenges,” the firm said Tuesday in its EV charging infrastructure forecast. The U.S. public DC fast charger segment will grow at a “robust” 14% compound annual rate through 2040, WoodMac said, to reach 475,000 ports and generate $3.3 billion in annual market value. Globally, WoodMac anticipates EV charging ports will increase at 12.3% annually from 2026 to 2040, reaching 206.6 million ports. “As utilization in public charging increases and infrastructure efficiency improves, we expect the ratio of EVs to public chargers to increase from 7.5 battery electric vehicles per charger in 2025 to 14.2 in 2040,” Oliver McHugh, senior EV charging research analyst for Wood Mackenzie, said in a statement. U.S. federal policy was supportive of electric vehicles under President Joe Biden, who oversaw development of the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure formula program designed to build a public fast charger network. Biden also extended a $7,500 tax credit for EV purchases. These incentives, plus new tailpipe emissions that would force manufacturers to produce more electric models, were intended to help meet Biden’s goal of having half of new vehicle sales be an EV by 2030. President Donald Trump has largely opposed the EV transition. The tax and policy bill he signed in July eliminates the EV purchase credit after September. The Trump administration has also moved to weaken or eliminate vehicle emissions standards, and it put the NEVI program on hold for six months, though it has recently been revived. The U.S. Department of Transportation on Aug. 11 issued new NEVI guidance, with changes to make the program more efficient. EV advocates cheered the “greater flexibility” for states and “regulatory certainty” around funding