Petrobras is considering a return to retail fuel sales after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the state-controlled oil company’s top executive complained about high pump prices. Four years after exiting the business now known as Vibra Energia SA, Petrobras’ board of directors will meet this week to discuss amending the company’s strategic plan to include a presence in the retail sector, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named discussing private matters.  It’s unclear if such a move would involve trying to fully re-nationalize Vibra or buying a stake in the convenience-store operator and distributor of cooking fuels and other petroleum products. The proposal to be discussed for the 2026-2030 strategic plan would position Petrobras as a diversified and integrated energy company, the person said. Vibra was privatized during the Jair Bolsonaro administration. Petrobras’ media-relations office declined to comment. Lula has complained that wholesale price cuts by Petrobras for gasoline, diesel and other products haven’t flowed through to consumers at the retail level. He has blamed both filling stations and state-level taxes for the disparities. “It’s not possible for Petrobras to announce such a huge discount on diesel and for this discount not to reach the consumer,” Lula said earlier this month while announcing refinery investments. “Even when Petrobras cuts back, many gas stations don’t.” Lula has also said privatization has created multiple layers in the distribution system that result in higher prices for consumers.  “Petrobras currently releases a 13-kilogram gas cylinder for 37 reais and it gets at a poor person’s house for 140 reais,” Lula said at the early July event. State control of retail outlets would allow more efficient delivery of the fuel, he added. Petrobras Chief Executive Officer Magda Chambriard has also expressed concern that filling stations aren’t

Activity is slowing in US oil fields as drillers remain in the crude-price danger zone for profits, according to one of the biggest investors of private operators in the shale patch. “In the mid-$60s, you get dangerously close to where oil prices don’t really drive appropriate returns for new drilling,” Dwight Scott, who joined Quantum Capital Group at the start of this month as executive vice chairman, said on Bloomberg TV Wednesday. “So, activity in the oil field is slowing; I think that’s a temporary thing.” West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, has fallen 8% since the start of this year, trading at $65.82 a barrel on Wednesday. Scott, who helped build Blackstone Inc.’s credit arm into a $330 billion business, said while uncertainty around tariffs has contributed to reduced drilling activity, he expects the US “will continue to be a leader in oil and gas.” 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.

The White House on Wednesday named David LaCerte, an official in the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, to fill a vacant seat at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. LaCerte has served as the principal White House liaison and senior advisor to the director of the OPM since January, according to his LinkedIn page. He worked at OPM during the first Trump administration. The office is the chief human resources agency and personnel policy manager for the federal government. When he joined the OPM, LaCerte was set to help craft policy on workforce relations, collective bargaining and employee accountability, according to his former law firm in New Orleans, Sternberg, Naccari & White. LaCerte contributed to Project 2025, a presidential transition effort organized by the conservative Heritage Foundation that includes The Mandate for Leadership, a road map to “deconstruct the Administrative State.” LaCerte also worked as acting managing director at the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board starting at the end of President Donald Trump’s first term. LaCerte was a special counsel at the Baker Botts law firm for two years, starting in January 2023. While there, he worked on energy litigation and environmental, safety and incident response issues. FERC regulates natural gas infrastructure, wholesale electricity and gas markets, hydroelectric projects and interstate electric transmission. If confirmed by the Senate, LaCerte would serve for the remainder of former FERC Chairman Willie Phillips’ term, which expires June 30, 2026, according to the White House. LaCerte will likely move through the Senate confirmation process with Laura Swett, an energy attorney at Vinson & Elkins who Trump nominated for a FERC seat on June 2. Swett would assume the seat held by FERC Chairman Mark Christie. It is unclear how quickly the Senate will be able to act on the nominations. If confirmed, FERC

Dive Brief: Utilities are set to accelerate the development of their renewable energy projects in order to qualify for Inflation Reduction Act tax credits within the new one-year safe harbor period set by the Republican megabill that passed earlier this month, according to a July 10 report from investment bank Jefferies.  Jefferies anticipates utilities “with renewables-heavy plans” – like Xcel Energy, WEC Energy Group, CMS Energy, and Ameren – “to accelerate projects originally slated for 2030–31 into 2027–28 … While affordability concerns linger, we believe investors are too focused on potential capital pullbacks and not enough on who’s actually accelerating spend.” “The provisions of the new law provide a sufficient path for us to continue delivering new, affordable, clean energy to our customers through the end of the decade,” said Theo Keith, a senior media relations representative at Xcel Energy. “Our well-established planning process ensures we can manage policy changes while working to meet our states’ energy goals and keeping bills as low as possible for our customers.” Dive Insight: “Meeting the unprecedented demand for energy in the U.S. to support our growing economy will require a wide range of energy sources and strengthened infrastructure,” Keith said. “While we supported a longer-term phase-down of the wind and solar tax credits, we recognize that budgets require compromise … we remain focused on an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach for the energy we provide.” The Republican budget megabill, which President Donald Trump signed into law July 4, stipulates that wind and solar projects must start construction within a year of the law’s enactment to qualify for the IRA’s clean electricity production and investment tax credits, or be subjected to an end of 2027 “placed in service” deadline to be eligible. As part of a reported deal with the Freedom Caucus, Trump also issued an executive order

President Donald Trump made an appearance at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit on Tuesday and announced that companies including Google, Blackstone and FirstEnergy plan to make $92 billion in energy and AI investments in the state. Blackstone will be building and operating “new natural gas-based, combined-cycle generation stations” in a joint venture with PPL Corp “to power data centers under long-term energy services agreements with regulated-like risk profiles that do not expose the companies to merchant energy and capacity price volatility,” said Edison Electric Institute in a release. FirstEnergy Chair, President and CEO Brian Tierney announced at the summit that his utility plans to invest more than $28 billion “systemwide to modernize local distribution systems and strengthen the transmission network. In Pennsylvania, that includes spending $15 billion in the infrastructure enhancements, people, processes, and facilities needed to deliver safe, reliable power.” Thar Casey, CEO of AmberSemi, a developer of power management technologies, including a power conversion solution for AI data centers, attended the summit and said his “first impression from talking to Pennsylvanians is that they’re excited about getting that kind of attention.” “It’s fantastic for the state; it tells me that [Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa.] is doing his job,” Casey said. However, he added, he doesn’t only see the announcements as a plus for Pennsylvania, but the U.S. in general. “I had a chance to talk to some very key influential people and speak with them about the efficiency aspect of things, in addition to the focus that they have on power,” he said. “You see it in their eyes when you bring up efficiency — it’s a subject that they’re focused on.” Trump’s announcement was criticized by environmental groups like Evergreen Action, which issued a release saying the president had “unveiled a plan to double down on expensive fossil fuels” after

Dive Brief: Utility company PPL Corp. is the “biggest winner” from the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh this week with its joint venture with Blackstone Infrastructure to build gas-fired power plants to serve data centers in Pennsylvania and across the PJM Interconnection, Jefferies analysts said Wednesday. PPL and Blackstone are negotiating with multiple potential hyperscale counterparties, according to the analysts, who noted that any new power plants would be operating by 2030 at the earliest. “The joint venture is actively engaged with landowners, natural gas pipeline companies and turbine manufacturers, and has secured multiple land parcels to enable this new generation buildout; however, no [energy services agreements] with hyperscalers have been signed to date,” PPL said Tuesday. Dive Insight: Plans to build gas-fired generation in Pennsylvania comes amid a surge in data center development across the United States, fueled in part by a race to develop artificial intelligence capacity. In PPL Electric Utilities’ service territory in Pennsylvania, there is more than 13 GW of potential data center load in advanced stages of planning, according to PPL. If all those data centers are built, there would be a 6 GW generation shortfall in PPL Electric Utilities’ service territory in the next five to six years, PPL said.  It would cost about $15 billion to build enough gas-fired, combined-cycle units to meet the shortfall, PPL said, noting that it expects the power plants would be built by the joint venture, independent power producers and — if legislation is passed to change Pennsylvania law — PPL Electric Utilities. Blackstone said it expects to spend $25 billion on data centers and energy infrastructure in Pennsylvania. QTS, a data center operator backed by Blackstone, has secured land sites across northeastern Pennsylvania for data centers, the private equity firm said. PPL owns 51% of