Execs Say Oil Production Has Peaked, Deal To Ban Aid To Refiners, And More

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. energy company executives polled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas believe U.S. crude oil production has peaked, according to a survey released on Wednesday.

The COVID-19 pandemic has knocked global oil demand and prices, prompting deep cuts in drilling this year by shale oil producers. The United States last pumped 12.2 million barrels per day, taking top spot in global crude oil output.

The Federal Reserve has bought corporate bonds issued by companies that have laid off more than a million workers and doled out dividends to shareholders, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis found in an analysis released Wednesday.

“Fed Chair Jerome Powell testified in June that ‘the intended beneficiaries of all of our programs are workers,’” the committee staff said in the analysis. “However, the Select Subcommittee’s analysis indicates that many large layoffs have occurred among the companies whose bonds were purchased by the Fed, suggesting that the primary beneficiaries of the program have been corporate executives and investors, not workers.”

A permanent ban on making farm payments to petroleum companies was attached to bipartisan, stopgap spending legislation the House passed last night that aims to avert a government shutdown next week.

The House backed the bill with wide bipartisan support, 359-57. The Senate is expected to pass it in coming days.

A key New York regulator Tuesday ordered insurers to take a harder look at how climate change will affect their operations and begin developing plans to disclose the related financial risks.

What the agency said: New York Superintendent of Financial Services Linda Lacewell outlined her department's expectations in a letter to all domestic and foreign insurers operating in the state. She said the firms should "start integrating the consideration of the financial risks from climate change into their governance frameworks, risk management processes and business strategies."

Few countries are living up to their promises of a “green recovery” from the coronavirus crisis, with hundreds of billions of dollars likely to be spent on economic rescue packages that increase greenhouse gas emissions, research has found.

The US is planning nearly $3tn in spending with few environmental safeguards attached, and little money going to low-carbon efforts, while rolling back regulations that protect nature and the environment. Of the total US stimulus of about $2.98tn, only about $39bn is going towards green projects, according to the analysis.