We're hiring: BI is looking for an energy reporter/editor to help shape our coverage. It's a sweet gig with a ton of opportunity to make a mark on a fresh beat for our newsroom.
Well, well, well … it looks like people are finally returning from vacation.
With summer over, crisp, 60-degree weather swept through New York this week, animating me with spooky Halloween vibes. (My accidental pumpkin, harvested several weeks ago, is showing no signs of decay. Thanks for asking).
That might be the worst thing you've read this week, but at least it's not totally inaccurate. BP is on track to be a very different energy company by 2030, with a massive portfolio of renewables.
What else: BP revealed tons of other details this week during BP Week, an annual event for analysts and investors.
Oil demand is set to plateau this decade and then decline, even under a "business-as-usual" scenario, the company said. Remarkably, that's a decade earlier than the company's forecast from last year.
In fact, it's possible that peak oil demand is behind us, under a scenario where governments take more aggressive action on climate change, BP said.
Amazon, which operates a major shipping business, has a mixed environmental record.
Earlier this year, employees put their jobs at risk to publicly criticize the company's climate practices.
The company provides support to oil and gas companies.
It's within that context that the tech giant announced a $2 billion low-carbon venture fund in June — one of the largest in the clean-energy industry — to help it become a net-zero emissions company by 2040.
(For comparison, Apple and Facebook say they will be net-zero across their entire supply chains by 2030, though these companies aren't in the business of shipping.)
First bets: Amazon announced on Thursday the startups receiving the fund's first and highly anticipated investments.
Exxon is facing questions from the government of Singapore about whether it misused its performance review process to cut workers after the price of oil crashed.
What employees say: "We are all extremely anxious and worried about our job security," said one worker.
Exxon, one of Singapore's largest foreign investors, is considered a prestigious employer in the country, the employee said.
Losing your job through a performance-based cut is a ding on your resume, she said, and it will make it harder to find new employment.
Exxon's response: "The performance review process provides a fair and consistent approach to managing employees with lower relative or lower absolute performance," Casey Norton, an Exxon spokesperson, said. "This is an annual process which has been in place for many years."
Former workers say the company is taking advantage of Ivory Coast's weak governance and feeble unions to pay them less.
This practice is not uncommon among global corporations based in the West, according to Joe Drexler, an international labor expert and adjunct professor at the University of Denver.
Have a tip about Schlumberger? Reach out to me at bjones@businessinsider.com or shoot me a text at 646-768-1657.
5 big stories we didn't cover
Oil update. "The International Energy Agency revised down its 2020 global oil demand forecast to 91.7 million barrels per day on expectations of a 'treacherous' path ahead," BI's Shalini Nagarajan reports.
Another SPAC IPO. EV-charging-network startup, ChargePoint, is "nearing a deal to go public through a reverse merger with Switchback Energy Acquisition Corp," per Reuters.
Big FERC move. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission passed an order this week that allows small energy sources that are distributed across the grid, such as rooftop solar panels, to participate in wholesale energy markets, per pv magazine.
The climate pledges keep rolling in. New Zealeand's prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, committed to achieving 100% renewable energy by 2030 should her party be reelected in October, per Axios.
That's it! Have a great weekend.
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- Benji
Ps. We left our apartments! Here are a few members of our team enjoying beverages in Prospect Park this week.
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