• Energy

Exxon Climate Accounting Fraud Trial Begins Today in NYC

• climate change
• investors
• oil and gas
• regulations

The Attorney General (AG) of New York state sued Exxon Mobil last fall after a four-year investigation into the question of whether the company misled investors on the costs to the company of future regulation of the industry that would be needed to curb greenhouse gas emissions, and that those misrepresentations caused investors to pay more for the stock than they should have — to the tune of  “between $476 million and $1.6 billion.”

Why This Matters:  Investor disclosure laws are strict — and the government alleges that the decisions regarding what they did not disclose went all the way up to Exxon’s CEO at the time, Rex Tillerson, who is expected to testify.  If NY wins, there will be a slew of additional lawsuits to join the other similar ones pending in New Jersey and Texas.  If the company wins, it will insulate the company and the industry from further climate change legal challenges.

• Energy

Funding Well May Be Running Dry For Frackers

• barrel
• fracking
• investors
• market
• oil and gas
• shale
• Wall Street

According to The Wall Street Journal, fracking companies are seeing their sources of capital on Wall Street dry up as investors are looking elsewhere given that many of the frackers have been operating at a loss for more than a decade.  The lack of capital to keep these companies liquid is forcing them to cut costs and plan for slower growth.  This is particularly true for small companies with lots of debt, but it is also happening to larger companies that are desperately trying to meet earnings targets set by their Wall Street lenders.