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Exxon Mobil Corp. reported a 53 percent increase in quarterly profit Monday as an improving world economy sparked higher demand for fuel and chemicals as crude oil prices rose.
It reported a fourth-quarter profit of $9.25 billion, or $1.85 per share, up from with $6.05 billion, or $1.27 per share a year earlier.
Oil prices surged Friday as thousands continued to riot against the government in Egypt, and unrest threatened to spread across the Middle East.
Benchmark oil rose $3.56, or 4.2 percent, to $89.23 a barrel in afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was as high as $89.73 a barrel. Get the full story »
A Chicago-area group that provides rebates to natural gas customers says it provided more than $2 million in savings since 2008. Get the full story »
Community leaders on the Southeast Side — angry that they were not asked to weigh in on a coal gasification project touted as a benefit to the neighborhood – have called a meeting to discuss the environmental and economic impacts of the proposed plant.
Environmental and health groups are expected to speak at the event, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the The Zone at Southeast United Methodist Church and Community Center at 11731 S. Avenue O. Get the full story »
Exelon Corp.’s fourth-quarter profitability beat Wall Street estimates, as the Chicago-based utility company reported Wednesday that it earned $631 million, or 96 cents a share during the quarter, compared with $610 million, or 92 cents in the year-ago period. Get the full story »
This time last year, Chicagoans had just one choice when it came to their electricity supplier: Commonwealth Edison. As of this week, they have four choices and could see more, thanks in part to a recent Illinois Commerce Commission decision that allows alternative electric suppliers to bill customers through ComEd.
The ruling makes it easier for alternative electricity suppliers to compete here because they don’t have the expense that comes with billing customers. Customers who choose to purchase their electricity through another supplier receive a single bill that includes the charges from the company that supplies the electricity and from ComEd for delivering it. Get the full story »
One of a dozen Yellow Cabs in Chicago that will run on compressed natural gas. (Yellow Cab)
Starting in March, if you stick out your hand to hail a cab in Chicago, the taxi you get might not run on gasoline.
That’s because Taxi Medallion Management, which operates Yellow Cabs in Chicago, is introducing 12 Ford Transit Connect taxi cabs into its fleet that run on compressed natural gas -– a fuel that emits 30 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions that traditional gasoline but requires special pumping stations. Get the full story »
U.S. regulators on Friday backed a request that would sharply boost the use of corn-based ethanol in more than half the nation’s cars, elevating the stakes in a contentious debate over the safety and cost of converting more corn into fuel.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement boosting the ethanol blend rate in gasoline to 15 percent from 10 percent in vehicles built from 2001 to 2006 was not a surprise, coming just months after it allowed the E15 in cars and trucks built in 2007 or later. Get the full story »
Alaska’s main crude oil pipeline resumed operations Monday, nine days after a leak forced it to shut down, and is aiming to reach 500,000 barrels per day by Tuesday, a spokesman said.
The line, which transports about 12 percent of total U.S. output, was pumping about 640,000 barrels per day in December.
Commonwealth Edison Co. is pushing for legislation that would increase gas and electric bills according to a formula, rather than through the more complicated regulatory process used today.
The company said a more streamlined regulatory process would allow it to quickly and predictably recoup investments aimed at modernizing the electrical grid rather than having to wait the 11 months needed to decide a rate case. A similar proposal ComEd brought forward last year that did not include the state’s other utilities, flamed out with lawmakers.
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An international electrical engineering company that powers high-profile destinations like the Kennedy Space Center and Harvard University is moving its headquarters to Bolingbrook.
G & W Electric Company has outgrown its facility in Blue Island, and should be fully operational in Bolingbrook by 2012, said Mayor Roger Claar today during the Bolingbrook Chamber of Commerce’s State of the Village luncheon.
U.S. manufacturer ITT Corp. plans to split itself into three companies to take advantage of the growing water and industrial markets as its defense unit prepares for U.S. military spending cuts.
Its shares rose 18 percent Wednesday, reaching their highest point since the fall of 2008. Get the full story »
In one of its final votes of the session, the state Senate passed a controversial bill this morning that would force state utilities to purchase synthetic natural gas from a plant proposed for downstate Illinois.
The bill paves the way for Power Holdings of Illinois LLC’s to produce gas from Illinois coal in Jefferson County by guaranteeing that the plant would have a market for the gas it produces for the next 10 years: Illinois consumers.
The vote follows a similar bill that passed last week that forces utilities to purchase the total output of a coal-to-gas plant proposed for Southeast Chicago by Leucadia National Corp. for the next 30 years. Get the full story »
U.S. retail gasoline demand was little changed last week but fell compared with year-earlier levels because of holiday and travel fluctuations, MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse report showed Tuesday.
Average gasoline demand was down 0.2 percent, to 8.4 million barrels-per-day, in the week to Jan. 7. Demand was off 2.9 percent from a year earlier. Get the full story »
Oil prices rose above $89 a barrel Monday after the 800-mile trans-Alaska pipeline owned by BP PLC and four other companies was shut down because of a leak.
