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General Motors said Friday that it is boosting production capacity for its new Chevrolet Volt due to strong public interest in the electric car that goes on sale this year.
GM will now have a production capacity of 45,000 vehicles in 2012, up from previous plans for 30,000.
The automaker made the announcement as President Barack Obama toured the Volt production facility in Detroit.
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From The Wall Street Journal | In his first interview after agreeing to step down from the top spot at oil giant BP this week, Tony Hayward defended his choices during the oil spill crisis, saying he ” became a villain for doing the right thing.” Get the full story »
Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company, reported a three-fold jump in quarterly profit on rising oil output, higher energy prices and buoyant margins at its refineries, topping Wall Street forecasts.
The results follow the strong earnings reports from the world’s largest oil companies, including ExxonMobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc Thursday. Get the full story »
Consumer goods maker Fortune Brands Inc. reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit Friday, helped by double-digit sales growth for its home and security products. It raised its full-year earnings outlook.
The maker of Jim Beam bourbon and Moen faucets said net income was $227.4 million, or $1.48 per share, in the second quarter, up from $99.8 million, or 66 cents per share, a year earlier. Get the full story »
ExxonMobil Corp. reported a better-than-expected second-quarter profit Thursday, as oil prices and margins to process crude into fuel rebounded from a year earlier and production rose.
Conditions in the refining sector have improved in recent months, with business and consumer demand for diesel and gasoline rebounding. Get the full story »
Several U.S. agencies are preparing a criminal probe of at least three companies involved in the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, though it could take more than a year before any charges are filed, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
BP Plc, Transocean Ltd. and Halliburton Co. are the initial targets of the wide-ranging probe, which aims “to examine whether their cozy relations with federal regulators contributed to the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico,” the newspaper said, citing law enforcement and other sources. Get the full story »
Outgoing BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward declared in a web cast Tuesday that the Gulf of Mexico oil well disaster represents a failure for the deepwater oil and gas drilling industry, not just for BP.
“The industry needs to re-evaluate safety,” he said. “Everyone will re-evaluate the business model to reduce risk associated with deepwater drilling.” Get the full story »
Demonstrators hang signs on a fence they have used to barricade a BP station in London, July 27, 2010. (AFP/Getty Images)
BP’s embattled Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward will be replaced by American Robert Dudley on Oct. 1, the company said Tuesday, as it reported a record quarterly loss and set aside $32.2 billion to cover the costs of the devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
BP said the decision to replace Hayward, 53, with the company’s first ever non-British CEO was made by mutual agreement. In a mark of faith in its outgoing leader, BP said it planned to recommend him for a non-executive position at its Russian joint venture and will pay him 1.045 million pounds ($1.6 million), a year’s salary, instead of the year’s notice he was entitled to.
“The BP board is deeply saddened to lose a CEO whose success over some three years in driving the performance of the company was so widely and deservedly admired,” BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said in a statement accompanying the quarterly earnings update. Get the full story »
Toyota Motor Corp. has pushed back plans to build its Prius in the United States by as much as six years, with a top executive saying U.S. production is likely to start only when the best-selling hybrid is remodelled. Get the full story »
BP Plc is expected to announce in the next 24 hours that Chief Executive Tony Hayward will step down and be replaced by Bob Dudley, a soft-spoken American unlikely to repeat the gaffes that have come to define Hayward in many Americans’ minds.
Dudley heads BP’s oil spill response effort. Just over a week ago, BP installed a temporary cap on the Macondo well, which had been spewing up to 60,000 barrels per day of oil into the Gulf of Mexico since April. Get the full story »
The economic impact of Illinois’ energy industry is three times that of the automotive industry, and pay in those jobs are 50 percent higher than the state’s average, according to a study released this week.
The study — conducted by the Regional Development Institute at Northern Illinois University and commissioned by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce — analyzed the economic impact of energy extraction, production and transmission, job creation, wages and tax revenue in the state. Get the full story »
Exelon Corp., the largest U.S. nuclear power operator, posted a 32 percent drop in quarterly profit Thursday as weaker margins from its power plants weighed, but it topped Wall Street expectations and raised its full year earnings forecast. Get the full story »
By dimming lights or lowering water temperature on a massive scale, the owners of some of Chicago’s signature skyscrapers are banking on new technology that would dramatically cut the city’s energy usage and save millions of dollars.
The technology is being bankrolled by an unusual source: The Republic of Korea, which, under a complex agreement to be signed today, has agreed to install energy-saving equipment in up to 14 Chicago buildings during the next few months. Korean officials have pledged to pay millions to Illinois colleges for research and development efforts related to “smart grid” technology. Get the full story »
Well into July, gas prices continue on their trend this summer of holding steady as prices continue to be well under $3 per gallon.
AAA Chicago’s most recent Fuel Gauge Report estimates that in Illinois, regular unleaded gasoline has decreased 4 cents during the past month, forecasting an average cost of $2.79 per gallon for the month of July, which is 18 cents higher per gallon than last year.
BP finally gained control over one of America’s biggest environmental catastrophes by placing a carefully fitted cap over a runaway geyser that has been gushing crude into the Gulf of Mexico since early spring. Engineers, politicians and Gulf residents will watch anxiously over the next day and a half to see if it holds.
After nearly three months and up to 184 million gallons, the accomplishment was greeted with hope, high expectations — and, in many cases along the beleaguered coastline, disbelief. But no one was declaring victory just yet.
