The city of Los Angeles will “immediately” hire a full-time petroleum engineer to oversee the hundreds of active oil and gas wells in the city.
A motion by City Council President Herb Wesson to make the hire was approved 14-0. The council specified that the person hired to fill the post must have experience or credentials in petroleum and oil-and-gas operations.
President Obama has proposed a $10-per-barrel tax on oil, phased in over five years, to fund transportation-related projects including new railroad lines, improvements to roads and highways, preparation for self-driving cars and other “clean transportation” initiatives.
The proposed tax was included in the budget the White House sent to Congress Feb. 9.
Environmentalists have asked the Department of the Interior to study possible climate effects arising from the leasing of public lands for oil and gas leases.
The petition claims that oil and gas production on federal lands results in more than 200 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, and that the requested study of possible climate impacts arising from the leasing program is required by law.
Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) reported a loss of $588 million, or $0.31 per share, for the 
fourth quarter of 2015, compared with earnings of $3.5 billion, or $1.85 per share, in the 2014 fourth quarter.
Full-year 2015 earnings of the San Ramon, CA-based energy company were $4.6 billion ($2.45 per share), compared with $19.2 billion ($10.14 per share) in 2014. Sales and other operating revenues in the fourth quarter of 2015 were $28 billion, compared to $42 billion in the year-ago period. For the full year, the figure was $129.9 billion, compared to $200.5 billion the prior year.
Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) announced that its Unocal East China Sea Ltd. subsidiary has begun natural gas production from the first stage of its Chuandongbei Project in southwest China.
Chuandongbei is one of the largest onshore gas projects developed by an international oil company and a national oil company in China.
Gov. Jerry Brown has reappointed three California regulators to their energy-related positions.
Janea Ashanti Scott, 42, of Sacramento, was reappointed to the California Energy Commission, where she has served since 2013.
