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.
With solar and wind power making distributed generation an increasing factor in California’s 
energy market, utilities face the challenge of covering their fixed costs. A new tariff issued by California to Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. aims to benefit utilities and their customers.
The state’s Public Service Commission has issued its first Distributed Energy Resources Service (DERS) tariff to SoCalGas. The DERS tariff allows SoCalGas to own and operate Combined Heat and Power (CHP) facilities on or near a customer’s location, and provide output from the CHP to the customer at regulated prices.
Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) announced a $26.6 billion capital and exploratory investment program for 2016, including $4.5 billion of expenditures by affiliates. The 2016 budget is 24% lower than investments for 2015.
“Our capital budget will enable us to complete and ramp-up projects under construction, fund high return, short-cycle investments, preserve options for viable long-cycle projects, and ensure safe, reliable operations,” said John Watson, Chairman and CEO of San Ramon-based Chevron.
