Industry adjustments: The pandemic has triggered the largest revision to the value of the oil industry’s assets in at least a decade, as companies sour on costly projects amid the prospect of low prices for years. Oil-and-gas companies in North America and Europe wrote down roughly $145 billion combined in the first three quarters of 2020, the most for that nine-month period since at least 2010, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. That total significantly surpassed write-downs taken over the same periods in 2015 and 2016, during the last oil bust, and is equivalent to roughly 10% of the companies’ collective market value. Read the full story.
Retiring: Long-time Louisiana Medical Director Jimmy Guidry, who has often been the face of the Office of Public Health through hurricanes, floods and COVID-19 and who forecast the third surge of coronavirus, is retiring Dec. 31 after more than 30 years with the agency, The News Star reports. Louisiana Department of Health Secretary Courtney Phillips announced Guidry’s retirement and other personnel changes within the agency Monday. Read the full story.
New York case: Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has inserted the state into another lawsuit—this one involving New York state and the National Rifle Association. New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a civil case against four NRA executives accusing them of siphoning off the nonprofit’s money for their own personal enrichment. Landry has joined the NRA and 15 other attorneys general in fighting back against James with a separate lawsuit in federal court. Louisiana Illuminator has the full story.
