natural gas upstream operations

Shell SHEL -3.28% PLC has agreed to sell its Russian retail-station and lubricants business to oil giant Lukoil LUKOY -42.00% PJSC, the latest Western company to find a local buyer for its planned Russia exit. The deal for the business, called Shell Neft LLC, includes 411 retail stations in Russia and a lubricants-blending plant near Moscow. Shell, which didn’t disclose a deal value,…

Companies including Chevron Corp. , Quest Diagnostics Inc. and Ernst & Young LLP are pushing to narrow proposed cybersecurity rules from the Securities and Exchange Commission in the private sector’s latest attempt to shape a growing array of regulations by Washington. In comments on rules proposed by the SEC, businesses in recent days have urged the agency to harmonize its deadline of four business days to disclose security incidents with similar rules from…

Chinese companies like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. BABA -5.79% are embracing buybacks and one-off dividends, handing cash to shareholders as they seek to shore up their battered stock prices and signal confidence in the long-term outlook. The dividend payouts and stock repurchases could help support a market that has been rattled by a series of challenges, which range from the economic impact of Beijing’s Covid-19 policies and sweeping regulatory crackdowns to concerns…

Activist hedge fund Third Point LLC told clients it has increased its stake in Shell SHEL -3.24% PLC and is still pushing the oil giant to restructure, six months after calling for a breakup of the company. Daniel Loeb’s New York-based hedge fund took a $750 million stake in Shell last year as of the third quarter, and called on it to separate into multiple companies—one focused on legacy businesses such…

Oil prices are at their highest in years and politicians want companies to pump more. But most large American frackers are standing pat, or even letting production decline, and instead are handing investors cash.Much of the U.S. shale industry recently reported higher profits than in the same quarter a year earlier, but companies aren’t reinvesting more in production—indeed, some have let U.S. output slip as they focus on paying investors. Nine of the largest U.S. oil producers this week said they shelled out a combined…