Communicator

Oil company Chevron is moving its headquarters from California to Houston after repeated warnings that the Golden State's regulatory environment makes it difficult to do business there. The move announced Friday will end the company's more than 140-year existence in the largest U.S. state.

Chevron has already scaled back new investment in California refining, citing "confrontational" government policies in a state with some of the strictest environmental rules in the US. In January, refining chief Andy Walz warned that the state was playing a "dangerous game" with climate rules that threaten to spike gasoline prices.

Chevron joins a long list of California emigrants that includes Oracle Corp., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., Tesla Inc. and Social Network X. The migration among former Silicon Valley tech giants has been driven largely by tax and cost-of-living considerations, according to Bloomberg.

However, according to Ilon Musk's view, it's not so much about taxes as it is about policies implemented by the state's leadership. And that includes the green agenda (with its taxes on conventional oil and gas) and drug liberalization and so on.

#usa  #texas  #california  #chevron  #oilandgas  #refining  #netzero  #carbontax  #greenagenda 

Jim Ratcliffe, the second richest person in Britain and owner of Manchester United, stated on Bloomberg Television on 18^th June:

"Everybody's leaving petrochemicals in Europe, which is something I've never seen in my working life before."

"I'm talking mainland Europe, but I mean, sort of it applies to the UK as well, energy costs are five times the cost of America. Electricity is five times the price of America. It's not 5% or 10% or 50% but 500%."

"So anything where any sort of activity which involves using energy in some form or another is disadvantaged in Europe compared to America or the Middle East, obviously. And then on top of that, you've got a carbon tax. So if you emit anything which has got carbon in it, you pay a carbon tax, you don't pay a carbon tax in America. And then on top of that, you've got social costs."

"There's not much chemical industry left in the UK, it's pretty much finished really. Unfortunately, I don't think the government ever really recognize the importance of that. It's an enormous industry worldwide, but if you look at petrochemicals in Europe it's about the same size as automotive. It's a really big industry."

"Places like America are in a great place for manufacturing because, you know, they've got cheap energy, they've got no carbon taxes. They've got a government which is very interested in social costs, which are very manageable." 

#petrochemicals  #energycosts  #europe  #UK  #carbontax  #socialcosts  #manufacturing