VILNIUS: US oil and energy giant Chevron yesterday decided to withdraw its bid to explore for shale gas in Lithuania due to new regulations.
“Significant changes to the fiscal, legislative and regulatory climate in Lithuania have substantially impacted the operational and commercial basis of the investment decision,” the company said in a statement.
Chevron Exploration & Production Lietuva — registered in Lithuania — was eyeing a field in the west of the country believed to contain deposits of shale gas and shale oil.
The company said it would focus on an existing investment in another field, after it bought 50 percent of shares of a small Lithuanian company in October 2012.
Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius said Tuesday he regretted the move, but admitted Lithuania has yet to adopt laws on shale gas extraction.
“We regret the company’s choice but we understand they have the right because parliament is still considering laws affecting fossil fuels in our country,” he said in a statement.
Toyota to face US trial over vehicle acceleration
New York: Toyota Motor Corp must face a trial over claims that it failed to warn the public about design defects that caused certain vehicles to accelerate unintentionally, a federal judge in California has ruled.
US District Judge James Selna in the Central District of California on Monday denied Toyota’s motion to dismiss defective-design and failure-to-warn claims brought against it by the estate of Ida St John, who said in 2009 that her 2005 Camry sped out of control and hit a school building. She died after giving that testimony, but the lawsuit does not claim that her death was caused by the crash.
The judge did grant the Japanese automaker’s motion to dismiss manufacturing defect and negligence claims.
St John testified that her Camry accelerated even though she did not press the pedal. The trial, slated to begin November 5, will be one of the first of the many federal lawsuits focusing on the Toyota acceleration issues that prompted the automaker to recall millions of vehicles beginning in 2009.
Agencies
