Tausi Insider

French energy giant TotalEnergies said Friday that it will walk away from its stake in Russian natural gas producer Novatek and take a $3.7 billion loss. TotalEnergies, which has come under criticism for pursuing some of its projects in Russia amid the war in Ukraine, said Western sanctions prevent it from selling its 19.4% stake to the Russian company. It said it was withdrawing its representatives from the Novatek board, who have been abstaining from voting because of sanctions, with “immediate effect.” As a result, TotalEnergies will no longer account for its ownership interest in Novatek, which will lead it “to record an impairment of approximately $3.7 billion in the accounts for the 4th quarter of 2022,” the French company said in a statement. In line with its “principles of conduct” published on March 22, TotalEnergies “has gradually started to withdraw from its Russian assets while ensuring that it continues to supply gas to Europe.” It comes amid an energy crisis in Europe p...

Then-McDonald's CEO Stephen Easterbrook speaks during a grand opening ceremony in Chicago, Ill., on June 4, 2018. Scott Olson/Getty Images The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday charged former McDonald’s Corp Chief Executive Stephen Easterbrook with making false and misleading statements to investors about the circumstances of his 2019 termination. The SEC hit Easterbrook with a five-year officer and director bar and a $400,000 civil penalty. McDonald’s fired Easterbrook in November 2019 for exercising “poor judgment” by engaging in a relationship with a McDonald’s employee, the SEC said. But Easterbrook failed to disclose other additional violations of company policy he committed by engaging in undisclosed relationships with other employees of the fast-food giant, it said. The agency also charged McDonald’s MCD-N with “shortcomings” in its public disclosures related to Easterbrook’s ouster, but did not impose any fines on McDonald’s due to the firm’s “substa...

A British Columbia First Nation is celebrating a deal with a coal company that gives it veto power over a proposed mine on its land. “It’s a new and, I want to say, better way of relationship-building with First Nations,” said Chief Heidi Gravelle of the Tobacco Plains First Nation in southeast B.C. Tobacco Plains has signed an agreement with NWP Coal Canada Ltd. over that company’s Crown Mountain coal proposal that sets the band up as the project’s environmental reviewer and regulator. The company, based in New Zealand and Australia, has agreed it won’t go ahead unless the band gives its OK. “We were brave enough to say we believe we can earn your ‘yes’ and we’re willing to take your ‘no’ as a real no,” said David Baines, NWP’s director of project development. “If we can’t earn a yes from them we don’t have a good enough proposal.” Crown Mountain, located near Sparwood, B.C., has been before federal and provincial regulators since 2014. It’s one of a number of steelmaking coal proje...