Wednesday, 1 July 2026

Sempra Infrastructure has selected Bhavesh "Bob" Patel as its incoming chief executive officer, the Houston subsidiary of Sempra said. Patel takes the post once a previously announced deal closes, under which KKR affiliates, together with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), buy a stake in the company.

That deal, first disclosed in September 2025, sells a 45% stake in Sempra Infrastructure to the KKR affiliates alongside CPP Investments for USD 10 billion.

When the deal closes, a KKR-led consortium will control 65%, Sempra keeps 25%, and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority takes 10%.

Justin Bird stays on as chairman and chief executive officer until closing. He then moves to executive vice-president of Sempra and keeps his seat on the Sempra Infrastructure board.

Patel ran LyondellBasell as chief executive officer during 2015-21. He most recently held the president role at Standard Industries.

Rigzone reported that ExxonMobil is evaluating a possible acquisition of Woodside Energy Group, citing people familiar with the matter, as part of a plan to widen its liquefied natural gas (LNG) footprint and reach more Asian customers.

Woodside's American depositary receipts jumped as much as 14% in New York on Friday. The Australian producer closed valued at around AUD 59 billion (USD 42 billion) at the end of Sydney trading.

A Woodside deal would follow ExxonMobil's USD 60 billion purchase of US shale producer Pioneer Natural Resources in 2024, after which it kept scanning for further opportunities.

Woodside ranks as Australia's largest LNG exporter and is building a project on the US Gulf Coast scheduled to start up by 2029. Combining the two would give ExxonMobil more LNG export capacity as it pushes deeper into Asian gas markets.

The review coincides with a change at the top of Woodside. Liz Westcott stepped in as chief executive officer this year after Meg O'Neill left to lead BP.

Neither side has confirmed formal talks. The reporting frames ExxonMobil's work as a study of options rather than an agreed transaction, and any bid for Woodside would draw scrutiny from Australian regulators given its role in domestic gas supply and LNG exports.

Shell plc is preparing to launch a sale of its offshore wind farms as it moves away from renewable power to concentrate on its higher-returning fossil fuel business.

The company has retained Rothschild & Co. and PJT Partners Inc. as financial advisers on the sale, which could bring in more than USD 1 billion, people familiar with the matter said.

The divestment comes after Shell put its European onshore renewables arm on the block, along with Indian renewable power company Sprng Energy, which it acquired in 2022 for USD 1.55 billion. Shell also dropped plans to build offshore wind farms in Scotland last year.

Chief Executive Officer Wael Sawan has pushed to cut costs and shed low-returning assets since taking the helm more than three years ago.

The offshore wind sale extends Sawan's drive to offload low-returning assets across Shell's portfolio. Shell has not identified which offshore wind holdings are covered or set a timeline for binding bids.