Southern Business Review

Category: Southern States

  • EOG Resources Reports Strong Q1 Earnings, Projects Robust Year Ahead

    EOG Resources Reports Strong Q1 Earnings, Projects Robust Year Ahead

    EOG CEO Ezra Yacob.

    Houston-based EOG Resources has announced a profit of $390 million for the first quarter of 2024, despite facing challenges in supplying oil fields. The company managed to control operating costs effectively, leading to production volumes that exceeded expectations.

    While this profit marks a decline from $677 million in the same quarter last year, EOG’s revenues saw a notable increase of 8%, reaching $4 billion compared to $3.7 billion in Q1 2023.

    Although EOG is primarily recognized for its oil production, CEO Ezra Yacob highlighted the company’s optimistic outlook, attributing part of its success to a promising natural gas drilling project in South Texas named Dorado. This project has the potential to yield an impressive 21 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, which could significantly bolster the company’s future production capabilities.

    Looking ahead, EOG Resources is confident that 2024 will be an outstanding year as it navigates market challenges while capitalizing on its strategic investments in both oil and natural gas.

    “Our exploration program isn’t about simply increasing our reserves; it’s about enhancing the quality of our inventory,” Yacob shared with investors during an earnings call. “New initiatives like Dorado, along with the potential we see in our current exploration pipeline, reinforce our confidence in our ability to grow and elevate our double premium inventory, just as we have successfully done in the past.”

    EOG Resources typically breaks even when natural gas prices are at $2.50 per million British thermal units. However, the ongoing geopolitical situation, particularly the sanctions on Russia in response to its war against Ukraine, has dramatically tightened global gas supplies. As a result, prices have surged to over $8 per million British thermal units.

    The conflict has not only driven prices to levels unseen in years but has also disrupted supply chains, complicating access to critical materials like sand for fracking operations. These challenges are compounded by lingering supply chain issues from the pandemic.

    Despite these hurdles, Yacob remains optimistic about EOG’s prospects for 2024, projecting an “outstanding” year ahead. In recognition of its solid performance, the company has announced a one-time dividend of $1.80 per share.

  • Difficult it is to find a Black sperm donor

    Difficult it is to find a Black sperm donor

     




    A few years after her marriage ended, Aisha Jenkins started thinking about having a baby on her own. She used a leading sperm bank whose catalog contained hundreds of potential donors. But when Jenkins, who is Black, narrowed the search down to Black donors, only six remained. ⁠

    ⁠
    When she realized how difficult it is to find a Black sperm donor, Jenkins said she expanded her search: “I knew there were other colors in the spectrum that would give me a brown child.” The 46-year-old, who lives in the Washington, D.C., area, now has two daughters, ages 7 and 2 1/2, using different donors—one with Egyptian ancestry, the other with Indian ancestry.⁠
    ⁠
    There has been a shortage of Black sperm donors and all donors of color for years, industry experts said, and the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the problem. During one week in February, four out of the 242 available sperm donors at California Cryobank, based in Los Angeles, said they were Black or African-American. One out of 126 donors identified himself as African-American at Seattle Sperm Bank, based in Seattle. Eighteen of 360 donors in the catalog of Fairfax Cryobank, based in Fairfax, Va., identified as Black.⁠
    ⁠
    Fertility clinics and doctors, sperm banks and other industry experts have struggled to determine why the shortage is especially acute among Black donors and how to address it. California Cryobank is launching a study this year to try to identify barriers to donation among nonwhite donors, with a special emphasis on recruiting more Black donors, said Jaime Shamonki, chief medical officer at the sperm bank. “We know we need to do something about this,” Dr. Shamonki said.⁠

  • Tyson’s corner, literally, is being primed for redevelopment.

    William Tyson acquired the northwest corner property by Chain Bridge Road and Leesburg Pike in the mid-1800s, and it’s from that corner where a general store operated until the mid-1960s and laid the seeds for what would become Tysons Corner.

    Things have changed just a bit since then.

    For starters, the Fairfax County submarket has since dropped the “corner” to become just Tysons. The 7.08-acre property at 2050 Chain Bridge Road has hosted a pair of Koons auto dealerships for the past five decades under a master lease slated to expire in 2024. And millions of square feet of development, along with several Metro Silver line stations, have sprung up or are in the pipeline around it.

    The property is now owned by an affiliate of the Caldow family, relatives of Tyson, and the family recently retained Cushman & Wakefield (NYSE: CWK) to market the site to interested developers under a new long-term ground lease. The site could support around 250,000 square feet of by-right development, but a change to the Planned Tysons Corner zoning designation could potentially boost that estimate to around 1.1 million square feet of mixed use. That estimate doesn’t include an adjacent, 7.08-acre site, owned by an affiliate of the Sherwood family, also relatives of Tyson. Cushman & Wakefield isn’t actively marketing that property, but the commercial real estate services firm has been authorized to present it as available for sale or ground lease, creating the potential for a 14-acre development.

    “What’s unique, and we’ve done a lot in Tysons, but it’s rare to find an opportunity that’s literally at main and main,” said John Pellerito, a managing director at Cushman & Wakefield and part of the team marketing the site along with Executive Managing Director Paul C. Norman Jr. and Vice Chairman Paul Collins. “Knowing that the lease is expiring in 2024, the families have started to explore their options.”

    Myers gas station at Leesburg Pike and Dolly Madison Boulevard in Tysons (1930)

    TYSONS CORNER PARTNERSHIP

    The site, 400 feet from the entrance to the Greensboro Metro station, is not the first Tysons auto dealership site to be eyed for redevelopment, and it won’t be the last. Nor is Jim Koons Automotive going away, as the dealer got approval in August to significantly expand the Koons Tysons Toyota in the 8600 block of Leesburg Pike. The property is also located across the street from The Boro, a mixed-use development by The Meridian Group anchored by a Showplace Icon movie theater and flagship Whole Foods Market — the latter is scheduled to open Oct. 30.

    It’s an unusual approach for a development site to be marketed openly like this. More typically, a prospective seller will either offer the property for sale as is or take it through an entitlement process and then sell once it has created added value. But this is an unusual set of circumstances, Norman said. That’s because the site was split into two in 2017 so the Caldows could explore potential ground-lease scenarios while keeping open the prospect of what the Sherwoods would do with their half. It’s not a foregone conclusion the Koons dealerships will shutter after its ground lease expires, but that lease was struck below current market rents, meaning it faces a substantial increase in operating costs to stay.

    “It would be a little bit foolhardy to take it through and decide what our vision for it is,” Norman said. “There’s so many different possibilities, it’s almost better. That’s why the timing works out well to have somebody who has the vision and let them take it through the county while we still have the benefit of time.”

  • hundreds of ‘high-wage’ Arthrex employees



    A grant to train hundreds of new Arthrex employees marks more growth for one of Collier County’s largest employers. 
    A $1.3 million Quick Response Training grant has been secured by Florida SouthWestern State College to train 363 new Arthrex hires. The company, which is based in Naples, specializes in design, manufacturing and development of orthopedic surgery devices. 
    The grant lasts for one year and is the fourth QRT grant Arthrex has received. It will be used for supervisory and management training, according to Robert Jones, FSW’s vice president for economic development and external affairs.
    Since July 2017, FSW has secured $3.2 million in QRT funds for Arthrex to train more than 1,300 new hires. Jones said that the securing of the recent training funds marks the largest Arthrex grant so far.
    QRT grants are targeted on customized training programs that companies need to improve skill sets of new hires. Training programs can be provided by in-house company experts or experts selected by FSW.
    Companies must work with FSW to produce an application that convinces CareerSource that they are in good economic standing and well established in the state in order to secure a grant. Once CareerSource reviews and approves an application, training funds are set aside.
    Jones said the college decided to get involved in the process because FSW representatives “love seeing our graduates both from technology and business hired locally.” 
    “We really admire (Arthrex),” Jones said. “It is a first class operation. We are excited when we hear about our graduates being hired there. There are certainly good things to come from this partnership”
    Jones said that, on average, the QRT program funds $9 million in training costs per year throughout the state of Florida, and FSW draws about a third of that annually. 

    Grant will be used to train ‘high-wage’ employees

    Peg Elmore, the business services director with CareerSource Southwest Florida, said that companies applying for QRT grants must add 10 or more “high-wage” jobs within the upcoming year.
    “The positions that Arthrex applied for through the grant are certainly all high-wage positions,” she said. “The quick response training is an incentive to either relocate your company in Florida or grow your company in Florida.”
    She said Arthrex is a “very attractive company for investment by the CareerSource Florida board” due to its track record of research, development and advanced manufacturing.
    Kathy Sparrow, the company’s senior vice president of human resources, said in an emailed statement that more than half of the expected 363 new hires are for professional and managerial positions. 
    The average annual salary for the new hires will be $83,000, according to Sparrow.
    “The grants help support Arthrex’s robust organizational development program for new hires, which provides ongoing educational opportunities for employees to learn and grow in their careers,” she said in the statement. 

  • DuPont in retiree-benefits dispute


    The National Labor Relations Board has upheld DuPont’s 2013 decision to unilaterally implement changes to its companywide retiree medical and dental plans because the unions that protested had waived their right to bargain over those changes.
    The September 4, 2019, decision came after a 2-1 vote of members. The NLRB stated in its decision that “the parties’ agreements, bargaining history and past practice, taken together, made clear that [DuPont] was not obligated to bargain with the Unions prior to making these changes, because the Unions had clearly and unmistakably waived their right to bargain over them. The Board majority therefore dismissed the complaint.”
    The decision reversed a December 2013 decision by Administrative Law Judge Michael Rosas and offered an indication that the Board could move closer to decisions by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has tended to require less evidence that the unions had waived their bargaining rights.
    “We are pleased with the decision by the NLRB on Sept. 4. We feel the decision is sound and the result is right,” said Gregg Schmidt, spokesman for Wilmington-based Corteva Agriscience, which assumed responsibilities for the $23.4 billion DuPont U.S. Pension and Retirement Plan as part of its separation from DowDuPont on June 1, 2019.
    DuPont has company-wide medical and dental plans that apply to active members of the bargaining unit and retirees. Three facilities were involved in the case: Richmond, Nashville and Louisville, where employees are represented by different locals of the International Brotherhood of the DuPont Workers. Each unit has had its own collective bargaining agreement and separate bargaining histories with DuPont, but at all those locations the unions have agreed to participate in the companywide plans.
    In 2013, DuPont ceased providing Medicare-eligible retirees (MERs) medical and dental coverage through the plans, and instead provided them with funds to purchase secondary medical and dental health benefits through a health reimbursement agreement. This change applied to current bargaining unit members when they become MERs. The local unions were provided advance notice of the changes and objected; DuPont unilaterally implemented those changes pursuant to its reservation-of-rights authority.
    According to published reports, the Board signaled its inclination to reconsider what a collective bargaining agreement must contain to meet the “clear and unmistakable” waiver standard when an employer seeks to modify or terminate an existing benefit plan, suggesting in a footnote that a CBA need only make a brief, general reference to a benefit plan that includes a “reservation-of-rights” clause, rather than an express reference to that clause or to plan documents of which it is a part. 

  • Cooking up Dreams

    Tomeka Crawford has known that she wanted to own a restaurant since she was 10 years old and she and her mom cooked together. She breaks out in a huge grin when asked how she felt when she heard she won an EDGE grant that will enable her to open Tomeka’s Homestyle Eatery soul food restaurant in a downtown Dover Opportunity Zone.
    I was in the New Orleans airport, getting ready to come home from a business trip, when I got the call,” she said. “I’ll admit I was pretty loud. One of the people I was with knew I had applied and captured it on video. I was on top of the world, thinking victory is here. I never thought this was remotely possible but all the hard work has paid off.”
    Crawford at her current pop-up food tent. | Photo by Eric Crossan
    Crawford has been waiting for this opportunity for more than three decades, exploring her dream of opening a restaurant but blocked by the cost. She’s worked in the financial-services industry and as a nonprofit housing counselor and earned her degree from Wesley College, while also operating a food tent at the Capital City Farmers Market, catering, doing pop-up events around Dover, and honing her business plan.
    “I had been working with the Downtown Dover Partnership and heard about the EDGE grant process, but wasn’t optimistic I could get one, but they encouraged me to apply,” Crawford said. “The Delaware Division of Small Business offers a lot of services that helped and I got an awesome coach in Laura Wisler.”
    “From the first time I met with her, it was clear how driven to succeed Tomeka was. She had a positive outlook and was always willing to hear open, honest feedback,” said Laura Wisler, DSB’s regional business manager for Kent County. “Seeing her hard work pay off was really rewarding, and I look forward to continuing to work with her as she moves toward opening her restaurant.” 

  • Arkansas Unemployment Drops

    Arkansas’ unemployment rate dropped by one-tenth of a percentage point in June, to 3.5% from 3.6% in May.
    The U.S. jobless rate rose by one-tenth of a percentage point, from 3.6% in May to 3.7% in June, according to a report released Friday by the state Department of Workforce Services.
    “Arkansas’ unemployment rate declined to 3.5% in June, setting a new record low. The addition of 1,949 employed Arkansans also set a new record, with employment reaching record high levels for the last five consecutive months,” BLS Program Operations Manager Susan Price said in a news release.
    Compared to June 2018, Arkansas’ nonfarm payroll employment is up by 19,300. Growth came in nine major industry sectors, while two sectors saw slight losses.
    • Leisure and hospitality gained 5,500 jobs, all in accomodation and food services.
    • Jobs in manufacturing increased by 3,800.
    • Employment in construction rose by 2,900.
    • Trade, transportation and utilities added 2,400 jobs, all in retail and wholesale trade.
    • Educational and health services gained 1,900 jobs.
    • Professional and business services added 1,800 jobs.
    • Financial activities gained 1,000 jobs.
    • Government and other services added 200 jobs apiece.
    • Mining and logging lost 300 jobs, and information lost 100 jobs.

  • Nitin Agarwal Gets $2.4M for Cybersecurity Grant

    Southern Business Review - Nitin Agarwal, director of the Collaboratorium for Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. (UA Little Rock/Ben Krain)
    Nitin Agarwal, director of the Collaboratorium for Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, has been awarded a three-year, $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop ways to track online threats.
    UA Little Rock said the money will also support the development of research infrastructure to assess social media and blogs in real time and “respond to the growing weaponization of online discourse.” The infrastructure will include development of models, software applications and training programs.
    “We appreciate the support from Sen. John Boozman for the social networking research at UA Little Rock,” Agarwal said of the three-year grant. “The senator recognizes the importance of developing new approaches, software tools, and training programs for national security in cyberspace, and this grant was enabled through his support of funding for the Navy’s Social Networks Analysis program.”
    Boozman is chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies. He’s also on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
    “UA Little Rock continues to be an outstanding partner in the Navy’s efforts to track and counter our adversaries’ use of social media to bring harm to American interests at home and overseas,” Boozman said. “This award will expand capabilities at UA Little Rock and create opportunities for students to develop new skills and expertise in this important area of information science.”
    Agarwal said the project aims to ” examine, evaluate, measure and predict the threat level” of “adversarial information campaigns.” The research aims to identify key actors, groups, narratives, media integration strategies and tactics by those who disseminate disinformation and conduct influence operations, according to the university.

  • Amazon keeps what you ask Alexa forever unless you delete it, so here's how

    Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, founder of space venture Blue Origin and owner of The Washington Post.

    Alex Wong | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    Amazon stores the things you ask Alexa indefinitely. But it’s easy to delete that data from Amazon’s servers if you know how.

    This issue has been in the news because Senator Chris Coons, D-Del., recently wrote to Amazon asking about how it stores data about consumers. Late last month, Amazon’s vice president of public policy Brian Huseman responded by admitting the company stores Alexa transcripts unless and until a customer asks to delete them.

    Huseman explained Amazon keeps this data to improve Alexa’s response and reiterated that audio isn’t sent to Amazon unless an Amazon Echo hear’s the wake word, which is defaulted to when people speak “Alexa.”

    In May, Amazon made it easier to delete some of the things you ask Alexa. Here’s how:

    First, you can say “Alexa, delete everything I said today,” or “Alexa, delete what I just said.”

    But, if you want to delete things you said earlier, do this:

    • Open the Alexa app on your phone.

    • Tap the menu icon on the top-left corner of the app.

    • Tap “Settings” at the bottom.′

    • Tap “Alexa Account” at the top of the page.

    • Select “History.”

    However, this process only lets you delete things one by one. If you want to delete everything at once, do this:

    • Visit Amazon’s Device page

    • Select the menu button to the left of the Echo device you’d like to manage. (The menu button looks like three little dots stacked on top of one another.

    • Tap “Manage Voice Recordings”

    • Tap “Delete.”

    That’s it. Now you’ve deleted everything you’ve spoken to Alexa, which means, according to Huseman, the voice recordings will be removed from Amazon’s servers.

  • NBA stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are joining the LA Clippers

    The Los Angeles Clippers made a huge decision.

    That meant Kawhi Leonard could finally make his.

    The Clippers will be landing Leonard as a free agent after they acquire Paul George from the Oklahoma City Thunder in a massive trade for players and draft picks, a person familiar with the negotiations said.

    George will be traded for at least four first-round picks, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity early Saturday because none of the moves have been finalized. And Leonard made his decision to sign with the Clippers after the team swung the deal to land George, the person said.

    ESPN, which first reported the trade, also said the Thunder were getting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Danilo Gallinari from the Clippers.

    Leonard going to the Clippers means that for the first time, a reigning NBA Finals MVP will be changing teams before the following season. Leonard was also being pursued by the Los Angeles Lakers and the Toronto Raptors, the team he led to last season’s NBA title.

    The most the Clippers can offer Leonard is $142 million over four years, which is the deal he is expected to sign. Players can sign with new teams as early as noon Eastern on Saturday.

    “New adventure in OKC,” Gallinari tweeted.

    Leonard is entering his ninth NBA season, is a three-time All-Star, a two-time champion and one of only three players in league history to win the NBA Finals MVP award with multiple franchises.

    Notoriously a man of few words, at least publicly, Leonard is generally considered to be the best two-way player in the NBA — dominant on the offensive end, airtight on the defensive end.

    His game-winning, four-bounce-off-the-rim jumper to beat the buzzer in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against Philadelphia was perhaps the signature moment of this past season’s playoffs.

    And he just turned 28 last week — still very much in his prime.

    So, too, is George.

    The 29-year-old — who is owed roughly $105 million for the next three seasons — spent the last two years alongside Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City. George averaged a career-best 28 points last season even while dealing with shoulder issues that required surgery, and the Thunder couldn’t get out of the first round in either of those seasons.

    He was a finalist for both NBA MVP and Defensive Player of the Year last season, when he led the league with 2.21 steals per contest.

    A California native, going to the Clippers and pairing with Leonard means he’ll have a real chance of being on a title contender.

    The Lakers didn’t wait long before starting to move on from their quest for Leonard. Danny Green announced that he is signing a two-year deal with the Lakers, meaning he, too, is leaving Toronto.

    “Kawhi has made his decision. Seems like the announcement is out,” Green said in a video he posted to his social media accounts. “It’s time for me to make my announcement … I will be teaming up with new teammates in LA, the Los Angeles Lakers.”

    Green said he enjoyed Toronto and that it was unfortunate how free agency turned out for that city, the Raptors and for Canada.

    “LA, here I come,” Green said.

    Here comes Leonard — a Southern California native.

    Even President Donald Trump liked the move, tweeting early Saturday: “Great Coach, Great Guy!” and providing a link to a story noting Clippers coach Doc Rivers was a big winner landing Leonard and George.

    Leonard was, by far, the biggest name left on the free agent market. The other marquee names in this class like Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson and Kemba Walker all made their decisions known relatively quickly.

    And like Durant, Irving and Walker, he’s changing addresses.

    His lone season in Toronto was the best of his career, answering every question about his health after a leg issue limited him to only nine games with San Antonio in 2017-18. Leonard averaged a career-high 26.6 points in the regular season — and was even better in the playoffs, averaging 30.5 points for the Raptors in their run to the title.

    “Last year, a lot of people were doubting me,” Leonard said after the NBA Finals. “They thought I was either faking an injury or didn’t want to play for a team. That was disappointing to me that that was out in the media, because I love the game of basketball.”

    The Raptors took a major chance in acquiring Leonard last summer, since they weren’t on his original list of preferred teams when he told the Spurs that he wanted to be moved elsewhere after spending his first seven seasons with them and helping them win the 2014 NBA title. DeMar DeRozan was the biggest piece that Toronto gave up in that deal, with Raptors President Masai Ujiri making the biggest move of his career.

    It delivered a title. But that wasn’t enough to make Leonard stay in Canada for the long haul.

    “He’s the best two-way player in the NBA,” Ujiri said during the NBA Finals.

    Leonard was simply dominant in the postseason, posting 14 games of 30 or more points. Only Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon and Kobe Bryant had postseasons with more 30-point games — Jordan had 16 of them in 1992, Olajuwon had 16 in 1995 and Bryant had 15 in 2009.

    The Raptors made clear: They considered Leonard the top player in the game, and he performed at a level worthy of that moniker.

    “Obviously, we have the best player in the league and the best player in these playoffs in Kawhi Leonard,” Raptors forward Pascal Siakam said after Toronto won the title.

    They’ll have to defend the title without him.

    It’s a massive blow to Toronto’s chances of back-to-back titles, and obviously puts a damper on the Lakers’ offseason quest as well — even though they will finalize a trade Saturday to bring in Anthony Davis from New Orleans and landed the sort of shooter than LeBron James craves by adding Green.

    “I’m going to come out and play the right way,” Leonard said last month. “I’m not trying to make headlines.”

    Try or not, he’s part of the summer’s biggest headline now.

    And he may be about to make the Clippers contenders as well.