Here are the top business stories making the headlines in the morning newspapers.
Shell to support 15,000 energy-transition jobs
Energy giant Shell intends to grow its share of UK oil and gas supplies and invest £100million in skills to support 15,000 energy transition jobs by 2030 as part of its £25billion investment plans.
Energy Voice reports that chief executive Ben van Beurden said the company was making an "acceleration" of its UK plans.
"We are going to go faster. I believe this is necessary at this time of great uncertainty and change," he told an audience of employees in London.
Looking to the north east specifically, he said the company's Aberdeen energy hub "will be the basis of our upstream organisation" and will house "pioneers with decades long track-records in oil and gas who have built our UK energy business".
Mr van Beurden said the "expertise and experience" in the region would help support the "huge task" of continuing to supply oil and gas, while making carbon capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen and offshore floating wind a reality.
He said the combination of investments in these technologies - and at the Acorn project in particular - could help make the St Fergus gas terminal "the heart of Scottish CCS and hydrogen".
Pricey petrol
A remote petrol pump in the Highlands is selling diesel at £2.13 per litre - believed to be among the most expensive on the UK mainland.
It equates to just over £9.67 a gallon, says the Press and Journal.
The Cluanie Inn - on the A887, the main Skye to Inverness road - was also advertising unleaded petrol at £2.08-a-litre on Wednesday.
It said that its fuel prices were based on the remote location, the cost of transporting petrol and diesel to the site, and that it relied on a diesel generator to power the pumps and point of sale machine 24/7.
"We do not make any profit out of the fuel sales," said Vanessa Crasto, vice president of parent group Black Sheep Hotels,
Call for more support for drivers
Driving groups have called for more support to help motorists after the cost of filling an average family car with petrol hit £100 for the first time.
The RAC called it "a truly dark day" as the cost of filling a 55-litre tank reached £100.27 for petrol and £103.43 for diesel.
The BBC says the RAC and its rival the AA urged the Chancellor to cut VAT on fuel or to reduce fuel duty further.
According to the RAC, the average pump price of a litre of unleaded petrol is now 182.31p while for diesel it is 188.05p.
Storm payouts by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks
The UK energy regulator, Ofgem, has released a report looking into how each power-network operator performed their legal obligations during Storm Arwen.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks controls the transmission and distribution of power in the north-east. The Press and Journal reports the business has been asked to pay an additional £2.3million in payments for poor customer experience - on top of an original £13.1million.
The money will be distributed to charities and communities.
Oil refineries in the money
Oil refineries are making nearly five times as much money from refining petrol as they did year ago, data show.
A lack of capacity to refine petrol and diesel from crude oil has helped to push fuel prices to record levels, and increased profits for refinery owners.
Neil Crosby, senior analyst at the data firm OilX, told the BBC:"The refiners are printing money at the moment. More than they have ever witnessed."
There's a shortage of refining capacity, which has led to substantial increase in the refining margin - the difference between what they pay for crude oil and what they can make selling the refined products.
"This is a real crunch in terms of the industry's ability to produce these fuels. That very much turns up in the wholesale price of diesel and petrol," says Mr Crosby.
Britain's largest gas-storage facility could reopen
Centrica has submitted an application to reopen Rough, Britain's largest gas-storage facility, as the country seeks solutions to a harsh winter ahead.
The company confirmed to Energy Voice that it is in ongoing "exploratory discussions" with the UK Government about the options for the site off the east coast of England.
That includes an application for reopening to the North Sea Transition Authority.
Centrica said it is assessing the role that Rough could play in the short to medium term as a methane storage site to support the UK's energy independence.
Longer term, it believes the facility could play an important role in the hydrogen economy.
Putin says West still needs Russian oil and gas
Russian President Vladimir Putin says the West will not be able to cut itself off from Russian oil and gas for several years.
He added that nobody knows what might happen in that time, so Russian companies would not be "concreting over their oil-wells".
The BBC says it comes as a US official admitted that Russian profits on energy may be higher now than they were before the country invaded Ukraine.
The EU currently imports around 40% of its gas from Russia.
The bloc has pledged to reduce its dependency on Russian oil by 90% by the end of 2022, but so far has not made any commitments on gas.
£5billion bid for Boots
Asia's richest man has joined forces with US private equity giant Apollo to launch a £5billion bid for Boots.
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries is part of a consortium that has lodged a binding offer for the chemist chain.
The Telegraph says the move puts the investors among the favourites to sweep up the international arm of Walgreens, the US retail giant which took control of Boots in a deal worth £9billion in 2014.
As part of the offer, Walgreens would have the option to hang onto a minority stake in Boots. It comes after a rival consortium of the Issa brothers, who own Asda, and TDR capital were reported to be going cold on a deal.
Walgreens hired bankers from Goldman Sachs to find a buyer at the end of last year. It has put a £7bn price tag on the UK chain after selling its wholesale arm - Alliance Healthcare - in 2021 for £4.8bilion.