Equinor and its partners have discovered an estimated 3.3 million to 10.3 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent in gas at Norway’s Gullfaks South field, using an exploration sidetrack drilled during work on a production well. The discovery, announced on October 8, highlights the role of targeted exploration in sustaining production from mature North Sea assets. Its commercial appeal lies in finding additional resources through drilling linked to an existing production campaign. Located about 190 kilometers northwest of Bergen, the…

Chinese longer duration batteries undercut the rationale for our present electricity grid. At the same time, foreign hackers and domestic-but-berserk AI programs could also accelerate the grid’s demise. Sounds extreme? Well, here’s the story. The long-distance, high-voltage transmission network developed: To bring low-cost power from distant resources (such as Niagara Falls or mine-mouth coal-fired stations) to the consumers. To promote load diversity. By tying together customers who used electricity at different times (such as rural…

India is reducing its imports of crude oil from Russia, but mostly not because of the U.S. tariff threat for buying Russian oil. Economics have always been driving Indian refiners’ purchases, and the past few weeks haven’t been different.  Russia is scaling back imports of Russian oil as the price of Russia’s flagship Urals grade loaded in the Baltic ports has jumped and now nearly equals the prices of Middle Eastern crudes, whose availability has increased in recent weeks as flows through the Strait of Hormuz have rebounded,…

India is reducing its imports of crude oil from Russia, but mostly not because of the U.S. tariff threat for buying Russian oil. Economics have always been driving Indian refiners’ purchases, and the past few weeks haven’t been different.  Russia is scaling back imports of Russian oil as the price of Russia’s flagship Urals grade loaded in the Baltic ports has jumped and now nearly equals the prices of Middle Eastern crudes, whose availability has increased in recent weeks as flows through the Strait of Hormuz have rebounded,…

It appears Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan may have found a way to finance a trans-Afghan railway that would enable Central Asian exports to gain access to seaports in Pakistan.  Transport officials from the two Central Asian states have signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Arab Emirates covering “the practical development” of the railway, according to a Kazakh government statement.  Astana and Tashkent have been strong advocates for a trans-Afghan railway but lack the financial resources and technical expertise…

The oil crisis has extended into the shipping sector with a large tanker fleet tied up in ship-to-ship transfers outside the Strait of Hormuz, pushing global freight rates to record highs and reducing vessel availability for other routes.  Supertanker rates have soared in recent weeks, and hit a record-high of $1.4 million per day on the Gulf to East Asia trip, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Rates on the U.S. Gulf-to-Japan route are also skyrocketing and one supertanker, the so-called very large crude carrier (VLCC) capable of shipping…

The oil crisis has extended into the shipping sector with a large tanker fleet tied up in ship-to-ship transfers outside the Strait of Hormuz, pushing global freight rates to record highs and reducing vessel availability for other routes.  Supertanker rates have soared in recent weeks, and hit a record-high of $1.4 million per day on the Gulf to East Asia trip, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Rates on the U.S. Gulf-to-Japan route are also skyrocketing and one supertanker, the so-called very large crude carrier (VLCC) capable of shipping…

The United States and Russia have discussed the idea of finding a U.S. investor for the Nord Stream pipeline and working out sales of Russian gas to Europe, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing sources with knowledge of recent meetings between top U.S. and Russian officials.  U.S. Special Envoy Jared Kushner, son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, and Kirill Dmitriev, a close adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund, have met in Moscow and New York in recent weeks…

Kpler estimates Middle East crude and condensate exports averaged roughly 16.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in September and exceeded the pre-war average of 18 million bpd on several days during the final week of the month. That recovery has done surprisingly little to bring oil prices back down, as we noted earlier this week. Producers are moving more crude through alternative pipelines and ports, while tankers moving through Hormuz increasingly rely on U.S. military escorts and vessel-intensive chains of ship-to-ship (STS) transfers. Brent crude…

Washington’s tariff pressure is giving Alaska LNG something its economics have struggled to secure: a potential investor. Discussed for decades, the costly and technically complex project has regained momentum under President Donald Trump, who is using tariff threats to press foreign partners into backing it. South Korea is now at the centre of that effort, as Seoul’s bid to protect access to the US market becomes a negotiation over financing one of America’s most expensive energy developments. The question is whether that pressure…

The world is nearly out of buffers to cushion the supply shock of the Iran war, which raises the floor under oil prices each time re-escalation threatens oil supply from the Middle East, top industry executives said this week. Global oil stocks have been depleted as the war enters its eighth month, leaving the market more vulnerable to the next supply shock.    Despite numerous estimates that the Middle East’s crude oil supply is back to –and even exceeding – pre-war levels, the fundamentals show increasingly tighter…

Electrification has become the focus of global climate talks as COP31 draws closer. We already have the technologies to transition away from direct consumption of fossil fuels and toward electricity in our vehicles, homes, businesses, and industry – it is now just a matter of scaling those technologies and doing it at an unprecedented pace, supported by strong policy measures from global leadership.  The central pledge that will be on the table at the upcoming 31st annual United Nations climate conference, to be hosted in Türkiye…

Global fuel stocks are tighter than they have probably ever been. China just imposed a ban on all fuel exports for the month. Russia has had a diesel export ban in place for months. The United States threatened Europe with a diesel export ban unless European countries released some fuel from storage. The current crisis is increasingly about fuels, and everyone is prioritizing their own needs. The topic of resource nationalism is a hot one in energy. Governments of resource-rich countries are being more active in seeking to clinch the best deal…

Google/Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) says it has contracted 3,590 megawatts of power from Constellation Energy (NASDAQ:CEG) in the largest US power grid, PJM Interconnection, which serves 67 million people across 13 states and Washington, D.C. New nuclear energy will account for about a quarter of that supply, or 890 megawatts.  Artificial intelligence and data center expansion have drastically increased Google's electricity usage and carbon emissions. Major tech companies are racing to secure massive amounts of electricity supplies to power data…

Tropical Storm Isaias is forecast to strengthen into a Category 2 hurricane, with the northern US Gulf Coast in its crosshairs later this week. The cone of uncertainty includes critical energy assets, such as offshore oil rigs and major refineries. Isaias was about 285 miles west of Progreso, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center wrote in its latest advisory. It is expected to become a hurricane Thursday. Dozens of offshore oil and natural gas rigs are in the storm's path. Chevron is evacuating…

Apollo Global Management has submitted a non-binding bid for German energy giant Uniper, joining some of Europe’s biggest energy and investment groups in a sale that could value Germany’s largest gas importer at around €10 billion ($11.6 billion), Reuters reported. Germany took control of Uniper through a €13.5 billion bailout in 2022 after Russia slashed pipeline gas deliveries and the company was forced to replace contracted Russian supplies at much higher market prices. Berlin currently owns 99.12% of the company. Apollo…

Apollo Global Management has submitted a non-binding bid for German energy giant Uniper, joining some of Europe’s biggest energy and investment groups in a sale that could value Germany’s largest gas importer at around €10 billion ($11.6 billion), Reuters reported. Germany took control of Uniper through a €13.5 billion bailout in 2022 after Russia slashed pipeline gas deliveries and the company was forced to replace contracted Russian supplies at much higher market prices. Berlin currently owns 99.12% of the company. Apollo…

Apollo Global Management has submitted a non-binding bid for German energy giant Uniper, joining some of Europe’s biggest energy and investment groups in a sale that could value Germany’s largest gas importer at around €10 billion ($11.6 billion), Reuters reported. Germany took control of Uniper through a €13.5 billion bailout in 2022 after Russia slashed pipeline gas deliveries and the company was forced to replace contracted Russian supplies at much higher market prices. Berlin currently owns 99.12% of the company. Apollo…

Data centers have become the main financier of new Finnish power capacity. Contracting is shifting from renewable volume to sources that provide baseload supply, as seen in Google's 507-megawatt (MW) agreement with Fortum at Loviisa. The deal is Finland's first nuclear power purchase agreement (PPA), and its 22-year tenor keeps a plant that supplies 10% of the country's electricity from retiring in 2030. Rystad Energy expects the next wave of Finnish offtake to follow the same logic, pairing wind and solar with battery energy storage systems (BESS)…

SpaceX is seeking approval to build a 32.4-mile natural gas pipeline in Florida that would connect directly to the interstate gas network and supply the company’s expanding launch operations at Cape Canaveral. The proposed 16-inch pipeline would run through Brevard County and connect SpaceX operations directly to the Florida Gas Transmission system, giving the company a dedicated source of natural gas as its launch activity increases. SpaceX subsidiary Coastal Connect Services filed for approval of a tariff with the Florida Public Service…