Energy News

U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories last week rose more than forecast, while distillate stockpiles posted a larger-than-expected draw, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.Crude inventories rose by 545,000 barrels to 430.3 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 15, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 138,000-barrel rise.Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 140,000 barrels in the week, the EIA said. Net U.S.

Poland is planning to assign new areas for offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea and is drafting additional measures to boost the security of its critical energy infrastructure, government officials said on Wednesday."Maritime offices will submit analyses any moment, which will give grounds to make a decision on designating new areas for offshore wind farms," Deputy Infrastructure Minister Arkadiusz Marchewka told an industry conference.Poland is boosting its offshore ambitions in the Baltic Sea…

The Norwegian Offshore Directorate said that Norway's oil and gas production in October exceeded the official forecast by 5 percent.Norway is Europe's biggest supplier of natural gases and oil. However, output can vary from month to months depending on maintenance and other stops at over 90 offshore fields.The total oil, gas liquids, natural condensate and gas production stood at 0.657 standard cubic metres (SCM) per day. This is equivalent to 4,13 million barrels oil equivalent.The…

The COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan aim to agree an annual finance target of $1 trillion or more a year to help poorer countries respond to global warming. Some see new taxes as one way to get there. The Global Solidarity Levies Task Force (GSLT), led by France, Barbados and Kenya, is exploring the issue. Below are excerpts from its latest report on the options being discussed -- as it pertains to shipping and fossil fuels -- and estimates about how much could be raised.SHIPPINGThe levy that could be closest to being agreed is for shipping…

Almost five years ago, BP embarked on an ambitious attempt to transform itself from an oil company into a business focused on low-carbon power. The British company is now trying to return to its roots as a big oil and gas player with a growth story to match rivals, revive its share price and allay investor concerns over future profits.Rivals Shell and Norway's state-controlled Equinor are also scaling back energy transition plans set out earlier this decade. Their change of direction…

Former President Donald Trump's return to the White House could mean tougher enforcement of U.S. oil sanctions against Iran, potentially trimming global supplies, but his administration could struggle to get China, Iran's top crude customer, to cooperate, analysts said.Cracking down on OPEC-member Iran would support global oil prices, but the effect could also be offset by other Trump policies, from measures to expand domestic drilling, the imposition of tariffs on China that could depress economic activity…

Petrobras has achieved first oil with the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit Marechal Duque de Caxias, one of the largest ultra-deepwater FPSOs in the world, installed at the Mero field in Santos Basin, offshore Brazil.The FPSO has the capacity to produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil per day and compress up to 12 million cubic meters of gas daily. It will increase Mero’s installed production capacity from 410,000 to 590,000 barrels of oil per day.The unit is part of Mero’s fourth production system and was chartered from MISC.

A Biden administration auction of offshore wind development rights in the Gulf of Maine drew $21.9 million in high bids for half of the eight areas offered, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said on Tuesday.Offshore wind developers Avangrid AGR.N and Invenergy each walked away with two leases following one round of bidding. They were among 14 companies that had been qualified to bid at the sale.Once developed, the lease areas have the potential to power more than 2.3 million homes…

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has finalized an extensive environmental review concerning wind development activities across six lease areas in the New York Bight, covering more than 488,000 acres off the coasts of New York and New Jersey. This initiative is projected to yield up to 7 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy—enough to supply power to approximately two million households.BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein emphasized the importance of stakeholder engagement, stating, "We have gathered input from Tribes, government agencies, local communities, and ocean users.

U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas fell slightly in September as plant maintenance trimmed output, while Europe remained the leading destination, data from financial firm LSEG showed.Gulf Coast plants escaped any major impact from hurricanes last month, helping the U.S. to retain its status as the world's largest LNG exporter.Exports of the superchilled gas fell to 7.26 million metric tons in September, just down from August, when the U.S. sold 7.48 MT, LSEG data showed.U.S.

The U.S. Interior Department on Monday announced an offshore wind energy lease sale on Oct. 29 for eight areas on the Outer Continental Shelf off Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.If fully developed, these areas have a potential capacity of about 13 gigawatts of clean offshore wind energy, which could power more than 4.5 million homes.Earlier this month, Interior announced final approval of a wind project off the coast of Maryland, bringing the U.S. halfway to its goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of the clean energy technology by 2030.The Department has held five offshore wind lease sales…

The fifth cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia's Arctic LNG 2 has been picked up by a vessel managed by a company under U.S. sanctions, according to ship tracking data.The Arctic LNG 2 project by Russia's Novatek is also subject to Western sanctions over Russia's war with Ukraine. Novatek has said media allegations the company was involved in establishing and managing a "shadow fleet" for the Arctic LNG 2 project were untrue.On Sept. 14, the Asya Energy vessel berthed at the plant, and departed fully loaded on Sept. 15, according to data from Kpler and LSEG.

U.S. liquefied natural gas export terminals on the Louisiana coast may have escaped the brunt of Hurricane Francine and put off a major test of their ability to withstand a direct storm hit to another day.Francine was on track on Wednesday to lash south-central Louisiana, east of Cameron Parish that is home to several of the newly operating projects, with 90 mile-per-hour (145 kph) winds. Three of the four largest U.S. LNG export facilities are in Louisiana."This hurricane seems to be avoiding the majority of the LNG facility corridor…

Massachusetts and Rhode Island are moving ahead with three offshore wind projects totaling 2.9 gigawatts (GW), or enough electricity to power about 1.6 million homes, government officials announced on Friday.The project selections, following a joint solicitation in March for wind farms to be built off of New England's shores, move Massachusetts and Rhode Island closer to state renewable energy goals aimed at combating the effects of climate change."We are taking an important step towards energy independence…

Libyan oil exports remained largely halted on Thursday, shipping data showed, but some tankers were being allowed to load crude from storage, with output still curtailed amid a political standoff over the central bank and oil revenue.Oil tanker Kriti Samaria will be allowed to enter Libya's Zueitina port on Thursday evening or Friday to load 600,000 barrels of crude from storage and will head to Italy, engineers told Reuters. They did not give further details.Libyan crude exports have been largely shut for more than a week amid a political showdown over control of the central bank…

President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday announced final approval of a wind project off the coast of Maryland, bringing the U.S. halfway to its goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of the clean energy technology by 2030.The project is the 10th approved by Biden's Interior Department. He has made offshore wind a cornerstone of his climate change agenda.The Maryland Offshore Wind Project, which is being developed by US Wind, could one day generate enough electricity to power 718,000 homes, Interior said in a statement.

A power outage in the Rotterdam port area in the Netherlands briefly interrupted operations at one of Europe's biggest oil refineries on Tuesday, the plant's operator BP said.Electricity grid operator TenneT said the problem was solved shortly after 1000 GMT.

An arbitration panel that will decide a high-profile clash between Exxon Mobil and Chevron will delve into the secret value of Hess' oil riches in Guyana, people familiar with the matter said.Chevron last October offered to pay $53 billion for Hess, one of the two biggest deals in the largest wave of consolidation in the oil industry in decades. The asset most coveted by Chevron in the takeover is Hess’s stake in a Guyana field operated by top U.S. rival Exxon.Exxon and China's CNOOC  have challenged the deal…

The Biden administration on Monday issued an offshore wind lease to the state of Maine for a small project that will demonstrate floating turbine technology off the U.S. East Coast.The lease area covers 9,700 acres (3,920 hectares) and is 28 nautical miles (52 kilometers) from shore, an area that could accommodate up to 12 floating offshore wind turbines that could generate about 144 megawatts of electricity.Floating wind is widely acknowleded as the future of offshore wind, as it is able to tap stronger winds further from shore.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said on Friday it is seeking competitive bids for offshore wind leases off the coast of Texas after renewable energy developer Hecate Energy Gulf Wind LLC made an unsolicited bid.The administration of President Joe Biden sees offshore wind power as a vital part of a broader strategy to decarbonize the U.S. power sector to fight climate change, but the nascent industry faces strong local opposition in some areas over concerns about ocean…

Fishing has been a lifeline for Alejandro Alcones for the past four decades, but he now fears his small boat may be replaced by a floating solar farm on the Philippines' largest lake.Alcones is part of a group of fishermen opposed to the government's plan to place solar panels atop Laguna de Bay, one of the country's biggest sources of freshwater fish, as it looks for renewable energy sources to meet growing demand for power."Laguna Lake gives life and income to fishermen like us who didn't finish school.

Early 2024 saw a group of financial deals that have implications, in a broad sense, for how offshore wind projects may be financed. While offshore wind projects might be thought of as being in the ‘utility finance’ basket, they are ultimately high-risk deals that might better suit the portfolios of ‘infrastructure investment’ which, in recent years, has taken a shift towards tolerating more uncertainty when it comes to cash flows.A 2022 article from consultants McKinsey, titled “Infrastructure investing will never be the same”…

Norway's Equinor and U.S. power company Dominion were the winning bidders in a U.S. government offshore wind auction of two areas off the coasts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, the U.S. Interior Department said on Wednesday.The offshore wind lease sale generated less than $93 million in winning bids, making it among the least lucrative of those held by the Biden administration.U.S. President Joe Biden has put the development of offshore wind at the forefront of his climate change agenda…