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Fossil Fuels
Dangote signs $400 mln deal with China's XCMG for equipment to accelerate refinery expansion
The Nigerian Dangote Group announced on Tuesday that it had signed a $400 million equipment deal with China’s Xuzhou?Machinery Group in order to accelerate the expansion of its oil refinery towards a planned 1.4 million barrels per day. The new equipment will support major construction projects in the refining industry, petrochemicals sector, agriculture, and infrastructure. Dangote stated that the XCMG contract would allow the company to purchase a?range of heavy-duty machines to complement the existing assets deployed to the?refinery?build-out which it expects to be completed within three years. Polypropylene production will increase from 900,000.00?tons to 2.4million tons annually as part
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Fossil Fuels
Exxon's local brand of petrol fined $11.3 Million by Australian court for misleading claims
The Federal Court of Australia fined Mobil Oil Australia A$16 Million ($11.3 Million) for misleading claims made about fuel sold in petrol stations?in Queensland, said the country's competition regulator on Tuesday. Exxon Mobil owns Mobil Oil Australia, which supplies fuels such as petrol, diesel and other products to retailers in Australia. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took the local unit in 2024 to court. They claimed that the company misled its customers regarding fuel sold at six of their branded petrol stations located in Queensland. ACCC stated that Mobil acknowledged on Tuesday it had falsely claimed to consumers between
Natural Gas
Oil Equipment
Saudi and US firms partner on northeast Syria Energy Project
Two people who have direct knowledge of the plan say that Saudi Arabian and U.S. firms will form a consortium to explore and produce oil and gas in northeastern Syria. Sources said that Baker Hughes, Hunt Energy, and Argent LNG plan to partner with TAQA on the project. The project would cover four to five exploration blocks in the northeastern area. The project is the latest in an array of large-scale business deals that have spanned Syria's entire economy, since the former autocrat Bashar Al-Assad was overthrown by Islamist rebels who became rulers a year earlier and after the U.S....
Natural Gas
EUROPE GAS - Prices rise on colder weather and weaker winds
Dutch and British wholesale gasoline prices rose Friday morning due to colder weather forecasts, and a weaker wind output. The benchmark 'Dutch front month contract at TTF hub increased by 1.16 euros to 34.97 Euros per Megawatt Hour (MWh) as of 0925 GMST, according to LSEG data. LSEG data shows that the contract reached a high intraday of 35.17 during earlier trading, its highest level since August 1, last year. The Dutch March price was 0.69 euros higher, at 33.42 Euros/MWh. The UK price for February was 3.67 pence more expensive? at 91.17 pennies per therm. This week, prices have...
Energy Markets
Prices for EUROPE GAS rise and reverse earlier losses
Dutch wholesale gas prices increased on Wednesday. They reversed earlier losses due to concerns about liquefied gas (LNG) supply if tensions escalate in Iran. LSEG data shows that the benchmark Dutch front-month 'contract' at TTF hub is up?1.42 Euros?at 32.55 Euros per megawatt hour by 1213 GMT. This is the highest level recorded since October 7, last year. The Dutch March rate was 31.66 Euros/MWh, an increase of 1.28 euros. The British day-ahead contract was down 0.40 pennies at 82.80 pence/therm. Iran warned its neighbours that it could strike U.S. military bases if Washington interferes with protests, despite the fact...
Natural Gas
Edison CEO: Group accelerates green investments; EDF eyes minority stake sale
Edison's green investment will increase the Italian utility’s borrowings, said its CEO. EDF, the parent company, plans to sell a majority stake in the unit, to avoid an increase in its debt. The Italian utility announced earlier on Thursday that it will begin working on renewable projects in Italy with a combined power of more than 500 megawatts. Edison CEO Nicola Monti said in an interview that "EDF had many investments to be made in France, particularly in the nuclear sector. The intention to open (our) capital – only for a minor stake – is to allow Edison implement its...
Fossil Fuels
Turkey extends Russia gas contracts for an additional year in order to attract U.S. investment
Turkey has finalised an extension of one year to its gas import contracts that expire with Russia, totalling 22 bcm. It is also considering investing in U.S. production, according to the energy minister. Both import contracts with Gazprom expire by the end of the year. Turkey's share of Russian gas has steadily decreased, and is now below 40%. Turkey, Russia's final major gas market in Europe has signed deals to buy long-duration LNG, a large part of which is from the U.S. This takes advantage of the expected global abundance of LNG over the next couple of years. Bayraktar, the...
Oil & Gas Equipment
As part of an organisational review, UK-based Harbour Energy is expecting to cut 100 jobs offshore
Harbour Energy, an offshore producer with a focus on the North Sea, announced Monday that it would be cutting 100 jobs in its UK operations as part of a review of their UK organisation. Low commodity prices and a tax regime that is not competitive have put pressure on the UK oil-and-gas sector. This has led to Harbour's offshore restructuring, according to Scott Barr, Harbour's UK managing director. After a consultation phase, which is expected to end in the first quarter 2026, job cuts are planned. By 2023, 600 new jobs will be created. On top of this, the job...
Energy Markets
How much will the price of ROI-LNG drop by 2026? Russell
The market for liquefied gas is preparing itself for an increase in supply, mostly from the top exporter, the United States. However, it is not clear how low the spot price will need to fall to clear these additional volumes. According to commodity analysts Kpler, the global supply of super-chilled gasoline is forecast to reach 475 million metric tonnes in 2026. This represents a 10.2% increase over the 431 millions tons predicted for 2025. This figure is comparable to South Korea's total annual demand, which is the third largest LNG importer in the world behind China and Japan. Go Katayama,...
Oil & Gas Refining
Lukoil attracts buyers for its foreign assets
The foreign assets of Russian oil giant Lukoil, which are located in Egypt and Kazakhstan, are attracting bidders. Time is running out for the deals to be completed before U.S. sanctions can be enforced. As part of their efforts to get the Kremlin into peace talks on Ukraine, the U.S. has imposed sanctions on Lukoil. They have already blocked Lukoil’s attempts to sell foreign assets before the deadline of November 21, sanctions. Lukoil has also been affected by the sanctions in Iraq, Finland at pump stations and Bulgaria in a refinery. Governments and partners want to buy its foreign assets...
Natural Gas
Kimmeridge says the 2021 merger is a failure and calls for a complete overhaul of Coterra
Kimmeridge, an activist investor, called on Tuesday for a change in leadership and strategy within Coterra Energy. He said that the merger of Cabot Energy & Oil and Cimarex Energy into the new company by 2021 has failed to provide value and the stock is trading at a lower price than its peers. The private investment firm, in an open letter to the board, urged it to appoint a non-executive, independent chair, and to refocus its operations on the oil-rich Delaware Basin, claiming that the current mix of oil properties and gas properties had created inefficiency and reduced returns. In...
Natural Gas
Greece selects Chevron and Helleniq Energy as preferred bidders for offshore gas exploration
The Greek energy ministry announced on Friday that a consortium consisting of U.S. major oil company Chevron, and Helleniq Energy - the largest oil refiner in the country - was the preferred bidder to explore gas offshore in the southern blocks. The move follows a joint bid Chevron/Helleniq made in an Greek tender last year for the exploration of gas in four deep sea blocks near the Peloponnese Peninsula and Crete. Greece, which has very little oil production and relies heavily on gas imports to power its domestic consumption and generate electricity, is keen to explore and enhance its role...
Carbon Emissions
Indonesia resumes international carbon trading after four years
According to a copy seen on Wednesday, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has issued a decree to resume international carbon trading after a hiatus of four years. In 2021, the Southeast Asian country published carbon market regulations that focused more on compliance than voluntary markets. The regulation effectively ended all trading of carbon credits across borders, even those generated by large projects such as the Katingan Mentaya Conservation Project. Indonesia claimed that the moratorium allows the country to prioritise meeting its own greenhouse-gas reduction targets instead of selling the reductions abroad. The suspension was also a result of concerns that carbon...
Fossil Fuels
Venture Global shares slide after BP wins arbitration case over LNG cargoes
Venture Global's shares fell 17% on Friday in premarket trade after BP won an arbitration case against it over its failure in delivering liquefied gas as part of a long-term contract that was supposed to begin in late 2022. Venture Global reported on Thursday that the International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration had found it in breach of its obligations to declare that commercial operations at the Calcasieu Pass Plant had started promptly and to act as "a reasonable and prudent operator." BP, Shell Edison and Galp filed arbitration claims accusing U.S. firm of profiteering, by selling LNG...
Environment
Trump declares that the US government will step in to protect Potomac River following sewage leak
Donald Trump, the U.S. president, said that the federal government would step in on Monday to protect the Potomac River after a major sewer pipe collapsed in Washington, D.C., last month. In a post on social media, Trump said: "I'm directing Federal Authorities immediately to provide all necessary management, direction, and coordination to protect the Potomac River, the Water Supply of the Capital Region, as well as our precious National Resources in our Nation’s Capital City." Maryland's Democratic governor Wes Moore has accused the Republican administration of failing to act on this issue. He also said that the U.S. Environmental...
'Lovers' Arch' collapses Valentine's Day along the Adriatic Coast of Italy
After days of bad weather, the famous "Lovers' Arch", a rock structure along the?adriatic?coast of Italy, collapsed on Valentine's Day. Local officials subsequently warned that other stretches of the fragile coast could be at risk. Natural arch near Melendugno, in southern Puglia region, has long been used as a backdrop for wedding proposals. Melendugno mayor Maurizio Cisternino said to the local?Corriere salentino newspaper that the collapse was "a very difficult blow" for the image of the area and for tourism. Cisternino claimed that days of heavy rainfall,?strong wind and rough seas?had beaten the coast and destroyed the arch. He said...
Climate Challenge: Ten Years After Paris Agreement
New climate data released ten years after the Paris Agreement came into effect show that the world is warming faster than ever. 2025 will be among the hottest years on record, with ocean heat and sea level crossing new thresholds. U.S. president Donald Trump is a "climate change sceptic" who has reversed a number of 'environmental' policies over the last year. He has also called climate change a hoax, which has led to environmental agendas being challenged around the world. The annual United Nations meeting held in Brazil last summer saw a number of countries agree to more funding to...
Pollution
Pollution
Havana's trash piles up as US oil chokehold stops garbage trucks
The U.S. effort to prevent oil reaching the Caribbean's largest island has resulted in a swarm of flies and the smell of rotten foodstuffs. This is one of the visible effects of the U.S. attempt. Cubadebate, a state-run news outlet, reported that fuel shortages had caused only 44 out of Havana’s 106 garbage trucks to continue operating. This slowed down the garbage collection. Residents have been sorting through cardboard boxes, used plastic bags, rags, and other waste to find scraps that they can reuse, but motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists must avoid the huge piles. Jose Ramon Cruz said that the...
Pollution
Cuba's Havana is piled high with garbage as US chokehold stops garbage trucks
Havana's garbage piles up on the streets, attracting hordes flies, and smelling of rotten foods. This is one of the visible effects of the U.S. effort to prevent oil reaching the Caribbean's largest island. Cubadebate, a state-run news outlet, reported that only 44 out of 106 Havana's rubbish trucks could continue to operate due to fuel shortages. This slowed down garbage collection. Residents sorted through the piles of cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, rags and used bags to find scraps that they could reuse, but motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists were forced to avoid the massive heaps. Jose Ramon Cruz, a local...
Pollution
Italian PM Meloni offers debt suspension to African states affected by climate shock
Giorgia meloni, the Italian prime minister, said that Italy and their 'African partners' had centered their recent talks on a re-evaluation of the continent's?debt burden. Rome offered countries a chance for them to suspend payments when they are hit by extreme weather events. Meloni, at the end of the second Italy-Africa meeting in Addis Ababa, said: "Today we once again focused on a central issue for?Africa which is debt." "We launched a wide initiative on debt conversion for joint development project. We are adding debt suspension clauses to?this for nations that have been affected by extreme weather events. Meloni will...
Carbon Emissions
European utilities fall on the talk of EU emission trading changes
By Danilo Masoni MILAN, February 12 - European utilities plunged on Thursday following a'sharp decline in carbon prices, after suggestions that the EU intervene in the markets, a move which?investors feared could squeeze the sector's earnings. Europe's benchmark "carbon" contract fell to its lowest levels since August, after leaders in countries such as Germany and Italy suggested that the European Union consider revising the bloc’s emissions trading system. Luca 'Moro is the CIO of SpesX - an Italian fund that focuses on energy transition. He said: "If this message gains traction, then those who have been speculating and?buying a green...
Energy Markets
Trump Administration set to repeal US climate regulation
On Thursday, the administration of Donald Trump plans to announce "the repeal" of a scientific conclusion that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human sanity. This will remove the legal basis of federal climate regulations. This is the biggest climate change policy rollback the administration has ever made. It follows a series of regulatory reductions and other actions designed to reduce the restrictions on fossil fuel development, and to stymie clean energy deployment. Trump believes that climate change is a hoax and has pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement. This leaves the United States, the largest contributor historically to...
Pollution
Floods in Portugal close major highway and force 3,000 residents to evacuate
A part of Portugal's main highway collapsed Wednesday night, after a levee had broken beneath it. Heavy?rains and flooding have been pounding the country for weeks. Authorities evacuated 3,000 people in the northern region. The levee on the River Mondego near Coimbra, the medieval city, burst right next to a pillar that supports the A1 highway connecting the cities of Lisbon to Porto. This caused a gap in the road, which had been closed by the police. Floods have caused serious problems in Coimbra and its surrounding towns. Some are isolated... She told RTP that the situation was extremely unstable....
Energy Markets
EU business leaders urge energy price fixing to remain competitive
Business leaders from Europe urged the European Union to take urgent action to lower energy prices on Wednesday. They said that this was essential for European industries to be able compete with the United States and China. The message from the industries is being delivered just as EU leaders are gathering in a Belgian Castle on Thursday to have a "retreat". They will be discussing how Europe can compete with China and America economically. Why is Europe so far behind the rest of world? Conrad Keijzer, CEO of Swiss specialty chemicals manufacturer Clariant, told corporate leaders in Antwerp that the...
Climate Change
Trump's repealing of climate regulation opens a "new front" for litigation
The Trump administration's impending repeal of an Obama-era finding that greenhouse gasses pose a threat to public health could lead to a new avenue for filing suits against power-plant operators, among other companies. Legal experts warned that the policy reversal could lead to an increase in "public nuisance" lawsuits, which were previously blocked by the Supreme Court's 2011 ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency should regulate greenhouse gas emissions instead of courts. Legal experts say that now that the EPA has abandoned this regulatory effort, it is likely that the legal shield created in 2011 will unravel. Robert Percival is...
Pollution
Von der Leyen: EU needs to simplify regulations in order to compete with US and China
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said that the EU must simplify its regulations to be more competitive with the United States and China. Over the last two decades, EU growth has consistently been lower than that of?the United States, with EU innovation and productivity, especially in fields such as AI, falling behind. "Let's take the U.S. as an example again." Von der Leyen stated on Wednesday that there is only one financial system and capital. "In Europe, we don't only have 27 different systems of financial supervision, each with their own supervisor. More than 300 trading...
Pollution
Trump to roll back regulations in a massive regulatory rollback, this week
This week, the administration of Donald Trump will overturn a scientific finding from Obama's time that "carbon dioxide is harmful to human health". The legal basis for federal regulations on greenhouse gas emissions will be removed. The move would be the most significant climate change policy rollback by the Republican administration to date. It follows a series of regulatory reductions and other measures intended to unfetter the development of fossil fuels and stymie clean energy's rollout. Trump has said that he believes climate changes are a hoax and has pulled the United States out of global efforts to fight it....
Pollution
India will support steel imports that are affected by Europe's carbon taxes, says the federal secretary
The carbon tax and import quotas of the European Union will continue to impact India's steel exports. However, the government is taking steps to support the sector. These comments follow a trade deal signed by India and the European Union, which reduced tariffs in several sectors, but kept?the Carbon Border Adjustment mechanism, or border tax on carbon, intact. Indian steel mills export roughly two-thirds of their total output to?Europe. Exports will remain a challenge with the CBAM of the European Union, tariffs and quotas?and other challenges. We must take action," said Sandeep Poundrik, Steel Secretary, at a government function in...
Climate Change
US environmental enforcement by Trump’s EPA drops at a record low
According to a report published on Thursday, federal enforcement actions against polluting businesses in the U.S. dropped?to an historic low in 2025. This was the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term. According to an analysis conducted by the Environmental Integrity Project, only 16 civil lawsuits were filed by the Justice Department in civil court on behalf of Environmental Protection Agency. This is down from 76 complaints during the 'first year' of the Biden Administration, 81% less than the first 'year' of Trump's term, and 87% less than the first 'year' of former President Barack Obama. Why is this...
Wind Farms
New York files suit against the Trump administration for a halt on two offshore wind project
New York's Attorney General sued the Trump Administration on Friday over the suspension of construction on two offshore?wind farms that it says are needed to power a million homes and reduce the state's reliance on fossil-fuels. Letitia J., New York's Attorney General, has filed two separate lawsuits asking the federal court in Washington not to allow President Donald Trump's freeze of federal offshore leases owned by Equinor from Norway and Orsted from Denmark on December 22, 2018. The Interior Department said that it had halted the project due to complaints from?the Pentagon, that wind turbines can cause radar interference which...
Japan’s KEPCO Buys Majority Stake in Ireland’s Simply Blue Energy
Japan’s Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO) has signed a share subscription agreement with Ireland’s Simply Blue Group’s offshore wind development arm, Simply Blue Energy OSW (SBE OSW).The strategic investment marks KEPCO’s first investment involving management participation in an offshore wind developer.KEPCO will acquire a majority stake in SBE OSW through its wholly owned subsidiary, KPIC Netherlands BV.Simply Blue Energy OSW is actively engaged in multiple offshore wind projects across Europe and elsewhere and possesses extensive experience and expertise in offshore wind development from the early stages of project formation.With KEPCO’s investment, SBE OSW aims to accelerate the expansion of its...
L&T Joins Hitachi Energy to Support TenneT’s 2GW Offshore Wind Grid Scheme
India’s EPC contractor Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has been hired to deliver High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) converters in support of the Dutch-German transmission system operator (TSO) TenneT’s 2GW offshore wind grid program in the North Sea.Collaborating with Hitachi Energy, a global technology leader in electrification, L&T has been nominated by TenneT to deliver HVDC converter stations, as part of the initiative that aims to accelerate the integration of large-scale renewable energy into the European power grid, particularly across the German and Dutch sectors of the North Sea.The collaboration brings together complementary strengths in advanced technology, engineering excellence, and end-to-end...