Friday, 4 September 2026

Australia's commercial proven and probable oil reserves stood at 213.4 million barrels at the end of 2024, down 6.8% from a year earlier, according to Geoscience Australia figures cited by IEEFA.

Domestic output has fallen to 46,600 barrels per day, a level IEEFA describes as not seen since the late 1960s.

The import dependence that follows is stark. Australia imported about 95% of its daily refined fuel consumption of 1.08 million barrels a day last financial year, based on Australian Petroleum Statistics data cited by IEEFA.

IEEFA reports that Santos developed the 80,000bpd Pikka oil field in Alaska, which holds 400 million barrels of gross 2P oil reserves plus 600 million barrels of contingent, potentially recoverable reserves. The Alaskan project went ahead despite the company's discovery of the Dorado oil and gas field in the Bedout Basin offshore Western Australia, whose contingent light oil and condensate resources total 162 million barrels.

Woodside shows the same pull overseas. Its Sangomar field offshore Senegal accounted for more than half of the company's international oil output in the first half of 2026, and more than double its oil production in Australia, according to IEEFA.

The drilling money has not disappeared from the country. Oil and gas exploration spending in Australia reached a 10-year high in the March quarter of 2026, IEEFA said. That spending has yet to arrest the reserves decline recorded through the end of 2024.

The gap between the two producers' domestic discoveries and their offshore developments is a matter of scale. Pikka's 400 million barrels of gross 2P reserves alone exceed the entire Australian commercial 2P reserve base of 213.4 million barrels reported by Geoscience Australia, and Dorado's 162 million barrels of contingent light oil and condensate sit well below the Alaskan field's booked total.

IRU and T&E are calling on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to open a strategic dialogue on heavy-duty vehicle decarbonisation, according to CleanTechnica.

The appeal comes as key EU rules governing heavy-duty vehicles head for review, CleanTechnica reported, with rising energy and cost pressures adding urgency to getting the transition right.

The two organisations directed their request at the head of the European Commission rather than at the technical review process itself, framing the transition for trucks and buses as a matter requiring political engagement at the top of the institution.

CleanTechnica linked the timing of the call to the pending review of the rules and to the cost and energy pressures now bearing on the sector.

Argentine President Javier Milei said he would tighten sanctions on companies involved in oil projects around the Falkland Islands, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Milei said he would sign a decree to accelerate sanctions under Argentine law against companies taking part in oil and gas extraction in the disputed territory, the outlet reported.

Alongside the sanctions measure, Milei said the government would issue an emergency decree to expand defense resources and build a naval base in Tierra del Fuego province, per Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The Falklands are a British overseas territory roughly 500 km east of the Argentine mainland, and Britain has controlled the islands since 1833, according to the same report.

Stadtwerke Bielefeld has installed a 1 MW electrolyzer at its Innovation Park in Bielefeld, Germany, to produce green hydrogen on site for moBiel's fuel cell buses, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The unit sits at Innovation Park Sektorenkopplung, adjacent to the waste-to-energy plant operated by MVA Bielefeld-Herford, Hydrogen Fuel News reported. The utility describes the setup as linking electricity from waste-to-energy with transport fuel and cutting logistics.

On-site production removes the delivery leg between hydrogen supply and the depot. Hydrogen Fuel News identifies the operator of the electrolyzer as the Stadtwerke Bielefeld Group.

The bus side of the project is not new. moBiel GmbH has been testing hydrogen fuel-cell buses on route 29 since 2022, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

Members of South Korea's National Assembly Hydrogen Economy Forum visited the Namyang Research Institute run by Hyundai Motor Company and Kia in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The legislators inspected data covering hydrogen production, storage, refueling and fuel cell vehicles at the site, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

Hyundai presented more than 2.3 billion kilometres of real-world driving data during the visit, according to the same report.

Following the tour, the lawmakers pledged to fast-track the Hydrogen Business Act and the Hydrogen City Act, measures aimed at securing stable policy and funding for hydrogen infrastructure, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

Deutsche Edelstahlwerke has used its Krefeld plant in Germany as a real-world testing ground for hydrogen-based heating in steel furnaces since early 2023, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

Two research efforts run at the site. Hydreams is funded by the European Union, and the H2-HotRoll initiative is federally backed, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

Both programs examine how green hydrogen and hydrogen-natural gas blends affect steel quality and furnace performance under everyday operating conditions, per the same report.

Deutsche Edelstahlwerke belongs to the Swiss Steel Group and is known for high-grade stainless and engineering steels, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

Siemens Energy has announced plans to separate its Transformation of Industry division, the unit that contains its electrolyzer operations, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The carve-out creates a standalone company holding steam turbines and compressors alongside PEM electrolyzers, which split water into hydrogen and oxygen, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

Grouping rotating equipment with electrolysis hardware places the hydrogen product line inside a business whose other products serve established industrial markets. Hydrogen Fuel News described the electrolyzer operations as part of the division targeted for the spin-off.

DNO ASA said on 4 September 2026 that it will not make an offer to acquire Genel Energy plc, closing a month-old approach, according to a company announcement carried by GlobeNewswire.

The Norwegian company had flagged a possible offer for Genel Energy plc in a statement issued on 7 August 2026. The 4 September announcement refers back to that earlier statement and rules out the transaction.

DNO ASA describes itself as a Norwegian oil and gas operator active in the North Sea, the Middle East and West Africa.

Two courts are now weighing whether USD 3 billion in environmental and climate justice grant money reaches underserved communities before a September 30 deadline expires, with plaintiffs pushing the Trump administration to release the funds, Inside Climate News reported.

The newer of the two filings landed late Tuesday in the United States. Litigants over the Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant program asked the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina in Charleston to suspend the end-of-September expiration written into the grants, according to Inside Climate News.

A week earlier the same plaintiffs went to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals with a petition for review by the full bench, targeting a three-judge panel decision that had blocked the money from going out.

That blockage traces back to July, when a federal judge ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to resume running the program through the end of September. The government appealed. The three-judge panel then voted 2-1 to grant a stay pending appeal, and communities were left without the funding, Inside Climate News reported.

The block grant program was canceled in 2025 as part of a broader rollback of environmental and equity-related federal initiatives, according to Inside Climate News. The money at stake was directed at underserved communities.

Kym Meyer, litigation director at the Southern Environmental Law Center, told Inside Climate News that "what the government did was illegal".

Eelpower Energy has bought the Silkstead battery energy storage project near Winchester, England, from developer Balanced Grid Works, according to ESS News. The buyer is a UK grid-scale battery storage platform backed by Equitix, Aware Super and the National Wealth Fund.

ESS News reported the company described Silkstead as a 50 MW/200 MWh development, a four-hour duration asset.

Construction is expected to begin in 2027, with commercial operations starting in 2028, Eelpower Energy said.

The purchase is the platform's fifth since it launched in September 2025, according to the company.

Eelpower is working toward a GBP 500 million investment in UK battery storage under a plan to build, own and operate more than 1 GW of grid-scale battery assets, per ESS News.

That capital base was set when the platform was formed in August 2025. Equitix, Aware Super and the National Wealth Fund committed GBP 500 million to launch it, with the National Wealth Fund putting up to GBP 200 million specifically toward UK projects, ESS News reported.

At 50 MW, Silkstead accounts for a small share of the more than 1 GW build-out target the company has set. Reaching that figure implies further acquisitions beyond the five completed in the platform's first year of operation.

ESS Inc has rebuilt its 2026 strategy around sodium-ion storage and slowed work on its iron flow technology because liquidity is tight, chief executive Drew Buckley told ESS News in an interview.

The company reported USD 5.6 million of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents in its most recent quarterly report, according to Buckley. It raised roughly USD 3.2 million through a direct offering earlier in the month.

The sodium pivot has a commercial pipeline attached. ESS said it identified nearly USD 1 billion in early-stage opportunities for the sodium solution, an announcement that came only a few weeks after a cell agreement with Alsym Energy, per ESS News.

Among the named deals, Buckley pointed to a 500 MWh letter of intent signed with Juniper Energy. That agreement covers an 80 MWh project in California with a major utility.

The iron flow line has not been abandoned. ESS acquired the intellectual property of flow technology developer Voltstorage earlier in the year, Buckley said.

On hardware timing, the company is testing its first Bridge modules and expects to begin the required certifications process by year-end, according to the interview. Buckley said ESS intends to deliver both pilot and commercial projects in 2027.

UK installed solar capacity now stands at nearly 24GW, according to figures from the University of Sheffield cited by Carbon Brief.

Rooftop owners captured part of that output during the hottest stretches. Analysis by Utility Bidder found that UK households with solar panels avoided an estimated GBP 86.7 million in electricity costs over 26 heatwave days this summer, defined as periods of at least three days when temperatures exceed the Met Office's county-level heatwave temperature threshold.

Chris Hewett, chief executive of the trade association Solar Energy UK, welcomed the record and said it was driven by "clear skies and continued growth in deployment".

Third-party testing by TÜV Rheinland found that Aptera Motors Corp.'s solar electric vehicle produced more than 4 kWh of usable solar energy per day over three test days in Southern California, according to pv magazine.

The measured range depended on how the car was positioned. A parked, stationary run delivered 4.23 kWh to the battery, pv magazine reported. Turning the vehicle once at solar noon raised delivery to 4.40 kWh, and opening the rear hatch toward the sun lifted it to 4.75 kWh.

Giorgio Bardizza of TÜV Rheinland ran the on-site evaluation at Aptera's Carlsbad facility, using calibrated data logging equipment to track generation continuously from sunrise to sunset, according to pv magazine.

The array itself is distributed rather than roof-mounted. Per pv magazine, the vehicle embeds 205 custom solar cells wired into seven separate strings and spread across the hood, dashboard, roof, and rear hatch.

Power logging on each string showed combined conversion losses in a band of 9.2% to 9.6%, pv magazine reported.

Vulcan Energy has issued a pre-feasibility study for Ludwig, a second combined lithium and geothermal project in the Upper Rhine Valley, sited in the Ludwigshafen region, according to electrive.

The study puts capital spending at EUR 1.26 billion, which electrive reports is roughly 15% below the figure for Lionheart, the company's more advanced project near Landau.

Design throughput is 21,100 tonnes of lithium carbonate a year, per the pre-feasibility assumptions cited by electrive. Operating costs are projected at EUR 4,101 per tonne of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE).

Ludwig draws on work already done at Lionheart. For that first project, Vulcan has secured EUR 2.2 billion in financing and holds construction permits for facilities at Landau and Frankfurt-Hoechst, with commercial production scheduled for 2028, electrive reported.

The sequencing is explicit: no final investment decision on Ludwig is expected until production at Lionheart has started successfully. That ties the second project's timetable to delivery on the first rather than to the study itself.

South Korean battery system manufacturer DeltaX will site its North American headquarters in Walton County, Georgia, on the eastern outskirts of Atlanta, according to Solar Builder.

Georgia Economic Development puts the value of the site at USD 141 million. Solar Builder reported that the plant is expected to create roughly 250 jobs across the eastern Atlanta region.

Battery assembly anchors the opening stage of the build. The first phase covers a 100,000 square foot site dedicated to that work, according to Solar Builder.

At Lixhe in Belgium, a battery plant rated 150 MW and 600 MWh has entered service under the ownership of Luminus, an EDF subsidiary, and infrastructure fund I4B, ESS News reported.

Capital spending on the Navagne site reached EUR 160 million, and the plant feeds straight into the high-voltage grid run by transmission system operator Elia, according to ESS News. That works out to about EUR 266.7 per kilowatt-hour of installed energy capacity, the outlet calculated.

Luminus chief executive Grégoire Dallemagne called it "the largest in Wallonia" at its inauguration.

Financial close came in June 2025, with commissioning due by October 2026, ESS News reported.

No integrator was named. ESS News said the equipment is understood to be a Sungrow model, and that 132 storage containers sit on the site.

I4B, The Belgian Infrastructure Fund, worked alongside Luminus on the build, and Navagne counts as the fund's first completed investment.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has opened a USD 45 million programme to speed up deployment of electric trucks and charging infrastructure, in partnership with CALSTART, electrive reported.

The larger of the two schemes is the Clean Truck Incentive (CTI), which according to electrive will provide up to USD 39 million in point-of-sale vouchers covering vehicle purchases and the charging equipment that goes with them.

The second scheme, the Green Drayage Accelerator (GDA), carries USD 5 million. Per electrive, it will award funds to as many as five electric truck charging hubs sited within a 10 mile radius of the Port Authority's marine terminal facilities.

CALSTART, described by electrive as a clean transport organisation, will both design and administrate the CTI and the GDA. The stated goal is to drive zero-emission commercial fleet adoption.

The Port Authority has tied the two schemes to its own commitment to reach net zero by 2050, according to electrive.

Agrivoltaic systems account for 0.0% of Switzerland's installed solar capacity, rounded, with ground-mounted plants at 0.1%, according to a ZHAW report cited by pv magazine. A 2024 survey counted 22 agri-PV installations, and the report puts the current total at fewer than 100, mostly research and pilot sites.

The gap between deployment and resource is wide. ZHAW estimates theoretical annual agrivoltaic generation potential at 323 TWh, according to pv magazine. Restricting installations to sites within 300 meters of the nearest grid connection point still leaves 113 TWh.

Switzerland's Energy Act requires renewable electricity generation excluding hydropower to reach 35 TWh per year by 2035 and 45 TWh by 2050. Meeting those targets would require annual PV capacity additions of 2 GW to 2.5 GW, per the report.

Current output sits far below that trajectory. Installed PV capacity of 8.2 GW generated around 8.2 TWh of electricity in 2025, pv magazine reported.

Land tenure is one of the constraints the report identifies. Around half of Swiss agricultural land is leased, which ZHAW cites as a barrier to agrivoltaic development.

The report describes Germany, France, Italy, and Austria as "significantly ahead of Switzerland in the development of agrivoltaics, both in terms of regulation and actual project implementation".

Charge point operator Zest is partnering with Heart of England Co-op to deliver high-powered charging at nine supermarkets in the Midlands, in the UK, according to electrive.

Zest will fund and operate the infrastructure under a multi-year agreement, electrive reported.

The chargers will go in at both new and existing Co-op stores in the region, including sites in Coventry, Nuneaton, Wellesbourne and Southam. The arrangement puts the capital cost and the operating risk on the charge point operator rather than the retailer, leaving the grocer's role as host site.

Power ratings for the nine locations have not been set out publicly. Under its 'ultra-rapid' offering, the Leeds-based B Corp has installed chargers rated 150 to 300 kW at larger retail sites in the past, though electrive notes this has not been confirmed for the new partnership.

The tie-up is the second Zest has struck with a co-operative grocer. In October 2025, the operator announced plans to install EV chargers at 20 Central Co-op stores under a separate multi-year agreement, according to electrive.

Baker Hughes has won a contract from bp to supply offshore well stimulation services across bp's UK North Sea portfolio, according to World Oil. The work covers new well development and enhanced recovery from mature fields.

The scope centres on a vessel-based stimulation system built around the company's StimFORCE modular stimulation package, World Oil reported.

Baker Hughes will run the services from its UK operating base, drawing on its local supply chain.

Neither the value of the award nor its length were disclosed, according to World Oil.

The Palestinian Authority told the United Nations that Israel's bombardment of Gaza since October 2023 has left two million Gazans vulnerable to heatwaves, drought and disease, according to a new climate plan reported by Climate Home News.

The submission, Palestine's third nationally determined contribution, sets a target of cutting emissions 12.8% below a business-as-usual baseline by 2035, and 17.1% by 2040, according to Climate Home News. The plan states that all of Palestine's new climate targets are conditional.

The Palestinian Authority said the bombardment wrecked progress towards adapting the enclave to climate change.

The scale of the rebuilding task dwarfs the mitigation numbers. The United Nations, European Union and World Bank have jointly estimated that Gaza needs USD 71.4 billion of investment over the next two years to recover and build back, Climate Home News reported.

UltraTech Cement will put more than 600 new electric heavy-duty trucks into service by December 2026, expanding its logistics fleet, according to electrive. The company is described by electrive as the world's largest cement producer by sales volume and capacity outside China.

The fleet will carry more than five million metric tonnes of clinker and other key materials a year, UltraTech said in reporting by electrive. Deployment covers Indian states including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Odisha.

UltraTech states that once fully operational, the trucks will enable annual net CO2 reductions of over 117,000 tonnes, which the company equates to 39 million litres of diesel per year, according to electrive.

Service contracts are already signed. electrive reported that UltraTech has agreements with EV prime mover manufacturers including Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, IPLTech, Energy In Motion and Sany.

The order sits on top of an existing low-carbon haulage base. UltraTech currently runs more than 850 trucks in its green logistics operations, a mix of CNG and electric units, according to electrive.

The electric share of that base has been small. In June the company said it had deployed 45 new electric trucks in India, taking its e-truck fleet to 89 units at that time, electrive reported. The new commitment of over 600 vehicles is therefore several times the size of the electric fleet reported in June.

Inox Solar Americas has signed a supply agreement covering 767 MW of photovoltaic module production with a U.S. renewable energy developer and independent power producer that was not named, according to Solar Builder.

The modules go to three utility-scale solar projects split between North Carolina and Texas, Solar Builder reported. The 767 MW figure covers that combined portfolio.

Deliveries start in 2027, according to Solar Builder, and will use the company's Vega Series bifacial modules.

The agreement follows Inox's purchase of Boviet Solar's U.S. manufacturing assets in North Carolina in May. That deal brought 3 GW of annual module manufacturing capacity plus a further 3 GW of planned capacity, according to Solar Builder. The North Carolina projects covered by the new contract therefore sit in the same state as the acquired production base.

At 767 MW, the order draws on a fraction of the 3 GW of installed annual capacity Inox picked up in the May transaction, leaving room for additional contracts before the planned second 3 GW tranche comes online.

Brazil's Senate approved a bill regulating the exploration of critical minerals, including rare earths, according to Mongabay. The text now goes to President Lula for signature.

The legislation sets out a legal framework and offers tax incentives for processing minerals inside Brazil, Mongabay reported. It also establishes a fund to back mining projects and pushes producers to process material domestically rather than shipping it out raw.

Brazil holds the world's second-largest reserves of rare earth elements, per Mongabay. Those elements go into products such as smartphones and electric vehicles. Mongabay described the Senate vote as a step toward exploiting those reserves.

The processing incentives are the operative part for anyone tracking where value lands in the supply chain. Extraction alone leaves refining and separation elsewhere; the fund and the tax treatment are aimed at keeping that stage in Brazil.

The first commercial volumes of shale gas from the Beetaloo sub-basin in Australia's Northern Territory were shipped this week from Tamboran Resources' Shenandoah gas project, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Output from Beetaloo currently stands at 40 terajoules a day, the outlet reported.

Developers working the basin say they intend to repeat the liquefied natural gas boom seen in the state of Queensland, but avoid the duplicated infrastructure and overspending of the 2010s. Queensland now supplies more than a third of Australia's LNG exports, and the country ranks as the world's second-largest LNG exporter, per the same report.

Alex Underwood, chief executive of Beetaloo Energy, said there had been "massive overexpenditure" on LNG infrastructure, pointing to Gladstone in Queensland, where three LNG plants operate.

Pipeline capacity into the basin is contested. Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG), APA Group and Jemena have each said they believe there is room for all of them in Beetaloo, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The Beetaloo sub-basin was surveyed more than 30 years ago, and the shipment from Shenandoah marks the first commercial gas volumes to leave it.

The Ram 1500 REV extended-range electric pickup has been delayed again and is now set to arrive around April 2027, Electrek reported.

Hyundai has its own extended-range model on a nearby schedule. The Santa Fe EREV, the company's first extended-range EV, is due in the first half of 2027, according to Electrek.

Production of the Santa Fe EREV is assigned to Hyundai's manufacturing plant in Alabama, with sales planned for the US market.

BYD will put a new electric hatchback called the Great Seagull on sale by the end of 2026, slotting the model between the Dolphin and the Seagull, Electrek reported. BYD's Zhou revealed the name at the Chengdu Auto Show.

The new car is substantially bigger than the one it sits above. A MIIT filing in China lists the Great Seagull at 4,205 mm long, against 3,780 mm for the current Seagull, according to Electrek.

Power rises with the footprint. Electrek reported the Great Seagull will use a 95 kW electric motor, compared with the 55 kW unit in the existing Seagull.

The smaller car it builds on is already one of the highest-volume electric models anywhere. In the first half of 2026, the Seagull, sold as the Dolphin Mini and Dolphin Surf in some markets, was the sixth-best-selling EV globally with more than 27,500 units sold, according to data compiled by Cleantechnica and cited by Electrek.

Price is the reason. In China, the Seagull starts at 69,900 yuan, or about USD 10,000, Electrek reported.

Energy Transfer wants Pennsylvania's Commonwealth Court to strike part of the state's Clean Streams Law, arguing the provision is too vague to satisfy due process under the state and federal constitutions, according to Inside Climate News, which described the suit as filed quietly in April.

The pipeline operator is under a state-level criminal probe over a jet fuel spill that contaminated drinking water in a suburban Philadelphia neighborhood, Inside Climate News reported.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday asked the court to throw the case out, describing the filing as an improper attempt "to pre-empt an anticipated criminal proceeding," per the same report.

When the Twin Oaks pipeline breach came to light, jet fuel was already in the drinking water wells of six homes in Upper Makefield Township, Bucks County, Inside Climate News reported. Testing since then has turned up benzene, xylenes and other toxic chemicals in wells serving at least 28 homes, and Energy Transfer has funded treatment systems at more than 200 homes as a safeguard against contamination, the outlet reported.

The January 2025 discovery of the underground spill followed 16 months of resident complaints about a gasoline smell and taste in their water, according to Inside Climate News, and multiple lawsuits center on the company's failure to detect the leak during that stretch.

Energy Transfer pleaded no contest in 2022 to a criminal case covering industrial waste spills and drinking water pollution at 22 sites in 11 Pennsylvania counties, the same reporting noted.

New Mexico banned new leasing of state lands for uranium mining on Friday, according to Inside Climate News, which described the state as the nation's largest historic producer of uranium ore.

State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard signed the executive order at a press conference in Santa Fe. Inside Climate News reported the signing came as the Trump administration seeks to revive American uranium mining and rebuild a domestic supply chain for nuclear fuel.

The reach of the order is narrow. It does not stop uranium mines from moving forward on federal land inside the state, and it leaves active leases untouched. New Mexico has two active uranium leases and no active mines, per Inside Climate News, in a state home to hundreds of abandoned uranium shaft mines.

Two companies are moving toward production regardless. Australian miner Laramide Resources and Colorado-based Energy Fuels aim to begin producing uranium in New Mexico next year, Inside Climate News reported.

Federal policy has pushed the other direction. Last year the Trump administration added uranium to its list of high-priority mining products for national security, according to the same report. The commissioner's order applies only to the state land portfolio she controls, leaving that federal designation and the permitting track that follows it intact.