Thursday, 29 October 2026

A multi-year deal between Baker Hughes' Oilfield Services & Equipment (OFSE) unit and Pakistan's Oil & Gas Development Co. (OGDC) will cover more than 120 wells across mature oil and gas fields, World Oil reported.

Separately, Eni picked the company for an integrated subsea systems package tied to the deepwater Cronos gas project offshore Cyprus. That package runs to four subsea tree systems, plus wellheads, manifolds and connections, topside controls and related services.

Eni also handed Baker Hughes integrated well construction work on Baleine Phase 3 in Côte d'Ivoire.

Supporters of California's Proposition 45 have spent more than USD 56 million to pass the measure, according to Inside Climate News, citing the most recent state records.

Political action committees funded by technology companies, the state's major utilities and other corporate interests have spent nearly twice as much backing the ballot measure as public-interest and labor groups have spent opposing it, according to Inside Climate News. The measure would greenlight major development projects with minimal environmental or public review.

Proposition 45 would shift authority over the scope of environmental review from public agencies and communities to project developers, according to Inside Climate News. It would do so by rewriting the state's foundational environmental law to fast-track major projects.

Used electric vehicle sales reached a record 3.3% of total used-vehicle sales last month, up from 2.9% in August, according to Cox Automotive data cited by Electrek.

Electrek attributes the pace of used-EV sales to a flood of electric cars returning from lease this year combined with rising gas prices.

Low-mileage used EVs, including the Hyundai IONIQ 5 and Ford Mustang Mach-E, are selling on the secondhand market for $25,000 or less, according to Electrek.

Edmunds, which has tested nearly all of them, compiled a list of four top used electric SUVs available for under $25,000, according to Electrek.

Fraunhofer IFAM is setting up a new wind-energy research infrastructure with USD 9.87 million, equivalent to EUR 8.85 million, in funding from Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The FOKUS-Wind project will build Germany's first end-to-end testing and validation chain for autonomous offshore wind systems, spanning the institute's sites in Bremen, Cuxhaven and Heligoland, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

The infrastructure will let companies and research organizations develop, test and qualify drones, robotic systems and sensors under realistic operating conditions, according to the outlet.

FOKUS-Wind will initially run for four years.

Three of the four wells in the Grand Canyon region of the United States with average arsenic levels above the Environmental Protection Agency's safe drinking water standard are at a uranium mine site, according to a new analysis of groundwater sampling from Inside Climate News.

The contaminated wells are at the Pinyon Plain Mine, which sits within a national monument nine miles from the Grand Canyon's South Rim, Inside Climate News reported.

The study came from the Grand Canyon Trust and drew on 32 years of groundwater sampling across 40 sites monitored by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, according to Inside Climate News.

Expand Energy Corp. curtailed some production in the third quarter, dropping a rig in Northeast Appalachia and a completion crew in the Haynesville because of weaker natural gas prices, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

The company reduced its activity from around 12 rigs to 10 in what Oil & Gas Journal described as direct acknowledgement that the market was weakening.

Expand also pushed about nine turn-in-lines out of the third quarter, waiting to determine the optimal time to bring them online, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

Rep. Greg Landsman introduced H.R. 10881 on October 22, according to Electrek.

The measure, named the 21st Century Vehicle Choice Act, would offer federal tax credits of up to $15,000 for a new electric vehicle and $8,000 for a used electric vehicle, Electrek reported.

The bill would make both the new and used electric-vehicle credits permanent, according to Electrek.

Optivolt, a power electronics firm in the United States, has secured USD 32 million in Series A funding from VXI Capital to build what company officials describe as the intelligence layer of next-generation solar panels, according to Solar Builder.

The raise brings the Californian company's total capital raised to date to USD 42 million, Solar Builder reported.

VXI Capital managing director Orin Hoffman said the financing is meant to move Optivolt's technology from a technical breakthrough to the platform on which the next generation of solar is built.

The UK government is cutting GBP 1 billion from its warm homes plan and GBP 700 million from hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects to fund defence spending, according to Carbon Brief.

Chancellor John Healey tied the measures to what he called a "new course on energy" for the UK, aimed at keeping bills low amid the global crisis triggered by war in the Middle East, Carbon Brief reported.

Laying out his first budget, Healey said the Labour government would keep prioritising clean-power expansion and stay "unshakably committed to net-zero", according to Carbon Brief.

Activated metallic components produced during reactor operation, maintenance, and decommissioning rarely present a uniform packaging challenge, according to Power Magazine.

The components can vary widely in shape, mass, dose rate, and radiation profile, Power Magazine reported. The category includes thimble plug assemblies, poison rod assemblies, reactor control cluster assemblies, rod segments, and cut portions of vessel internals.

Eni awarded Saipem two offshore drilling contracts, for work offshore Cyprus and Ghana, worth a combined $121 million, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

The Cyprus contract covers drilling within the Republic of Cyprus's Exclusive Economic Zone using the Saipem 10000 drillship. Operations under that contract are expected to begin between November 2026 and January 2027, Oil & Gas Journal reported.

The Ghana contract involves the Scarabeo 9 semi-submersible rig for drilling offshore Ghana.

Germany's Economy Minister Katherina Reiche said companies may return previously auctioned offshore wind farm sites if they pay a penalty to transmission system operators, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Financing costs have risen, some sea areas carry overcapacity, and revenue expectations have declined, making awarded projects harder for developers to deliver, the outlet reported.

The heads of eight of Germany's 16 states advocated a one-time, legally secure option to return projects and prompt retendering of the sites, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Canada announced a federal investment of over USD 1.2 million to improve access to the Shaakichiuwaanaan mining project in northern Quebec's Eeyou Istchee Baie-James region, according to Natural Resources Canada.

The funding comes through Natural Resources Canada's First and Last Mile Fund, which supports connectivity for mineral projects. Natural Resources Canada described Shaakichiuwaanaan as one of the largest lithium resources in the world.

The money will rehabilitate and upgrade approximately 20 kilometres of existing access road connecting the Trans-Taiga road to the Shaakichiuwaanaan site, according to Natural Resources Canada.

The project is being led by Lithium Innova Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of PMET Resources Inc., Natural Resources Canada said.

Battery storage retrofits at existing grid-scale solar farms in Australia now run on par in number with new solar developments that include storage, according to local experts cited by pv magazine.

The retrofit activity is being driven by Australia's push to accelerate electrification, meet an 82% renewable energy target and retire coal-fired power plants by 2030, pv magazine reported.

RWE Australia's Limondale Solar Farm has added a retrofitted battery energy storage system with 400 MWh of capacity, according to pv magazine.

BP Pulse has stepped back from fleet charging, and two firms will now take over support for its departing UK customers. Fuuse and Drax Electric Vehicles will manage the migration of almost 1,000 former BP Pulse fleet charging customers, spanning more than 14,000 charging sockets, according to electrive.

The move traces back to BP Pulse's July 2025 decision to leave the workplace charging market and concentrate on charging hubs and its rapid charging network, electrive reported.

Under the handover, Fuuse takes the lead on moving customers to its charging management platform, electrive reported, while Drax Electric Vehicles handles nationwide maintenance and service, including continuity of existing hardware warranties.

Fuuse and Drax Electric Vehicles say the arrangement lets fleets keep their installed charging hardware rather than replace it, according to electrive.

US commercial crude oil inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 1.9 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 23, 2026, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) cited by Oil & Gas Journal.

The draw left stocks 4% below the five-year average for that time of year, according to the EIA.

African negotiators have asked the UN to create a formal space at COP31 for talks on adaptation finance and trade, according to Climate Home News.

Ghana, chairing the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) this year, requested three additional COP31 agenda items in a letter to UN climate chief Simon Stiell, Climate Home News reported. The items cover tripling adaptation finance, trade and climate change, and the financing arrangements of the Green Climate Fund.

The request sets up a contested negotiation. African negotiators pressed the UN to open formal talks on adaptation finance and trade at the summit.

The EU, the UK and Japan opposed placing the adaptation-finance target within negotiations on the Global Goal on Adaptation, arguing it should be discussed elsewhere, according to Climate Home News.

QatarEnergy will buy 2 million tonnes of LNG annually from Corpus Christi in Texas, with deliveries anticipated to begin in 2031.

The agreements also cover 2 million tonnes of LNG annually from Cheniere's Sabine Pass facility in Louisiana. Of that Sabine Pass supply, 1 million tonnes annually is contingent on a positive final investment decision for the expansion's first phase.

Carbon capture and storage funding could be cut in the UK's Autumn Budget as the government looks to increase defence spending, according to Energy Digital, which cited several reports.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, known as DESNZ, was asked to find a further USD 2.65 billion, according to reports cited by Energy Digital.

Separately, government insiders told The Guardian that the Rosebank oilfield in the North Sea can be approved without breaching the UK's emissions targets, the limits on climate-warming gases the country has committed to cutting.

Petronet LNG Ltd proposed investing Rs 1,200 crore to build compressed biogas (CBG) plants in partnership with Gruner Renewable Energy, moving into domestic renewable gas production.

The joint venture will develop 10 compressed biogas plants across India, according to Chemical Industry Digest.

Once operational, the facilities will have combined CBG production capacity of 180 tonnes per day, equivalent to approximately 63,000 tonnes annually assuming 350 operating days, Chemical Industry Digest reported.

A decade-long review led by Lake Superior State University researchers documented 6,453 reported oil spill incidents across the Great Lakes between 2015 and 2024.

Of those incidents, 3,654 were reported in U.S. waters and 2,799 in Canadian waters.

Fewer than 6% of the incidents involved volumes above 500 liters, yet those larger spills accounted for most of the total reported oil volume, according to the review.

The researchers flagged gaps in the underlying records. Only 35% of U.S. incidents included a reported spill volume, and Canadian records held no volume data before 2023, which limited comparisons and estimates of the total amount of oil released.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Nuclear Energy Ministerial Conference opened at Songdo Convensia in Incheon, South Korea, on Oct. 27, according to BusinessKorea. The venue was set up for high-level dialogue on peaceful uses of nuclear energy and technical cooperation.

More than 800 nuclear experts and government officials from 60 countries gathered in Songdo to discuss future energy policy, BusinessKorea reported.

The IAEA projects that global nuclear capacity could rise from 377 GW at the end of 2025 to between 641 GW and 1,045 GW by 2050 under its low and high case projections.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi urged countries to strengthen their institutions, protect existing capacity through long-term operation, bring financial and technical partners together early, and invest in training and suppliers.

A gas rally over the past week pushed liquefied natural gas (LNG) burned in Otto medium-speed engines above low-sulphur marine gasoil (LSMGO) in Rotterdam, according to ENGINE. The fuel swung from a USD 23/mt discount to LSMGO to a USD 44/mt premium over that period.

Liquefied biomethane (LBM) tracked the same move in Otto medium-speed engines, flipping from a USD 17/mt discount to LSMGO to a USD 42/mt premium, according to ENGINE. The shift came as LBM in Otto medium-speed engines gained USD 101/mt and LSMGO rose USD 41/mt.

Karnataka plans to develop 1,000 MW of ground-mounted solar photovoltaic capacity integrated with a 2,000 MWh battery energy storage system, according to Construction World. The move comes as electricity demand rises and concerns over water availability intensify.

Separately, U-Solar Clean Energy is advancing a 20 MW ground-mounted open-access solar power project in Vijayapura, Karnataka, according to Electrical India. Commissioning of the project is targeted for September 2026.

Algeria is preparing to send troops to Niger in its first foreign military operation since 1973, according to Ghana Guardian. The deployment would mark the country's first overseas military action since it sent forces to Egypt during the Arab-Israeli war that year.

The soldiers are expected to help secure energy facilities in northern Niger, close to the border with Libya, Ghana Guardian reported.

Separately, Tanzania has discovered an estimated 223 billion cubic feet of natural gas in the Mnazi Bay area in the south of the country, its energy minister announced, according to MarketScreener. The find is Tanzania's first gas discovery in more than 10 years.