Friday, 30 October 2026

Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) has wrapped up a two-well appraisal campaign in the UK North Sea, according to World Oil. The CO2 transport and storage venture backed by BP, Equinor and TotalEnergies ran the work over a year beneath the UK Southern North Sea.

The campaign drilled the C43/30-2 and C44/27-3 appraisal wells, paired with geophysical surveys, environmental assessments and offshore studies across storage licences CS006 and CS007, according to World Oil.

NEP said the drilling sharpened its reading of the deep geological formations beneath the seabed and their fit for long-term, secure CO2 storage.

Third-quarter output at Petrobras averaged 3.512 MMboed across oil, NGL and natural gas, a quarterly high for the company, World Oil reported.

That total was 5.3% above the second-quarter figure. Measured against the same period a year earlier, volumes were up 11.7%.

Several operational factors drove the result, according to World Oil: production efficiency reached its best level in eight years, the P-78 and P-79 FPSOs at Búzios scaled up, FPSO Alexandre de Gusmão hit peak output at Mero, and maintenance-related losses fell.

U.S. Senate leaders plan an initial vote in less than two weeks on a permitting reform bill meant to ease regulatory barriers that can delay energy projects, according to Inside Climate News.

Four Senate Democrats told the bill's co-sponsors in a letter that they doubt President Donald Trump's administration can be trusted to follow through on promises made during negotiations, Inside Climate News reported.

The four senators threatened to oppose a motion to proceed to debate at the vote scheduled for Nov. 9 unless the administration reinstates all canceled awards and commits in writing to stop basing grant decisions on the political affiliation of a state's elected officials.

Some of the country's leading environmental groups are increasing their opposition to the measure as the vote nears, arguing that it would do more harm than good, according to Inside Climate News.

The initial vote is set to take place in less than two weeks.

Carigali-PTTEPI Operating Co. awarded Energy Drilling a 30-month contract for Phase 7 drilling in the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area, according to Offshore Magazine. The deal is valued at about USD 87 million.

The contract keeps Energy Drilling's T-16 tender-assist rig active in the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area through at least early 2030, Offshore Magazine reported.

Ford wants utilities to help make bidirectional EV charging cheaper for everyone, according to CleanTechnica.

The Ford Fathom electric pickup truck carries a built-in inverter for bidirectional EV charging, CleanTechnica reported. The vehicle is still under camouflage, and Ford is promoting the inverter feature ahead of a full reveal.

Tullow Ghana has awarded DeepOcean a contract for a riser retermination project at the Jubilee field offshore Ghana, according to World Oil.

The work concerns a gas-lift riser linking the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah to the Jubilee Field subsea production system, Offshore Magazine reported. DeepOcean's scope covers project management, engineering, riser disconnection, deck-side retermination, reconnection and pre-commissioning, according to World Oil.

Offshore work is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2026.

Toyota sold 309,766 battery electric vehicles globally, including Lexus, in the first nine months of 2026, according to Electrek. That figure represents a 127.4% rise from the same period in 2025.

The gains in electric vehicles came alongside a slide in overall sales. According to Electrek, slumping demand for gasoline and hybrid vehicles in China pushed Toyota's global sales lower for three consecutive months.

In China, Toyota sold just over 1.05 million vehicles in the first nine months of 2026, down 18.9% from the same period a year earlier, Electrek reported.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) runs the Geothermal Data Repository (GDR), an open-access platform holding data from geothermal research, development, and operations, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

As of mid-2026, the repository had logged about 60 million total downloads, 1,400 datasets, and 145 data providers, Oil & Gas Journal reported.

The platform supports US district geothermal pilots and holds a data lake covering all DOE-funded geothermal projects, according to the outlet. It also provides analyses of all US geothermal play fairways and facilitates an enhanced geothermal system (EGS) collaboration.

Data curators review the metadata submitted with each dataset for accuracy, completeness, and relevance, Oil & Gas Journal reported.

Borr Drilling's Prospector 5 jackup drilling rig sank off the coast of Mayumba, Gabon, on October 24, 2026, during jacking and preload operations, according to Offshore Magazine.

In an October 26 statement, Borr Drilling said five personnel remained unaccounted for, with no fatalities confirmed.

Preliminary information from Borr Drilling points to a punch-through event, in which one of the rig's legs penetrated the seabed during preload activities, according to Offshore Magazine. That led to a loss of stability and the sinking of the rig.

BW Energy confirmed the incident and said production at the MaBoMo offshore facility was shut down under standard procedures for drilling preparations, per Offshore Magazine. BW Energy reported no damage to the facility or related equipment and no accidental discharge of harmful substances into the sea.

SEG Solar signed a land agreement for a planned heterojunction (HJT) solar cell production plant in Texas, according to Solar Builder.

The facility will form part of the company's Tomball Industrial Campus in the greater Houston area, Solar Builder reported.

Solar Builder put the anticipated cost at USD 950 million, with annual capacity of up to 4 GW of HJT panels and other products.

SEG Solar expects the module plant to start commercial operation in two phases, targeted for 2028 and 2029, according to Solar Builder.

An Post and DHL Express Ireland are taking part in a project that links EV fleet depots directly to Ireland's electricity flexibility markets, according to electrive. The connection lets operators adjust charging demand in response to grid conditions and potentially earn new revenue.

The pilot covers three An Post sites in Cork and Galway and one DHL Express site in Dublin, electrive reported.

Across those depots, the participating fleet comprises 211 EVs and 181 charging points, with up to 500 kW of flexible electricity demand, according to electrive.

VIOTAS will enable the depots to take part in EirGrid's electricity flexibility markets, electrive reported.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has finalized a $5.1 billion federally guaranteed loan for two Alliant Energy utilities operating in Iowa and Wisconsin, Power Magazine reported.

The financing lowers borrowing costs as the utilities build out gas-fired generation, battery storage, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage, while also covering upgrades to power plants already running in both states, according to Power Magazine.

Researchers in China tested gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO) as an indium-free transparent conductive oxide (TCO) for silicon heterojunction (HJT) solar cells, according to pv magazine.

Applied as TCO electrodes in the HJT cells, the optimized GZO films delivered a conversion efficiency of 24.92%, pv magazine reported.

That result trailed a reference HJT cell built with double-sided indium-based transparent electrodes by 0.68%, according to pv magazine.

The UK government has confirmed GBP 100 million to reduce charging bills for drivers who rely on lower-powered public chargers close to home, electrive reported, aimed mainly at those without off-street parking.

Spending will run across two years from spring 2027, according to electrive.

The grant covers chargers on residential streets where vehicles can be left to charge over several hours or overnight, a UK Treasury statement said. The Treasury put the expected benefit at roughly GBP 150 a year for affected drivers, according to electrive.

First Solar opened a 1.7 GW thin-film module plant in South Carolina, bringing the final production steps for its Series 6 Plus modules onto US soil after initial manufacturing at international facilities.

The Gaffney facility completes production of modules initiated at the company's overseas sites, according to pv magazine. Annual capacity at the plant is set to rise from 1.7 GW to 3.4 GW by mid-2027.

First Solar expects the two-phase plant to support 700 jobs once at full operation, according to solar builder.

Shell plc reported third-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of USD 10.81 billion, up from USD 9.84 billion in the second quarter and USD 5.43 billion a year earlier, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

The increase came as record refining margins and stronger Integrated Gas results offset lower upstream earnings, the publication reported.

Chemicals & Products adjusted earnings rose to USD 3.86 billion from USD 2.88 billion in the second quarter, driven by the record refining margins, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

Integrated Gas adjusted earnings increased to USD 3.04 billion from USD 2.69 billion, supported by higher realized prices and increased production.

TPG rolled out a USD 10 billion climate fund, according to Semafor Net Zero. The fund, Rise Climate II, invests in companies in clean power, energy services and technology, low-carbon transportation, and industrial decarbonization across the US and Europe, as well as emerging markets in South Asia and elsewhere.

A subset of the new fund focused on the developing world included USD 1.5 billion from the UAE's ALTÉRRA, Semafor Net Zero reported.

In some cases, investments from that developing-world-focused portion drew in 50 times more capital from other sources, according to Jim Coulter.

Brent crude settled down USD 1.93, or 1.6%, at USD 113.88 a barrel on Tuesday, according to ship and bunker trade publication Ship & Bunker.

West Texas Intermediate settled down USD 1.86, or 1.8%, at USD 99.90 a barrel on the same day, according to Ship & Bunker.

The Commons public accounts committee described Sizewell C's financing arrangements as a "terrible deal for the UK taxpayer" and called for six-monthly reports on the project's costs, construction progress and forecast investor returns, according to Construction News.

Under the deal, the cost of building the plant could reach a higher threshold of GBP 47.7 billion, Construction News reported.

The committee warned that consumers would pay higher bills if costs rise above the baseline, while private investors would face little risk to their capital yet still expect high returns. It said these arrangements made annual investor returns above 10% difficult to justify and raised concerns about whether investor incentives were strong enough to promote efficient delivery.