Sunday, 1 November 2026

Katoen Natie has put two all-electric mobile harbour cranes into service at the Port of Antwerp, according to CleanTechnica. Four more cranes are planned across three deep-sea multipurpose terminals.

The completed fleet will include four 200-tonne cranes and two 150-tonne cranes, according to CleanTechnica. Paired lifting capacity will reach 400 tonnes.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide up to USD 90 million to finance the first phase of Egypt's Dandara solar and battery storage project, according to Ecofin Agency.

That first phase will pair 569 MWp of solar capacity with 100 MWh of battery storage, Ecofin Agency reported.

Separately, Ekurhuleni has started construction on a R360 million solar plant at Springs Fresh Produce Market, according to BusinessTech Africa.

The Springs plant will supply Ekurhuleni's municipal network rather than individual traders directly, and no reduction in traders' tariffs has been announced, BusinessTech Africa reported.

India holds 1.18 million tonnes of thorium oxide identified within 13.15 million tonnes of monazite, according to the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research. A commercially viable domestic thorium fuel cycle could diversify India's fuel options, reduce its exposure to overseas supplies and support reliable low-carbon electricity.

Reaching that point depends on sustained investment in technologies and industrial systems that can convert mineral wealth into affordable power, the Financial Express wrote. India's government acknowledged that thorium molten-salt technology remained immature and that its economics still required demonstration.

The demand backdrop is steep. The International Energy Agency expects India's electricity demand to grow by 6.4% annually during 2026-2030, adding more than 570 TWh to annual consumption.

Nuclear supplies a small share of that total. India's 24 nuclear reactors hold 8.78 GW of capacity and account for about 3.1% of electricity generation.

Separately, a security measure for the energy sector is advancing. More people working in the sector than before will be required to undergo security vetting, according to energate. The Federal Government says the amended Security Vetting Determination Regulation is intended to enhance protection of critical infrastructure.

India's goal of reaching 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030 depends on rapidly expanding long-duration energy storage, according to a report released on Friday. The report points to the anticipated FY28 viability gap funding framework as a critical enabler.

The study, titled 'Long-Duration Energy Storage: Global Outlook and India's Deployment Pathway' and produced by the IESA and CES, identifies the FY28 viability gap funding framework as a key enabler for accelerating long-duration energy storage deployment.

Over eight months in 2025, India curtailed 2.3 TWh of solar energy because of grid and storage constraints, the report said. It framed the curtailment as evidence of the need to improve grid flexibility and capture more renewable generation.

India's Central Electricity Authority projects a battery energy storage system requirement of 34.5 GWh by FY2027.

Brent crude reached USD 111 per barrel in October, according to J.P. Morgan Asset Management. The benchmark climbed 14% over the month and stood 83% higher year-to-date, with refined products rising even more, J.P. Morgan Asset Management reported.

Brent oil futures point to USD 85 per barrel by the end of 2027, according to J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management said a geopolitical risk premium will likely stay embedded in Middle East-linked commodity prices until de-escalation looks durable.

Elementum Energy Ltd won backing for its 57.6-MW Danube wind project in Ukraine's 700-MW wind auction, renewablesnow.com reported.

The Ukraine-based operator priced its offer at EUR 0.0595 per kWh, or USD 0.0666 per kWh.

Nine firms contested 12-year contracts awarded through Ukraine's Feed-in Premium scheme. Under that scheme, generators sell their power on the open market, collect a top-up when prices drop below the bid level, and hand back a share of the gain when prices climb above it.

Run by state-owned JSC Guaranteed Buyer, the tender drew 93 bids worth 1,218 MW, 1.7 times the volume on offer.

Germany's inflation rate eased to 2.8 percent in October after climbing for three consecutive months, according to official data cited by The Star. The decline followed September's rate of 3.3 percent, which the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) described as the highest in nearly three years.

September's spike was driven largely by a sharp rise in energy costs, Destatis said. Energy prices climbed 12.2 percent year-on-year in October, cooling from a 14.9 percent surge the month before.

The slower pace of energy price increases followed temporary fuel tax cuts introduced by the German government on Oct. 1, with the measures set to expire at the end of the year, according to The Star.

TotalEnergies disclosed an USD 891 million write-down against the value of its German wind interests in its latest third-quarter results, according to Recharge.

Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne said some of the group's German concessions currently had no viable path to monetise them profitably for the company and its customers, Recharge reported.

Pouyanne described merchant offshore wind in Germany as a challenge, citing higher costs across the industry and grid connection delays.

Chevron Corp. reported third-quarter profit of USD 9.92 billion, according to a Q3 earnings snapshot carried by the Weatherford Democrat.

The Houston-based company said profit came to USD 5.06 per share. Adjusted for pretax expenses, earnings were USD 5.28 per share.

Chevron posted revenue of USD 67.8 billion in the period, which topped Wall Street forecasts.

Two whistleblower reports allege attempted manipulation of the world's benchmark tanker rate, filed with the Baltic Exchange since the war in Iran began, Bloomberg and gCaptain reported.

One report targeted Mercuria along with a second company it did not name, drawn from the Baltic's written opening arguments and a witness statement by its head of compliance. The Baltic's inquiry into that report found no evidence the benchmark had been manipulated.

The other report, aimed at a different company that was also left unnamed, remains open, the Baltic's filings showed.

Lawyers for Mercuria said in written opening arguments that the firm "strongly and categorically rejects any allegation of wrongdoing".

Masdar signed a memorandum of understanding with Invest New Zealand to explore investments of up to NZD 1 billion, or USD 585 million, in solar PV, wind power and battery storage projects in New Zealand, according to Energetica India.

The agreement establishes a framework to identify, develop and advance renewable energy opportunities in the country, Energetica India reported.

The MoU does not name individual projects, locations, generation capacities or how the investment would be split across solar, wind and battery storage, according to Energetica India. The parties have not disclosed a development timeline or confirmed whether the agreement is legally binding.

Soaring tanker freight rates are adding billions of dollars in shipping-related liabilities for the world's oil majors, squeezing refining margins and producing losses on trading positions, according to Splash247.

Shell plc disclosed a non-cash USD 5.4 billion increase in its shipping lease liabilities during the third quarter, according to Splash247. The rise reflects higher tanker rates since the outbreak of the Middle East conflict.

The higher freight costs have fed through to squeezed refining margins and trading losses across the sector, per Splash247.

Greenpeace said TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanné saw his holding appreciate by nearly GBP 8.4 million during the conflict. According to Greenpeace, Pouyanné sold around GBP 3.1 million in shares and savings one month after the war began.

Pakistan received its third liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo from Qatar this month, according to ProPakistani.

The vessel Shandong Redwood arrived on October 28 and berthed at the Engro Elengy LNG terminal, ProPakistani reported. The cargo was priced at 13.37 percent of Brent.

The two earlier cargoes arrived before it, according to ProPakistani. The first, Al-Areesh, reached Pakistan on October 13. The second, Ejnan, arrived on October 21 and berthed at the Pakistan GasPort Limited (PGPL) terminal for regasification.

A review published in the journal Catal argues that graph neural networks (GNNs), a branch of artificial intelligence, are reshaping electrocatalyst design by learning material properties directly from atomic structure.

The review describes GNNs as representing molecules or crystals as graphs, with atoms treated as vertices and chemical bonds or spatial proximity relationships treated as edges, an approach that avoids manual feature engineering. Through message passing, the models learn topological and geometric features, capturing atomic-scale connectivity along with distance and angular relationships, without that manual step.

According to the review, preserving topological integrity gives GNNs an advantage over traditional methods, which compress three-dimensional structures into fixed-length descriptor vectors and sacrifice spatial fidelity.

Coal India's coal stocks fell nearly 49% in the six months to September as the state-run miner supplied more coal than it produced, according to The Economic Times.

Offtake rose 7.6% while production declined 2.5% in the first half of FY27, the report said.

The drawdown amounts to a reduction of 63.70 million tonnes over the six-month period.

Representatives from Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan met in Istanbul to discuss the Kambarata-1 Hydropower Plant Project, with support from the World Bank, according to Event Registry.

Participants reviewed the next implementation steps for the planned 1,860 MW Kambarata HPP-1, which is to be built on the Naryn River in the Kyrgyz Republic.

The project is being implemented jointly by the governments of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

The parties examined key technical aspects of the project and exchanged views on future collaboration and cooperation in the water and energy sector, according to Event Registry.

At least 100 pupils were reportedly hospitalised after a gas odour spread through three communities in Ogun State, according to The Nation. The odour caused respiratory and related health problems for residents.

The incident was the fourth of its kind within seven months, The Nation reported.

Kehinde Bello, an Ogun State official, linked the latest pollution to underground gas emissions previously reported in the area. The state government attributed the phenomenon to emissions from geological and tectonic fault lines rather than sabotage or a gas pipeline leak.

The annual failure rate of lithium-ion battery energy storage systems fell 98% globally between 2018 and 2025, according to a report by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).

EPRI calculated the rate by analyzing incidents per GWh deployed globally.

In 2025, 24 incidents were recorded across 634 GWh of cumulative deployed capacity, according to the report. That compares with 26 incidents across 343 GWh in 2024.

EPRI attributed the decline to improvements in system design, manufacturing, battery management and safety regulations.

Seven bodies have been recovered after a community boat capsized during a protest tied to the blockade of the Anambra Basin offshore vessel in Kula Kingdom, Rivers State, according to EnviroNews.

The incident occurred on October 20, 2026, during a protest reportedly linked to grievances over an unresolved oil spill and the blockade of the Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) vessel, according to ThisDay.

HOMEF called for a shift away from an extractive economic model that prioritises oil production and commercial interests over people, community welfare and environmental protection, according to EnviroNews.

The Ijaw Youth Council demanded the investigation and prosecution of anyone found culpable in the incident, including those responsible for the operations of the vessel and two tugboats reportedly involved, according to ThisDay.

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has called for affordable financing, better gas distribution infrastructure and consistent energy policies to help small businesses in Nigeria lower operating costs.

LCCI President Leye Kupoluyi urged the Nigerian government, development finance institutions, commercial banks and private investors to establish clean-energy financing schemes offering low-interest loans to small and medium-sized enterprises.