Wednesday, 4 November 2026

Vedanta Oil and Gas Ltd. (VOGL) has selected Kent-owned Exceed to manage an exploration and appraisal campaign targeting the KG-DWHP-2017/1 deepwater block in India's Krishna-Godavari Basin, World Oil reported.

The block holds four gas discoveries already confirmed, along with additional prospects spread across water depths of about 600 to 2,000 meters.

Exceed will handle subsurface work, well planning, and drilling operations for the campaign.

Vedanta plans to begin a multiwell drilling program early next year.

Serica Energy has contracted the Odfjell Drilling-operated semisubmersible Beacon Pacific for a multi-well drilling campaign across the UK North Sea and west of Shetland, according to Offshore Magazine.

In the northern Norwegian North Sea, Aker BP awarded Subsea7 a contract to support development of the Lyra oil field, Offshore Magazine reported.

Kistos entered the planned Abbey and Baker gas project in the North Sea, according to Offshore Magazine.

Offshore workers represented by Unite expanded strike action on Apache's North Sea-operated facilities, Offshore Magazine reported.

Shell plc is expected to drill the Trailblazer prospect in the US Gulf of Mexico during the first half of 2027, targeting an estimated 200 million barrels of oil equivalent, according to Offshore Magazine.

The well would be the first exploration effort for the Shell-Kosmos Energy partnership, which was formed earlier this year, Offshore Magazine reported.

Should Trailblazer yield a commercial discovery, Kosmos Energy would serve as the designated development operator, and the project would likely be tied back to Shell's Appomattox platform, according to Offshore Magazine.

Pennsylvania is channeling USD 37 million in federal NEVI funding toward 515 new public EV charging ports across the Philadelphia region, including curbside chargers, according to Electrek.

The awards cover Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties, Electrek reported.

PennDOT said the projects will expand public charging availability by 27% across the region and by 53% in Philadelphia itself.

Among the recipients, It's Electric PA received USD 2.93 million for 157 on-street charging ports spread across 13 Philadelphia neighborhoods, according to Electrek.

Diamondback is shifting to full-field development of its Barnett holdings, according to Oil & Gas Journal. CEO Van't Hof told analysts that falling costs on the acreage are turning what had been a geologic success into meaningful value.

Diamondback executives unveiled a 200,000-acre Barnett position in February and have since added 24,000 net acres, Oil & Gas Journal reported. Van't Hof said on Nov. 3 that plans now call for developing up to five sections in the Barnett by the end of February.

Fugro will carry out seabed investigations, target identification, and potential unexploded ordnance (UXO) disposal along future HVDC export cable routes connecting offshore wind capacity to Germany's power grid, according to Offshore Magazine.

The work supports the LanWin3 and LanWin6 projects, which will provide a combined 4 GW of transmission capacity in the North Sea, the publication reported.

Fugro plans to deploy two Geowing fixed magnetic gradiometer array systems, each equipped with 10 magnetic sensors, to detect potential UXO and other objects on or beneath the seafloor.

A follow-up phase is planned for 2028, when ROV technology and other detection systems will be used to inspect and identify selected targets, according to Offshore Magazine.

Aghorn pleaded guilty to negligent endangerment and willful violation of safety laws and paid a USD 1 million fine, according to Inside Climate News. As part of the plea deal, the company admitted that its failure to implement workplace protections caused Jacob Dean's death.

Federal prosecutors documented a pattern of chronic leaks and unsafe practices at Aghorn that continued for years after the Deans died, Inside Climate News reported. Investigators returned twice to the site and continued to find gas leaking.

Texas's TCEQ resolved a separate complaint over an Aghorn leak without imposing a penalty after the company patched it, records show, according to Inside Climate News.

California startup Voya Energy raised USD 35 million in a financing round announced in August 2026 for generators that use prepared scrap aluminum, air, and water to produce electricity without combustion, according to CleanTechnica.

The company's immediate target is replacing diesel backup equipment at data centres, where exhaust, noise, and permitting can pose obstacles, CleanTechnica reported.

XRG, ADNOC's international investment company, agreed to acquire Shell Australia's 16.67% interest in the Woodside Energy-operated North West Shelf project in Western Australia for USD 1.45 billion plus a milestone-linked contingent payment, Oil & Gas Journal reported.

The deal covers associated upstream interests as well as pipeline and midstream infrastructure.

XRG said the transaction is its first investment in Australian Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and supports its strategy to expand its international gas portfolio and establish a position closer to Asia-Pacific demand growth, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

The transaction is expected to close in 2027, subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals.

South Korean authorities have sent 80 Tesla owners to prosecutors on suspicion of deploying unauthorised hardware to enable the carmaker's Full Self-Driving system in vehicles where the feature lacks approval, electrive reported.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's traffic crime investigation unit confiscated 21 such activation devices. Some suspects allegedly imported the equipment from abroad; others fabricated their own tools to circumvent Tesla's regional software locks.

Enabling Full Self-Driving without authorisation breaches South Korea's Motor Vehicle Management Act, which bars unapproved alterations to vehicle software. Penalties reach up to two years' imprisonment or a fine of up to 20 million won, approximately EUR 12,000.

Hanwha Q Cells plans to refocus its European operations on research and development, cutting jobs in sales and business development while expanding its R&D workforce in Germany, according to pv magazine.

The company denied rumors of a European market exit. "Q-Cells is not ceasing its operations in Europe," a company representative said, as reported by pv magazine.

The restructuring narrows the company's European footprint to technology development rather than commercial activity, trading sales headcount for R&D positions concentrated in Germany.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) estimated that Alaska's North Slope holds a mean 96 tcf of technically recoverable, undiscovered conventional natural gas resources, according to Oil & Gas Journal. The figure is nearly three times the roughly 35 tcf of proven gas reserves already identified in the region.

The USGS calculated a probability range spanning 17.3 tcf at the F95 level to 276.7 tcf at the F5 level, according to the journal.

The assessment addresses technically recoverable resources, not volumes that could be produced economically, Oil & Gas Journal reported.

The Africa Energy Bank (AEB) officially launched this week to finance oil and gas projects across the continent, according to Climate Home News. The bank's arrival follows repeated delays; it was originally expected to begin operations in January 2025.

The AEB is a joint initiative of the African Petroleum Producers' Organization (APPO) and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Climate Home News reported. The institution said it had authorised capital of USD 5 billion, though it did not disclose how much shareholders had subscribed or paid in.

The launch comes as global lenders retreat from oil and gas investments due to climate concerns, creating a financing gap the bank aims to fill.

Solar photovoltaic generation reduced Spain's wholesale electricity costs by an estimated EUR 17.02 billion between January 2025 and June 2026, according to Spanish PV association UNEF, as reported by pv magazine.

Without solar output, average day-ahead electricity prices would have been 86% higher, UNEF estimates. The recorded average price stood at EUR 60.2/MWh; absent solar, it would have reached EUR 112/MWh, according to the association.

Utility-scale PV accounted for EUR 14.23 billion of the estimated savings, while residential and commercial self-consumption contributed EUR 2.79 billion, pv magazine reported.

The wholesale cost reductions do not translate directly into equivalent savings on consumers' electricity bills, the report noted.

Nuclea Energy and NorthStrive Acquisition Corp I have signed a definitive business combination agreement that would take Nuclea public if completed, according to a GlobeNewswire release carried by multiple outlets.

The deal implies an enterprise value of USD 350 million for Nuclea, subject to adjustments at closing. NorthStrive Acquisition Corp I, a special purpose acquisition company listed on Nasdaq under the tickers NSAI, NSAIU, NSAIW, and NSAIR, is expected to be renamed Nuclea-X Inc. and continue trading on Nasdaq once the transaction closes.

Closing is expected in the first half of 2027. Nuclea describes itself as a company developing advanced nuclear technologies.

Gold Hydrogen completed natural hydrogen flow testing at its Ramsay 3 well on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula after successfully flowing and separating natural hydrogen, according to gasworld.

Appraisal testing at the Ramsay Project indicated potential natural hydrogen production of approximately 100 kg per day per well, Fuel Cells Works reported. Assuming continuous production at that rate, output would reach approximately 36.5 tonnes of natural hydrogen annually per well, according to Fuel Cells Works.

The company recorded air-corrected natural hydrogen purity of up to 97% at Ramsay 3 during drilling, gasworld reported.

Waaree Renewable Technologies received a Letter of Award for turnkey execution of a 450 MWp solar power project in Bikaner district, Rajasthan, according to Construction World. The contract was awarded by a domestic independent power producer.

Separately, the company signed a five-year operations and maintenance agreement for a 360 MWp solar power project, according to Trade Brains, which reported that Waaree Renewable Technologies disclosed the deal to stock exchanges on November 1, 2026.