Oil rose, snapping a four-day losing streak, as traders assess mounting threats to Russian supply flows, from Ukrainian strikes on its enemy’s energy assets to a potential diesel-export ban. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.8% to settle near $63, the biggest gain since early September. Russia is mulling banning diesel exports for some companies amid a spate of attacks by Ukrainian drones on Moscow’s oil refineries, including two latest overnight attacks on oil pipeline that caused gasoline and diesel futures to spiral on the nation’s key Spimex commodities exchange. “If products are not able to be exported from Russia, there may be a short-term increase in crude exports as they refine less,” said Rebecca Babin, a senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Group. “But that can only last so long before we see shut-ins.” WTI’s prompt spread — the difference between its two closest contracts — closed at its strongest level in about two weeks, reflecting fears of a tightening global supply outlook. Russian flows have been in the spotlight over the past few weeks amid global efforts to pressure Moscow to make peace in Ukraine by targeting its energy assets. Leaders including President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday reiterated calls for Western allies to limit their intake of Moscow’s crude. Capping the rally, Iraq may shortly resume exports via Kurdistan after a two-year halt over a payment dispute. That could see about 230,000 barrels a day return to international markets, according to people familiar with the matter. A rapid return of shuttered barrels by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, as well as increased production from outside the group has prompted market watchers including the International Energy Agency warn that supplies are set to top demand by a record

A tech firm is expanding the possibility of electric-grid forecasting by offering hourly projections of US power demand seven months into the future. That will provide energy traders a new view compared to 15-day weather projections and broad seasonal outlooks.  To do so, Amperon Holdings Inc. is leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to create a range of hourly demand for this extended period that’ll be updated upon the daily release of global weather models created by Europe’s biggest forecasting center, said Sean Kelly, a former power trader who co-founded Amperon in 2018. The firm’s customers will start receiving these forecasts on Wednesday in addition to the typical 15-day outlook Amperon offers.  Predicting electricity usage has become harder in recent years as more extreme storms strain grids. The rise of heat pumps, rooftop solar, batteries and electric vehicles reshapes demand, and the AI boom is poised to cause usage to rocket higher. Demand from data centers will more than double by 2035, increasing its share of total US electricity usage to 8.6% from 3.5% today, according to BloombergNEF.  Utilities and power retailers are eager for greater visibility into weather conditions and changing consumer behavior to hedge against price shocks. Energy speculators are also seeking a financial edge, which advanced forecasting may help them eke out.  “Hourly granularity is what people are really craving,” said Kelly, noting that includes municipalities and all types of utilities and energy traders. “It serves as an insurance policy. They want to keep the lights on for their clients.”  Among power companies using Houston-based Amperon’s forecasts are PG&E Corp., Orsted AS, AES Corp., and Eversource Energy. The company is backed by investors including Energize Capital, HSBC Holdings Plc, National Grid Plc and Tokyo Gas.  Ultimately, the accuracy of the new projections depends on the underlying weather forecasts, Kelly said. Amperon’s models take

 Guido Núñez-Mujica is director of data science at the Anthropocene Institute. As the world doubles down on net-zero targets, carbon markets have become a cornerstone of our global climate response. But their credibility hinges on one critical question: Are we truly valuing all forms of low-carbon energy? Right now, the answer is an emphatic no. And one glaring omission proves it: nuclear power. Despite being the second-largest source of low-carbon electricity on the planet, nuclear energy is still largely excluded from voluntary carbon markets. Major standards like Verra and Gold Standard currently do not allow nuclear projects to generate carbon credits. This omission doesn’t just weaken the integrity of the system: it distorts the entire market. Nuclear power prevents 430 million metric tons of CO2 emissions each year. That’s more than the annual emissions of Japan. Finland reduced their coal use by 70% after their latest nuclear reactor went online. Nuclear plants operate at high capacity, providing reliable baseload power that complements variable renewables like wind and solar. And yet, the enormous climate value of that contribution goes unrewarded — financially and symbolically. To put it in perspective: while wind and solar generation often fluctuate with the weather and time of day, nuclear plants run more than 90% of the time. This makes them a crucial anchor in a clean energy grid — one that allows intermittent renewables to expand without sacrificing reliability or stability and able to replace fossil fuels 24/7. This has serious implications. Around the world, aging nuclear reactors are being decommissioned without adequate replacements. In many cases, they are replaced by fossil fuels. When Germany shut down its nuclear fleet, coal use spiked. In California, emissions rose after San Onofre closed. In New York City, shutting down Indian Point led to such an increase in emissions that the Texas grid is cleaner now

BP Plc is to forgo building a biofuels plant in the Netherlands as the UK energy giant continues to focus its downstream portfolio, following a strategic pivot earlier this year to return to focusing on its core oil and gas business. The decision, confirmed by a company spokesperson on Monday, marks the second Dutch biofuels plant to not move ahead this year, after Shell Plc shelved its facility under construction in favor of shedding low-carbon businesses to boost profitability.  BP hadn’t begun construction of its site in Rotterdam, and previously stopped plans to build biofuels plants at its Kwinana facility in Australia. BP has also paused work at plants in Germany and the US, leaving its Spanish site of Castellon as the possible long-term option for development. Reuters first reported BP scrapping plans to build the Dutch plant. BP has previously said it needs a 15% return on investment on biofuels investments.  The London-based company plans to invest $1.5 billion to $2 billion a year through 2027 on energy transition businesses, down from plans of spending more than $5 billion annually on the transition. WHAT DO YOU THINK? Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

In an oil and gas report sent to Rigzone late Monday by the Macquarie team, strategists at Macquarie, including Walt Chancellor, revealed that they expect U.S. crude and product draws this week. “We are forecasting U.S. crude inventories down 3.3 million barrels for the week ending September 19,” the strategists said in the report. “This follows a 9.3 million barrel draw in the prior week, with the crude balance realizing tighter than our expectations,” the strategists added. “For this week’s balance, from refineries, we model another reduction in crude runs (-0.2 million barrels per day). Among net imports, we model a large increase, with exports modestly lower (-0.3 million barrels per day) and imports higher (+0.6 million barrels per day) on a nominal basis,” they continued. The strategists warned in the report that the timing of cargoes remains a source of potential volatility in this week’s crude balance. “From implied domestic supply (prod.+adj. +transfers), we look for a reduction (-0.2 million barrels per day) on a nominal basis this week. Rounding out the picture, we anticipate a smaller increase (+0.3 million barrels) in SPR [U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve] stocks this week,” the strategists said in the report. The strategists went on to note in the report that, “among products”, they “look for modest draws across the board (gasoline/ distillate/jet -1.3/-0.6/-0.3 million barrels)”. “We model implied demand for these three products at ~14.4 million barrels per day for the week ending September 19,” they strategists added in the report. In its latest weekly petroleum status report at the time of writing, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlighted that U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the SPR, decreased by 9.3 million barrels from the week ending September 5 to the week ending September 12. That EIA report was released

Dive Brief: Construction work will resume “as soon as possible” on the 700-MW Revolution Wind project offshore Rhode Island, joint owner Ørsted said Monday after a judge granted the project a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration’s August stop work order. “Revolution Wind has demonstrated likelihood of success on the merits of its underlying claims,” U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Royce Lamberth said in his Monday ruling. “It is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction … maintaining the status quo by granting the injunction is in the public interest.” Ørsted said the ruling will allow the project to “restart impacted activities while the underlying lawsuit challenging the stop-work order progresses. Revolution Wind will continue to seek to work collaboratively with the U.S. Administration and other stakeholders toward a prompt resolution.” Dive Insight: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is enjoined from imposing the stop work order until the court decides otherwise, Lamberth ruled. Reuters reported Monday that Lamberth said during a hearing that if Revolution Wind “cannot meet benchmark deadlines, the entire project could collapse … There is no doubt in my mind of irreparable harm to the plaintiffs.” Revolution Wind, a subsidiary of Ørsted and a 50/50 joint venture between Ørsted and Global Infrastructure Partners’ Skyborn Renewables, is fully permitted with 80% of its construction done. The project is slated for completion in 2026, at which point it will deliver power to Connecticut and Rhode Island.  The attorneys general for Connecticut and Rhode Island also filed suit against the Trump administration earlier this month, requesting an injunction on the basis that the federal government “arbitrarily reversed course and issued a Stop Work Order without explanation … despite the States’ and others’ deep reliance interests.” BOEM said in its stop work