WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright renewed an emergency order to address critical grid reliability issues facing the Midwestern region of the United States. The emergency order directs the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), in coordination with Consumers Energy, to ensure that the J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant (Campbell Plant) in West Olive, Michigan shall take all steps necessary to remain available to operate and to employ economic dispatch to minimize costs for the American people. The Campbell Plant was originally scheduled to shut down on May 31, 2025 — 15 years before the end of its scheduled design life. “The energy sources that perform when you need them most are inherently the most valuable—that’s why beautiful, clean coal was the MVP of recent winter storms,” Secretary Wright said. “Hundreds of American lives have likely been saved because of President Trump’s actions saving America’s coal plants, including this Michigan coal plant which ran daily during Winter Storm Fern. This emergency order will mitigate the risk of blackouts and maintain affordable, reliable, and secure electricity access across the region.” The Campbell Plant was integral in stabilizing the grid during the recent winter storms. The plant operated at over 650 megawatts every day before and during Winter Storm Fern, January 21-February 1, proving that allowing it to cease operations would needlessly contribute to grid fragility. Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, coal plants across the country are reversing plans to shut down. In 2025, more than 17 gigawatts of coal-powered electricity generation were saved ahead of Winter Storm Fern. Since the Department of Energy’s (DOE) original order issued on May 23, the Campbell Plant has proven critical to MISO’s operations, operating regularly during periods of high energy demand and low levels of intermittent energy production. Subsequent orders were issued on August 20, 2025 and November 18, 2025. As outlined in DOE’s Resource

In a U.S. natural gas focused EBW Analytics Group report sent to Rigzone by the EBW team on Friday, Eli Rubin, an energy analyst at the company, warned of “faltering demand” heading into the President’s Day holiday weekend. “The March contract tested as high as $3.316 yesterday before selling off after a bearish EIA [U.S. Energy Information Administration] storage surprise, and ahead of deteriorating heating demand into President’s Day holiday weekend and an 11 billion cubic foot per day drop into next Wednesday,” Rubin said in Friday’s report. “The threat of cold air in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest moving into the U.S. remains a primary source of support,” he added. “If the market returns from the holiday weekend without this threat materializing, however, sub-$3.00 per million British thermal units may be in play as the year over year storage deficit flips to a 170 billion cubic foot surplus by late February,” he continued. In the report, Rubin went on to state that “steep storage refill demand east of the Rockies and loose supply/demand fundamentals during recent Marches may offer some medium-term support”. He added, however, that “storage exiting March near 1,800 billion cubic feet, with gathering production tailwinds and decelerating year over year LNG growth into mid to late 2026, suggest a bearish outlook for NYMEX gas futures”. In its latest weekly natural gas storage report, which was released on February 12 and included data for the week ending February 6, the EIA revealed that, according to its estimates, working gas in storage was 2,214 billion cubic feet as of February 6. “This represents a net decrease of 249 billion cubic feet from the previous week,” the EIA highlighted in the report. “Stocks were 97 billion cubic feet less than last year at this time and 130 billion

North America dropped six rigs week on week, according to Baker Hughes’ latest North America rotary rig count, which was published on February 13. The total U.S. rig count remained unchanged week on week and the total Canada rig count dropped by six during the same period, pushing the total North America rig count down to 773, comprising 551 rigs from the U.S. and 222 rigs from Canada, the count outlined. Of the total U.S. rig count of 551, 531 rigs are categorized as land rigs, 17 are categorized as offshore rigs, and three are categorized as inland water rigs. The total U.S. rig count is made up of 409 oil rigs, 133 gas rigs, and nine miscellaneous rigs, according to Baker Hughes’ count, which revealed that the U.S. total comprises 481 horizontal rigs, 57 directional rigs, and 13 vertical rigs. Week on week, the U.S. land rig count dropped by one, its offshore rig count rose by one, and its inland water rig count remained unchanged, Baker Hughes highlighted. The U.S. oil rig count decreased by three week on week, while its gas rig count increased by three and its miscellaneous rig count remained unchanged, the count showed. The U.S. horizontal rig count dropped by two week on week, its directional rig count rose by two week on week, and its vertical rig count remained flat during the same period, the count revealed. A major state variances subcategory included in the rig count showed that, week on week, Texas dropped three rigs, Oklahoma and North Dakota each dropped one rig, Louisiana added two rigs, and New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming each added one rig. A major basin variances subcategory included in the rig count showed that, week on week, the Permian basin dropped three rigs, the Williston basin dropped

Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco) has signed a 20-year agreement to buy one million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) of liquefied natural gas from the under-development Commonwealth LNG in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. “Commonwealth is advancing toward a final investment decision with line of sight to secure its remaining capacity”, said a joint statement by the offtake parties. “Aramco Trading joins Glencore, JERA, PETRONAS, Mercuria and EQT among international energy companies entering into long-term offtake contracts with the platform”. Early this month Commonwealth announced a 20-year deal to supply one MMtpa to Geneva, Switzerland-based energy and commodities trader Mercuria. Commonwealth LNG is a project of Kimmeridge Energy Management Co LLC and Mubadala Investment Co through their joint venture Caturus HoldCo LLC. Expected to start operation 2030, Commonwealth LNG is designed to produce up to 9.5 million metric tons a year of LNG. “This agreement highlights the strong international demand for U.S. LNG and underscores how our longstanding relationships and capabilities position Caturus to serve global markets”, said Caturus chief executive David Lawler. “Our contract with Aramco Trading underscores the differentiated value Caturus can bring through our global reach in offering wellhead to water services”, Lawler added. Mohammed K. Al Mulhim, Aramco Trading president and CEO, said, “This agreement reflects Aramco Trading’s efforts to secure a reliable, long-term energy supply for global markets while strengthening our presence in the LNG sector”. The Gulf Coast project is permitted to ship up to 9.5 MMtpa of LNG, equivalent to around 1.21 billion cubic feet per day of gas according to Kimmeridge. The United States Energy Department granted the project authorization to export to countries without a free trade agreement (FTA) with the U.S. in August 2025 and FTA authorization in April 2020. The developers expect the first phase of the project to generate around

Enbridge Inc has reported CAD 1.95 billion ($1.43 billion) in earnings and CAD 1.92 billion in adjusted earnings for the fourth quarter of 2025, up from CAD 493 million and CAD 1.64 billion for the same three-month period in 2024 respectively. Q4 2025 income per share of CAD 0.88 ($0.63), adjusted for extraordinary items, beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.6. Calgary-based Enbridge, which operates oil and gas pipelines in Canada and the United States, earlier bumped up its quarterly dividend by three percent against the prior rate to CAD 0.97. The annualized rate for 2026 is CAD 3.88 per share. Q4 2025 adjusted EBITDA rose 1.62 percent year-on-year to CAD 5.21 billion “due primarily to favorable gas transmission contracting and Venice Extension entering service, colder weather and higher rates and customer growth at Enbridge Gas Ontario, partially offset by the absence in 2025 of equity earnings related to investment tax credits from our investment in Fox Squirrel Solar”, Enbridge said in an online statement. United States gas transmission contributed CAD 997 million to segment adjusted EBITDA, down from CAD 1 billion for Q4 2024. The U.S. figure benefited from the startup of the Venice Extension Project, which expands the Texas Eastern system’s capacity to deliver gas to Gulf Coast markets, and Enbridge’s acquisition of a stake in the Matterhorn Express Pipeline. Enbridge also recognized “favorable contracting and successful rate case settlements on our U.S. Gas Transmission assets”, partially offset by the timing of operating costs. Adjusted EBITDA from Canadian gas transmission increased from CAD 157 million for Q4 2024 to CAD 190 million for Q4 2025, helped by “higher revenues at Aitken Creek due to favorable storage spreads”. Liquid pipelines logged CAD 2.45 billion in adjusted EBITDA, up from CAD 2.4 billion for Q4 2024. The Mainline System, which carries

Focus at the London International Energy Week (IEW) last week was the balancing of geopolitics versus assessed surplus of oil globally in 2026. That’s what Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (SEB) Chief Commodities Analyst Bjarne Schieldrop noted in a SEB report sent to Rigzone on Monday morning, adding that one delegate at the event stated that “if OPEC doesn’t cut, we’ll have $45 per barrel in June”. “That may be true,” Schieldrop said in the report. “But OPEC+ is meeting every month, taking a measure of the state of the global oil market and then decides what to do on the back of that. The group has been very explicit that they may cut, increase, or keep production steady depending on their findings,” he added. “We believe they will and thus we do not buy into $45 per barrel by June because, if need-be, they will trim production as they say they will,” he continued, pointing out that OPEC+ is next scheduled to meet on March 1 “to discuss production for April”. Schieldrop highlighted in the report that, in its February oil market report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) “restated its view that the world will only need 25.7 million barrels per day of crude from OPEC in 2026 versus a recent production by the group of 28.8 million barrels per day”. “I.e. that to keep the market balanced the group will need to cut production by some three million barrels per day,” he said. “Though strategic stock building around the world needs to be deducted from that. And the appetite for such stock building could be solid given elevated geopolitical risks. Thus what will flow to commercial stocks in the end remains to be seen,” he stated. Schieldrop went on to note in the report that increased Iranian tension could drive Brent