Haventus has commissioned Emtec Utility Services to deliver electrical infrastructure for its Ardersier Port energy transition facility. Emtec will work with building materials merchant PDM to supply cable protection systems, electric cable ducting coils and detectable warning tapes, amongst other specialist solutions. PDM has started on-site deliveries to Emtec, which will carry out Phase One at Ardersier Port throughout 2025. It is hoped that this will be extended on future phases of the project. The Ardersier Port energy transition facility in the Moray Firth is being developed as a nationally significant infrastructure facility to support the offshore wind industry. Emtec Utility Services managing director Josh Martin said: “We chose to partner with PDM on this significant infrastructure project for several reasons. The team’s geographical footprint across Scotland and levels of stock held were important – not least of all as there’s a branch in Inverness nearby to Ardersier Port. The wider access to other parts of the Huws Gray group of companies further supported this. “The strength of our relationship with PDM is also really important. We can be assured that they provide sound guidance on the most appropriate product to use and are always quick to find solutions for us.” Haventus previously received a £100 million joint credit facility from the Scottish National Investment Bank and UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) to develop its Ardersier Port facility. Having served the oil and gas industry since the 70s and 80s the original facility closed its doors in 2001. Now Ardersier is being redeveloped to captialise on the 28GW ScotWind projects and the UK’s wider ambition of 50GW of offshore wind by 2030. Work on the facility is scheduled for completion this year. Speaking on behalf of PDM, managing director Eddie Hernon added: “There is a growing urgency to move away from

UK Oil & Gas (AIM:UKOG) has raised funds to push the development of its South Dorset hydrogen storage project as it eyes bidding into the UK’s first hydrogen allocation round. The group brought in £400,431 through a private placing of new shares worth 0.0102 pence each to a small number of professional investors. The placing follows UK Oil & Gas’s recent meetings with representatives of the UK government’s Hydrogen Storage Business Model (HSBM) team in recent months. In addition to developing the South Dorset project, the funds will help the company participate in the first HSBM Procurement Round, scheduled for later this year. The company recently received a preliminary project design the underground hydrogen storage facility located west of Weymouth in Dorset. The hydrogen will be stored in 24 salt caverns at a depth of around 1,330m below the surface, with the capacity to hold 1.01bcm of hydrogen. The site lies near the planned H2 Connect hydrogen trunk pipeline, designed to connect South Dorset to the UK hydrogen transmission pipeline system and the main hydrogen clusters in the South, East Coast and Northwest. The funds will help create a conceptual design and the preliminary metrics of a joint venture green hydrogen generation and import project at the nearby deepwater Portland Port. This will provide import capacity for Middle Eastern green hydrogen carrier fluids and associated material green hydrogen production for transmission into the South Dorset storage site and onwards to the wider UK via SGN’s H2 Connect pipeline. Additionally, UK Oil & Gas is continuing discussions with several energy infrastructure investors regarding joint venture participation in its South Dorset and Yorkshire projects. UKOG chief executive Stephen Sanderson commented: “These funds are aimed squarely at strengthening the company’s ability to make a competitive bid for government revenue support in the forthcoming

Cargill Inc. has joined forces with shipping company Hafnia to launch a joint venture named Seascale Energy, which initially represents 7.5 million metric tons in bunkering volume. According to a joint media release, the two companies will combine Cargill’s existing bunker business Pure Marine Fuels and Hafnia’s Bunker Alliance. The joint venture will combine the strengths of two global players to provide enhanced cost efficiencies, transparency, and access to sustainable fuel innovations, the two companies said. By consolidating bunker purchasing, it ensures competitive pricing and tailored solutions, backed by a global port network for consistent, high-quality fuel supply, they said. “Cargill and Hafnia’s global reach and trading strength, coupled with maritime operational excellence, create a first-class solution for bunker management”, Jan Dieleman, President of Cargill’s Ocean Transportation business, said. “Our vision is to lead the energy transition in shipping, unlocking value for our stakeholders while addressing industry challenges around transparency, quality, and decarbonization. Together, we are shaping a more sustainable future for marine fuel procurement”. The companies said the collaboration provides shipowners and charterers enhanced visibility and scale, allowing them to obtain favorable agreements and assess performance. Customized procurement services will lower internal expenses, allowing clients to redirect resources toward their primary operations, they said. “Seascale Energy represents our shared vision to simplify and innovate the increasing complexities in the bunkering segment”, Hafnia CEO Mikael Skov said. “As one of the largest services of its kind, led by two large-scale fuel users, we are committed to improving efficiency and addressing industry challenges to benefit our stakeholders across the maritime sector”. Seascale Energy will leverage data-driven insights for optimized decision-making and expertise in evolving fuel regulations, the companies said. It will have two CEOs in Olivier Josse and Peter Grünwaldt. Business operations are set to begin in the second quarter of

Industry partners have launched a pioneering trial to capture carbon pollution from a paper mill in North Ayrshire and use it to make household detergents. The Caledonian papermill owned by Helsinki forest giant UPM is part of an Innovate UK-funded collaboration of 17 organisations in one of Scotland’s first carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) projects. Carbon dioxide from the plant has started being captured using technology developed by Scottish tech start-up, CCU International (CCUI). Batches of CO2 are then sent to researchers at the University of Sheffield, where they begin the next stage of the process to be converted into ingredients for household detergents. Just over 5% of the world’s fossil fuel is currently used to make plastics, textiles and cleaning products. Findings from the Flue2Chem project will inform industry and the government on the technical feasibility of the processes as well as the economic impacts for creating a new supply chain. In partnership with Scottish Enterprise, the Caledonian plant hosted representatives from a range of organisations including Irvine-based Ardagh Glass as well as Diageo , GSK and the Scotch Whisky Association to share learnings to date. Waste product to ‘valuable resource’ UPM development manager Andrew Johnston said: “Investigating an alternative domestic source of carbon for consumer goods allows us to contribute to net zero targets and explore innovative new ways of doing business. When Scottish Enterprise asked if we could share our learnings with local businesses, we were very pleased to get involved.” “No single company can do this alone and the level of collaboration between our seventeen partners has been unprecedented as we test out a whole new potential supply chain.” Beena Sharma, CEO and co-founder of CCUI, added: “This milestone marks a significant step forward in demonstrating how carbon capture and utilisation can help decarbonise everyday products.

After rapidly progressing through the approval process last year, the Green Volt floating wind farm aims to start delivering the project in 2025. Having pushed through the regulatory process and received approvals, a route to market and grid connection, Green Volt project director at Flotation Energy Matthew Green tells Energy Voice “it puts the onus back on the project to deliver”. Green Volt, being developed by Flotation and Vargronn, will deploy up to 35 wind turbines on floating platforms off Aberdeenshire’s east coast near Peterhead. Once completed in 2029, it will be Europe’s largest floating wind farm at 560 MW, and the first commercial-scale development to reach operations. For the £2.5 billion project, 2024 was a landmark year. The project received its final approval in April, before securing a contract for difference (CfD) in September’s Allocation Round 6 (AR6). The project received an offtake agreement for 400 MW at a strike price of £139.93 per MWh. This made it the only floating wind project to secure a contract in the auction, and the first development from the Innovation and Targeted Oil and Gas (INTOG) process to win a CfD. “The CfD win came on the back of auction concerns, not just in the UK with the previous AR5, but globally,” Green says. © Supplied by Flotation EnergyGreen Volt project director Matthew Green. “A lot of auctions were stuttering along and there was a cloud of pessimism with respect to offshore wind targets being met and fixed-bottom projects progressing against increasing inflation.” In addition, the developers awarded two sets of front-end engineering and design (FEED) contracts for the project in late 2024. One of the contracts went to Aker Solutions and ABB covering the topside and jacket and support for the HV voltage system, telecommunication, substation automation and hardware delivery. The

CNOOC Ltd. has achieved first oil in the second-phase development of the Luda 5-2 North field in the Bohai Sea, the fourth project it announced to have been started up in China this year. Producing heavy crude, Luda 5-2 North phase 2 is expected to reach about 6,700 barrels of oil equivalent a day (boed) in peak production next year, CNOOC Ltd. said in a press release. Luda 5-2 North phase 1 went onstream some three years ago as the first Chinese oilfield to produce from super-heavy oil reservoirs through thermal recovery, according to CNOOC Ltd., majority-owned by the state’s China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC). It gave a peak production of around 8,200 barrels per day (bpd) of crude when it announced start-up April 23, 2022. Phase 2 is in the central part of the Bohai Sea in the northeast of mainland China. It has an average water depth of approximately 30 meters (98.43 feet), according to CNOOC Ltd. The oil and gas exploration and production company built a new auxiliary production platform and one production wellhead platform. CNOOC Ltd. eyes to develop 29 wells, of which 28 are for production and one is for water access. “CNOOC Limited made major technological breakthroughs in this project and significantly enhanced the development efficiency of offshore super heavy oil”, the 100 percent owner said. “Through optimized Jet Pump Injection-Production Technology, the project realized efficient and economic development of heavy crude, which could further enhance the Company’s energy supply capacity”, CNOOC Ltd. added. This is CNOOC Ltd.’s second start-up announcement for the Bohai Sea this year. In total, it has announced four start-ups in China and one overseas in 2025. Bozhong 26-6, in Bohai Bay, could reach 22,300 boed in peak production this year, CNOOC Ltd. said February 7 announcing the start-up