The closure of Scotland’s last oil refinery at Grangemouth is a “really good example of a transition done badly”, the UK energy minister has admitted. Speaking at an industry conference in London, Michael Shanks said he was “acutely aware that there is uncertainty and there is unease in the industry”. He said the situation at Grangemouth, which will see hundreds of jobs lost when refinery owner PetroIneos shutters the facility, was a problem his government “inherited”. Labour politicians in Scotland and Westminster have come under fire for failing to fulfil pledges to save jobs at the site. The UK and Scottish Governments have jointly drawn up a plan called “Project Willow” aimed at delivering a long-term industrial future for Grangemouth through investment in a number of energy and recycling schemes. Speaking to the audience on the second day of the North Sea Decarbonisation Conference, Shanks said the “problems” should have been addressed years earlier. “There is a kind of truth in government, that you sort of wish you could have dealt with some of the problems you inherit on day one, many, many years before,” he said. “The most acute example for me is Grangemouth, which is a really good example of a transition done badly. “You wish you could have tackled these things five, six years ago, when they first emerged. “You don’t get to choose your entry as a government minister, and that’s just the reality of it. But what we are seeking to do is grapple with the uncertainty and the challenge.” Shanks urged attendees at the conference to engage with the government’s current consultation on the North Sea, which is set to close 30 April. The minister said energy supply chain responses to its “Building the North Sea’s Energy Future: Consultation,” consultation will help the government

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), increased by 0.2 million barrels from the week ending April 11 to the week ending April 18, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlighted in its latest weekly petroleum status report. This report was released on April 23 and included data for the week ending April 18. It showed that crude oil stocks, not including the SPR, stood at 443.1 million barrels on April 18, 442.9 million barrels on April 11, and 453.6 million barrels on April 19, 2024. Crude oil in the SPR stood at 397.5 million barrels on April 18, 397.0 million barrels on April 11, and 365.7 million barrels on April 19, 2024, the report outlined. Total petroleum stocks – including crude oil, total motor gasoline, fuel ethanol, kerosene type jet fuel, distillate fuel oil, residual fuel oil, propane/propylene, and other oils – stood at 1.605 billion barrels on April 18, the report showed. Total petroleum stocks were down 0.3 million barrels week on week and up 5.9 million barrels year on year, the report revealed. “At 443.1 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about five percent below the five year average for this time of year,” the EIA said in its latest weekly petroleum status report. “Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 4.5 million barrels from last week and are about three percent below the five year average for this time of year. Finished gasoline inventories increased and blending components inventories decreased last week,” it added. “Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 2.4 million barrels last week and are about 13 percent below the five year average for this time of year. Propane/ propylene inventories increased by 2.3 million barrels from last week and are seven percent below the five year average for

Danville Utilities, a municipal utility based in Danville, Virginia, is contracting for an 11-MW/44-MWh battery storage project to be built and owned by Lightshift Energy, the battery storage company said Wednesday. Danville Utilities plans to use the storage facility to reduce its peak demand, which it expects will lower its demand and transmission charges by about $30 million over the 20-year life of the project. About 40% of Danville Utilities’ power supply costs are demand-related and they are increasing by 10% to 15% a year, according to a Nov. 7 Danville City Council memo on the project, which Lightshift expects will be operating in the second quarter next year. The memo states that PJM Interconnection’s capacity rate for Danville Utilities is jumping to $8.29/kW-month starting June 1 from 96 cents/kW-month. An existing 10.6-MW storage project built by Lightshift has helped reduce the Danville Utilities’ transmission, capacity and congestion charges since it started operating in 2022, according to the memo from Lightshift, formerly Delorean Power. Lightshift expects the project will save the utility $40 million over its life. Lightshift will use the new battery system to sell ancillary services into the PJM market and arbitrage wholesale energy prices, according to the memo.  “The project will help lower transmission and capacity costs and allow the city’s electric rates to be competitive to other neighboring electric utilities when competing for economic development projects,” Jason Grey, Danville director of utilities, said in the press release. Danville Utilities has about 42,000 customers. The project in February received $1.5 million from the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission’s Energy Ingenuity Fund. Municipal utilities and rural cooperatives are focused on cost, and energy storage can save them money while adding resilience to their systems, according to Laura Coriell, head of market development for Lightshift, which is based in

Anna Littlefield is the program manager for low carbon energy technologies for the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines. It’s no secret that carbon capture is gaining momentum — and the United States is leading the pack. U.S. capacity alone for carbon capture, utilization and storage, or CCUS, is expected to increase sevenfold by 2035. In 2023, announced carbon capture capacity by 2030 increased by 35%. In the U.S., there are already 14 operational commercial-scale facilities that can capture and store roughly 21.4 million metric tons of CO2 per year, equivalent to the annual emissions of 5 million passenger vehicles. And new projects continue to be announced. Since 2018 when Congress enhanced the 45Q tax credit, which supports CCUS, there have been more than 120 CCUS projects announced in the states. In 2023, Chevron announced it was expanding its Bayou Bend CCS project, positioning it to be one of the largest carbon storage projects in the country. Despite all this investment and decades of proven operations, critics continue to insist the technology doesn’t work — apparently because it hasn’t scaled fast enough. A Scientific American headline from 2017 asked, “Will Carbon Capture and Storage Ever Work?” One environmental group asserted the technology “won’t work,” while others call it a “pipe dream.” This narrative allows other critics to suggest any federal support for the technology is misallocated. Two U.S. lawmakers recently introduced the 45Q Repeal Act, a bill aimed at repealing the 45Q tax credit. Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., one of the sponsors of the bill, called CCUS an “inefficient and market-distorting technology.” Opponents of CCUS cheered the legislation. What these critics overlook is that the primary challenge facing CCUS is the regulatory uncertainty created by current federal policies. Fifteen years ago, the Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage

Low-carbon power can play a “critical role” in delivering energy security around the world, according to UK energy secretary Ed Miliband. Speaking at the first global Future of Energy Summit held at Lancaster House, London on Thursday, Miliband touted renewable and low-carbon energy sources such as nuclear power as the primary “solution” to international energy crises, and a pathway to “abundance”. “For the UK, just to talk about us for a moment, there is an exciting vision of energy security and abundance from cheap, homegrown low-carbon power,” Miliband said. “Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we saw family finances, business finances and public finances wrecked as fossil fuel prices rocketed on the global markets, and therefore, here in Britain.” Renewable energy presents a solution to energy security that was not possible a decade and a half ago, according to Miliband. He attributed this to declines in the cost of solar power, which has plunged globally by 90% since 2010, and offshore wind costs that have declined by over 60%. Last year, $2 trillion was invested in clean energy, double the total amount invested in fossil fuels, data from the International Energy Agency’s latest inventory showed. Meanwhile, 92.5% of new electricity demand was met by renewable and nuclear power globally, according to a separate report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Renewables in 2024: 5 Key Facts Behind a Record-Breaking Year The golden rule Miliband’s words were echoed by IEA executive director Fatih Birol who described homegrown energy as “the best friend of energy security”. Birol warned that, to manufacture clean technologies, the industry needs “critical minerals”. He said diversification is a golden rule, not just of energy sources but also of the countries one imports from, to achieve energy security. Birol also warned that unpredictable economies lead investors to “fly

Eni SpA on Thursday reported EUR 1.41 billion ($1.6 billion) in adjusted net income attributable to shareholders, down 11 percent from the same three-month period a year ago as oil prices weakened and oil and gas output fell. Before adjustment for nonrecurring or extraordinary items, net earnings landed at EUR 1.17 billion, down 3 percent year-on-year. The Italian state-backed integrated energy major saw liquid production in the January-March 2025 period drop 1 percent year-over-year to 786,000 barrels per day. Natural gas production declined 9 percent to 4.5 billion cubic feet a day. “The asset divestments closed in 2024 in Nigeria, Alaska, Congo and the mature fields declines were substantially offset by rampups at organic projects in Côte d’Ivoire, Congo, Mexico, and Italy”, Eni said in a report on its website. Realized liquid prices averaged $69.72 a barrel, down 6 percent against Q1 2024. Gas realizations rose 8 percent to $7.57 per thousand cubic feet. Upstream turnover totaled EUR 5.41 billion, down 4 percent year-on-year. Refining throughput decreased 8 percent year-on-year to 5.86 million metric tons. Sales of chemical products totaled 800,000 metric tons, down 7 percent. The refining and chemicals segment logged EUR 4.93 billion in sales, down 13 percent. “The refining business reported a proforma adjusted loss of EUR 91 mln, lower both y-o-y and sequentially due to a continuing deterioration in products crack spreads”, Eni said. “The chemicals business reported a loss of EUR 0.24 bln amidst a prolonged downturn of the European sector due to lower demand and margin pressure from cost-advantaged players”. Eni sold 2.8 billion cubic meters (98.88 billion cubic feet) of liquefied natural gas in Q1 2025, up 4 percent year-on-year. Total gas sales landed at 12.12 Bcm, down 22 percent. Eni’s “Global Gas and LNG Portfolio” segment generated EUR 5.59 billion in sales,