Calls have been made for the UK government to provide transitional support for North Sea oil and gas workers by a north-east Scotland MP. Leading a debate in Westminster, MP for Aberdeen north Kirsty Blackman urged the UK government to deliver a clear and credible plan to protect jobs and communities during the energy transition. “As of 2021, direct employment in oil and gas in Aberdeen has declined by nearly one-third since 2015,” Blackman said, citing evidence from the UK’s seventh carbon budget. “Household disposable income has fallen and poverty has increased… some estimates indicate that around 14,000 people in the region will need to have moved to other roles or sectors between 2022 and 2030.” The fate of North Sea oil and gas workers, along with those in services reliant upon extraction, is a key challenge of the UK’s energy transition. The Labour Party previously made banning future North Sea oil and gas licences a key part of its election campaign as it looks to move the country away from fossil fuels towards renewables. Aberdeen North MP, Kirsty Blackman.Photo: PARBUL/PA Wire Addressing the chamber, the SNP MP warned that political uncertainty and a lack of investment are threatening to derail the UK’s energy ambitions, with skilled workers increasingly looking overseas for opportunities. “We are at a tipping point,” Blackman added. “The risk is that these highly mobile, highly paid oil and gas workers will go abroad. They can up sticks and move to another country, because drilling is the same there—even if the carbon cost is higher and conditions are worse.” Support plan Blackman previously gave her backing to Unite the Union’s ‘No Ban Without a Plan’ campaign to preserve oil worker jobs throughout the transition The trade union launched the campaign to create 35,000 commensurate new energy transition

Dive Brief: The U.S. Commerce Department on Monday announced its final determinations in an antidumping and countervailing duty investigation into solar cell imports from four Southeast Asian countries, setting individual tariff rates of more than 3,400%. “These are very strong results,” said Tim Brightbill, attorney for the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee, the alliance of seven U.S. solar manufacturers that originally brought the case to the Commerce Department and the U.S. International Trade Commission. Brightbill spoke during a Monday press call.  The 3,403.96% subsidy rate set for four Cambodian solar exporters is “among the highest rates I’ve ever seen in any kind of countervailing duty investigation,” Brightbill said.  Dive Insight: The across-the-board dumping rate for Cambodia is 125.37%. The rate was set after the Cambodian producers dropped out of the investigation, leaving trade officials to base the rate on the facts available with “adverse inferences.” The Commerce Department in 2023 found that manufacturers had operated in Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam to dodge tariffs on Chinese-made solar components, and it imposed import duties accordingly.  Chinese solar module manufacturer JinkoSolar is subject to an individual 3,403.96% subsidy rate in Cambodia, an 38.38% subsidy rate in Malaysia, and an 125.91% dumping rate in Vietnam. Individual subsidy rates for Thailand go as high as 799.55%, while rates for Vietnam go to 542.64%. The average countervailing duty rate increase was 600%, Jeffries said in a Tuesday equity research report.  “Most notably, CVD rates for Thailand/Cambodia were up 250[%]/~400[%] for select suppliers vs. updated [preliminary] determinations, while Malaysia/Vietnam saw more modest 20[%]/30[%] increases (with a few exceptions),” Jeffries said. “Per BNEF, the U.S. imported $12.9 [billion] in cells/modules from the four countries, or 77% of total module imports.”  The finding could be a “modest positive” for First Solar “if it can capitalize by adding to backlog,”

Baker Hughes Co. has reported $402 million in net income for the first quarter (Q1), down $777 million from the prior three-month period and $53 million against Q1 2024. Net earnings adjusted for nonrecurring or extraordinary items fell 27 percent quarter-on-quarter but rose 19 percent year-on-year to $509 million, or 51 cents per share. Adjustments totaled $108 million. The adjusted figure beat the average estimate of 47 cents from analysts surveyed by Zacks. The Houston, Texas-based oilfield and energy tech heavyweight closed higher at $38.36 on Nasdaq on results day. Meanwhile Baker Hughes’ adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) dropped 21 percent sequentially but grew 10 percent year-over-year to $1.04 billion. Adjustments totaled $140 million. The quarter-on-quarter decline in adjusted net income and adjusted EBITDA primarily resulted from lower volumes in both the oilfield services and equipment (OFSE) segment and the industrial and energy technology (IET) segment. The decrease in volumes was partially offset by “productivity and structural cost-out initiatives”, Baker Hughes said in an online statement. “The year-over-year increase in adjusted net income and adjusted EBITDA was driven by increased volume in IET including higher proportionate growth in Gas Technology Equipment and productivity, structural cost-out initiatives and higher pricing in both segments, partially offset by decreased volume and business mix in OFSE and cost inflation in both segments”. Revenue totaled $6.43 billion, down 13 percent sequentially but stable year-on-year. Operating activities in the January-March 2025 period generated $709 million in cash flow. Free cash flow landed at $454 million. “In our IET segment, we booked $3.2 billion of orders, including our first data center awards, totaling more than 350 MW of power solutions for this rapidly evolving market”, highlighted chair and chief executive Lorenzo Simonelli. “In addition to expanding opportunities for data centers, we have a strong pipeline

The US’s campaign to impose “maximum pressure” on Iran’s economy now includes the Islamic Republic’s liquefied petroleum gas exports, as Washington broadens its focus beyond crude oil. The Treasury Department on Tuesday sanctioned Iranian national Seyed Asadoollah Emamjomeh, who’s known to ship liquefied petroleum gas and crude oil from the country to foreign markets, some of his trading companies, an LPG tanker, and his son, Meisam Emamjomeh. It marks a step-up in Washington’s actions against individuals or entities involved in the trade of Iran’s non-crude energy exports. LPG is a major source of revenue for Tehran, which uses the proceeds to fund its nuclear ambitions and support regional groups including Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hamas, the Treasury said in a statement. Tehran and Washington have restarted talks over Iran’s nuclear program, with Iranian officials asking for guarantees that US sanctions will be lifted in order to address US concerns. China is a big buyer of Iranian LPG. The Islamic Republic was the No. 2 source for China’s imports of propane, a type of LPG, last year, according to the Energy Information Administration. The US was China’s biggest propane supplier, though that relationship is now threatened by the trade war between the two countries that’s already disrupted flows. Washington has long targeted Iran’s crude exports. Several rounds of sanctions have impacted how the country’s oil was delivered to buyers in China, though flows appear to have recovered. China’s purchases of Iranian oil are often labeled as coming from Malaysia, with the barrels transferred between ships in the waters off the Southeast Asian nation in order to mask their origins. 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. MORE FROM THIS AUTHOR

Calpine, Constellation Energy Generation, LS Power and generator trade groups on Tuesday asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to order settlement talks to resolve issues surrounding the PJM Interconnection’s rules for colocating data centers at power plants. FERC should declare that PJM’s colocation rules should be replaced because they lack adequate clarity or consistency on the rates, terms or conditions of service, according to the joint filing by the Electric Power Supply Association; the PJM Power Providers Group, or P3; Calpine; Cogentrix Energy Power Management; Constellation; and LS Power. The request for 90 days of settlement talks is in response to FERC’s review of PJM’s colocation rules that was launched by a “show cause” order on Feb. 20. “The Commission should direct parties to this settlement process to identify an acceptable replacement rate that reasonably establishes the services, if any, used by co-located loads, and allocates any costs to such loads (or the generator serving them) consistent with cost causation principles,” the companies and trade groups said. PJM and transmission owners appear to expect that FERC will order settlement talks, according to the companies and trade groups. In responses to FERC’s show cause order, PJM offered alternate approaches to colocation that would need stakeholder input and PJM transmission owners said they “anticipate the potential for further discussion regarding possible changes to tariffs,” the companies and trade groups noted. “An attempt to settle these disputes is clearly worth the effort,” the companies and trade groups said. “There is value to a prompt resolution of these heavily contested co-location issues to ensure that the United States does not fall behind in the Artificial Intelligence revolution.” Colocation arrangements where large loads such as data centers are sited at power plants are becoming popular, but clarity about the rules for the practice is needed,

According to the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association’s (TIPRO) analysis, direct Texas upstream employment for March totaled 204,400. That’s what TIPRO said in a statement sent to Rigzone by the TIPRO team recently, which cited the latest Current Employment Statistics (CES) report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In the statement, TIPRO highlighted that the March figure was “a decrease of 700 industry positions from February employment numbers, subject to revisions”. TIPRO noted in the statement that this represented a decline of 900 jobs in the services sector and an increase of 200 jobs in oil and gas extraction. “TIPRO’s new workforce data still indicated strong job postings for the Texas oil and natural gas industry,” the organization said in its statement. “According to the association, there were 10,120 active unique jobs postings for the Texas oil and natural gas industry last month, including 3,458 new postings,” it added. “In comparison, the state of California had 2,777 unique job postings in March, followed by New York (2,892), Florida (1,781), and Colorado (1,438). TIPRO reported a total of 53,285 unique job postings nationwide last month within the oil and natural gas sector,” it continued. In its statement, TIPRO noted that, among the 19 specific industry sectors it uses to define the Texas oil and natural gas industry, “Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores led in the ranking for unique job listings in March with 2,806 postings, followed by Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations (2,247), and Petroleum Refineries (820)”. The leading three cities by total unique oil and natural gas job postings were Houston, with 2,212 postings, Midland, with 635 postings, and Odessa, with 412 postings, TIPRO highlighted in its statement. The top three companies ranked by unique job postings in March were Cefco, with 1,200, Love’s, with 726, and Energy Transfer, with 307, according to TIPRO. “Of the top ten companies listed by