Morson Group has expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of Orange Solutions, a Manchester-based safety and control systems engineering firm. The group confirmed that Orange Solution’s founder and managing director, Tony Hynes, will retain his position ” along with the company’s experienced team of engineers.” Morson told Energy Voice that it is looking to create more than 10 jobs at the firm over the next year and that its “intention is to increase the footprint” of Orange Solutions in the UK and overseas. Currently, Orange Solutions has one base in Irlam. The deal, agreed for an undisclosed sum, brings Oange Solutions under the group’s engineering division which includes Morson Projects, Waldeck and Ematics. Morson claims that the work of Orange Solutions will complement fellow Manchester firm Ematics. Orange Solutions is already well acquainted with its new owners, having worked with Ematics and Morson Projects on “a number of past and current projects,” Morson Group wrote. Morson Group chief executive, Ged Mason commented: “The synergy between Orange Solutions’ track record and client base, and our Ematics business will enable us to offer clients even more expertise from within the Morson Group, with additional capacity and capabilities to resource projects effectively.” © Supplied by Morson GroupMorson Group Acquired Orange Solutions for an undisclosed figure as it looks to expand the firm’s UK and international footprint. Orange Solutions has worked across oil and gas operations, renewables projects and transmission line rollout. Hynes added: “Orange Solutions has grown by providing the knowledge and experience needed to deliver complex projects on time. “With so much potential in our sectors, the time was right for us to seek a strategic partner that can support our continued growth. The synergy and existing relationship with Morson, which is based locally to our existing HQ, made them an ideal

Shell Plc said its natural gas divisions saw lower sales volumes and trading earnings, the latest sign that 2024 ended on a weak note for major energy companies.  The warning on Shell’s crucial natural gas division, in a fourth-quarter trading update published on Wednesday, was accompanied by figures showing a slight rise in operating expenses across the company and lower profits from buying and selling oil products.  Shares of Shell fell as much as 2% in London trading. The figures were weaker than expected on “a combination of softness in both oil and gas trading” and “continued depressed margins in chemicals,” Citigroup Inc. Managing Director Alastair Syme said in a note. It’s another indication of a fourth-quarter dip in earnings for the world’s largest energy companies. Late on Tuesday, Shell’s largest rival Exxon Mobil Corp. said its profit for the period took a $700 million hit from lower crude prices and narrowing refining margins. In the closing months of 2024, unexpected weakness in what is typically one of the strongest seasons for oil demand forced big players in the market to adjust, with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies delaying the planned restart of some idle production. Brent crude futures have risen more than 3% so far this year, although many analysts see OPEC+ having little room to revive output with a supply glut looming.  The outlook for natural gas in the coming months is stronger, especially in Europe, where prices surged to a 14-month high after Russian gas flows through Ukraine halted following the expiration of a transit agreement. Shell’s natural gas production in the fourth quarter is seen at 880,000 to 920,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, down from 941,000 a day in the third quarter due to maintenance at the Pearl Gas-to-Liquids plant in Qatar,

U.S. gas prices were put through the wringer in 2024. That’s what a BofA Global Research report sent to Rigzone on Tuesday by the BofA Global Research team stated, highlighting that Henry Hub natural gas prices averaged “just $2.41 per million British thermal units (MMBtu)”. That was “the lowest level since 2020 and second lowest level in at least 25 years”, the report pointed out. “Loose balances pushed storage to a multi-year high of 678 billion cubic feet (Bcf) above five-year average levels in March, but agile producers and strong power sector demand helped whittle that surplus down to just 154 Bcf by year end,” the report said. “Tightening storage, the first forecast for significant cold, and news that the Plaquemines terminal will begin shipping LNG cargos in January helped push Henry Hub gas up to $4 per MMBtu by late December,” it added, noting that “since then, weather forecasts have shed HDDs, causing gas to ease lower”. The BofA Global Research report stated that U.S. output has likely peaked seasonally and predicted that this “should fall back below 104 Bcf per day (Bcfpd) by spring, before regaining its footing into year-end and registering 2.3 Bcfpd of growth year on year”. “Most year on year growth will come from the Permian (1.9 Bcfpd) due to the ramp up of supply into year-end 2024 as the Matterhorn pipeline allowed supply to rise, and the Northeast (0.5Bcfpd), where the mid-2024 MVP start-up should support higher output this year,” the report added. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest short term energy outlook (STEO), which was released last month, U.S. dry natural gas production will average 103.3 Bcfpd in the first quarter of 2025, 104.0 Bcfpd in the second quarter, 103.6 Bcfpd in the third quarter, 103.9 Bcfpd in the fourth

Electric load growth associated with artificial intelligence and data center expansion will drive U.S. utility risk and opportunity in the coming years, with a few power companies in particular poised to profit in 2025, according to a Tuesday research note from Bank of America Global Research. “Data centers and other large industrial loads should play an important role in 2025, continuing the trend from 2024,” BofA analysts said. “A differentiation in valuation should occur between those companies that can increase earnings growth related to large load related capital investments versus those who do not.” U.S. electricity demand could rise 128 GW over the next five years, driven by data centers and manufacturing growth, according to a December report from Grid Strategies. And Bain & Co., in an October analysis, warned U.S. utilities are facing “potentially overwhelming demand” from the trend. BOA’s research note highlighted near-term opportunities for Pacific Gas & Electric, NorthWestern Energy Group and Constellation Energy Group. For PG&E, “data center opportunities are real in 2025, with a release of the current cluster study for 4.4GWs of large load early in the new year,” BOA said. “We believe the northern [California] model of building normal back up generation to serve the grid at non-peak times is unique, given limited peak resource usage within [the utility’s] service territory.” “Customer bills remain a priority and we see the California regulatory environment as constructive,” analysts added. PG&E is expected to make a cost of capital filing in March and submit its next general rate case in May, according to BOA. NorthWestern Energy Group, in December, announced a letter of intent to provide energy services to a developer planning new data centers in Montana, BOA noted. “The new load from the data centers is expected to be a minimum of 50 MWs in 2027, with growth to 250

A firm set up by former members of the Lloyds Register upstream consulting team has landed a contract with the Cyprus state-backed oil and gas management firm. BorchWix Energy Advisors (BWEA) secured the deal with Cyprus Hydrocarbon Company (CHC) for geological and engineering work within the island nation’s waters. The firm, set up by those who lost their jobs in Aberdeen and London with Lloyds Register in 2020, won a similar contract with the seabed manager in 2023. The consultants will continue to work with consortium partner Badley Ashton & Associates (BA) to carry our work on exploration, appraisal and field development. Carsten Borch, BWEA’s commercial and technical director and project lead of the BWEA-BA consortium said: “The award of this second, larger, follow on contract, is testament to our consortium’s excellent working relationship with CHC and the successful delivery of a number of value-adding projects, which utilise our strong technical capabilities and unique Eastern Mediterranean experience.” The firm has 19 workers earmarked to cover the contract scope of services with further BWEA staff able to assist. “Therefore, for the time being, we do not expect to grow our staff further,” the consultancy firm told Energy Voice. Setting up shop following redundancy © Supplied by BorchWix Energy AdviBorchWix Energy Advisors Founding Partner and Geoscience Director Jon Wix. Nearly 50 jobs were lost between Aberdeen and London in 2020 when Lloyds Register closed the doors of its subsurface business. Following this, Jon Wix and Carsten Borch – who were both senior members of the Lloyds Register team – set up BWEA. The pair teamed up as they thought it was unlikely that they would land well-paid jobs when the energy sector was facing strong headwinds. Wix and Borch decided to offer services to clients whose contracts had to be terminated as

Wind power became the largest source of UK electricity generation in 2024, with today’s blackout warning from the system operator bringing the grid-balancing act into sharp focus. The National Electricity System Operator (NESO) issued a system warning of a 1,700 MW (1.7 GW) “shortfall” in power that, it warned, could lead to blackouts. “An electricity margin notice (EMN) has been issued to the market,” NESO said in a statement. “Our forecasts are showing tight margins on the electricity system for today between 16:00-19:00. “This is a routine tool that we use most winters, and means we are asking market participants to make any additional generation capacity they may have available. “The EMN does not mean electricity supply is at risk.” ‘Outages’ The warning followed interconnector grid outages affecting imports of electricity from certain countries in Europe. The network operator indicated that outages had affected imports of electricity from some European countries through interconnectors in France (ElecLink) and the Netherlands. The GreenLink interconnector in Ireland, while not yet commissioned, could bring extra power including electricity produced from offshore wind. Shivam Malhotra, head of power trading at LCP Delta, said that “high energy demand clashes with periods of dwindling low wind output”, adding that the warning notice from NESO provides strong signal to the market to “respond”. “Wind power is forecast to drop to just 1.6-2.6 GW late afternoon and early evening, while demand is expected to peak at 46.5 GW,” said Malhotra. “This leaves the NESO with a thin margin of only 510 MW at 17:00, with a current loss of load probability of 29%, which is the chance of power shortages or ‘load shedding,’ where electricity supply may need to be restricted in certain areas. This is very unlikely to happen, and this number will likely drop later in the