Union Jack Oil plc, a UK and USA-focused onshore hydrocarbon exploration and production company, has restarted production at the Keddington oilfield. The company said in a media release production resumed following major site upgrades in 2024 and 2025. In June 2025, Keddington produced a total of 992 barrels of oil over 23 days, with an average of 10.4 hours of pumping per day and a gross flow rate of 43 barrels daily, the company said. The newly installed equipment and facilities are functioning well and ongoing adjustments are being made to optimize production, it said. Union Jack holds a 55 percent interest in Keddington. “As expected, current flow rates from Keddington are exhibiting a material increase in oil production to those seen prior to the site upgrades”, David Bramhill, Executive Chairman of Union Jack, said. “Over 1,450 barrels of high-quality oil have now been produced and sold from Keddington since recommissioning, contributing meaningful additional revenues, complementing our established cash flow from Wressle in the UK and our growth projects in the USA at Moccasin, the Andrews Field, and our Mineral Royalty portfolio”. The Keddington oilfield is located along the highly prospective East Barkwith Ridge, an east-west structural high on the southern margin of the Humber Basin, according to Union Jack. In 2024, a significant upgrade of the site’s production facilities and bund area was initiated and completed in May. A technical review by the Operator confirmed that an undrained oil resource exists on the eastern side of the Keddington field. Planning approval for additional drilling is already secured, offering an opportunity to boost production through a development sidetrack from an existing well, the company said. To support target confirmation and well design, re-processing of legacy 3D seismic data has been finalized, Union Jack said. Operator models suggest that infill drilling

Nine lower-income European Union countries have received EUR 3.66 billion ($4.31 billion) from the Modernization Fund to support 34 energy transition projects, officials said Thursday. This is the biggest disbursement from the Modernization Fund, which has now released a total of EUR 19.1 billion, said a joint statement from the European Commission and the European Investment Bank. It was established 2018 to support 13 lower-income EU nations in their path to climate neutrality by 2050. It is funded by revenue from the auctioning of emission allowances under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). The latest batch of projects “will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the energy, industry and transport sectors, and improve energy efficiency”, the statement said. “The projects will help the beneficiary Member States to meet their climate and energy targets.  They will also strengthen the EU’s industrial competitiveness by supporting modern, efficient and resilient energy infrastructure, fostering innovation and helping to reduce the EU’s imports of fossil fuels”. Poland was the top recipient in the latest disbursement with EUR 1.33 billion. Poland will use this to support the “development of clear air program supporting energy efficiency improvements and heat source replacements in single-family houses”, the statement said. Czechia got the second-biggest share with EUR 1.05 billion, which it will spend on projects to store energy from renewable sources. Romania was the third-highest recipient with EUR 712.3 million, intended for increasing energy efficiency in ETS installations. Hungary got EUR 181.3 million to improve energy efficiency in public buildings. Croatia secured EUR 170 million to fund the production of heat from renewable energy sources and implement energy efficiency in heating and cooling systems. Greece got EUR 113.6 million to replace urban diesel buses with electric ones. Latvia was awarded EUR 40 million to grow its power grid capacity. Lithuania got EUR 37 million,

Oil declined after Axios reported the US plans to restart nuclear talks with Iran, reducing the risk of another flare-up in the Middle East conflict. West Texas Intermediate crude slumped 0.7% to settle at $67 a barrel, while Brent settled below $69 after the news service said US Middle East envoy Steven Witkoff plans to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Oslo next week. That followed a statement from Iran’s top diplomat that the country would continue to engage with the UN’s nuclear watchdog. Crude prices have been buffeted by geopolitical events in recent weeks, first surging after the escalation that included direct US strikes in Iran then declining after Tehran’s retaliation was dismissed as largely symbolic. Renewed negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program would further reduce oil’s already-diminished risk premium. Oil’s slump on Thursday also may have been amplified by low liquidity ahead of Friday’s July Fourth holiday in the US. The Middle East developments squelched some earlier strength in prices that was driven by US jobs data showing stronger-than-expected additions in June. Equity markets rose and the dollar gained, making commodities priced in the currency less appealing. The US also took fresh steps to restrict the trade of Iranian oil, including sanctions on companies and a “shadow fleet” of vessels that help Iran export its crude. Oil had rallied on Wednesday against the backdrop of a market flashing pockets of strength. Diesel’s premium to crude in the US earlier hit the biggest in 15 months after stockpiles of the fuel continued to decline. Spreads on the nearest crude contracts are also pointing to tight supplies, with stockpiles at the key storage hub of Cushing, Oklahoma, sliding. The continued outlook for supply dynamics, however, depends on a meeting between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its

Russia’s oil revenue in June slumped to a two-year low as global crude prices fell and the ruble strengthened, meaning each barrel brought fewer rubles to the Kremlin.  Proceeds from the oil industry shrank by almost 30% to 415.6 billion rubles ($5.27 billion), according to Bloomberg calculations based on Finance Ministry data published Thursday. That’s the lowest since June 2023. Russia’s combined revenue from oil and gas taxes fell by a third compared with a year earlier, to almost 495 billion rubles, the calculations show. That’s the lowest since January 2023. A stronger currency means Russia and its oil producers get fewer rubles for every barrel they pump and sell. That erodes the profitability of the companies and strains the federal budget, which depends on oil and gas taxes for about a third of its revenues. Any substantial decline in the tax take from the industry directly affects the nation’s coffers, which are already burdened by multibillion-dollar spending on the war in Ukraine. A stronger ruble also reduces the incentive to export. At the end of April, the Finance Ministry revised its expectation for this year’s budget deficit, forecasting a shortfall much deeper than previously estimated as US tariff policies and OPEC+ supply hikes caused oil prices to nosedive. To cover deficits, the nation taps into its wealth fund, designed to stabilize the economy. The ministry calculated Russia’s June oil revenue based on a Urals price of $52.08 a barrel in May. That’s the lowest price for the nation’s key export grade since March 2023, data compiled by Bloomberg show.  The currency traded at an average 80.4603 rubles per US dollar in May, the strongest in two years, driven by record-high interest rates and expectations of an improvement in relations with Washington. As a result, the country’s oil companies received only 4,190 rubles for

The Republican budget megabill, which makes steep cuts to the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax credits, now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk after passing both houses of Congress. The House passed the Senate’s version of the bill 218-214 on Thursday, after Republicans debated through the night and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., used the leadership prerogative of a “magic minute” to speak in opposition to the bill for a record-breaking 8 hours and 44 minutes. Jeffries at one point referenced a June letter 13 House Republicans sent to the Senate, in which the Republicans stated they were “proud to have worked to ensure that the bill did not include a full repeal of the clean energy tax credits, [but] remain deeply concerned by several provisions” cutting back those credits the House version did include. “Every single one of these signatories voted for a House bill that undermines the clean energy economy, noted that it would hurt their own constituents, voted for the bill anyway, then begged the Senate to make a difference,” Jeffries said. “That is not how we should be legislating in the United States House of Representatives … It limped out of the House by a single vote, so every single signatory on this letter could have stopped the bill.” The bill restricts the ability of projects to qualify for the tech-neutral clean electricity 45Y production tax credit and 48E investment tax credit, shortens the timeline for those credits, and ends the 25D residential solar credit after this year. The 25E, 30D, 30C and 45W electric vehicle credits will terminate after Sept. 30. While clean energy advocates and congressional Democrats maintain that the final version of the bill goes too far in slashing IRA credits, some Republicans wanted to see more significant cuts.  Before the House

Dive Brief: Airloom Energy has broken ground on a utility-scale pilot of the novel wind power technology that it says offers better energy density and siting flexibility at significantly lower capital cost. The Bill Gates-backed startup says the southeastern Wyoming project will validate its low-slung turbine design, which captures wind energy using 30-foot, vertically oriented airfoils that move around an ovular trackway about 80 feet above the ground. Airloom plans to begin generating power at the site near Rock River later this year, and begin commercial-scale demonstrations in 2027, according to a timeline posted on its website. Dive Insight: The Wyoming Energy Authority awarded Airloom $5 million in November to “design, build and test a 1 MW demonstration device that validates the company’s innovative, low-profile design.” That description matches what Airloom said about the pilot project in its announcement last week, but Airloom CEO Neal Rickner told TechCrunch on June 25 that the pilot would generate about 150 kW of electricity while using the same parts as future megawatt-scale turbines. Airloom did not respond to requests for comment. The key difference between the pilot- and commercial-scale plants, Rickner told TechCrunch, is the physical footprint: The straightaways run about 100 meters on the former and 500 meters on the latter. Despite the relatively large area inside the trackway, Airloom says its technology offers higher energy densities than traditional wind, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture says requires about 10 times less land per megawatt than solar PV. Whereas a traditional wind turbine has a circular swept area, Airloom’s design sweeps a rectangular area, capturing more wind and conserving more energy, it says. Airloom touts the undisturbed land inside the trackway as fit for complementary uses like livestock grazing, crop production or solar arrays. The design has other advantages over traditional turbines,