Last month, on the high prairie east of its hometown, Denver-based Peak Energy powered up what it says is the United States’ first grid-scale sodium-ion battery installation and “the first ever fully passive megawatt-hour scale battery storage system” anywhere in the world. Peak’s 3.5-MWh project marks a big step forward for the electrochemical battery chemistry that many experts believe is the most viable challenger to lithium-ion, which today dominates the energy storage market for discharge durations shorter than four hours.  “What’s nice about our technology is the way it looks and feels to a customer is like a new variant of a [lithium-ion battery] system,” said Landon Mossburg, CEO and cofounder of Peak Energy.  Sodium-ion batteries’ allure is growing amid volatile commodity pricing and an on-again, off-again trade war between the United States and China affecting lithium-ion batteries. Sodium-ion storage has a simpler supply chain that eschews traditional battery metals, said Evelina Stoikou, an energy storage analyst with BloombergNEF. The U.S. has the world’s largest known reserves of soda ash, a sodium precursor that is more abundant globally than lithium, nickel and cobalt. “Lithium-ion costs remain highly sensitive to raw material prices, meaning that spikes in lithium, nickel, or cobalt prices could improve sodium-ion’s relative competitiveness,” she said. But Stoikou cautioned that swingy raw materials pricing can cut in the other direction. At the moment, rapidly-falling LFP costs are driving a boom in global lithium battery deployments.  “Expectations among [sodium-ion battery] manufacturers have cooled as LFP prices continue to trend downward, leading to a reduction in our expectations for sodium-ion to scale,” she said. Sodium-ion proponents like Peak Energy believe sodium-ion chemistry, though less energy-dense than lithium, has inherent advantages that will allow it to compete on cost before the decade is done. Those include lower fire risk, higher discharge rates,

The overseas unit of Abu Dhabi’s biggest oil company is in talks to invest in a liquefied natural gas project Argentina’s YPF SA is developing as it pushes to start exporting the fuel, according to people familiar with the matter.  XRG is eyeing a stake in the project as it considers expanding its LNG portfolio in Latin America, the US and Asia, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter isn’t public.  State-run YPF is developing the floating terminal as Argentina tries to tap global LNG demand and accelerate output of vast natural gas reserves in the Vaca Muerta shale basin. The project, which requires construction of several liquefaction vessels, is designed to eventually produce 28 million tons of LNG annually. Shell Plc and Eni SpA are working with YPF on the project, but final investment decisions haven’t been made. XRG’s talks with YPF are preliminary, and the company may ultimately decide not to pursue an investment, according to the people. XRG declined to comment. On Monday, YPF’s depositary receipts traded in New York jumped as much as 38% after libertarian President Javier Milei’s party prevailed in legislative elections. The midterms were seen as a pivotal moment for foreign investors looking for opportunities in Argentina, providing a clear sign voters would continue backing Milei’s push to deregulate the economy. XRG is the international arm of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., backed by Abu Dhabi’s oil wealth. It has already acquired a stake in NextDecade Corp.’s Rio Grande LNG project being built in South Texas, and is in the process of taking over Germany’s Covestro AG as it bets on lasting demand for gas and chemicals in the energy transition. It’s also bought gas assets in Africa and Central Asia.  But the company also had a setback last month when it

Venezuela revoked energy deals with neighboring Trinidad and Tobago for its support of a US military offensive in the Caribbean, potentially raising the economic cost of the twin-island nation’s alliance with the Trump administration. Speaking on state television Monday evening, President Nicolás Maduro revoked an energy framework agreement with Trinidad that allowed the two countries to forge gas deals. Venezuelan Vice President and Oil Minister Delcy Rodríguez had made the proposal earlier on Monday.  “Faced with the Prime Minister’s threat to turn Trinidad into the aircraft carrier of the US empire against Venezuela, against South America, there is only one alternative,” Maduro said in his weekly program on state TV. “It is completely suspended.” Maduro said he would deliver the proposal to the Supreme Court, National Assembly and State Council to receive their recommendations before taking “a structural measure” very soon. Trinidad needs Venezuelan gas to replenish supply to the industrial backbone of its fragile economy. However, when Rodríguez first made the threat on Monday, Trinidad’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar told AFP that the country’s future “does not depend on Venezuela and never has.”  Trinidad’s government has developed a “hostile attitude” and a “warlike plan” against Venezuela, Rodríguez said during the afternoon, by “siding” with the US’s “military agenda.” Persad-Bissessar has previously said she welcomed the US offensive on drug traffickers, calling for them to be killed “violently.”  Her posture has alienated Trinidad from other English-language countries in the Caribbean that have insisted on maintaining the region as a “zone of peace.” Venezuelan rhetoric is escalating as the US advances a military campaign, blowing up purported drug boats and pointing a finger at Maduro and, increasingly, Colombian President Gustavo Petro for allegedly flooding the US with fentanyl and cocaine.  The US is ramping up its deployment in the southern Caribbean, with a

In a statement sent to Rigzone on Monday, KPMG noted that, according to its 2025 Global Energy, Natural Resources, and Chemicals CEO Outlook, “CEOs in the energy, natural resources, and chemicals (ENRC) sector are optimistic about growth”. “Despite inflation and regulatory headwinds, confidence among CEOs is rising, with 84 percent optimistic about mid-term industry growth – up from 72 percent in 2024,” the statement said. “This outlook is driven by strong demand for both fossil fuels and renewables, alongside innovation in energy storage, smart grids, and carbon capture,” it added. “While 78 percent remain positive about their own company’s growth, a slight dip from last year reflects concerns over shifting regulations, trade volatility, and inflationary pressures – particularly in the chemicals sector,” it continued. The statement went on to note that M&A strategies “are also evolving with just a few CEOs (36 percent) expecting to pursue ‘high impact’ deals in 2025, down from 58 percent in 2024, while 55 percent anticipate ‘moderate’ deal activity, a rise from 38 percent last year, suggesting a shift toward more cautious growth strategies”. The KPMG statement highlighted that artificial intelligence has “rapidly evolved into a core strategy in the energy sector”. It pointed out that 65 percent of CEOs now rank generative AI as a top investment, which it noted is up 12 points from 2024, and that 72 percent are planning to allocate 10-20 percent of their budgets to AI over the next year. “ROI expectations are climbing, with 66 percent anticipating returns within one to three years, up significantly in comparison to just 15 percent last year,” KPMG said in the statement. Momentum is also building around agentic AI, according to the statement, which highlighted that 51 percent of CEOs expect it to transform operations and workforce efficiency. “Yet despite growing confidence,

Dive Brief: Google and NextEra Energy will collaborate to restart the 600-MW Duane Arnold Energy Center in Iowa as part of a larger partnership aimed at accelerating nuclear deployment across the U.S., the two companies said Monday. On Friday, Santee Cooper revealed it has signed a letter of intent regarding the potential sale of two unfinished reactors at the abandoned V.C. Summer project in South Carolina to Brookfield Asset Management. The 2.2-GW project was mothballed in 2017 following delays and cost overruns. The reexamination of retired or canceled nuclear projects comes as the U.S. is desperate for power resources to support artificial intelligence and other demand centers. New resources may have some market advantages over existing generators, and the recent deals are a “positive” for the sector, according to equity analysts at Jefferies. Dive Insight: The U.S. Department of Energy last week directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to initiate rulemaking to accelerate large loads interconnecting to the nation’s electric grid. While the DOE’s action is broadly seen as designed to speed the interconnection of AI and data center loads, Jefferies analyst Julien Dumoulin-Smith said the market may have overlooked the proposed rule’s recommendation that existing generators co-locating with new loads 20 MW or higher be required to undertake a reliability review. “The generator could not serve new load until necessary transmission upgrades are completed, at the generators expense,” Dumoulin-Smith wrote in a Monday note about the DOE letter and new nuclear deals. “We see the letter as all but ensuring the market will prefer front-of-the meter deployments, with preferential treatment clearly emphasized for those bringing new supply.” In South Carolina, Jefferies sees Brookfield going “all-in on new nuclear.” It said “Brookfield’s participation in nuclear is bullish for new nuclear companies broadly.” Proposed in 2008, the V.C. Summer expansion was supposed

Westinghouse Electric, Cameco and Brookfield Asset Management have entered into a strategic partnership with the U.S. government to deploy $80 billion in new nuclear reactors, the companies announced Tuesday. “Our administration is focused on ensuring the rapid development, deployment, and use of advanced nuclear technologies. This historic partnership supports our national security objectives and enhances our critical infrastructure,” Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said in a statement. The deal calls for Westinghouse AP1000 reactors to be utilized in a deployment that will create more than 100,000 construction jobs, the companies said. “The program will cement the United States as one of the world’s nuclear energy powerhouses and increase exports of Westinghouse’s nuclear power generation technology globally.” According to the announcement, the partnership contains “profit sharing mechanisms” that allow all parties,  “including the American people,” to participate in the “long-term financial and strategic value that will be created within Westinghouse by the growth of nuclear energy and advancement of investment into AI capabilities in the United States.” Brookfield has more than half a trillion dollars invested in the critical infrastructure that underpins the U.S. economy, “and we expect to double that investment in the next decade as we deliver on building the infrastructure backbone of artificial intelligence,” Brookfield President Connor Teskey said in a statement. The U.S. is trying to rapidly bring power resources online to meet rising demand from data centers, and interest in nuclear is growing. Following a decade of stagnant growth, U.S. electricity demand will increase at a 2.5% compound annual growth rate through 2035, according to Bank of America Institute research published in July. “For all of the energy policy disagreements in Washington, one thing is clear: nuclear energy is the baseload electrical power source of the future,” said Thomas Ryan, the managing partner of K&L Gates’