In an unusual partnership, unions and climate groups have joined forces to call for emergency funding for North Sea workers ahead of the government’s spending review. Climate group Greenpeace and a coalition of trade unions rallied outside parliament on Wednesday to call for a £1.9 billion annual package of funding to support the energy transition. The groups put forward a proposal for an emergency funding package to help North Sea oil and gas workers transition to renewables jobs in February, ahead of next month’s government spending review. “We joined forces with some unions ahead of the budget in October to try and start pressuring the government to step in where we see private energy industries have failed and to support workers to create good-quality jobs,” Ruby Earle, worker transition lead at campaign group Platform told Energy Voice. “This morning was a really amazing show of solidarity and collaboration between those two groups and these two movements.” The oil and gas sector has lost 227,000 jobs in the past ten years, despite record profits and 400 new drilling licences being issued by the government over the same period. Harbour Energy said this month that it would cut 250 more people from its workforce offshore, while multinational Petroineos halted operations at the Grangemouth oil refinery despite a plan to transition to sustainable aviation fuel. “Rachel Reeves must commit to this emergency package of funding to protect workers and their communities,” said Mel Evans, climate team leader at Greenpeace UK. “If she fails to act, she leaves their livelihoods at the mercy of greedy oil bosses and will undermine community confidence in the transition to renewable energy.” © Supplied by GreenpeaceGreenpeace calls for £1.9bn funding package for just transition. Picture shows; Ruby Earle, worker transition lead at campaign group Platform. Westminster. Supplied by

Oil dropped after a government report showed US crude inventories rose the most in two months, overshadowing the lingering relief from the trade truce between the world’s two largest economies. West Texas Intermediate dipped 0.8% to settle near $63 a barrel, snapping a four-session winning streak. Global benchmark Brent closed around $66. US crude stockpiles rose 3.45 million barrels, the biggest gain since March, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. “Crude futures are in a corrective phase,” said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president for trading at BOK Financial Securities. Crude’s 50-day moving average of about $63.90 has so far provided a ceiling for gains, he said. The bearish government data stalled a rally spurred by the US-China trade détente and President Donald Trump’s hostile rhetoric on Iranian supply. Trump reiterated Wednesday that Tehran can’t have a nuclear weapon — while Iran’s foreign minister urged the US to take a “more realistic” approach to talks. The friction comes a day after Trump said during a visit to Saudi Arabia that he’ll drive Iran’s oil exports to zero if a nuclear agreement can’t be reached. Washington also announced new sanctions on a shipping network it said was moving billions of dollars’ worth of the Persian Gulf state’s oil. Oil futures have rallied from the lowest closing price in four years at the beginning of last week. They’re still down more than 10% this year, underperforming major equity markets. Trump is visiting the Middle East this week, hoping to strike deals with countries including Saudi Arabia. The kingdom — the de-facto leader of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies — has pushed the cartel to increase output to punish noncompliant members. A further boost expected at a June 1 meeting would add to concerns about a surplus. The group’s

Exxon Mobil Corp. plans to invest $1.5 billion in a deepwater oil field in Nigeria as Africa’s top producer looks to boost output, according to the nation’s regulator. The investment, expected within the next two years, will focus on reviving production in the Usan field and is in addition to funding earmarked for planned developments in Owowo and Erha, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission said in a statement Tuesday, citing a visit by Shane Harris, Exxon’s managing director in Nigeria. The producer aims to reach oil output of 2.4 million barrels a day after dropping to less than half of that level in 2022. Nigeria has taken measures to reduce vandalism and improve regulations, as oil majors have divested from onshore and shallow water fields due to security concerns. Local independent companies are expected to raise output as assets are transferred from recent sales. While Exxon’s investment plans signal its continued interest in the country, the company initially considered spending as much as $10 billion on Nigeria’s offshore oil developments, the government said in September.  “This move counters speculation about Exxon Mobil’s potential withdrawal from Nigeria, instead underscoring a strategic expansion and strengthening of its operational footprint in the country,” the NUPRC said in Tuesday’s statement.  Exxon could reach a final investment decision on Usan in the third quarter, subject to approvals for its field development plan and by partners, according to NUPRC.  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 Bloomberg

Prime Minister Mark Carney said he’ll consider altering environmental regulations passed by his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, in order to facilitate investment in major projects in Canada, including oil and gas pipelines. “We will change things at the federal level that need to be changed in order for projects to move forward,” Carney told CTV News in an interview that aired Tuesday, shortly after his new cabinet was sworn into office. Asked if those changes might apply to C-69 — legislation that created new rules for environmental assessments — or to a proposed cap on oil and gas industry emissions, he replied: “Absolutely it could include both. But I’m not going to do it conceptually. I’m going to do it on specifics, do it for moving forward.” The two laws have been regularly cited by Pierre Poilievre, leader of the opposition Conservative Party, as impediments to major conventional energy developments. Before entering politics, Carney wrote and spoke at length about the importance of transitioning away from hydrocarbon-based energy to fight climate change.  His Liberal government faces a tense relationship with the premier of the oil-rich province of Alberta, where some are even agitating to secede from Canada. The former central banker won Canada’s April 28 election, with his Liberal Party winning the most seats but falling just short of a House of Commons majority. The new energy minister is Tim Hodgson, a former director of Ontario electricity utility Hydro One Ltd. and Canadian oil producer MEG Energy Corp., and previously the CEO of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in Canada.  Carney said his plan to make Canada a superpower “in both clean and conventional energies” involves using domestic oil and gas production to displace imports — particularly from the US — as well as increasing exports. But it also means Canada should play a major role

Expanded use of energy efficiency and demand response could help lower Texas power bills while also boosting grid reliability, according to a May 6 paper from Aurora Energy Research. Electrification, data centers and industrial growth are driving energy demand higher across the U.S., and the trend is particularly evident in Texas. In April, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas published a load forecast that predicted nearly 60 GW of new peak summer demand by 2031. Electricity supplied by the grid is expected to rise from 486 TWh this year to 1,038 TWh in 2031. Retrieved from Electric Reliability Council of Texas. “Texas’s economic momentum is driving a sharp rise in electricity demand, creating both a challenge and an opportunity,” Olivier Beaufils, head of USA Central for Aurora, said in a statement. “For the average Texas household, converting to a heat pump instead of resistance heat can decrease the yearly cost of electricity by $424, approximately 45%,” the Aurora report found. “Increased demand response participation can save industrial consumers $1.9M/yr and residential consumers $225 per year.”  If 7.7 GW of demand side response capacity, including both residential and industrial consumers, is added to the ERCOT system by 2040, it would reduce the need for new gas-fired generation by 1 GW, the report said. Texas has been trying to build more gas plants through a state backed loan program, but the Texas Energy Fund has seen 35% of its proposed dispatchable capacity canceled or withdrawn amid escalating project costs and supply chain challenges. “Energy efficiency and demand response programs provide critical additional levers for Texas to keep pace with the demand while cutting costs for consumers and strengthening the reliability of the grid,” Beaufils said.

Dive Brief: As Republicans work to advance budget legislation that would make deep cuts to the Inflation Reduction Act, members of the House are debating the issue in committee markup hearings, with Democrats arguing that early phaseouts of IRA credits would harm developers and raise energy bills.  The IRA is anticipated to cost taxpayers between $780 billion and $2 trillion over its first ten years, making it an appealing target for Republicans looking to reduce federal spending. However, a large portion of IRA spending has so far benefited Republican districts, and some Republicans have advocated for careful cuts to the legislation – including Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., who warned against a wind down of the 45U nuclear production tax credit during the House Ways and Means Committee markup Tuesday. Dive Insight: “Nuclear power represents nearly a quarter of New York’s electrical supply, and my district in Western and Central New York is home to all four of New York’s reactors,” Tenney said. “Those reactors are critical to the baseload power of our region and our state and should be considered separately from our conversations on renewable energy.” In the House Energy and Commerce Committee markup on Tuesday, Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., proposed an amendment to the committee’s budget that would “delay any provisions in this bill from taking effect until the Energy Information Administration studies the impact of the bill and the actions taken so far by the Trump administration.” “People need to know about this,” she said. “You can’t rush a bill like this, with such a large impact, through without people understanding.” Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, opposed the amendment, saying the “best way to lower energy prices is to expand use of America’s abundant energy resources — gas, oil, coal, hydropower — that provide affordable reliable power and fuels, and