Texas Critical Data Centers LLC (TCDC), a 50-50 venture between New Era Energy & Digital Inc. and Sharon AI Inc., has signed a non-binding term sheet with Thunderhead Energy Solutions LLC for a natural gas-fired generation facility with a capacity of about 250 megawatts. Thunderhead will fund, construct and operate the facility using a hybrid deployment of reciprocating engines and turbines. The facility will serve “as the energy backbone for TCDC’s high-performance, AI-optimized compute campus”, a joint statement said. The parties expect to start construction of the power facility this year, targeting completion over the next 18 months. Planned to rise in Ector County, Texas, TCDC would be scalable to up to one gigawatt, according to New Era. In July TCDC completed the acquisition of 235 acres from Grow Odessa near the City of Odessa. It has entered into a letter of intent with the same seller for the purchase of an additional 203 contiguous acres. “The agreement with Thunderhead is one more major milestone in our buildout and reinforces our vision of delivering energy-resilient, AI-native infrastructure”, said New Era chief executive E. Will Gray II. “It also ensures TCDC will provide robust, SB6-compliant power to support the next wave of AI growth in West Texas”. This is the first agreement announced by New Era Energy & Digital since rebranding from New Era Helium Inc. to reflect its shift into a vertically integrated energy supplier. The rebranded New Era aims to develop “next-generation digital infrastructure and integrated power assets, including powered land and powered shells”, it said in a statement August 12. “The company delivers turnkey solutions that will enable hyperscale, enterprise and edge operators to accelerate data center deployment, optimize total cost of ownership and future-proof their infrastructure investments”. The Midland, Texas-based company “projects generational AI infrastructure demand will grow exponentially

Diamondback Energy Inc. and Kinetik Holdings Inc. have signed agreements to sell each of their 27.5 percent stakes in EPIC Crude Holdings LP to Plains for around $1.57 billion. Plains will become the majority owner with a 55 percent interest in EPIC Crude Holdings, owner of the EPIC Crude Oil Pipeline. Ares Management Corp.’s EPIC Midstream Holdings LP will retain an operating stake of 45 percent. Stretching 800 miles, the pipeline system carries Delaware Basin and Midland Basin supply from locations near Crane, Midland, Orla and Wink, Texas, and Eagle Ford supply from locations near Gardendale and Hobson, Texas. The pipeline system delivers the oil to EPIC Crude Holdings’ 3.4-million-barrel Robstown Terminal near Corpus Christi, according to EPIC Midstream. The pipeline system, which became fully operational April 2020, has a nameplate capacity of 600,000 barrels per day (bpd), expandable up to one million bpd, and nearly seven million barrels of operational storage, according to EPIC Midstream. The assets boost Plains’ Permian wellhead to water strategy, Plains said in a statement on its website, noting the pipeline system is “underpinned by long-term minimum volume commitments from high-quality customers”. “This transaction strengthens our position as the premier crude oil midstream provider, complements our asset footprint and enhances our customer offering”, said Plains chair, chief executive and president Willie Chiang. “The combination of our stake in EPIC Crude Holdings coupled with our existing integrated Permian and Eagle Ford assets enhances our commitment to offering a high level of connectivity and flexibility for our customers. “By further linking our Permian and Eagle Ford gathering systems to Corpus Christi, we are enhancing market access and ensuring our customers have reliable, cost-effective routes to multiple demand centers”. Plains agreed to pay Diamondback and Kinetik an additional $193 million should an expansion of the pipeline system to a

In an exclusive interview with Rigzone on Tuesday, Rebecca Babin, a senior equity trader for CIBC Private Wealth in New York, said crude was “bid” yesterday morning “on a mix of fundamentals, geopolitics, and positioning”. “The physical market remains tighter than expected for this time of year, with time spreads holding up well,” Babin told Rigzone. “In addition, OPEC exports have been undershooting expectations while demand numbers have been revised higher, giving more credence to strong underlying fundamentals,” Babin added. “Ukrainian strikes are beginning to impact Russian exports, adding to the geopolitical risk premium, and recent comments on potential Russian sanctions are further reinforcing that theme,” Babin continued, noting that, “at the same time, hopes for a ceasefire are fading”. Babin told Rigzone that positioning has also reset meaningfully. “Net long WTI exposure is at levels we haven’t seen since 2007-08, driven by twice as many new shorts as longs last week,” Babin said. “Taken together, I think the move higher in crude is justified, even against a softer macro backdrop,” Babin added. Rigzone has contacted OPEC, the Department of Information and Press of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Press Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine for comment on Babin’s statement. At the time of writing, none of the above have responded to Rigzone. In a BMI report sent to Rigzone by the Fitch Group late Tuesday, BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions, projected that the Brent crude oil price will average $68 per barrel in 2025, $67 per barrel in 2026, and $70 per barrel across 2027, 2028, and 2029. A Bloomberg consensus included in the report projected that Brent will average $68 per barrel this year, $65 per barrel next year, and $70 per barrel across 2027, 2028, and 2029. BMI highlighted in

Deutsche Energy Terminal GmbH’s (DET) second liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, has started commercial operations. The Wilhelmshaven 02 terminal, along with the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) Excelsior, is fully operational and able to contribute to filling gas storage facilities before the next heating season, DET said in a news release. Excelsior, built in 2005 by Excelerate Energy, is 909 feet (277 meters) long and has a storage capacity of 4.9 million cubic feet (138,000 cubic meters), with a regasification capacity of up to 500 million standard cubic feet per day. Located on the Wilhelmshaven 2 pier with access to the North Sea, the vessel is under a five-year charter by DET, the company said. Regasification capacity for the rest of the year and 2026 was fully allocated to traders, DET said. In 2025, Excelsior will feed up to 1.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas into the German gas grid. This corresponds to the annual natural gas consumption for heating 1.5 million four-person households in multi-family homes, DET said. In the next two years, Excelsior’s regasification and grid feed-in capacity will then reach up to 4.6 billion cubic meters each, equivalent to the annual heating energy required by up to 3.7 million four-person households, according to the release. DET Managing Director Peter Röttgen said, “Wilhelmshaven 02 combines several technologies that are unique in Germany and Europe, from the FSRU to onshore feed-in. On the one hand, there is ECOnnect’s flexible pipeline system for the direct transfer of natural gas to land without a pipe bridge. This has significantly reduced the impact on the seabed ecosystem. On the other hand, the ultrasonic process for cleaning the FSRU’s seawater pipeline system, which is unique in Europe, has now been put into operation. We would like to thank

OPEC+ is in the process of retaking market share, Ole R. Hvalbye, Commodities Analyst at Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (SEB), and Bjarne Schieldrop, Chief Commodities Analyst at SEB, said in an oil report sent to Rigzone by the SEB team on Tuesday.  “Oil prices are likely to fall for a fourth straight year as OPEC+ unwinds cuts and retakes market share,” the analysts said in the report. “We expect Brent crude to average $55 per barrel in Q4/25 before OPEC+ steps in to stabilize the market into 2026,” they added. “Surplus, stock building, oil prices are under pressure with OPEC+ calling the shots as to how rough it wants to play it,” they went on to state. The SEB analysts noted in the report that OPEC+ is in a process of unwinding voluntary cuts by a sub-group of the members and taking back market share but added that the process looks set to be different from 2014-16, “as the group doesn’t look likely to blindly lift production to take back market share”. “The group has stated very explicitly that it can just as well cut production as increase it ahead,” Hvalbye and Schieldrop pointed out in the report. “While the oil price is unlikely to drop as violently and lasting as in 2014-16, it will likely fall further before the group steps in with fresh cuts to stabilize the price,” they warned. “We expect Brent to fall to $55 per barrel in Q4/25 before the group steps in with fresh cuts at the end of the year,” they continued. In a market comment sent to Rigzone on Friday, Van Ha Trinh, Financial Markets Strategist at Exness, said, “the increase in OPEC output during September has reinforced concerns about oversupply”. “While a potential pause in production hikes after that could provide

Libya’s state-run energy company is proposing reviving a multibillion-dollar natural gas project to ease electricity shortages, a move that may also be a boon for a rival administration in the country’s east. The National Oil Corp. wants its unit Arabian Gulf Oil Co. to develop discovered gas deposits in the NC-7 block in western Libya, potentially in collaboration with consortium partners Eni SpA, TotalEnergies SE, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and Turkish Petroleum Corp., according to a letter from the NOC to Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, the prime minister of Libya’s internationally recognized government. The project would, however, be overseen by a new company established in Benghazi in the east, according to the letter. Such an arrangement would be beneficial for the eastern administration which has often complained about not getting its fair share of energy revenue, resulting in frequent disruptions to the country’s vast oil production. Tapping Libya’s gas resources, estimated at about 53 trillion cubic feet according to the US Energy Information Administration, is becoming crucial for authorities to meet export commitments and rising local demand. NC-7 would be one of the biggest new projects in the country, according to the report. But a previous plan to develop the discoveries stalled in 2023 after Libyan objections to the share of profits that would be granted to overseas companies.  Eni, TotalEnergies and Adnoc declined to comment on the NOC letter, a copy of which was seen by Bloomberg. Libyan energy officials didn’t respond to requests for comment, nor did Turkey’s energy ministry, which controls Turkish Petroleum Corp. Libya, riven by conflict since the toppling of longtime leader Moammar Al Qaddafi in 2011, is split between Dbeibah’s government in Tripoli in the country’s west, and a rival administration in Benghazi. The two sides frequently feud over energy revenue, leading to shutdowns