WASHINGTON— The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today issued an emergency order under section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act. The order directs PJM Interconnection (PJM) to operate specified generation units at the Eddystone, Pennsylvania Generation Station past their planned retirement. This order follows recent statements from PJM warning that its system faces a “growing resource adequacy concern” due to load growth, the retirement of dispatchable resources, and other factors. “Maintaining access to affordable, reliable, and secure power is always our top priority, particularly during the summer months when electricity demand reaches its peak,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. “Americans should never be left wondering whether they will be able to turn on their lights or air conditioning. This emergency order helps keep money in consumers’ pockets while keeping their homes and businesses fully powered. Energy shortfalls or unnecessary price increases are not options in this Administration.” DOE’s order states that PJM shall, in coordination with Constellation Energy, run specified units at the Eddystone Generating Station, when PJM deems necessary, past their planned retirement date of May 31, 2025. DOE issued the order due to resource adequacy concerns given the timing of the retirement of the generation units coinciding with sustained increased energy demand. Background: PJM has recently stated its system faces “growing resource adequacy concern” due to load growth, the retirement of dispatchable resources, and other factors. Upcoming retirements, including the planned retirement of Unit 3 and Unit 4 of the Eddystone Generating Station in Eddystone, Pennsylvania, will exacerbate these resource adequacy issues. In its February 2023 assessment, PJM also highlighted the increasing resource adequacy concerns and reliability risks in the coming years due to the potential timing mismatch between resource retirements, load growth and the pace of new generation entry. ###

Centrica Plc is opening a trading office in New York that will underpin its growth in natural gas. Subsidiary Centrica Energy will establish its first US commodity-trading office aimed at building a physical gas business, Chief Executive Officer Chris O’Shea said in an interview. The sector is betting hundreds of billions of dollars that the fuel has a place in the world’s energy mix through at least 2050. “Trading physical gas is good business, it gives us the option to do a lot more,” O’Shea, 51, said. “In order to do that, we will need boots on the ground.” The British company previously had a US business — an energy retail supplier and trader that it sold in 2020 as part of a restructuring.  The gas and power trading industry has since soared as volatility and extreme weather create dislocations to profit from. Projected increases in demand from data centers are furthering that potential. For Centrica, which can both store and transport commodities, it means being able to access and arbitrage areas that aren’t covered by derivatives. Such a business can also act as a natural hedge to financial trading, reducing risks. Underpinning the rationale is surging consumption of liquefied natural gas, a fuel touted by President Donald Trump as key to attaining US energy dominance. America is already the world’s largest LNG exporter and is pledging investment into more massive terminals. “We have a lot of expertise in physical gas trading and we are looking to be in places that would be linked to our global LNG business,” O’Shea said. New Office Markets have become far more interconnected in recent years, and the projected growth of LNG during the next decade will only accelerate this process, according to the CEO. Centrica Energy’s managing director, Cassim Mangerah, is leading the effort for the New

WASHINGTON— U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright today announced the termination of 24 awards issued by the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) totaling over $3.7 billion in taxpayer-funded financial assistance. After a thorough and individualized financial review of each award, DOE found that these projects failed to advance the energy needs of the American people, were not economically viable and would not generate a positive return on investment of taxpayer dollars.  Of the 24 awards cancelled, nearly 70% (16 of the 24 projects) were signed between Election Day and January 20th. The projects primarily include funding for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) and decarbonization initiatives. By terminating these awards, DOE is generating an immediate $3.6 billion in savings for the American people. “While the previous administration failed to conduct a thorough financial review before signing away billions of taxpayer dollars, the Trump administration is doing our due diligence to ensure we are utilizing taxpayer dollars to strengthen our national security, bolster affordable, reliable energy sources and advance projects that generate the highest possible return on investment,” said Secretary Wright. “Today, we are acting in the best interest of the American people by cancelling these 24 awards.” Earlier this month, DOE issued a Secretarial Memorandum entitled, “Ensuring Responsibility for Financial Assistance,” which outlined DOE’s policy for evaluating financial assistance on a case-by-case basis to identity waste of taxpayer dollars, protect America’s national security and advance President Trump’s commitment to unleash affordable, reliable and secure energy for the American people. DOE utilized this review process to evaluate each of these 24 awards and determined that they did not meet the economic, national security or energy security standards necessary to sustain DOE’s investment. DOE’s Secretarial Policy on Ensuring Responsibility for Financial Assistance is available here.                  

Taiwan will send a delegation to a summit in Alaska to discuss procuring liquefied natural gas from a long-delayed project championed by US President Donald Trump. “We already got the invitation” from the US, Taiwan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Chen Ming-chi said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Thursday, referring the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference from June 3 to 5. A high-ranking official will lead the delegation, he said. Taiwan is interested in purchasing LNG from the US project, as well as investing in the necessary pipeline and related infrastructure for the facility, Chen said. He declined to disclose the officials who will lead the delegation. Proponents of the $44 billion Alaska LNG export project are trying to use the gathering as a way to rally support and financing for the facility, which has became a focus for the White House. The plant has been proposed in various forms for decades, but has struggled to secure binding long-term contracts and investment. Chen said Taiwan’s investment amount for the project needs to be discussed further between the two sides, and additional negotiation will be required. Taiwan’s CPC Corp. signed a non-binding letter of intent in March to invest in Alaska LNG’s pipeline and purchase fuel from the project. 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.

Oil edged down after a choppy session as traders parsed mixed messaging on the status of trade talks between the US and China. West Texas Intermediate futures swung in a roughly $2 range before settling down fractionally near $61 a barrel. Futures had sunk after US President Donald Trump said China had violated its trade agreement and threatened to broaden restrictions on its tech sector, reviving concerns that a tariff war between the world’s two largest economies would hurt oil demand. Crude later pared losses when Trump signaled openness to speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Meanwhile, OPEC+ was said to consider an output increase of more than 411,000 barrels a day in July in a push for market share. The revival of idled output by OPEC and its allies at a faster-than-expected pace has bolstered expectations that a glut will form this year. “Global oil market fundamentals remain somewhat loose now and should loosen up much more later this year, with growing non-OPEC supply and relatively mild, but persistent stock builds,” Citigroup analysts including Francesco Martoccia said in a note. Geopolitical risks from Russia to Iran continue to provide price support against an otherwise softening physical backdrop, they added. Meanwhile, commodity trading advisers, which tend to exacerbate price swings, increased short positions to sit at 91% short in Brent on Friday, compared with roughly 70% short on May 29, according to data from Bridgeton Research Group. Still, some metrics are pointing to near-term strength in the oil market. WTI’s front-month futures were trading about 93 cents more per barrel than the contract for the next month, the biggest premium since early January. Libya’s eastern government threatened to curb oil production and exports in protest after a militia stormed the state oil company’s headquarters. A shutdown could result in a

Dive Brief: The U.S. Senate passed three joint resolutions May 22 nullifying California’s ability to set emissions standards for passenger cars, light duty vehicles and trucks that are stricter than national standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Auto and petroleum industry lobbyists targeted California’s Advanced Clean Car II regulations, adopted in 2022, which require all new passenger cars, trucks and SUVs sold in the state to be zero-emission vehicles by the 2035 model year. Federal law set in 1990 allows 17 additional states and the District of Columbia to follow California’s regulations. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, announced the state’s intention to file a lawsuit blocking the congressional resolutions, which await the signature of President Donald Trump to become law. Dive Insight: California’s ability to set its own vehicle emissions standards stem from the 1967 Air Quality Act, passed at a time when smog and poor air quality often permeated the Los Angeles basin. While air quality in California has improved over the years, experts fear a setback from the Senate’s action. “Public health could potentially suffer as a consequence,” said Michael Kleeman, a professor at the University of California, Davis, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “This is, plain and simple, a vote against clean air to breathe,” said Aaron Kressig, transportation electrification manager at Western Resource Advocates, in an emailed statement. He warned of potential lost days at school or work and premature deaths.    “Over 150 million people in the United States are already exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution,” Steven Higashide, director of the Clean Transportation Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in an emailed statement. “The standards are based on the best available science, and were finalized with extensive public input.”  Along with public health concerns, the debate around California’s