US diesel demand, a closely watched measure of the country’s economic health, was higher in April than early weekly estimates, the Energy Information Administration said in its monthly report. Distillate fuel oil demand was 3.88 million barrels a day in April, according to the agency’s latest Petroleum Supply Monthly report released Monday. That is 4.7% higher than early estimates published by the agency in its Wednesday weekly report and 2.2% higher than April 2024. April was a volatile month for diesel futures after President Trump announced sweeping tariffs on April 2, causing prices to tank. Demand for jet fuel was revised down by 5% in the monthly EIA report to 1.76 million barrels a day from estimates of 1.86 millions barrels a day. Those same tariffs also clouded the outlook for air travel, with some Americans opting for road trips over flying as they tighten spending.  Demand for gasoline, the most consumed fuel in the US, was in-line with weekly estimates published earlier this year. Total US liquids production eked out a record-high of 20.83 million barrels a day in April, up roughly 50,000 barrels from the previous month, the report said. The number, which includes crude oil and natural gas liquids, came in roughly 340,000 barrels higher than a previous estimate for the month of April. 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.

Malaysian oil and gas contractor Sapura Energy Bhd.’s restructuring plan to restore financial stability is entering its “final stages,” according to the company’s first-quarter earnings statement. Regulator Bursa Malaysia’s approval of the blueprint to restructure debt puts the company on a path to exit its financially distressed classification set by Malaysia’s stock exchange, the company said. The country’s anti-graft agency said in March it was investigating the cash-strapped company, which reported a net loss in the quarter ended in April, for alleged misappropriation of funds. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that month he ordered an audit of the firm and change of management. He also approved a 1.1 billion ringgit ($262.5 million) injection into the company, but denied that it was a bailout.  Sapura Energy’s restructuring is “aimed at addressing the group’s unsustainable debt levels and restoring financial stability,” according to its statement. “Restructuring efforts remain on track and have entered the final stages.” The company said the plan will help reduce total borrowings to 5.6 billion ringgit from 10.8 billion ringgit, without giving a time frame. Sapura Energy reported a first-quarter net loss of 478.0 million ringgit compared with a profit of 82.1 million ringgit a year ago. It cited a challenging project in Angola, as well as lower activity across the oil industry’s operations, maintenance and drilling segments, for the loss. What do you think? We’d love to hear from you, join the conversation on the Rigzone Energy Network. The Rigzone Energy Network is a new social experience created for you and all energy professionals to Speak Up about our industry, share knowledge, connect with peers and industry insiders and engage in a professional community that will empower your career in energy.

Dive Brief: The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities plans to procure at least 1 GW of transmission-scale energy storage in two competitive solicitations over the next 12 months, it said on June 18. The board aims to procure 350 MW to 750 MW by Oct. 31 and the remaining capacity needed to reach the 1 GW target in a second solicitation in the first half of 2026, it said. The two solicitations show New Jersey is moving forward with the clean energy plan signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy, D, in 2018, which mandates 2 GW of new energy storage by 2030 and 100% “clean energy” by 2050. Dive Insight: The board’s long-awaited announcement came seven years after Murphy signed what was characterized at the time as an “aggressive” plan to boost the state’s renewable portfolio and storage targets. The solicitation “is the culmination of two years of extensive stakeholder engagement, incorporating valuable feedback from a diverse range of industry experts, environmental groups and public representatives,” the board said in a statement. The first phase, which opened to bidders on June 25, is open to transmission-scale projects, including standalone storage, additions to existing solar, and solar-plus-storage resources, according to the program’s website. They will be funded largely through the New Jersey Clean Energy Program budget, which receives funding from a long-running utility bill surcharge, and will not increase costs for ratepayers, the board said. “This ambitious program directly addresses demand growth and limited supply, the root causes of recent rate increases, while simultaneously building a major part of the state’s clean energy future,” the board said. New Jersey’s generation mix is 35.8% natural gas, 57.5% nuclear and 4.8% renewables, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. While the first phase of New Jersey’s program is focused on bulk

Dive Brief: One Minnesota county’s vision to decarbonize a 15-building district energy system faces economic and practical difficulties in the near term, two people involved in the project said at the International District Energy Association annual conference earlier this month. Eliminating steam completely was infeasible, with a major safety net hospital as the top customer for the Hennepin County system’s well-maintained steam loop,, and switching to electric boilers would likely be prohibitively expensive, said James Bohn, principal with FVB Energy. Over the longer term, Hennepin County envisions serving a major planned hospital expansion with an electric-powered heat exchange system, backed up by the current mix of electric and fossil-fuel equipment, which could eventually run on renewable natural gas as markets develop for that fuel, Bohn said. Dive Insight: The Hennepin County Energy Center supplies high-pressure steam and chilled water to six county-owned buildings and several private customers in downtown Minneapolis, including the hospital. The county, Minnesota’s largest, aims to reduce the facility’s environmental impact over time as it targets a 45% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050.  Bohn’s analysis considered a “range of potential options” for near-term decarbonization, including building efficiency improvements, alternative steam sources and a switch from steam to a hot water loop, he said. With Minnesota progressing toward its legislative mandate of 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040, focusing on electrifying as much of the system was tempting, Bohn said. But the hospital’s strict reliability requirements and its use of steam for other critical processes, such as instrument sterilization, made it impractical to eliminate steam in the near term, he said. “You can’t just go into a hospital and say we’re going to change things [and] and you’re going to be up ‘most’ of the time,” Bohn said. “You have important stakeholders

Southwest Power Pool has launched the second phase of development of its western day-ahead and real-time market and remains on track for a 2027 launch, the grid operator said Monday. The second phase of the Markets+ initiative is backed by financing provided by Simmons Bank to cover the $150 million needed for full market implementation, SPP said. During this phase, stakeholders and staff will collaborate to develop the systems needed to operate the market, conduct market trials and parallel operations. “Securing financing for phase two of Markets+ is a pivotal step forward,” SPP Vice President of Markets Carrie Simpson said in a statement. “It allows SPP to continue developing a more efficient, transparent and reliable energy market for our western stakeholders and their customers.” SPP’s funding agreement framework was approved in April by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The agreement details how implementation costs will be recovered over the market’s operational life, and so far eight utilities have signed on, including: Arizona Public Service, Bonneville Power Administration, Chelan County PUD, Grant County PUD, Powerex, Salt River Project, Tacoma Power and Tucson Electric Power. Bonneville announced its plan to join SPP’s Markets+ in March, eschewing a market being launched by the California Independent System Operator. The utilities signing on to SPP’s effort are located across the Desert Southwest, Pacific Northwest and Mountain West regions of the Western Interconnection and demonstrate “broad regional commitment and collaboration,” the grid operator said. “With key regional partners on board, we’re ready to begin the next phase of development,” SPP Senior Director of Seams and Western Services Jim Gonzalez said. Federal regulators say development of SPP’s Markets+ is important to improve grid reliability and energy affordability across the region. In March, The Brattle Group published an analysis showing SPP could need up to $263 billion in

Dive Brief: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and other federal agencies on Monday revoked regulations governing their handling of environmental reviews of proposed projects under the National Environmental Policy Act. Federal agencies revoking their NEPA regulations include the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy, the Department of Interior, the Department of Transportation and FERC. Some agencies proposed new regulations to replace the old ones while others replaced the rules with nonbinding guidance, according to Earthjustice. “In all cases, the regulations significantly weaken the implementation of the statute by cutting the public out of NEPA reviews and eliminating all references to consider climate change, environmental justice, and other crucial environmental issues,” the environmental advocacy group said Monday. Dive Insight: The action was in response to an executive order issued by President Donald Trump that aims to spur energy development, including by rescinding the Council on Environmental Quality’s NEPA regulations. It also follows a unanimous Supreme Court decision in May limiting the scope of such environmental reviews. CEQ, the White House office that oversees NEPA implementation, removed its NEPA regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations through an interim final rule, effective April 11. That action created “significant legal uncertainty” for project developers, according to attorneys with Foley & Lardner, a law firm. “Until federal courts establish a new ‘doctrine’ for sufficiency of NEPA review in the post-CEQ NEPA regulations world, the future for NEPA lawsuits will likely be fact- and court-specific, potentially leading to variation between circuits and greater uncertainty for infrastructure projects,” John Strom, special counsel, and Peter Tomasi, partner, said in a Feb. 25 blog post. FERC on Monday issued a 20-page staff manual outlining its revised procedures for its environmental reviews for natural gas pipelines and other projects. The change enjoyed unanimous support from FERC’s four sitting