WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office (HGEO) today announced up to $150 million in federal funding for cost-shared projects aimed at advancing three critical priorities for the U.S. oil and natural gas industry—dramatically improving recovery efficiency from unconventional oil and gas reservoirs, advancing hydraulic fracture characterization technologies, and developing innovative solutions for produced water management. This initiative advances resident Trump’s Executive Order , “Unleashing American Energy,” and the Secretarial Order “Unleashing the Golden Era of Energy Dominance,” to provide affordable, reliable, and secure energy to all Americans through the responsible development of our nation’s abundant domestic oil and natural gas supplies. “Under President Trump’s leadership, we are unleashing America’s energy potential to secure our nation’s future,” said DOE Acting Assistant Secretary of the Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office Curt Coccodrilli. “By unlocking more of our domestic oil and natural gas resources, improving our understanding of hydraulic fracturing, and innovating in produced water management, we are not only creating jobs and lowering energy costs for American families, we are also driving innovation that will benefit our economy for generations to come.” DOE has released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) seeking innovative proposals that address technical, economic, and environmental barriers across the following areas, with a focus on increasing domestic energy production and strengthening American energy dominance: Enhanced Recovery from Unconventional Oil and Gas Reservoirs: With recovery rates from unconventional reservoirs often below 10%, significant oil and gas resources remain untapped. Funding in this area will support the rapid field deployment of novel technologies and processes—including exploring the potential of carbon dioxide as an injectant—to improve oil and gas extraction, increase the recovery factor, and lower the break-even cost of primary recovery operations to increase the efficiency of our national resources and provide more affordable energy.  Advanced Characterization of Fracture Propagation,

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Energy celebrates yet another win for the American nuclear energy renaissance. Early Saturday, as part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Reactor Pilot Program, Aalo Atomics’ test reactor, Aalo-X, successfully completed a zero-power fueled criticality demonstration. The experiment took place at Idaho National Laboratory and is the fourth DOE-authorized advanced reactor to achieve the criticality milestone, exceeding the July 4th goal outlined by President Trump in his May 2025 executive order. “Last month I toured the Aalo facility at Idaho National Laboratory and was impressed by the company’s determination to successfully demonstrate their technology by the Fourth of July,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright. “President Trump asked for three advanced reactors to be authorized and achieve criticality by the 250th anniversary of our great country. I’m pleased to share that through the dedication and hard work of Aalo, INL and DOE, we have surpassed that ask and delivered four!” Aalo-X joins a growing list of successful advanced reactor designs and spotlights the continued progress and momentum of participants in DOE’s Reactor Pilot Program and the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad initiative. In June, Antares Nuclear’s Mark-0 reactor, Valar Atomics’ Ward 250, and Deployable Energy’s Unity achieved criticality. “The hardest problem in nuclear was never the physics, our country simply forgot how to build. The success of the Department of Energy Reactor Pilot Program is proof America can execute again,” said Yasir Arafat, President and CTO, Aalo Atomics. “We are proud to play a major role in America’s nuclear renaissance, going from breaking ground to a sustained chain reaction in just eight months, one of the fastest reactor builds in modern American history.” The fourth criticality of a DOE authorized reactor design surpasses what many skeptics thought American reactor developers could achieve in response to President

San Mateo said the assets complement its existing gathering and processing system and will improve natural gas flow across the northern Delaware basin in southeast New Mexico and West Texas. The acquisition is expected to increase San Mateo’s designed processing capacity to more than 1 bcfd and expand its gathering network to more than 800 miles. Integration of the systems is expected to provide immediate operating synergies, including the ability to move volumes between Cardinal’s Loving County plant and San Mateo’s Marlan and Black River plants in Eddy County. “With this acquisition, San Mateo not only gains more processing capacity, a larger pipeline system and a more diverse customer base but also improves its positioning for strategic transactions in the future,” said Brian J. Willey, San Mateo chairman and executive vice-president of midstream for Matador. Willey added that connecting the systems will “complete the circle” of San Mateo’s Delaware basin infrastructure, enhancing flow assurance for Matador and third‑party customers and improving flexibility to move natural gas throughout the northern Delaware basin north to south or south to north. The transaction is expected to close on or before July 31, 2026, subject to customary conditions. Cardinal’s field employees are expected to join San Mateo upon closing.

QatarEnergy has signed a commercial discovery declaration for the Glaucus and Pegasus fields in Cyprus, partnering with Cyprus and ExxonMobil to progress development plans and regulatory approvals for offshore gas production. <!–> June 30, 2026 –> Key Highlights QatarEnergy signed a commercial discovery declaration for offshore Cyprus. QatarEnergy, the government of Cyprus, and ExxonMobil will support the next phase of Block 10 development.

Another technology that could provide massive potential to help meet rising energy demand and contribute to global climate goals is renewable hydrogen. Renewable hydrogen—or green hydrogen—is produced by electrolysis, where hydrogen is processed from water using renewable electricity (e.g., wind, solar) by splitting water molecules. Currently, around 95% of all hydrogen is made using fossil-derived natural gas, resulting in high GHG emissions. Since renewable hydrogen is nearly free of GHG emissions, the transition to a renewable hydrogen economy hold potential to transform the energy landscape. Just as with Neste’s the pilot program in Rotterdam, renewable fuel producers could benefit by evaluating options for replacing fossil-based hydrogen with renewable hydrogen in their production processes. In the renewable fuels production process, supply chain optimization is critical to ensure stable flows of both raw materials and end products. For Neste, this means an extensive global network for sourcing renewable raw materials and a market-centric distribution network to ensure renewable fuels reach customers and key markets quickly and efficiently. In the US, Neste made a major strategic move to enhance its supply network with the acquisition of Mahoney Environmental in 2020. This integration provides Neste with access to used cooking oil from over 100,000 locations across the country. To ensure efficient product delivery, Neste has also been fostering partnerships with infrastructure providers to lease terminals that are strategically located near key markets. These terminals are often well-connected to fuel logistics via vessels, barges, trucks, and pipelines. Having terminal capacities close to key markets can notably increase the availability and accessibility of Neste’s renewable fuels to customers. For example, the streamlined logistics system enabled a major expansion of Neste’s SAF supply in 2025, when Neste and United Airlines Inc. extended their partnership, making United the first commercial airline to purchase SAF for use on flights

Talos would acquire a 25% non-operated working interest in the bp plc-operated (50%) Na Kika platform and the Kepler, Ariel, Fourier, and Herschel fields, along with a 50% working interest and operatorship in the Coulomb field, the company said in a separate release. The Na Kika interests are subject to a 30-day preferential purchase right held by affiliates of bp. According to bp’s website, Na Kika is one of bp’s “most prolific producers in the Gulf,” as a hub for 8 subsea fields with more than 100 miles of infield flowlines which make up the gathering system. Na Kika, which lies 140 miles southeast of New Orleans in 6,340 ft of water, is designed to process up to 130,000 b/d of oil and 550 MMcfd of natural gas. If exercised, Talos would acquire only the 50% working interest and operatorship in Coulomb field, Talos said. Shell’s entitlement production from the assets is expected to average 37,000 boe/d in 2025. The company reported proved reserves at year-end 2025 of 4.3 MMboe for Na Kika and 7.2 MMboe for Coulomb. Based on its internal modeling, Na Kika and Coulomb “will not be meaningful contributors to production by 2030,” Shell said. Average first-quarter 2026 production attributable to the interests Talos expects to acquire was about 16,000 boe/d, of which about 77% was oil, Talos said. What Shell retains The agreement includes a 50% upside-sharing arrangement with Shell from closing through year-end 2027, subject to commodity price thresholds and certain other contingencies. The arrangement applies if realized oil prices exceed $60/bbl, Talos said. According to Shell, it will receive uncapped upside-linked payments through 2027 and overriding royalty interests on production from future Na Kika tiebacks, subject to specified conditions. Shell Trading US Co. will retain rights to offtake production from Na Kika and Coulomb