Noble Corp said Monday it had signed separate deals to sell five jackup rigs to Borr Drilling Ltd for $360 million and one jackup to Ocean Oilfield Drilling for $64 million. After the completion of the transactions, expected next year, “Noble will be a pureplay deepwater and ultra-harsh environment jackup operator”, the offshore driller said in an online statement. Borr will acquire Noble Resilient (built 2009), Noble Resolute (built 2009), Noble Mick O’Brien (built 2013), Noble Regina Allen (built 2013) and Noble Tom Prosser (built 2014). The purchase price consists of $210 million in cash and $150 million in seller notes. “The $150 million in proposed seller notes to Borr are expected to have a six-year maturity and be secured by a first lien on three jackups (Noble Tom Prosser, Noble Regina Allen and Noble Resilient)”, Noble said. “Additionally, Noble intends to operate two rigs – Noble Mick O’Brien and Noble Resolute – under a bareboat charter agreement with Borr for one year from signing of the definitive agreement”, it said. Meanwhile Ocean Oilfield Drilling will buy Noble Resolve, built 2009, after the rig’s ongoing contract ends. Noble Resolve will be freed in the first quarter of 2026, Nobel says on its online fleet inventory. The rig is currently deployed in Spain for an unnamed operator, according to Noble’s latest fleet status report, published October 27. Ocean Oilfield Drilling will pay in cash. “These transactions are expected to be immediately accretive to our shareholders based on both trailing 2025 and anticipated 2026 EBITDA and free cash flow, while also bolstering our balance sheet and sharpening the focus on our established positions in the deepwater and ultra-harsh jackup segments”, said president and chief executive Robert W. Eifler. In its quarterly report October 27, Noble said the Noble Globetrotter II drillship, built 2013, was also being sold. During the third

Equinor ASA and its partners have achieved two new natural gas and condensate discoveries in the Sleipner area on Norway’s side of the North Sea. Preliminary estimates for Lofn (well 15/5-8 S) and Langemann (15/5-8 A), in production license 1140, indicate 5-18 million standard cubic meters oil-equivalent recoverable resources, or 30-110 million barrels, according to the Norwegian majority state-owned company. “These are Equinor’s largest discoveries so far this year and can be developed for the European market through existing infrastructure”, it said in an online statement. The discoveries sit between the Gudrun and Eirin fields and about 40 kilometers (24.85 miles) northwest of the Sleipner A processing, drilling and living quarters platform, according to Equinor. The platform is one of several installations serving the Sleipner gas and condensate fields Sleipner East (which started production 1993), Gungne (started up 1996) and Sleipner West (also put onstream 1996). Sleipner infrastructure also serves tie-in fields Sigyn (online since 2002), Volve (started up 2008), Gudrun (started up 2014) and Gina Krog (started up 2017). Lofn and Langemann encountered gas and condensate in the Hugin Formation, which consists of sandstones with “good reservoir properties”, Equinor said. “The discoveries reduce uncertainty in several nearby prospects, which will now be further evaluated”, it said. Kjetil Hove, executive vice president for Norwegian exploration and production at Equinor, said, “This demonstrates the importance of maintaining exploration activity on the Norwegian continental shelf. There are still significant energy resources on the shelf, and Europe needs stable oil and gas deliveries”. “Discoveries near existing fields can be developed quickly through subsea facilities, with limited environmental impact, very low CO2 emissions from production and strong profitability”, Hove said. “Equinor plans to accelerate such developments on the Norwegian continental shelf”. Karl Johnny Hersvik, chief executive of license co-owner Aker BP ASA, said separately the

Oil eased by the most in almost three weeks as traders monitored India’s buying of Russian crude and refined products markets slumped, leading the energy complex lower. West Texas Intermediate futures fell 2% to settle near $59 a barrel, weighed down by losses in US equities, and have now been trading in a range of less than $4 since the start of November. Russian President Vladimir Putin last week promised “uninterrupted shipments” of fuel to India even as Moscow faces steeper sanctions over its war in Ukraine. The shipments will likely be a key point for discussions as US negotiators arrive in the South Asian nation for trade talks. “Oversupply concerns will eventually be realized, especially as Russian oil and refined product flows eventually circumvent existing sanctions,” said Vivek Dhar, an analyst with Commonwealth Bank of Australia. That will see Brent futures fall toward $60 a barrel through 2026, he said. Among products, gasoline futures dropped 2% in New York, after hitting the lowest level since May 2021 last week. Diesel prices also weakened in a drag on energy commodities across the board. The focus on Moscow’s flows comes as a potential peace deal between Ukraine and Russia also remained in focus. US President Donald Trump said he was disappointed in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s handling of a US proposal to end the nearly four-year-old war. Those tensions will be weighed against glut concerns, with higher supply from OPEC+ and producers outside the group — including the US, Brazil and Guyana — set to overwhelm tepid demand growth. The US’s Energy Information Administration, the International Energy Agency and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will publish monthly market outlooks this week that may provide further insights. Both WTI and Brent remain on their longest runs below their 100-day moving

IDAHO FALLS, ID. —The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $11 million in awards to five U.S. companies to develop and license new or modified transportation packages for high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU). The announcement was made during U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright’s visit to Idaho National Laboratory (INL), marking the final stop in his ongoing tour of all 17 DOE National Laboratories. These selections advance President Trump’s recent executive orders and commitment to rebuild the Nation’s nuclear fuel cycle, strengthen domestic enrichment and fabrication capabilities, and accelerate the deployment of advanced reactors to usher in a new American nuclear renaissance. “From critical minerals to nuclear fuel, the Trump administration is fully committed to restoring the supply chains needed to secure America’s future,” said Secretary Wright. “Thanks to President Trump, the Energy Department is operating at record speeds to unleash the next American Nuclear Renaissance and to deliver more affordable, reliable, and secure energy for American families and businesses.” DOE’s $11 million in awards will support industry-led efforts to design, modify, and license transportation packages through the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). These investments will help establish long-term, economical HALEU transport capabilities that better serve domestic reactor developers and strengthen the U.S. nuclear supply chain. The following companies were selected to develop long-term economic solutions for the safe transport of HALEU through two topic areas: Topic Area 1: Develop new package designs that can be licensed by the NRC NAC International Westinghouse Electric Company Container Technologies Industries, LLC American Centrifuge Operating Paragon D&E Topic Area 2: Modify existing design packages for NRC certification NAC International Projects under Topic Area 1 will have performance periods of up to three years; the Topic Area 2 project will have a performance period of up to two years. Funding is provided through DOE’s

A small city perched on San Francisco Bay poses a big obstacle to California Governor Gavin Newsom’s plans to prevent gasoline price spikes in a state that already pays more at the pump than any other.  Valero Energy Corp. plans to shut its refinery in Benicia in April, part of a wave of refinery closures across California as the state shifts away from fossil fuels. Newsom is counting on increased imports to ensure gas prices don’t soar, and his administration is exploring the Valero site — which is connected to a marine port — as a potential storage hub, said Benicia Mayor Steve Young.  The idea, however, doesn’t sit well with Young or other leaders in this community of 27,000, which relies on the refinery for jobs and taxes. If Valero can’t be persuaded to keep the refinery open, he would rather redevelop the site to attract a new industry, or fill it with retail and housing.   “We’re going to put up whatever resistance we can,” Young said in an interview. Making the site a fuel storage hub “is a terrible situation, because there are no jobs, there are no taxes and you have continuous emissions from tankers.”  Young and the governor’s staff discussed the idea in meetings last month, he said, with state officials asking if the city would accept a storage facility for up to 20 years. No formal proposal has been submitted to the city, he said. Young also warned that Benicia could push forward a ballot measure to tax gasoline imports, if necessary. The governor’s office said they “remain engaged with all interested and impacted stakeholders,” declining to comment further. Valero, based in San Antonio, Texas, didn’t respond to requests for comment. California has seen its fleet of refineries shrink as the state moves to renewable

A Russian liquefied natural gas export facility delivered its first shipment to China since being sanctioned by the US in January, the latest sign of increased energy cooperation between Beijing and Moscow. The Valera vessel, which loaded a shipment from Gazprom PJSC’s Portovaya facility on the Baltic Sea in October, arrived at the Beihai import terminal in southern China on Monday, ship data compiled by Bloomberg shows. Both Valera and Portovaya were sanctioned by Joe Biden’s administration to thwart Russia’s plans to boost LNG exports. China, which doesn’t recognize the unilateral sanctions, has increasingly bought blacklisted Russian gas over the last few months, ratcheting up energy ties between the two countries. Beijing has also ignored a broader push by US President Donald Trump to halt sales of Russian oil, which will likely be a key part of trade negotiations between Washington and New Delhi this week. Russia has two relatively small LNG export facilities on the Baltic Sea, with the Novatek PJSC-led Vysotsk plant also blacklisted by the US. Another sanctioned Russian plant, the Arctic LNG 2 site in Siberia, started delivering fuel to Beihai in late August. Total Russian LNG shipments to China, including from unsanctioned plants, rose about 14 percent from September through November from the same period a year earlier, ship data shows. If unloaded, Valera would be the 19th shipment of LNG into China from a blacklisted Russian plant since August, the data shows. In mid-October, satellite images showed a tanker that loaded at Portovaya transferring fuel into another vessel registered to a Hong Kong-based company near Malaysia. That ship, known as CCH Gas, has been sending out false location signals, and was spotted by satellites near China last month. It isn’t clear where it is currently located. What do you think? We’d love to hear from