U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), increased by 1.3 million barrels from the week ending May 9 to the week ending May 16, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlighted in its latest weekly petroleum status report. That EIA report was released on May 21 and included data for the week ending May 16. It showed that crude oil stocks, not including the SPR, stood at 443.2 million barrels on May 16, 441.8 million barrels on May 9, and 458.8 million barrels on May 17, 2024. The EIA report highlighted that data may not add up to totals due to independent rounding. Crude oil in the SPR stood at 400.5 million barrels on May 16, 399.7 million barrels on May 9, and 368.8 million barrels on May 17, 2024, the report outlined. Total petroleum stocks – including crude oil, total motor gasoline, fuel ethanol, kerosene type jet fuel, distillate fuel oil, residual fuel oil, propane/propylene, and other oils – stood at 1.623 billion barrels on May 16, the report showed. Total petroleum stocks were up 5.8 million barrels week on week and up 4.3 million barrels year on year, the report revealed. “At 443.2 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about six percent below the five year average for this time of year,” the EIA stated in its latest weekly petroleum status report. “Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 0.8 million barrels from last week and are about two percent below the five year average for this time of year. Both finished gasoline inventories and blending components inventories increased last week,” it added. “Distillate fuel inventories increased by 0.6 million barrels last week and are about 16 percent below the five year average for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories increased by 2.7

Dive Brief: Commercial and small business customers in New York City will see summer power bills rise by about 10% and 8%, respectively, Consolidated Edison warned Wednesday. Residential customers will see smaller increases, the utility said. The price increases are part of a national trend amid rising demand. “Retail electricity prices have increased faster than the rate of inflation since 2022, and we expect them to continue increasing through 2026,” the U.S. Energy Information Administration said May 14. Utilities are making large investments to meet growing demand for electricity. ConEdison has spent about $2.35 billion on its distribution system since last summer, the utility said, including new substation equipment, underground cables and transformers. Dive Insight: U.S. energy prices rapidly increased from 2020 to 2022 as a result of the global pandemic and supply chain interruptions tied to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Fuel prices have declined in recent years, but electricity price increases have continued unabated, EIA said. “We expect the nominal U.S. average electricity price to increase by 13% from 2022 to 2025,” EIA said. “Parts of the country with relatively high electricity prices may experience greater price increases than those with relatively low electricity prices.” The Pacific Coast has seen retail electricity prices rise 26% since 2022, the federal government’s energy data arm said. New England and mid-Atlantic prices have risen 19%. Optional Caption Retrieved from U.S. Energy Information Administration. Retail bills include the cost of generation, transmission and distribution, along with taxes and fees. ConEd has been investing billions in its distribution system, and also raised delivery charges in January under a rate plan the New York State Public Service Commission approved in 2023, the utility said. A typical residential customer in New York City can expect average monthly bills to be 2.7% higher from June to September, relative

Dive Brief: House Republicans’ proposed wind-down of clean energy tax credits and key Department of Energy programs would reverse the nuclear industry’s recent momentum and threaten the Trump administration’s “energy dominance” goals, Nuclear Energy Institute CEO Maria Korsnick said on Tuesday. In an address at NEI’s annual Nuclear Energy Policy Forum in Washington, D.C., Korsnick emphasized the need for further reforms at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, federal support for an expanded U.S. nuclear supply chain and public-private workforce investments if the industry is to meet expected future power demand. “We’re facing some headwinds, and the actions we take today will define what the future looks like,” Korsnick said. “We will be out there pounding the pavement every step of the way.” Dive Insight: During her 25-minute address and a brief question-and-answer session afterward, Korsnick reiterated concerns raised by nuclear industry stakeholders in an April 30 letter to House and Senate leaders. NEI organized the campaign and collected more than 120 signatures from utilities, independent power producers, reactor developers, nuclear services firms and others. The letter urged Congress to preserve four Inflation Reduction Act tax credits that benefit the nuclear industry, including technology-neutral clean energy investment and production credits and a separate production tax credit for existing nuclear reactors. But today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a sweeping budget package that terminated the technology-neutral credits for new and expanded nuclear reactor projects that begin construction after 2028, four years earlier than current law requires. The bill also imposed new domestic sourcing and ownership requirements that some experts say are broadly unworkable, though it’s unclear whether those will affect existing or planned nuclear power plants. The changes surprised some nuclear advocates, given the Trump administration’s stated support for nuclear energy and the president’s influence with the GOP House caucus.  “We aren’t

Hydrogen will play a pivotal role in the Tees Valley’s plans to decarbonise local industry. Speaking to Energy Voice, Tees Valley Combined Authority head of net zero Chris Rowell said: “There have been people who’ve pushed a particular technology or ideology. We’ve always said: whatever works for industry, that creates jobs and decarbonises the UK’s manufacturing base, works for Tees Valley.” “The hydrogen picture actually works really well for us.” In its 2022 Net Zero Strategy, the region laid out its ambitions to create the UK’s first decarbonised heavy industrial cluster by 2040. Central to its strategy is building out 4 GW of hydrogen production by 2030 and developing a National Hydrogen Transport Hub. Among the projects in the area is EDF’s Tees Green Hydrogen project, which secured UK government funding as part of the net zero hydrogen fund (NZHF) and the first hydrogen allocation round (HAR1). The project will use renewable electricity from the Teesside offshore wind farm and a planned solar farm to power hydrogen electrolysers. In addition, the HAR2 auction saw MorGen Energy secure a spot for its Teesside Green Hydrogen project. “You’ve got ready-made use cases for hydrogen and we can already see hydrogen producers who’ve chosen the Tees Valley interacting with sustainable fuels projects and industrial use cases as well,” said Rowell. “And that’s before you look at where to send hydrogen and the rest of the UK.” By making the Tees Valley a national Hydrogen Transport Hub, the region will have a central role in driving the UK’s energy transition. “We find all of the UK’s industrial clusters and manufacturing centres say we would get more inward investment if we have cheaper energy,” Rowell noted. “We are exploring options in partnership with Northern Gas Networks through the East Coast Hydrogen Initiative to look at

Scotland is on course for an “unjust transition”, a report has found, with the government accused of having no plan for oil and gas workers. The Just Transition Commission said urgent action is needed to ensure the transition from fossil fuels to renewables happens fairly. “Without urgent and ambitious action, investment and government leadership, Scotland’s offshore transition will not take place fairly, with harmful effects on workers, communities, employers and the regional economy of the north east that could otherwise be avoided,” the report said. The independent advisory body warned an unjust transition is possible despite it being known for decades that the North Sea oil and gas sector would decline. Oil and gas workers in Aberdeen told the commission they fear a “cliff edge” for their livelihoods. The report said: “In the context of global economic volatility, the pace and sequencing of the transition will be unjust if determined mainly by turbulent commodity prices. “The fragmented nature of both the fossil fuel and renewables industries makes effective planning more challenging, but also more critical. “To avoid harms to workers and communities and support new industry, governments must now take a bold, innovative approach that maximises leverage to set standards, establish pathways, create jobs, and manage shocks.” The commission said more needs to be done to support jobs in the offshore renewable energy sector, including wind, decommissioning and green hydrogen – areas it said are expected to see “rapid” growth. The expert group said: “Renewables have a key role to play in delivering a just transition provided robust minimum standards are achieved across the industry for pay, conditions, health and safety regulation and union recognition.” It called for a “clear plan” to be developed for building up Scotland’s renewables supply chain that could help mitigate the job losses seen in

Pilot LNG LLC and Seapath Group have received the green light from the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Coast Guard for the Galveston LNG Bunker Port (GLBP), meaning the project in the Texas City industrial area is now fully permitted for construction. Galveston LNG Bunker Port LLC expects to make an FID (final investment decision) mid-2025. Start-up is expected in the second half of 2027. “After several years of challenging and complex work bringing together the engineering, permitting, and third-party supplies for gas and power to the project, we are now comfortably ahead in the marketplace to be the first dedicated LNG marine fuels supplier in the U.S. Gulf”, Seapath president Josh Lubarsky said in an online statement. “We have made a significant financial commitment to this project and, over the course of the last several years, have positioned GLBP to be the foremost clean fuel supply hub in the Galveston Bay/Gulf region”, Lubarsky said. Lubarsky added construction could start “in the coming months”. Located on Shoal Point in Galveston County, Texas, the project will serve the greater Houston-Galveston port complex. It is being undertaken in two phases with a total capacity of 720,000 gallons per day. It will have two three-million-gallon storage tanks. GLBP said, “GLBP will supply LNG by fuel barge to the rapidly expanding fleet of LNG-fueled vessels in the greater Houston-Galveston region. It is optimally located to serve major ports, including Port Houston, the Port of Galveston and the Port of Texas City”. USACE issued its Section 408 and 404/10 authorizations under the Clean Water Act. The Coast Guard issued its Captain of the Port Letter of Recommendation for the project’s Waterway Suitability Assessment pursuant to Regulation 33 CFR 127, GLBP said. In January GLBP said it had received its Texas Railroad Commission