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Imperial Sets Quarterly Production Record

Imperial Oil Ltd has reported 462,000 gross barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in average production in the third quarter, the company’s highest quarterly output in over 30 years, with Kearl recording its highest-ever quarterly gross production at 316,000 bpd. However, net profit for the July-September period fell CAD 698 million ($496.98 million) year-on-year […]

Imperial Oil Ltd has reported 462,000 gross barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in average production in the third quarter, the company’s highest quarterly output in over 30 years, with Kearl recording its highest-ever quarterly gross production at 316,000 bpd.

However, net profit for the July-September period fell CAD 698 million ($496.98 million) year-on-year to CAD 539 million, or CAD 1.07 per diluted share. The decrease was “primarily driven by a non-cash impairment of the Calgary Imperial Campus [CAD 406 million before taxation] and the previously announced restructuring charge [CAD 330 million pre-tax]”, the Canadian oil sands producer, majority-owned by Exxon Mobil Corp, said in its quarterly report.

On September 29 Imperial announced a restructuring plan that it expects will reduce its workforce by about 20 percent by 2027, cut annual expenses by CAD 150 million by 2028 and “consolidate activities to its operating sites”.

Kearl accounted for 224,000 bpd of Imperial’s net production in the third quarter. Cold Lake, 100 percent owned by Imperial, produced 150,000 bpd, compared to 147,000 bpd in Q3 2024. “The company’s share of Syncrude production averaged 78,000 gross barrels per day”, down from 81,000 bpd in Q3 2024, Imperial said.

Refinery throughput averaged 425,000 bpd, increasing from 389,000 bpd in Q3 2024 and representing capacity utilization of 98 percent “including progressing planned turnaround work at Sarnia”, it said.

Oil product sales averaged 464,000 bpd, down from 487,000 bpd in Q3 2024 “primarily due to lower volumes in the supply and wholesale channels”, it said. Petrochemical sales totaled 173,000 metric tons, up from 76,000 metric tons in Q3 2024.

Net natural gas production was 28 million cubic feet a day (MMcfd), down from 30 MMcfd in Q3 2024.

In the prior three-month period, Imperial completed what chair, president and chief executive John Whelan said is the company’s “heaviest planned turnaround quarter in both our upstream and downstream businesses”.

Q3 2025 revenue totaled CAD 12.05 billion, down from CAD 13.26 billion for Q3 2024 as lower oil products sales volumes offset higher margins, and bitumen and synthetic crude price realizations dropped.

Excluding nonrecurring items, net income landed at CAD 1.09 billion, down CAD 143 million compared to the same quarter a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share for Q3 2025 came at CAD 2.17.

Cash flows from operating activities totaled CAD 1.8 billion, up from CAD 1.49 billion for Q3 2024.

Imperial ended Q3 2025 with CAD 1.86 billion in cash and cash equivalents.

It maintained a dividend of 72 Canadian cents per share.

“Our operations delivered strong results across the board, as we continued to execute on our strategy to maximize value from our assets by growing volumes at lower unit cash costs, and returning surplus cash to our shareholders in a timely manner”, Whelan said.

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Agentic AI: What now, what next?

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AMD to build two more supercomputers at Oak Ridge National Labs

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Gas continues to dominate Entergy plans as data center pipeline grows

7-12 GW Data center pipeline, up from 5-10 GW last quarter. 4.5 GW New power generating secured for “large growth opportunities.” $41 billion Estimated capital spending through 2029. Pending and signed hyperscaler deals Entergy is a vertically-integrated electric utility with five operating companies in four states: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Its weather-adjusted retail sales rose 4.4% compared to last year. Profit increased from $645 million in the third quarter of 2024 to $694 million in the third quarter of 2025. In 2024, commercial and industrial customers made up 69% of Entergy’s sales, which were concentrated in Louisiana.  The company has agreements for several notable large load projects with Google and Meta. In general, it expects substantial load growth from commercial and industrial customers through 2029, though not the breakneck pace utilities like Dominion Energy expect in data center hotspots such as northern Virginia. In its third-quarter investor update, Entergy said its data center customer pipeline increased 2 GW from the previous quarter to land in the 7 GW to 12 GW range. Also in the quarter, Energy secured 4.5 GW of power generation equipment to serve new load expected to come online this decade. In August, the Louisiana Public Service Commission approved the generation and transmission resources needed to support Meta’s planned 2-GW campus in northeastern Louisiana. Those include three combined-cycle gas plants with combined nameplate capacity of about 2.2 GW. As part of the same proceeding, the commission also authorized Entergy to procure up to 1.5 GW of solar resources for the project. Entergy executives said Wednesday that the Meta agreement and additional expected load growth are reflected in the utility’s five-year capital plan, which lays out $41 billion in estimated spending through 2029. Entergy has also submitted an application to the Arkansas Public Service Commission for the Cypress

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Ukraine Claims Strike at Rosneft’s Saratov Refinery

Ukraine claimed another strike at a key Rosneft PJSC refinery in southwestern Russia as pressure mounts to curb Moscow’s revenues from the oil industry.  The overnight attack caused fires in the area of refining units in Saratov, Ukrainian General Staff said in a statement on Telegram. The strike was delivered by the Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces, according to a separate statement. Bloomberg News was not able to independently verify the strike or the extent of the damage. Rosneft didn’t immediately respond to a Bloomberg request for comment. The Saratov refinery has been a target of multiple drone attacks this year as Kyiv stepped up its efforts to cripple income that has helped fund the Russian invasion, while President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Western nations to sanction Russian oil companies and its dark fleet of oil tankers.  Kyiv has claimed around 160 successful strikes at Russian refineries and oil infrastructure this year, according to Vasyl Malyuk, chairman of the Ukrainian Security Service. Twenty facilities including refineries and terminals were struck in September and October, he said on Friday.  The refinery in Saratov has the capacity to process about 140,000 barrels of crude a day and is a key supplier of gasoline and diesel fuel to Russia’s European regions. It was sanctioned by the US last month as part of a package of measures targeting Rosneft and Lukoil PJSC. This was the seventh attack on the refinery so far this year. 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.

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BP Dubs Initial Results at Bumerangue ‘Extremely Encouraging’

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The era of ‘free’ excess renewable energy is over

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Trade, policy ‘headwinds’ push First Solar to boost US production

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ADNOC, Masdar Pen AI Collaboration with Microsoft

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Supermicro Unveils Data Center Building Blocks to Accelerate AI Factory Deployment

Supermicro has introduced a new business line, Data Center Building Block Solutions (DCBBS), expanding its modular approach to data center development. The offering packages servers, storage, liquid-cooling infrastructure, networking, power shelves and battery backup units (BBUs), DCIM and automation software, and on-site services into pre-validated, factory-tested bundles designed to accelerate time-to-online (TTO) and improve long-term serviceability. This move represents a significant step beyond traditional rack integration; a shift toward a one-stop, data-center-scale platform aimed squarely at the hyperscale and AI factory market. By providing a single point of accountability across IT, power, and thermal domains, Supermicro’s model enables faster deployments and reduces integration risk—the modern equivalent of a “single throat to choke” for data center operators racing to bring GB200/NVL72-class racks online. What’s New in DCBBS DCBBS extends Supermicro’s modular design philosophy to an integrated catalog of facility-adjacent building blocks, not just IT nodes. By including critical supporting infrastructure—cooling, power, networking, and lifecycle software—the platform helps operators bring new capacity online more quickly and predictably. According to Supermicro, DCBBS encompasses: Multi-vendor AI system support: Compatibility with NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel architectures, featuring Supermicro-designed cold plates that dissipate up to 98% of component-level heat. In-rack liquid-cooling designs: Coolant distribution manifolds (CDMs) and CDUs rated up to 250 kW, supporting 45 °C liquids, alongside rear-door heat exchangers, 800 GbE switches (51.2 Tb/s), 33 kW power shelves, and 48 V battery backup units. Liquid-to-Air (L2A) sidecars: Each row can reject up to 200 kW of heat without modifying existing building hydronics—an especially practical design for air-to-liquid retrofits. Automation and management software: SuperCloud Composer for rack-scale and liquid-cooling lifecycle management SuperCloud Automation Center for firmware, OS, Kubernetes, and AI pipeline enablement Developer Experience Console for self-service workflows and orchestration End-to-end services: Design, validation, and on-site deployment options—including four-hour response service levels—for both greenfield builds

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Investments Anchor Vertiv’s Growth Strategy as AI-Driven Data Center Orders Surge 60% YoY

New Acquisitions and Partner Awards Vertiv’s third-quarter financial performance was underscored by a series of strategic acquisitions and ecosystem recognitions that expand the company’s technological capabilities and market reach amid AI-driven demand. Acquisition of Waylay NV: AI and Hyperautomation for Infrastructure Intelligence On August 26, Vertiv announced its acquisition of Waylay NV, a Belgium-based developer of generative AI and hyperautomation software. The move bolsters Vertiv’s portfolio with AI-driven monitoring, predictive services, and performance optimization for digital infrastructure. Waylay’s automation platform integrates real-time analytics, orchestration, and workflow automation across diverse connected assets and cloud services—enabling predictive maintenance, uptime optimization, and energy management across power and cooling systems. “With the addition of Waylay’s technology and software-focused team, Vertiv will accelerate its vision of intelligent infrastructure—data-driven, proactive, and optimized for the world’s most demanding environments,” said CEO Giordano Albertazzi. Completion of Great Lakes Acquisition: Expanding White Space Integration Just days earlier, as alluded to above, Vertiv finalized its $200 million acquisition of Great Lakes Data Racks & Cabinets, a U.S.-based manufacturer of enclosures and integrated rack systems. The addition expands Vertiv’s capabilities in high-density, factory-integrated white space solutions; bridging power, cooling, and IT enclosures for hyperscale and edge data centers alike. Great Lakes’ U.S. and European manufacturing footprint complements Vertiv’s global reach, supporting faster deployment cycles and expanded configuration flexibility.  Albertazzi noted that the acquisition “enhances our ability to deliver comprehensive infrastructure solutions, furthering Vertiv’s capabilities to customize at scale and configure at speed for AI and high-density computing environments.” 2024 Partner Awards: Recognizing the Ecosystem Behind Growth Vertiv also spotlighted its partner ecosystem in August with its 2024 North America Partner Awards. The company recognized 11 partners for 2024 performance, growth, and AI execution across segments: Partner of the Year – SHI for launching a customer-facing high-density AI & Cyber Labs featuring

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QuEra’s Quantum Leap: From Neutral-Atom Breakthroughs to Hybrid HPC Integration

The race to make quantum computing practical – and commercially consequential – took a major step forward this fall, as Boston-based QuEra Computing announced new research milestones, expanded strategic funding, and an accelerating roadmap for hybrid quantum-classical supercomputing. QuEra’s Chief Commercial Officer Yuval Boger joined the Data Center Frontier Show to discuss how neutral-atom quantum systems are moving from research labs into high-performance computing centers and cloud environments worldwide. NVIDIA Joins Google in Backing QuEra’s $230 Million Round In early September, QuEra disclosed that NVentures, NVIDIA’s venture arm, has joined Google and others in expanding its $230 million Series B round. The investment deepens what has already been one of the most active collaborations between quantum and accelerated-computing companies. “We already work with NVIDIA, pairing our scalable neutral-atom architecture with its accelerated-computing stack to speed the arrival of useful, fault-tolerant quantum machines,” said QuEra CEO Andy Ory. “The decision to invest in us underscores our shared belief that hybrid quantum-classical systems will unlock meaningful value for customers sooner than many expect.” The partnership spans hardware, software, and go-to-market initiatives. QuEra’s neutral-atom machines are being integrated into NVIDIA’s CUDA-Q software platform for hybrid workloads, while the two companies collaborate at the NVIDIA Accelerated Quantum Center (NVAQC) in Boston, linking QuEra hardware with NVIDIA’s GB200 NVL72 GPU clusters for simulation and quantum-error-decoder research. Meanwhile, at Japan’s AIST ABCI-Q supercomputing center, QuEra’s Gemini-class quantum computer now operates beside more than 2,000 H100 GPUs, serving as a national testbed for hybrid workflows. A jointly developed transformer-based decoder running on NVIDIA’s GPUs has already outperformed classical maximum-likelihood error-correction models, marking a concrete step toward practical fault-tolerant quantum computing. For NVIDIA, the move signals conviction that quantum processing units (QPUs) will one day complement GPUs inside large-scale data centers. For QuEra, it widens access to the

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How CoreWeave and Poolside Are Teaming Up in West Texas to Build the Next Generation of AI Data Centers

In the evolving landscape of artificial-intelligence infrastructure, a singular truth is emerging: access to cutting-edge silicon and massive GPU clusters is no longer enough by itself. For companies chasing the frontier of multi-trillion-parameter model training and agentic AI deployment, the bottleneck increasingly lies not just in compute, but in the seamless integration of compute + power + data center scale. The latest chapter in this story is the collaboration between CoreWeave and Poolside, culminating in the launch of Project Horizon, a 2-gigawatt AI-campus build in West Texas. Setting the Stage: Who’s Involved, and Why It Matters CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV) has positioned itself as “The Essential Cloud for AI™” — a company founded in 2017, publicly listed in March 2025, and aggressively building out its footprint of ultra-high-performance infrastructure.  One of its strategic moves: in July 2025 CoreWeave struck a definitive agreement to acquire Core Scientific (NASDAQ: CORZ) in an all-stock transaction. Through that deal, CoreWeave gains grip over approximately 1.3 GW of gross power across Core Scientific’s nationwide data center footprint, plus more than 1 GW of expansion potential.  That acquisition underlines a broader trend: AI-specialist clouds are no longer renting space and power; they’re working to own or tightly control it. Poolside, founded in 2023, is a foundation-model company with an ambitious mission: building artificial general intelligence (AGI) and deploying enterprise-scale agents.  According to Poolside’s blog: “When people ask what it takes to build frontier AI … the focus is usually on the model … but that’s only half the story. The other half is infrastructure. If you don’t control your infrastructure, you don’t control your destiny—and you don’t have a shot at the frontier.”  Simply put: if you’re chasing multi-trillion-parameter models, you need both the compute horsepower and the power infrastructure; and ideally, tight vertical integration. Together, the

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Vantage Data Centers Pours $15B Into Wisconsin AI Campus as It Builds Global Giga-Scale Footprint

Expanding in Ohio: Financing Growth Through Green Capital In June 2025, Vantage secured $5 billion in green loan capacity, including $2.25 billion to fully fund its New Albany, Ohio (OH1) campus and expand its existing borrowing base. The 192 MW development will comprise three 64 MW buildings, with first delivery expected in December 2025 and phased completion through 2028. The OH1 campus is designed to come online as Vantage’s larger megasites ramp up, providing early capacity and regional proximity to major cloud and AI customers in the Columbus–New Albany corridor. The site also offers logistical and workforce advantages within one of the fastest-growing data center regions in the U.S. Beyond the U.S. – Vantage Expands Its Global Footprint Moving North: Reinforcing Canada’s Renewable Advantage In February 2025, Vantage announced a C$500 million investment to complete QC24, the fourth and final building at its Québec City campus, adding 32 MW of capacity by 2027. The project strengthens Vantage’s Montreal–Québec platform and reinforces its renewable-heavy power profile, leveraging abundant hydropower to serve sustainability-driven customers. APAC Expansion: Strategic Scale in Southeast Asia In September 2025, Vantage unveiled a $1.6 billion APAC expansion, led by existing investors GIC (Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund) and ADIA (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority). The investment includes the acquisition of Yondr’s Johor, Malaysia campus at Sedenak Tech Park. Currently delivering 72.5 MW, the Johor campus is planned to scale to 300 MW at full build-out, positioning it within one of Southeast Asia’s most active AI and cloud growth corridors. Analysts note that the location’s connectivity to Singapore’s hyperscale market and favorable development economics give Vantage a strong competitive foothold across the region. Italy: Expanding European Presence Under National Priority Status Vantage is also adding a second Italian campus alongside its existing Milan site, totaling 32 MW across two facilities. Phase

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Nvidia GTC show news you need to know round-up

In the case of Flex, it will use digital twins to unify inventory, labor, and freight operations, streamlining logistics across Flex’s worldwide network. Flex’s new 400,000 sq. ft. facility in Dallas is purpose-built for data center infrastructure, aiming to significantly shorten lead times for U.S. customers. The Flex/Nvidia partnership aims to address the country’s labor shortages and drive innovation in manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and technology. The companies believe the partnership sets the stage for a new era of giga-scale AI factories. Nvidia and Oracle to Build DOE’s Largest AI Supercomputer Oracle continues its aggressive push into supercomputing with a deal to build the largest AI supercomputer for scientific discovery — Using Nvidia GPUs, obviously — at a Department of Energy facility. The system, dubbed Solstice, will feature an incredible 100,000 Nvidia Blackwell GPUs. A second system, dubbed Equinox, will include 10,000 Blackwell GPUs and is expected to be available in the first half of 2026. Both systems will be interconnected by Nvidia networking and deliver a combined 2,200 exaflops of AI performance. The Solstice and Equinox supercomputers will be located at Argonne National Laboratory, the home to the Aurora supercomputer, built using all Intel parts. They will enable scientists and researchers to develop and train new frontier models and AI reasoning models for open science using the Nvidia Megatron-Core library and scale them using the Nvidia TensorRT inference software stack.

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Microsoft will invest $80B in AI data centers in fiscal 2025

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John Deere unveils more autonomous farm machines to address skill labor shortage

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Self-driving tractors might be the path to self-driving cars. John Deere has revealed a new line of autonomous machines and tech across agriculture, construction and commercial landscaping. The Moline, Illinois-based John Deere has been in business for 187 years, yet it’s been a regular as a non-tech company showing off technology at the big tech trade show in Las Vegas and is back at CES 2025 with more autonomous tractors and other vehicles. This is not something we usually cover, but John Deere has a lot of data that is interesting in the big picture of tech. The message from the company is that there aren’t enough skilled farm laborers to do the work that its customers need. It’s been a challenge for most of the last two decades, said Jahmy Hindman, CTO at John Deere, in a briefing. Much of the tech will come this fall and after that. He noted that the average farmer in the U.S. is over 58 and works 12 to 18 hours a day to grow food for us. And he said the American Farm Bureau Federation estimates there are roughly 2.4 million farm jobs that need to be filled annually; and the agricultural work force continues to shrink. (This is my hint to the anti-immigration crowd). John Deere’s autonomous 9RX Tractor. Farmers can oversee it using an app. While each of these industries experiences their own set of challenges, a commonality across all is skilled labor availability. In construction, about 80% percent of contractors struggle to find skilled labor. And in commercial landscaping, 86% of landscaping business owners can’t find labor to fill open positions, he said. “They have to figure out how to do

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2025 playbook for enterprise AI success, from agents to evals

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More 2025 is poised to be a pivotal year for enterprise AI. The past year has seen rapid innovation, and this year will see the same. This has made it more critical than ever to revisit your AI strategy to stay competitive and create value for your customers. From scaling AI agents to optimizing costs, here are the five critical areas enterprises should prioritize for their AI strategy this year. 1. Agents: the next generation of automation AI agents are no longer theoretical. In 2025, they’re indispensable tools for enterprises looking to streamline operations and enhance customer interactions. Unlike traditional software, agents powered by large language models (LLMs) can make nuanced decisions, navigate complex multi-step tasks, and integrate seamlessly with tools and APIs. At the start of 2024, agents were not ready for prime time, making frustrating mistakes like hallucinating URLs. They started getting better as frontier large language models themselves improved. “Let me put it this way,” said Sam Witteveen, cofounder of Red Dragon, a company that develops agents for companies, and that recently reviewed the 48 agents it built last year. “Interestingly, the ones that we built at the start of the year, a lot of those worked way better at the end of the year just because the models got better.” Witteveen shared this in the video podcast we filmed to discuss these five big trends in detail. Models are getting better and hallucinating less, and they’re also being trained to do agentic tasks. Another feature that the model providers are researching is a way to use the LLM as a judge, and as models get cheaper (something we’ll cover below), companies can use three or more models to

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OpenAI’s red teaming innovations define new essentials for security leaders in the AI era

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More OpenAI has taken a more aggressive approach to red teaming than its AI competitors, demonstrating its security teams’ advanced capabilities in two areas: multi-step reinforcement and external red teaming. OpenAI recently released two papers that set a new competitive standard for improving the quality, reliability and safety of AI models in these two techniques and more. The first paper, “OpenAI’s Approach to External Red Teaming for AI Models and Systems,” reports that specialized teams outside the company have proven effective in uncovering vulnerabilities that might otherwise have made it into a released model because in-house testing techniques may have missed them. In the second paper, “Diverse and Effective Red Teaming with Auto-Generated Rewards and Multi-Step Reinforcement Learning,” OpenAI introduces an automated framework that relies on iterative reinforcement learning to generate a broad spectrum of novel, wide-ranging attacks. Going all-in on red teaming pays practical, competitive dividends It’s encouraging to see competitive intensity in red teaming growing among AI companies. When Anthropic released its AI red team guidelines in June of last year, it joined AI providers including Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, and even the U.S.’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which all had released red teaming frameworks. Investing heavily in red teaming yields tangible benefits for security leaders in any organization. OpenAI’s paper on external red teaming provides a detailed analysis of how the company strives to create specialized external teams that include cybersecurity and subject matter experts. The goal is to see if knowledgeable external teams can defeat models’ security perimeters and find gaps in their security, biases and controls that prompt-based testing couldn’t find. What makes OpenAI’s recent papers noteworthy is how well they define using human-in-the-middle

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