TotalEnergies SE and Bahrain’s state-owned Bapco Energies have launched an equally owned trading platform to sell output from the Bapco refinery in the kingdom to the domestic and international markets. “As a competitive new player in the Middle East, BxT Trading will support Bahrain’s oil industry by leveraging its downstream portfolio for maximizing value and broadening its access to global markets”, said a joint statement online. “Through this joint venture, Bapco Energies will benefit from TotalEnergies’ global expertise in trading and will develop advanced trading, pricing, analysis and risk management capabilities. “With BxT Trading, TotalEnergies is strengthening its trading position in the Middle East, where the company already has trading activities, in addition to its international hubs in Houston, Geneva and Singapore. “This new initiative enhances the trading teams’ responsiveness and agility, reinforcing their local footprint that enables them to better address regional specificities”. Bapco Energies chair Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa said, “Through this partnership with TotalEnergies, we are enhancing our global trading capabilities, strengthening our downstream value chain and reinforcing Bahrain’s position as a competitive and trusted player in the international energy markets”. The Bapco refinery has a capacity of 380,000 barrels per day (bpd), increased 42 percent under a “modernization program”, Bapco Energies says on its website. The upgrade included the installation of a hydrocracking unit designed to convert 78 percent of lower-grade feedstock into distillates, which are then refined into high-margin diesel and kerosene, according to Bapco Energies. In its trading and shipping segment, TotalEnergies last year sold 2.28 million bpd of petroleum products to external customers, up from 1.95 million bpd in 2023, according to the company’s annual report. “The activities of Trading & Shipping are focused primarily on serving the needs of TotalEnergies, and mainly include selling and marketing the TotalEnergies’ crude oil production; providing

India is now the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) largest customer of LNG, ADNOC Gas said in a release sent to Rigzone by the ADNOC Gas team on Monday. The company noted in the release that 20 percent of LNG operated by ADNOC Gas will be supplied to India by 2029, revealing that $20 billion worth of LNG contracts were signed in last 24 months between ADNOC Gas and Indian companies. In Monday’s release, ADNOC Gas announced the signing of a sales and purchase agreement valued at between $2.5 billion and $3 billion for a period of ten years with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL). The latest agreement was announced during a visit to India by President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, where he met with the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, the release noted. It added that, during the visit, Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Managing Director and Group CEO, and Vikas Kaushal, Chairman and Managing Director of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, exchanged the signed contract, “reiterating the importance of the growing relationship between ADNOC, its partners, and customers in India”. The deal converted a previously signed heads of agreement between the two companies into a long-term SPA, the release highlighted, pointing out that the agreement is for the export of 0.5 million tons per annum of LNG. “The milestone agreement represents a further step in strengthening the strategic partnership between the UAE and India, while reinforcing ADNOC Gas’ role as a reliable and trusted supplier of LNG to Asia’s fast-growing markets,” ADNOC Gas said in the release. “India is now the UAE’s largest customer and a very important part of ADNOC Gas’ LNG strategy. The company’s growth is tied to the continued success of India,” it added.   By 2029 ADNOC

JERA Nex BP Ltd is acquiring co-venturer EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG’s (EnBW) stake in the Mona wind project in United Kingdom waters, while the partners dropped the Morgan offshore wind project. Planned to rise in the Irish Sea, the two projects had a potential combined capacity of three gigawatts (GW). Only up to half of that would be pursued under the joint venture between Japanese utility JERA Co Inc and British energy giant BP PLC through Mona, according to separate online statements by JERA Nex BP and German utility EnBW. EnBW said it no longer wanted to proceed with Mona and Morgan after the projects failed to win government support through contracts for difference in the recently completed allocation round held by the UK’s Energy Security and Net Zero Department. “At the same time, offshore wind energy remains an important business field for EnBW as it expands renewable energy capacity”, EnBW said. “By 2030, the installed output from renewable energies is set to be further expanded from the current figure of approximately seven GW to at least 10-11.5 GW. “The current focus is on completing the construction and commissioning of the 960-MW He Dreiht offshore wind farm in the German North Sea this summer. Furthermore, EnBW is developing its 1,000-MW Dreekant project in the German North Sea”. An earlier EnBW statement said that besides the failed bids for contracts for difference, other factors that rendered the projects “no longer economically viable as per EnBW’s standards” included “significant cost increases across the supply chain, higher interest rates and ongoing project implementation risks”. “EnBW is in the midst of the largest investment program in its corporate history”, EnBW said in the earlier statement. “The company plans to invest up to EUR 50 billion [$58.62 billion] by 2030. Due to the wide range of investment

In 2025, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) released a report that jarred many in the business and investment world. This much-discussed report states that, despite investments of between $30 billion and $40 billion in generative artificial intelligence (AI), 95% of organizations receive “zero return.”  While debate has surrounded the methodology and conclusions, the report itself focuses on the two broad typologies of generative AI applications: horizontal and vertical. “Horizontal” AI includes Chatbots, co-pilots that are meant to make me, as an individual contributor, quicker, better, and faster,” said Doug Croy, Data Advisory Lead for 1898 & Co. “The value driven by horizontal AI is going to reflect on only me and how I do my work.”  They are not integrated with work processes, nor are the processes changed or optimized to take advantage of generative AI. The transformative value and measurable ROI of AI, however, come from the implementation of vertical AI, process-aligned and industry-aware solutions that apply AI to workflows and patterns across an organization. Whereas horizontal AI has broad knowledge that can help you write recipes, vertical AI solutions are focused on specific industries, domains, with knowledge of terminology, relationships, processes, logic and accuracy. For example, generative AI can identify text in technical drawings, photos and scanned documents, as well as identify objects such as pumps, valves and other equipment found in a power plant. But reading text or identifying an object is not the same as understanding context, the business process and industry-specific language and challenges.  That’s what distinguishes vertical AI; it not only identifies the object with a name or type but also understands the object’s function, behavior and purpose in relation to other objects or assets in a diagram that represents a system, including equipment hierarchies, asset relationships, and safety considerations.  “What you need

North America added 28 rigs week on week, according to Baker Hughes’ latest North America rotary rig count, which was published on January 16. Although the total U.S. rig count dropped by one week on week, the total Canada rig count increased by 29 during the same period, pushing the total North America rig count up to 769, comprising 543 rigs from the U.S. and 226 rigs from Canada, the count outlined. Of the total U.S. rig count of 543, 524 rigs are categorized as land rigs, 16 are categorized as offshore rigs, and three are categorized as inland water rigs. The total U.S. rig count is made up of 410 oil rigs, 122 gas rigs, and 11 miscellaneous rigs, according to Baker Hughes’ count, which revealed that the U.S. total comprises 475 horizontal rigs, 56 directional rigs, and 12 vertical rigs. Week on week, the U.S. land rig count dropped by one, and its offshore and inland water rig counts remained unchanged, Baker Hughes highlighted. The U.S. gas rig count dropped by two week on week, its oil rig count rose by one week on week, and its miscellaneous rig count remained unchanged week on week, the count showed. The U.S. directional rig count dropped by one, and its horizontal and vertical rig counts remained unchanged, week on week, the count revealed. A major state variances subcategory included in the rig count showed that, week on week, Texas dropped two rigs, Louisiana dropped one rig, and New Mexico added two rigs. A major basin variances subcategory included in the rig count showed that, week on week, the Haynesville basin added one rig. Canada’s total rig count of 226 is made up of 150 oil rigs and 76 gas rigs, Baker Hughes pointed out. Week on week, the country’s oil

TotalEnergies SE has signed an agreement to divest its 10 percent interest in a Niger Delta joint venture previously operated by Shell PLC to Vaaris. Chappal Energies Mauritius Ltd previously entered into a deal to buy the stake but, according to an online statement by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) on September 25, 2025, failed to consummate the transaction after time extensions. The Renaissance JV, previously known as the SPDC JV when it was operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC), holds 15 licenses producing mainly oil, TotalEnergies noted in a statement announcing the sale to Vaaris. The licenses contributed about 16,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day to TotalEnergies’ net production last year, the company said. “TotalEnergies EP Nigeria will also transfer to Vaaris its 10 percent participating interest in the three other licenses of Renaissance JV which are producing mainly gas (OML 23, OML 28 and OML 77), while TotalEnergies will retain full economic interest in these licenses which currently account for 50 percent of Nigeria LNG gas supply”, the statement added. The completion of the transaction, the price of which has not been disclosed, is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions, according to the statement. Currently Renaissance JV is owned by Nigerian National Petroleum Corp Ltd (55 percent), operator Renaissance Africa Energy Co Ltd (30 percent), TotalEnergies EP Nigeria (10 percent) and Eni SpA’s Agip Energy and Natural Resources Nigeria (five percent). Confirming the collapse of the previous sale to Chappal, the NUPRC said “the withdrawal of a ministerial consent does not in any way rule out the possibility of a future divestment by the interested parties provided such an asset sale is in line with extant laws”. “The NUPRC affirms that in line with Section 6(h) of the Petroleum