The US risks forfeiting a global competition to dominate artificial intelligence if it doesn’t build more reliable, always-on electricity to supply the industry, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department warned Thursday. Doug Burgum, the former North Dakota governor who has also been tapped to help chart Trump’s energy policy, cast the issue as critical to America’s national security during a Senate confirmation hearing that offered a preview of the incoming administration’s planned embrace of fossil fuels. Where renewable power supplies are intermittent and “unreliable,” Burgum said, AI’s growing energy demands will require more of the so-called baseload electricity that can be generated around-the-clock by burning coal and natural gas. “Without baseload, we’re going to lose the AI arms race to China,” Burgum told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “AI is manufacturing intelligence, and if we don’t manufacture more intelligence than our adversaries, that affects every job, every company and every industry.” During a three-hour meeting marked by cordial exchanges — and none of the intense sparring that has dominated other confirmation hearings this week — Burgum sought to assure senators he would seek a “balanced approach” for oil drilling, conservation and even potentially housing on the federal land managed by the Interior Department.  The agency’s sprawling portfolio spans a fifth of US land, and it is the lead regulator for oil, gas and wind power development in the nation’s coastal waters. Burgum also made clear that a top priority is addressing what he called a “significant imbalance” in the nation’s electricity mix, as developers look to connect a host of low- and zero-emission power projects to the grid. “If the sun’s not shining and the wind’s not blowing, and we don’t have baseload, then we’ve got brownouts and blackouts, we have higher electric prices for

Oil notched its fourth straight weekly gain, the longest run since July, as US sanctions posed growing risks to global supply in a market already tightened by cold weather. West Texas Intermediate was up almost 2% for the week, even after retreating below $78 a barrel on Friday. The Biden administration’s harshest ever curbs on Russian oil have shaken up markets, with freight costs rocketing and long-standing buyers of the country’s crude, including China and India, looking elsewhere for supplies. Market participants are also recalibrating their outlook three days ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Prices whipsawed on Thursday as traders parsed clues on the incoming administration’s sanctions stance. Trump’s advisers were reportedly considering relaxing the curbs to enable a Russia-Ukraine accord, while Treasury secretary nominee Scott Bessent said he would support dialing up measures targeting the Russian oil industry.  “The Russian sanctions on 183 oil tankers have been the focus for crude prices,” said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president of trading at BOK Financial Securities. “The latest crude strength has been impressive, with tight near-term supplies, as buyers became aggressive once the sanctions on Russia were supported by both presidential administrations.” Trump has also threatened to impose tariffs on imports from Canada, including its oil. While the federal government is pushing back, the leader of its largest oil-producing province is resisting efforts to include curtailing or taxing crude shipments as potential countermeasures.  Meanwhile, traders weighed mixed economic signals out of China, the world’s largest crude importer. The nation hit the government’s growth goal last year after a late stimulus blitz and export boom turbocharged activity. At the same time, China’s oil refining volumes declined by 1.6% last year as the shift to electric vehicles gained pace. Looming US tariffs also threaten to take away a key driver of expansion. Crude has rallied almost 9% this year as cold weather in the

The Biden administration advanced a plan to limit oil drilling and infrastructure across more of Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, a bid to lock in land protections and conservation requirements days before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The Interior Department move Thursday represents the latest step by outgoing President Joe Biden to enshrine protections that could complicate Trump plans to rapidly expand oil and gas development across US federal lands and waters. In recent weeks, Biden also has designated new national monuments and ruled out the sale of drilling rights in more than 625 million acres of US coastal waters.  In the latest action, the Interior Department is proposing new “special area” designations that would restrict drilling and other activities across more than 3 million acres of the Indiana-sized reserve in northwest Alaska. The move comes on top of on an existing policy, finalized last year, that barred drilling across nearly half of the NPR-A.  The rugged terrain once earmarked for energy development contains an estimated 8.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil, but it’s also an important habitat for caribou, grizzly bears and migratory birds. And it’s a prized resource for Alaska Natives who have long relied on the land for subsistence hunting and fishing. The Interior Department immediately imposed measures meant to avoid damage to those areas even while they’re being considered for protection, effectively raising hurdles for building roads and other infrastructure across the tracts.  Although Trump could cast aside his predecessor’s proposed special areas and ignore the interim safeguards imposed in the meantime, the action could be challenged in federal court. The report and memo unveiled Thursday bolsters the government record for those safeguards, providing potential fodder for any future legal battle. Environmentalists said they hoped the effort would create a bulwark against Trump’s plan to unleash American oil development.  “The Biden administration clearly understands that the

Tokyo will closely monitor the rollout of new US sanctions on Moscow for any impact on shipments of liquefied natural gas from Russia’s Far East, a key source of supply for Japan. A week ago, the Biden administration imposed aggressive penalties on Russian energy, including restrictions on vessels that export oil from the Sakhalin-2 project just north of Japan. If those curbs end up halting crude production from the site, the gas that’s pumped out at the same time may be at risk. Japan is a big LNG buyer and sourced about 8% of its imports from Sakhalin-2 last year, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. “We’ll discuss with the relevant stakeholders” to ensure Japan gets the gas it needs, Shinichi Sasayama, the president of major importer Tokyo Gas Co., said Thursday. “It might require more investigation to determine how much impact this will actually have. I wouldn’t say there is no impact whatsoever.” One of Sakhalin-2’s three production platforms, Lunskaya, pumps both natural gas and gas condensate, a light version of crude oil, and the two fuels are then separated onshore. If curbs on exporting the oil lead to a buildup of crude on site, that may eventually prompt a halt in output, affecting gas in the process. “If oil and condensate shipments really stopped, then at some point — when the storage facilities were full — gas production would also have to halt as it’s impossible to produce gas without producing condensate,” said Sergey Vakulenko, an oil industry veteran who spent part of his career at Sakhalin-2. The US sanctions do not extend to the actual oil and gas from the development, just to the tankers needed to export the crude. Oil shipments are unlikely to cease immediately since the restrictions allow for a wind-down period. Ultimately, Lunskaya’s continued

The UK government has appointed five non-executive directors to the “start-up board” of proposed publicly-owned energy company GB Energy. The state-owned firm was a key election pledge of the Labour party, and officials unveiled former Siemens Energy chief executive Juergen Maier as chairman in July. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer later confirmed GB Energy will be based in Aberdeen, however questions remain over the number of jobs it will provide in the Granite City. Scottish politicians also criticised Maier’s decision to remain based in Manchester, rather than relocating to Aberdeen. Announcing the appointees, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said they bring a wide range of experience from their previous roles. “Together with the chair Juergen Maier, they will help to scale up Great British Energy and build its organisational structure and Aberdeen headquarters,” DESNZ said. UK energy secretary Ed Miliband said the GB Energy board will “hit the ground running” in its mission to “scale up clean, homegrown power”. Meanwhile, Maier said the appointments are an “important milestone” for the company is it seeks to “rapidly scale up” and “get to work”. “Their experience across the energy industry, government and trade unions will be crucial in shaping our strategy and organisation, ensuring we can back clean energy projects, bolster UK supply chains and create good jobs across the country,” Maier said. Who is the GB Energy start-up board? DESNZ said the five new start-up non-executive directors will join the GB Energy board on initial contracts of between 18 months and two years. They include former Trades Union Congress (TUC) general secretary and Labour peer  Frances O’Grady, former SP Energy Networks chief executive Frank Mitchell, British Hydropower Association chief executive Kate Gilmartin, former Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA) chief executive Dr Nina Skorupska, and former

Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) and Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC have signed an agreement to resolve their intellectual property dispute over nuclear reactor designs and pursue collaboration. Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse said Thursday it would work with KEPCO and KEPCO’s Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. Ltd. (KHNP) for the dismissal of all current legal actions. United States litigation and international arbitration are pending concerning Westinghouse’s claim to sub-licensing and export rights against South Korea’s state-owned KEPCO. “This agreement allows both parties to move forward with certainty in the pursuit and deployment of new nuclear reactors”, Westinghouse said in an online statement. “The agreement also sets the stage for future cooperation between the parties to advance new nuclear projects globally”. Westinghouse president and chief executive Patrick Fragman said, “As the world demands more firm baseload power, we look forward to opportunities for cooperation to deploy nuclear power at even greater scale”. Details of the settlement deal are confidential, Westinghouse said. In a recent episode of the legal row, which dates back to 2022, Westinghouse last year protested in Czechia after the Central European country’s state-owned CEZ Group selected KHNP over Westinghouse for two nuclear reactors. Westinghouse argued KHNP’s designs use the former’s technology and that the Korean company did not have clearance under U.S. tech export controls. Announcing the appeal before the Czech Anti-Monopoly Office on August 26, 2024, Westinghouse said, “The tender required vendors to certify they possess the right to transfer and sublicense the nuclear technology offered in their bids to CEZ and local suppliers”. “KHNP’s APR1000 and APR1400 plant designs utilize Westinghouse-licensed Generation II System 80 technology. KHNP neither owns the underlying technology nor has the right to sublicense it to a third party without Westinghouse consent. “Further, only Westinghouse has the legal right to obtain the