Peru-focused firm PetroTal is targeting to increase its production by around 24 percent in 2025. PetroTal said in a news release that it has allotted a capital budget of $140 million, a year-over-year decrease of approximately 14 percent. The company’s flagship asset is its 100 percent working interest in the Bretana oil field in Peru’s Block 95, where oil production was initiated in June 2018. Included in the company’s capital allocation is $55 million for drilling and workover activities, assuming a total of four development wells at the Bretana and Los Angeles oil fields; $60 million for field infrastructure at Bretana, including upgrades to fluid handling capacity and new drilling cellars to facilitate continued expansion of the Bretana field; and $36.5 million for investments in erosion control measures at Bretana. The capital investments will support 2025 annual average production in the range of 21,000 to 23,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd), where the midpoint of 22,000 bopd implies growth of approximately 24 percent year over year, PetroTal said. PetroTal’s new drilling rig, acquired in October 2024, is currently being imported to Peru. The company plans to move it to the Los Angeles field in the second quarter and commission it by mid-year. The company is planning to drill four development wells, with the last one to be completed in early 2026. Major investments in field infrastructure include the expansion of fluid handling capacity at Bretana, where PetroTal is currently installing the fourth train of its central processing facility. This project will increase installed crude oil processing capacity to 32,000 bopd, the company said. PetroTal President and CEO Manuel Pablo Zuniga-Pflucker said, “PetroTal is well positioned to build on the operational momentum that we established in 2024. We are firmly committed to a consistent return of capital policy, while maximizing the

Sumitomo has hailed a “significant milestone” for its Highland subsea cable factory after it signed a capacity reservation agreement (CRA) with SSEN Transmission. The agreement marks the latest step in a project to deliver a high voltage subsea interconnector from its facility being built near the Port of Nigg on the Cromarty Firth. It follows on from the announcement in May 2024 that SSEN Transmission had selected Sumitomo and its partner, the Dutch maritime contractor Van Oord, as preferred bidder for the Shetland 2 project, requiring a 525KV HVDC cable for a link 530 mile (330km) from Shetland to the mainland. The deal was a crucial underpinning for Sumitomo’s investment in its £350million cable manufacturing facility, which was backed with £24.5m of public sector funding from the Scottish Government. Next step will see the manufacturing deal confirmed with a contract award status. The Scottish factory is set to become Sumitomo’s flagship for offshore cabling in the UK and Europe, with construction of the £350 million facility now well under way after ground was officially broken on 15 May 2024. Sumitomo said the circa 1.6m sq ft (150,000 sq m) site build is progressing in accordance with the anticipated programme, with piling works nearing completion and factory foundations established. Foundation work will be followed by steelworks and factory fit out in the next 12-15 months, the firm said. Sumitomo has sought to involve the local supply chain in as many aspects of the project works as possible with a construction spend split, to date, of 55% in Scotland and 45% in the rest of the UK and Ireland. Aberdeen’s Three60 Energy was one company to benefit, securing a multi-million pound deal to supply cable handling equipment for the facility. The facility will provide employment for 150 full time equivalent (FTE) employees

Scottish Renewables has launched the clean energy cluster, an organisation to help drive growth in Scotland’s offshore wind supply chain. The body’s membership will include organisations based in or working across Scotland, from the Borders to the Highlands and Islands, covering ports and large-scale contractors as well as small and medium enterprises. The cluster group aims to promote, connect and guide suppliers across the country looking to succeed in renewable energy. It also seeks to enhance business development opportunities, foster innovation, drive skills development and boost the global competitiveness of Scotland’s renewable energy supply chain. Director of energy transition and supply chain at Scottish Renewables Emma Harrick said: “Scotland’s offshore wind supply chain is a crucial component of the green energy revolution. The remarkable entrepreneurial spirit shown by so many businesses in the sector is supporting the delivery of work packages as varied as munitions clearing, robotics, subsea inspection, port services and industrial workwear. “The clean energy cluster is a crucial step in fostering even stronger connections between Scotland’s supply chain and the developer community providing opportunities to boost innovation, create skilled jobs and accelerate the growth of Scotland’s diverse supplier network.” She added: “A unified Scottish cluster will enhance support for all Scottish suppliers. We already have a wealth of suppliers supporting the renewable energy sector, including start-ups and those transitioning from other sectors, contributing their world-class expertise not only to projects in Scotland but worldwide.” Scottish Renewables was last month appointed by the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) as the cluster management organisation, to move from the current model and establish a national supply chain cluster for Scotland. Scottish Renewables will work closely with Scotland’s suppliers, enterprise agencies and academic institutions to place collaboration at the heart of the cluster. Acting minister for climate action and co-chair

Iberdrola SA said it has allotted EUR 100 million ($104.53 million) for an initiative already underway to redesign the distribution system affected by the cold drop in the Spanish province of Valencia last October. The il.lumina project seeks to implement resilience measures and the latest digitization standards for infrastructure serving 650,000 customers, according to an online statement from the electric utility. About 180,000 customers lost access to power due to the severe weather phenomenon in Valencia on October 29, 2024, Iberdrola said. “Although the company, despite enormous difficulties, was able to get practically all electricity back online in under 72 hours, our priority now is to look to the future and to have an even more efficient distribution grid”, said Mario Ruiz-Tagle, Iberdrola chief executive for Spain. The revamped grid “will be even more robust and resilient, prepared for extreme phenomena that may occur in the future and will be implemented in a few months thanks to the creation of a specific project team that will allow i-DE to continue developing the rest of its investments in the Valencia region”, said Eva Mancera, chief executive of i-DE, Iberdrola’s distribution arm. As part of il.lumina, overhead power lines will be buried, transformer substations raised and compacted, new smart transformers installed, and installation automation expanded. Iberdrola aims to reach 90 percent project completion this year. It expects to complete il.lumina next year. “Iberdrola began the different phases of the project at the end of 2024 with the recovery of the 132 kilovolt high-voltage infrastructure in the Catadau and Carlet area and has already gathered all the material necessary to carry out the project, both in terms of transformation centers and the low and medium voltage grid, as well as substations”, it said. The project needs about 1,000 contractors, most of whom will be

Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) has launched a new set of guidelines aimed at helping entrants into the offshore wind sector better understand the development process. The guidelines are intended to address knowledge barriers to wind farm deployment, drive strategic supply chain investment, and speed up the UK’s transition to using homegrown renewable electricity. OEUK wind energy manager Thibaut Cheret told Energy Voice: “It gives a clear pathway that helps companies prioritise their activities and know where their pinch points are going to be earlier in the game.” Working alongside BVG Associates, an independent specialist renewable energy consultancy, OEUK outlined the procedures for establishing a wind farm, from first principals of leasing a sea area, to commercial market regulations and supply chain requirements: Cheret warned that the complexity of the regulations covering offshore wind projects means that, even for seasoned players, not everyone in an organisation may understand the entire process. “We put a full picture in one document, telling you how everything works and who is responsible for what,” he said. “It’s to help people in the wind industry and people who are getting into it, especially the supply chain. Now, the supply chain has a tool to understand at what step projects are in and when they can start engaging with it.” © Supplied by OEUKThibaut Cheret, OEUK Wind and Renewables Manager. At present, supply chain companies have to play a guessing game to work out when and how to invest – with some of the larger tier ones having whole departments dedicated to predicting when certain projects will arrive at their key milestones. “Wherever you play, you now have a signpost telling you what is important because there is potentially job activity for you.” By signposting upcoming milestones, the supply chain can frontload, bringing forward work and making

Norway produced 361.2 million standard cubic meters a day (MMscmd) of natural gas last month, 0.11 percent higher than November, official figures showed Tuesday. Year-on-year, the December figure marks a decrease of 5.64 percent and the second consecutive month that the Nordic country’s monthly gas output fell by prior-year comparison. Norway’s monthly gas output in 2024 had consistently risen year-over-year in the first 10 months, based on data published online by the Norwegian Offshore Directorate. December’s gas production beat the official forecast by 1.9 percent, so did total hydrocarbon production by one percent. While Norway’s total December production of 682,000 standard cubic meters of oil equivalent rose 1.19 percent month-on-month, it dropped 5.28 percent compared to December 2023. Oil production in December 2024 averaged 1.78 million barrels per day (MMbd). Total liquid production landed at 2.02 MMbd. Earlier the upstream regulator said Norway set a new record in 2024 with 124 billion standard cubic meters of gas sold, compared to the previous record of 122.8 billion standard cubic meters sold in 2022. In December 2024 Norway sold 11.2 billion standard cubic meters of gas, 3.57 percent higher than November. In the third quarter of 2024 Norway continued to be the European Union’s top pipeline gas supplier with a share of 47 percent, according to the European Commission’s latest quarterly gas market report published December 20. Norway has been the EU’s biggest gas source since the latter half of 2022, months after Russia invaded Ukraine, according to Commission data. Gas accounts for over half of production on the Norwegian continental shelf, and most of this gas is exported to Europe, according to the Directorate. Norway’s total hydrocarbon production was about 242.6 MMscm of oil equivalent (MMscmoe) in 2024, consisting of around 102.9 MMscmoe of oil, about 13.5 MMscmoe of natural gas liquids