In a release sent to Rigzone recently, industry body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) announced that television presenter and radio host Stephen Mulhern has been confirmed as the host of this year’s OEUK awards ceremony. The ceremony is scheduled to take place at the P&J Live in Aberdeen, Scotland, on November 20. In the release, OEUK said the awards “celebrate the people and companies driving progress across the UK’s offshore energy sector – including oil and gas, wind, hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage” and added that the event “will once again spotlight the industry’s brightest stars, with more than 120 nominations received this year”.  OEUK highlighted in the release that Mulhern is known for presenting “a range of iconic shows”, including Dancing On Ice, Deal Or No Deal, Britain’s Got More Talent, In For a Penny, Catchphrase, and You Bet. “He also fronted the hugely popular Ant vs Dec segment on Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway,” OEUK said in the release. “Alongside his television work, Stephen is a regular voice on Virgin Radio, covering for Chris Evans and Graham Norton,” it added. “An accomplished all-round performer, he has toured the UK with his variety and magic shows, is a BAFTA award-winning magician, and co-creator and producer of P&O Cruises’ exclusive magic and illusion show Astonishing,” OEUK continued. In the release, OEUK CEO David Whitehouse said, “we’re delighted to have Stephen Mulhern join us to host this year’s OEUK Awards”. “His energy, warmth and talent for engaging audiences will make the evening a truly memorable celebration of the people driving our industry forward,” he added. “The awards are about recognizing the innovation, commitment and collaboration that underpin the UK’s offshore energy success – and Stephen’s presence will add an extra spark to what promises to be an inspiring night,” Whitehouse noted. The full list of finalists for OEUK’s awards ceremony can be seen below: Apprentice of the YearCallum Duncan,

Tamboran Resources Corp said Monday it had raised $52.5 million net from issuing nearly three million common shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), including $10 million from Baker Hughes Co. “The public offering was supported by cornerstone investors, including a $10 million investment from new strategic partner, Baker Hughes, a leading energy technology company”, the Sydney-based early-stage natural gas exploration and production company said in a filing with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). The placement had a public offering price of $21 per share. The volume at closing included nearly 350,000 shares bought by underwriters under an option in their underwriting agreement with Tamboran. According to a prospectus filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission last Friday, the underwriters were RBC Capital Markets LLC, Wells Fargo Securities LLC, BofA Securities Inc, Johnson Rice & Co LLC, PEP Advisory LLC, Piper Sandler & Co and Northland Securities Inc. Besides its share subscription, Baker Hughes also signed a “preferred services agreement” with Tamboran under which the Houston, Texas-based company will deliver oilfield services and efficiency improvements “in Tamboran’s initial development of the Beetaloo Basin”, Tamboran said. “This activity is limited to a pre-set number of wells in the basin with an expiration period of the later to occur of three years or 20 wells”, Tamboran said. “The strategic relationship with Baker Hughes is established to provide industry-leading oilfield services and to Tamboran’s Beetaloo Basin operations, including drilling and completion fluids, drilling services, well design and construction, wireline services, cementing and completions intervention to improve well delivery and economics in the upcoming drilling and completions program”. Tamboran added, “Concurrently with the closing of the public offering, Tamboran entered into subscription agreements with certain investors with expected gross proceeds of up to $29.3 million in a PIPE [Private Investment in Public Equity],

More than 2.5 million Americans depend on durable medical equipment, such as oxygen delivery systems, ventilators, and dialysis machines. For these vulnerable customers, even brief power interruptions can cause their equipment to malfunction, and longer outages can be life-threatening, if power isn’t restored quickly. Yet the U.S. power grid is aging and under increasing pressure, struggling to keep up with rising electricity demand and extreme weather events. As a result, power outages are becoming more frequent and severe. The Department of Energy warns that blackouts could increase 100-fold by 2030 and recent studies show the severity of outages has grown 20% annually since 2019. Battery storage systems give medically vulnerable customers reliable backup power when the grid fails, automatically activating within a few seconds to keep critical medical devices running. By providing this layer of energy resilience, batteries protect those most at risk while helping utilities enhance reliability and equity for medically dependent and underserved communities. What are the challenges facing the grid? Large portions of the U.S. grid were built decades ago and are now due for modernization, says Baalaji Dhanabalan, Vice President overseeing the Energy Resiliency Portfolio at Resource Innovations. Aging equipment from transformers to substations requires greater upkeep and investment to maintain reliability, he adds. This is compounded by the rise in extreme weather events and the growing demand for power driven by widespread electrification. As a result, utilities are increasingly concerned about how to keep the grid reliable, affordable and resilient, notes Dhanabalan. To meet these challenges, many are investing in grid modernization and resiliency programs that include distributed energy resources, such as home batteries and solar panels, as well as demand response programs that encourage customers to reduce or shift their electricity use during times of peak demand. These programs aim to lower electricity demand

Access to power is now the defining factor for data center development, eclipsing traditional site selection considerations, such as proximity to fiber networks. As artificial intelligence drives explosive growth in compute demand, developers face a stark reality: without immediate, reliable power, schedules can stall, costs rise and relationships with both communities and customers are put at risk. The scale of AI workloads magnifies the challenge. In major data center hubs, power demand is expected to more than double from 175 MW today to 375 MW by 2035. For technology companies, this shift has turned onsite generation from a backup measure into a primary source of power for operations and critical infrastructure.  Yet, onsite legacy technologies that have long supplied power are showing their limits. Gas turbines and reciprocating engines bring noise, carbon emissions, significant water consumption and slow permitting timelines – liabilities in an industry where speed, scale and sustainability now define competitiveness.  High-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), once overlooked as a niche solution, are changing the equation. With proven deployments across data centers and the ability to deliver power at the scale, speed and reliability AI demands, fuel cells have become the onsite power solution of choice for today’s digital infrastructure leaders. Fuel Cells: A Solution Fit for the Digital Era Fuel cells offer a strategic infrastructure choice for modern data centers, providing a fundamentally different approach to onsite power. Fuel cells convert natural gas directly into electricity without combustion, achieving 15% to 20% higher efficiency than most open-cycle gas turbines or reciprocating engines.  In their recent white paper, “Fuel Cells: A Technology Whose Time Has Come,” KR Sridhar and Peter Gross of Bloom Energy explained that this efficiency reduces fuel consumption. “The capital cost advantages over gas turbines and engines grow even stronger if customers require higher

The energy industry is undergoing rapid and profound change. The rise of AI-driven data centers, the acceleration of the energy transition, and the growing frequency of external risks are reshaping the energy landscape faster than ever before. At the same time, customers, employees, and stakeholders expect more—greater transparency, better experiences, and faster innovation. This comes at a time when utilities remain under pressure to keep services affordable, satisfy regulators, and overcome workforce challenges. Meeting these demands requires more than incremental improvements. Digital transformation is not just about new tools or technologies; it’s about rethinking the entire digital operating model. By embedding digital into the core of strategy, operations, and culture, utilities can build the adaptability, efficiency, and resilience needed to thrive in this new environment. The digital operating model provides the blueprint for this transformation. Meeting customer and employee expectations One of the most pressing challenges facing utilities is meeting rising expectations from both customers and employees. Customers want digital interactions that are as seamless and intuitive as the experiences they have with retailers or banks. Employees, for their part, expect modern tools that help them do their jobs more effectively and without frustration. To achieve this, utilities must start designing technology with people at the center. Human-centered design ensures that digital tools are intuitive, practical, and widely adopted, rather than sitting unused because they were built for systems instead of end-users. But it’s not only about design; it’s also about delivery. Many utilities are still encumbered by slow-moving processes. Embracing agile ways of working at scale can help teams deliver more quickly and adapt when circumstances change. Just as important, shifting away from inflexible, monolithic systems toward composable platforms allows organizations to innovate rapidly and bring new capabilities online without waiting for massive, multi-year overhauls. What this means for

TotalEnergies SE needs Mozambique’s approval for a $4.5 billion increase in cost to its liquefied natural gas project before restarting construction that’s been delayed since 2021 due to security issues. The government signoff is required for “the incremental costs incurred” by the onshore facility during the closure of the site, the French oil major said in a copy of a letter seen by Bloomberg from Total Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne to Mozambique President Daniel Chapo. The document also informed Chapo that the company and its partners had taken a decision to lift the force majeure status in place since Total froze the $20 billion plan after a major attack by Islamic State-linked militants on the nearby town of Palma. The company on Saturday said Chapo was told of the development in a protocol letter and a revised plan of development, but didn’t indicate the amount of the cost increase.  The project could transform the economy of one of the world’s poorest nations. Still, attacks by an Islamist insurgency that shut the project in the first place have increased in recent months. That’s occurred as Mozambique LNG has moved forward on other fronts: re-approving US funding for the project, and mobilizing contractors. A Total spokesperson declined to comment. A Mozambique government spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.  Lifting of the first LNG cargo from the initial production line, or train, is now forecast to take place by the first half of 2029, almost five years later than the original target of July 2024, Total indicated in the letter. The maiden cargo from the second production line is expected to lift by the end of 2029. Total also requested a 10-year extension to the development and production period of the project, and to amend how state oil company Empresa