Listen to the article 5 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Gisela Glandt is vice president of virtual power plants at Uplight, a provider of utility demand management solutions. Load growth is back, and it isn’t slowing down. Electrification, data centers and extreme weather are pushing utilities to find flexible capacity faster than they can build it. Demand-side programs including demand response, virtual power plants, time-varying rates and energy efficiency are one of the few levers that scale quickly and cost-effectively — yet the industry keeps hitting the same wall. Gisela Glandt Roughly 80% of customers say they want help managing their energy, but utilities are still seeing enrollment in demand management programs around 10% — despite larger incentives, more innovative technology, and more targeted marketing. What if the problem isn’t the customers and instead is the process of asking them to raise their hand? Opt-in utility program enrollment puts the burden on the customer: to understand the program, check to see if they are eligible, decide it’s worth it, and then take action. The benefits and incentives can show up months down the road, and they may even forget about them. Most people don’t make it past enrollment and it’s not because of lack of interest. It simply involves too many steps and too much brain power.  The industry is shifting from programs customers must join to flexibility that’s already embedded as a default or activated at the point of sale of a device, with no enrollment required. Where utilities have made this shift, customer participation climbs from 10% into the 70% to 100% range. One Midwestern utility that restructured a program from opt-in to opt-out scaled capacity four to five times faster — and had 70% to 80% of customers participate. 

Planet One Oil & Gas has encountered hydrocarbons in the Nya Gyidie-1X exploration well on the Deepwater Cape Three Points (DWCTP) Block offshore Ghana, opening what the company describes as a new carbonate exploration play in the country. The well, drilled about 148 km offshore in 2,289 m of water, encountered hydrocarbons in carbonate reservoirs between 3,364 m and 3,499 m measured depth. Planet One said further technical evaluation is under way to determine the discovery’s size and commercial potential. According to the operator, Nya Gyidie-1X is Ghana’s first successful test of a Cenomanian-Turonian carbonate reservoir system as a primary exploration target. Most of the country’s commercial oil and gas discoveries to date have been associated with sandstone reservoirs. “The significance of Nya Gyidie-1X goes beyond the hydrocarbons encountered in this well,” said Kwame Ntow Amoah, chief executive officer of Ghana National Petroleum Corp. “For the first time in Ghana, we have tested and confirmed hydrocarbons in a carbonate reservoir system, opening up a new geological play for further exploration.” The DWCTP block covers about 1,454 sq km in the Deepwater Tano basin. Planet One operates the block with partners GOIL Upstream Ltd. and Ghana National Petroleum Corp.

@import url(‘https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Inter:wght@100..900&display=swap’); .ebm-page__main h1, .ebm-page__main h2, .ebm-page__main h3, .ebm-page__main h4, .ebm-page__main h5, .ebm-page__main h6 { font-family: Inter; } body { line-height: 150%; letter-spacing: 0.025em; } button, .ebm-button-wrapper { font-family: Inter; } .label-style { text-transform: uppercase; color: var(–color-grey); font-weight: 600; font-size: 0.75rem; } .caption-style { font-size: 0.75rem; color: color-mix(in srgb, currentColor 60%, transparent); } Chevron Corp. has agreed to farm out to QatarEnergy a partial, non-operated interest in an exploration block offshore Namibia. Financial details were not disclosed.   Through the agreement, Chevron subsidiary Chevron Namibia Exploration II Ltd. will farm out 25% interest in Petroleum Exploration License 0082 (PEL82), comprising blocks 2112B and 2212A in Walvis basin, QatarEnergy said in a release this week. Upon completion of the deal, Chevron will remain operator of the block with 55% interest. Namcor E&P and Custos Energy will each hold a 10% interest. PEL82 covers an area of about 11,444 sq km in water depths of 350-2,300 m. Chevron acquired an 80% operated interest in the license in 2024 through a farm-in deal with National Petroleum Corp. of Namibia (Namcor). At the time of Chevron’s farmout with Namcor, about 70% of the total block area was covered by existing seismic (3,500 km of 2D and 9,500 sq km of 3D) data. Previous drilling activity on the license included the Murombe-1 and Wingat-1 wells. Results confirmed regional extension and presence of the Barremian-Aptianoil-prone source rock (Kudu shale). The Murombe-1 penetrated the Baobab sands with about 20% porosity. The Wingat-1 well recovered 38-41° API oil to surface.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF) today announced the financial close of a $480 million loan for Arena Energy’s Project Elkhorn to increase oil and natural gas production across the Gulf of America shelf. The project will modernize 22 offshore platforms off the coast of Louisiana and, at peak production, is expected to add up to 38,600 barrels of oil per day and up to 77 million cubic feet of natural gas per day to U.S. energy production. Today’s announcement is made possible by President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cut and marks the Energy Department’s first closed loan supporting domestic oil and natural gas production, underscoring DOE’s commitment to advancing American energy dominance and delivering affordable, reliable, and secure energy for American families and businesses. “The United States is the world’s largest producer and exporter of oil and natural gas, and thanks to President Trump, American energy production will continue to grow,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. “Project Elkhorn will increase oil production by up to 38,600 barrels per day and create thousands of jobs. By providing financing for projects like Project Elkhorn, the Energy Department is expanding domestic production and strengthening our energy security to power American prosperity for decades to come.” Arena Energy currently produces approximately 30,000 barrels of oil per day offshore in the Gulf of America. Project Elkhorn will modernize existing offshore infrastructure and expand production capacity—adding approximately 125 million barrels of oil and 250 billion cubic feet of natural gas to U.S. energy production over the life of the project. The project will create 2,400 construction-related jobs and 400 operations jobs in one of the nation’s most important offshore energy corridors. “Thanks to President Trump and Secretary Wright’s leadership, EDF is putting existing energy infrastructure back to work for the American people,” said EDF Director Gregory A. Beard. “Project Elkhorn will expand domestic oil and natural gas production, create good-paying

Oil prices extended their decline on Tuesday, Nov. 10, as recovering Middle Eastern production and expectations of a global supply surplus added pressure to a market already retreating on signs of easing US-Iran tensions. Brent crude fell below $90/bbl for the first time since late August. The international benchmark has now retreated nearly 24% from its Oct. 30 intraday high of $118/bbl, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures also recorded losses. The selloff reflects a reassessment of supply risks as Middle Eastern oil production recovers despite continuing disruptions to regional shipping. OPEC crude production increased by 1.38 million b/d in October to 22.87 million b/d, according to a Reuters survey. Gains were led by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq, bringing output among the 11 producers surveyed to about 90% of February’s prewar level. The recovery in exports has been less consistent. Preliminary Kpler data showed crude and condensate shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, Red Sea, and Gulf of Oman averaging about 16.1 million b/d in October, down from 17.09 million b/d in September. Kpler cautioned that the October figure could be revised upward as additional shipment information becomes available. Meanwhile, the broader global supply-demand balance has weakened. JPMorgan estimated that the oil market shifted into a surplus of 1.1 million b/d in September, widening to 1.4 million b/d in October. The bank attributed the change to recovering Middle Eastern exports, additional supply from other producing regions, and weaker consumption following months of elevated energy prices. Easing geopolitical concerns have added to the downward pressure. US President Donald Trump said Monday that further military strikes against Iran were unlikely in the near-term following appeals from regional leaders. After meeting Qatar’s prime minister at the White House, Trump suggested that the conflict could end “fairly soon,” although he indicated that

Diamondback Energy Inc., Midland, Tex., and investment firm KKR agreed to jointly acquire Five Point Infrastructure LLC’s 70% stake in Deep Blue Midland Basin LLC, a full-cycle water infrastructure platform in the Permian’s Midland basin. Financial details were not disclosed. Upon closing, which is expected in this year’s fourth quarter subject to regulatory approvals and closing conditions, Diamondback and KKR will jointly own 100% of Deep Blue, building on Diamondback’s existing 30% ownership interest. Deep Blue, which was formed in 2023 as a joint venture between Diamondback and private equity and infrastructure investor Five Point, operates an integrated water infrastructure network that provides water services including sourcing, transportation, storage, recycling, and disposal. “The Deep Blue system is critical for Diamondback’s core operations, which require reliable transportation of nearly 2 million barrels of water per day,” said Kaes Van’t Hof, Diamondback’s chief executive officer. The acquisition is aimed at supporting Deep Blue’s continued investment traditional full-cycle water infrastructure across West Texas, and, said Van’t Hof, “establishes a strategic partnership that is well positioned for traditional growth with additional opportunities to expand outside of oil and gas through advancements in new technology and potential industrial use cases in the Permian basin.” In addition to robust Permian oil and gas activity, the rapid expansion of AI data centers in West Texas is creating a water-demand challenge, prompting industry interest in treating and reusing the Permian’s vast volumes of produced water as a potential cooling-water source.