Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp. canceled a proposed deal to sell natural gas assets in the North Sea to upstart firm Viaro Energy. Shell said in a statement that the oil majors couldn’t complete the transaction to sell the strategic Bacton onshore gas terminal and 11 offshore facilities to oil tycoon Francesco Mazzagatti’s Viaro. The ending of the transaction follows a protracted regulatory review by the North Sea Transition Authority, which said it had needed further information from Viaro before any decision. “The parties have worked hard and in close alignment to try and complete this transaction over many months, but despite this being a fully funded opportunity, the completion conditions were not met as commercial and market conditions evolved and we mutually agreed not to proceed,” Mazzagatti said Wednesday. When it announced the deal in the summer of 2024, Shell said the transaction was expected to complete in 2025. The NSTA, which was recently given new powers to oversee mergers and acquisitions in the North Sea, said the regulator was “waiting to receive the additional information requested from the purchasing party to make a decision.” The deal included the Bacton terminal on the east coast of England, a site of “strategic national importance,” according to Shell. It’s the sole entry point for gas from Belgium and the Netherlands, supplying as much as one-third of the UK’s gas supply. Mazzagatti, Viaro’s founder, is facing criminal charges in Italy and civil forgery and fraud allegations in the UK. He denies all allegations made against him.  The halt to the deal has paused an acquisition streak that made Viaro the most prolific buyer of UK oil and gas assets over the past five years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The decision also follows a London Court of Appeal ruling over

Listen to the article 5 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. New York will target development of 5 GW of new nuclear power, vastly expanding on a 1-GW goal set last June, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday in her State of the State address. Hochul’s speech was short on details regarding her nuclear aspirations. The state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act requires New York to achieve a 100% zero-emission electricity system by 2040. And last month, the New York State Energy Planning Board adopted a new state energy plan that cast nuclear energy as key to New York’s reliability and decarbonization goals.  New York’s recently-adopted state energy plan offers “broad program and policy development direction.” Retrieved from New York State Energy Planning Board. The plan, which offers “broad” guidance rather than binding targets, also highlighted some of the challenges facing nuclear. It described nuclear projects’ “long lead times and uncertain costs,” and noted the likely need for changes to zero emission credit programs and wholesale markets to balance concerns over capacity, reliability and ratepayer impacts. A policy book released alongside Hochul’s speech says the governor plans to direct state agencies to “establish a clear pathway for additional advanced nuclear generation to support grid reliability.” A nuclear reliability “backbone” will be developed through a new Department of Public Service process “to consider, review, and facilitate a cost-effective pathway to 4 gigawatts of new nuclear energy.” If successful, the buildout would bring New York’s total nuclear fleet to more than 8 GW. The state currently has three plants with four operating reactors totaling 3.4 GW of capacity, all owned by Constellation Energy. Nuclear power supplies about 21% of New York’s electricity. “Go big or go home,” the democratic governor said during her address, adding that

Britain stepped up support for offshore wind in the latest subsidy auction, showing the government is still determined to meet its ambitious 2030 clean-power goal even as costs rise. The 8.2 gigawatts of offshore wind beat analysts’ expectations and will boost the likelihood of the government delivering on its promise to almost totally exit fossil fuels in power generation. The UK now needs around 7 gigawatts of new capacity in the next auction, which is the last realistic chance to get projects built in time.   The government will pay developers more for projects won in this auction compared with last year, a cost that’s ultimately paid for by consumers. It creates a difficult balancing act for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has pledged to cut household bills during the current parliament.  “With these results, Britain is taking back control of our energy sovereignty,” said Energy Secretary Ed Miliband in a statement. The results deliver the biggest single procurement of offshore wind energy in British and European history, according to the statement. The auction secured capacity at a price of £65.45 ($88) per megawatt-hour in 2012 prices, a commonly used benchmark, or £91.20 in 2024 terms, accounting for some inflation. This price, higher than in last year’s auction, still represents a “net benefit to bills over the next decade,” according to analysis from Aurora Energy Research. RWE AG was the major winner, involved in all but one of the projects that won. Separately, RWE said it has agreed a deal with KKR & Co to develop, construct and operate the Norfolk Vanguard East and Norfolk Vanguard West projects, which were awarded contracts in the auction.  Another winner, RWE’s Dogger Bank South, doesn’t yet have planning permission, which means it may not be built in time to meet the 2030 goal. RWE’s

In a report published recently, GasBuddy revealed its average U.S. gasoline price prediction for 2026. According to this report, the company expects the U.S. gasoline price to come in at $2.97 per gallon this year and sees December as the month with the lowest average U.S. gasoline price in 2026, at $2.83 per gallon. GasBuddy expects May to see the highest average U.S. gasoline price in 2026, at $3.12 per gallon, the report outlined. “GasBuddy’s forecast projects the national average price of gas to fall to $2.97 per gallon in 2026, marking the fourth consecutive annual decline and the lowest average since 2020,” Patrick De Haan, Head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy, said in the report. “This continued decrease reflects the unwinding of post-pandemic market distortions, expanding global refining capacity, and more stable supply chains,” he added. “While the drop from 2025 is modest compared to previous years, it underscores a meaningful shift toward greater overall market stability,” he continued. A statement accompanying the release of the report posted on GasBuddy’s website highlighted that the U.S. gasoline price averaged $3.102 per gallon in 2025. GasBuddy also pointed out in that statement that it is forecasting the yearly U.S. average price of gasoline to fall back below $3 per gallon for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic. In the report, GasBuddy projected that average household spending on gasoline will come in at $2,083 in 2026. That’s the lowest figure since 2021, which saw an average household gasoline spend of $1,979, the report showed.  De Haan went on to project in the report that gasoline prices “are expected to follow a traditional seasonal pattern in 2026, with imbalances left behind by Covid and geopolitical tensions balanced for the time being”. “The national average is projected to briefly rise into the low

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Tuesday announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) renewing their commitment to developing a lunar power system using fission by 2030. The collaboration aims to enable sustained NASA missions on the Moon – though radioisotope systems have already powered long-term U.S. space missions for decades according to DOE. “Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and his America First Space Policy, the department is proud to work with NASA and the commercial space industry on what will be one of the greatest technical achievements in the history of nuclear energy and space exploration”, Energy Secretary Chris Wright declared. The agencies eye deploying a surface power system able to operate for years without refueling. “The deployment of a lunar surface reactor will enable future sustained lunar missions by providing continuous and abundant power, regardless of sunlight or temperature”, DOE and NASA said. “Under President Trump’s national space policy, America is committed to returning to the Moon, building the infrastructure to stay and making the investments required for the next giant leap to Mars and beyond”, said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “Achieving this future requires harnessing nuclear power.  “This agreement enables closer collaboration between NASA and the Department of Energy to deliver the capabilities necessary to usher in the golden age of space exploration and discovery”. Westinghouse Contract Before the MOU, DOE and NASA had already contracted Westinghouse Electric Co LLC to develop a space microreactor design under the agencies’ Fission Surface Power (FSP) project. On January 7, 2025, Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse announced a new contract that builds on “the successful design work Westinghouse completed during phase 1 to optimize its contributions to the design of FSP systems and their configuration, and begin testing of critical technology elements”. “The continued progress

Texas upstream employment and job postings declined in the fourth quarter of 2025. That’s what the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) said in a statement sent to Rigzone on Friday, which TIPRO outlined corresponded with the latest Current Employment Statistics (CES) report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and provided “additional insight on markets trends”. TIPRO noted in the statement that, due to the federal government shutdown and suspension of related services last year, the CES report from the BLS was delayed until the government resumed operations. TIPRO highlighted that, on Friday, CES data was released simultaneously for the months of October and November 2025. “According to … TIPRO, employment in the Texas upstream sector declined between October and November 2025,” TIPRO said in the statement. The organization noted in the statement that oil and natural gas extraction jobs increased “modestly” by 100 to 69,600, which it pointed out was a 0.1 percent month on month increase, “buoyed by Permian Basin efficiencies”. Support activities employment fell by 3,600 to 131,600, a drop of 2.7 percent month on month, TIPRO outlined in the statement, “amid rig count erosion (down 7.6 percent year on year) and service sector streamlining”. “Combined upstream employment decreased by 3,500 jobs to 201,200 (-1.7 percent month on month),” TIPRO highlighted. In its statement, TIPRO noted that, from January to November 2025, employment in the Texas upstream sector “displayed early resilience followed by late-year softening”. “Oil and gas extraction added a net 1,400 jobs (+2.1 percent), peaking at 70,200 in June and July before a -400 dip from August to November, driven by robust Permian production but offset by layoffs and lower oil prices,” TIPRO stated. “Support activities employment saw a net loss of 3,700 jobs (-2.7 percent), with a February-May surge (+2,800) undone by mid-year declines (-3,400