Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPCL) has awarded Technip Energies an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for two major units in the lube modernization and bottoms upgradation (LMBU) project at its 9.5-million tonne/year (tpy) Mumbai refinery in Maharashtra, India. The work covers a 550,000-tpy integrated hydrocracker and catalytic dewaxing (IHCD) unit and an 850,000-tpy solvent deasphalting (SDA) unit. Both will be integrated into the operating refinery, Technip Energies said in a release Oct. 12. The new units aim to increase production of lube oil base stocks (LOBS) used in automotive engine oils and industrial lubricants, while upgrading heavier refinery streams into higher-value products, according to the service provider. While Technip Energies did not reveal the precise value of the contract, the company confirmed the order would amount to between €250-500 million of revenue. This latest EPC contract for the project’s IHCD and SDA units follows HPCL’s earlier award to Chevron Lummus Global for licensing of technologies to outfit the IHCD unit. Project overview HPCL’s LMBU project is designed to raise the Mumbai refinery’s output of LOBS to 764,000 tpy from 475,000 tpy, including production of Group II+ and Group III base stocks. The project is also expected to increase bitumen production by about 487,000 tpy through fuel oil upgrading, as well as improve the refinery’s yield of distillate by about 4%, HPCL said in a release Jan. 23, 2025. HPCL began work on the LMBU project during the third quarter of its 2025 fiscal year at an estimated project cost of 46.79 billion rupees (US$541.1 million). Scheduled to be fully completed in March 2028, the LMBU project had reached 9.9% physical completion as of Mar. 31, 2026, at a then-current project cost of 57.40 billion rupees (US$600.4 million), HPCL said in an investor presentation dated May 13, 2026.

The agency intends to eliminate the super-emitter program, which allows EPA-certified third parties to use satellites, aircraft, and other remote-sensing technologies to identify potentially large methane releases. Operators notified by EPA must investigate reported events and take corrective action. EPA said it has legal concerns about the program and does not believe it is necessary to meet Clean Air Act requirements. The agency also plans to ease requirements for marginal wells, proposing two alternatives for establishing separate categories of wellsites with different regulatory requirements. Smaller producers have opposed the requirements as too costly. EPA itself cited research indicating that marginal wells accounted for about 7% of US oil and gas output in 2021 but were responsible for 60% of methane emissions associated with gas production and 40% of those associated with oil production. The proposal also would revisit restrictions on flaring associated natural gas. The 2024 rules established requirements to phase out routine flaring at new sources, subject to specified provisions and exceptions. EPA said it would reconsider its approach to associated gas to give producers more flexibility. Other proposed changes would affect covers and closed-vent systems and provide operators with additional flexibility in requirements for control devices, including flame-monitoring data and visible emissions testing. In April, EPA finalized a narrower set of revisions to the 2024 rules, extending the time allowed for temporary flaring in certain circumstances and changing monitoring and testing requirements. The agency estimated those changes would save the industry $2.5 billion over the period from 2024 to 2038. Separately, Congress and the Trump administration eliminated the Biden-era methane waste emissions charge, which would have imposed fees on certain oil and gas infrastructure with methane emissions exceeding specified thresholds. Environmental groups have criticized the administration’s planned rollback, and the proposal could face legal challenges. EPA has not

WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright today announced nine recipients of the prestigious Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award for their exceptional contributions to research and development supporting the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) missions in science, energy, and national security. “This year’s Lawrence Award recipients exemplify the ingenuity and determination that drive America’s leadership in science and technology,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. “From achieving fusion ignition to advancing critical materials and high-performance computing, these scientists and engineers are tackling some of our nation’s most complex challenges and translating groundbreaking research into real-world capabilities. Their work strengthens our nation’s energy security, drives American innovation, and ensures the United States remains at the forefront of scientific discovery.” Established in 1959, the Lawrence Award recognizes mid-career U.S. scientists and engineers for groundbreaking achievements across nine scientific and engineering categories. The award is among the longest-running and most prestigious science and technology honors bestowed by the U.S. government. The 2026 Ernest O. Lawrence Award recipients are: Eric J. Schelter, Ph.D. (University of Pennsylvania) – Atomic, Molecular, and Chemical Sciences – Honored for his “fundamental chemical studies of energy-critical metals leading to new methods for their selective and sustainable separations.”  Patrick Chain, Ph.D. (Los Alamos National Laboratory and New Mexico Consortium) – Biological and Environmental Sciences – Honored for his “pioneering work in genomics and microbiome science, including discoveries of new bacterial-fungal interactions and revolutionizing the field by democratizing access to advanced bioinformatics tools.”  Samuel W. Williams, Ph.D. (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) – Computer, Information, and Knowledge Sciences – Honored for his “pioneering contributions in performance modeling, hardware/software design optimization, and novel computer architecture for high-performance computing, enabling modeling of complex computational solutions, and increasing analysis speed, simulation accuracy, and computational efficiency.”  Thomas Epps, III, Ph.D. (University of Delaware) – Condensed Matter and

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced plans to lower electricity costs and strengthen grid reliability by supporting the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in funding 84 transmission and distribution projects across eight states. The projects are expected to add approximately 2.5 gigawatts (GW) of grid capacity to help mitigate outages and create greater grid resilience. The TVA award is for approximately $581 million in total, including $250 million in federal funding and about $331 million in applicant cost-share funding. As part of the Resilience Amplified: Multi-Market Grid Interconnection Initiative funding award under the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) project, the investments will help ensure 2.58 million families and businesses have access to the affordable, reliable, and secure power they need. The project is estimated to support about 800 jobs. “Since day one, President Trump has recognized that years of misguided energy policies under the previous administration left our bulk power system less robust than it should be,” said U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy James P. Danly. “America is blessed with an abundance of natural resources and some of the most advanced technology in the world, but we must have the generation and transmission infrastructure necessary to support our rapidly growing economy and its electricity needs. These investments with TVA will help reduce congestion, improve efficiency, and make better use of our existing transmission system to lower costs for ratepayers while delivering affordable, reliable, and secure energy essential to American prosperity.” “America’s electric grid cannot become a roadblock to economic growth,” said Office of Electricity (OE) Assistant Secretary Katie Jereza. “By bringing TVA and local utilities together, we’re helping reduce costly outages and deliver more power where it’s needed. That means fewer disruptions for families, more opportunities for businesses, and a stronger foundation for American jobs.” The award builds

Texas Eastern Transmission LP has launched a non-binding open season for its proposed Katy to Gillis Expansion Project, designed to connect the Katy Hub in Texas with markets in southwest Louisiana by early 2031. Developed in collaboration with Mustang Express Pipeline LLC, the project would create a seamless transportation path between Katy and Gillis, La., by combining transportation services on the Mustang Express and Texas Eastern systems. Texas Eastern parent company Enbridge Inc. expects the project to provide up to an additional 2 bcfd of transportation capacity, enhancing access to LNG plants, industrial customers, electric generation markets, and pipeline interconnections along the US Gulf Coast. The Mustang Express Pipeline is owned and developed by ARM Energy Holdings LLC. Final capacity, receipt and delivery points, design, and service structures will be informed by market interest received during the open season, Enbridge said. Its completion and timing are subject to securing sufficient commercial support and obtaining required approvals. The open season will close Oct. 30, 2026. ARM Energy last year took final investment decision to develop the 236-mile, 2.5-bcfd Mustang Express Pipeline, expected to be complete in late 2028 or early 2029.

Disruptions to international energy flows have pushed shipping and insurance costs to unprecedented levels of more than one-third of commodity value, impeding the movement of crude oil and petroleum products and adding inflationary pressure, OPEC+ ministers said following an Oct. 12 meeting in Riyadh. The ministers met on the sidelines of the 17th International Energy Forum (IEF) ministerial meeting and the 25th WPC Energy Congress to review market conditions. They stressed the need to safeguard international maritime routes. Elevated transportation and insurance costs are being passed through the oil value chain, prolonging the financial burden on producing and consuming countries and weighing on global economic growth, they said. The statement, as reported, did not identify the routes or commodities behind the cost estimate or explain how it was calculated. Separately, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said costs had risen five- to tenfold on some routes, citing vessel shortages, military risks, and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to decisions adopted at the June 7, 2026, OPEC and non-OPEC ministerial meeting. The group said consultations with all OPEC+ countries would continue through existing mechanisms, including the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee and ministerial meetings. Ministers also said they would monitor the situation and work with governments, industry stakeholders, and international organizations, including the IEF and International Energy Agency (IEA), to improve global shipping conditions.