BP’s confirmation that it will be cutting 7,700 jobs has served as a “hammer blow to the north-east” of Scotland, one politician said in response to the news. The London-listed supermajor told staff on Thursday that it would be cutting 4,700 internal jobs and 3,000 contractor positions as it looked to cut costs and drive profitability. In 2024 BP (LON:BP) announced plans to cut costs by $2 billion (£1.64bn) by the end of next year and this move is set to play a part in the supermajor’s penny-pinching drive. Ashley Kelty, director and oil and gas research analyst at Panmure Liberum, told Energy Voice: “I don’t think it would have been a surprise that there would be job cuts. “However, the issue is that this is their opening move in their cost reduction programme when they’re already under pressure to change strategy. © Supplied by BPBP chief executive Murray Auchincloss. “Rather than change the strategy which persists with low margin renewables, they’ve decided to just slash headcount, now that’s not going to give them returns. They could have maintained the headcount and pivoted back to traditional energy projects, like their peers have done, and they would have improved performance. “They seem to think ‘oh well, cut the bottom line costs, that’s going to make a difference,’ whereas if you’d actually improve the top line margin, that would have given them a lot more leeway.” The analyst argued that the firm is “not happy to change direction” as its fellow UK supermajors have done. ‘There’ll be lots of people going in Aberdeen’ This lack of change in company strategy and recent market trends has led to speculation that Aberdeen is set to be hit hard by looming redundancies. “There’ll be lots of people going in Aberdeen, I think that’s pretty clear,”

ADNOC Gas PLC has installed Levidian Nanosystems Ltd.’s patented technology that generates hydrogen and graphene from methane at the Habshan gas processing plant complex in Abu Dhabi. Executed with help from United States energy tech firm Baker Hughes Co., the installation of the LOOP technology in the United Arab Emirates marks the first deployment of the technology at an operational gas processing site, said Cambridge, England-based climate tech company Levidian. “The first-of-its-kind demonstration could change the shape of Habshan and the future energy landscape, producing two high-value commodities that have a key role to play in the energy transition – hydrogen as a critical future fuel, and graphene as a powerful additive to products including solar panels and batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage facilities that will store excess power produced by renewables”, Levidian said in an online statement. “Other use cases include tires, concrete and polymer pipes where graphene can significantly reduce leakage and help extend the life of assets”. ADNOC Gas, the integrated gas processing arm of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC), will evaluate the graphene produced by Levidian’s LOOP to explore potential applications, according to the two companies. ADNOC Gas said in a separate press release, “Data collected during the pilot will be used to refine the ongoing development of AI modeling and digital twins to minimize energy consumption and maximize graphene output from future installations as part of Levidian’s growing fleet of LOOP units”. The installed LOOP unit can produce over one metric ton each of graphene and hydrogen a year, according to Levidian. Future industrial-scale installations are expected to deliver 15 metric tons per annum, ADNOC Gas said.   The five plants at the Habshan complex process 6.1 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day through 14 trains, according to ADNOC Gas.  “The completion of

Advisers to President-elect Donald Trump are crafting a wide-ranging sanctions strategy to facilitate a Russia-Ukraine diplomatic accord in the coming months while at the same time squeezing Iran and Venezuela, people familiar with the matter said. The outgoing Biden administration on Friday imposed the most disruptive sanctions on Russia’s oil trade by any Western power to date. The move created an open question about how Trump views the measures, given his commitment to quickly ending the war in Ukraine. There are two main approaches under consideration by the Trump team. One set of policy recommendations — if the incoming administration believes a resolution to the Ukraine war is in sight — involves some good-faith measures to benefit sanctioned Russian oil producers that could help seal a peace deal, said the people, requesting anonymity as the deliberations are private. A second option would build on the sanctions, ramping up pressure even further to increase leverage, they said.  The approach that Trump ultimately chooses is pivotal to the global oil market. Brent futures have gained almost $5 a barrel since Biden’s measures were announced. Some analysts anticipate further gains, something that would drive up fuel costs around the world. The Trump team’s plans are in the early stages and ultimately depend on the president-elect himself, the people said. Last week, Trump said a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin was being set up, raising the prospect of potential near-term negotiations to end the war. The strategy discussions include some of Trump’s cabinet nominees as well as former sanctions officials in his first administration, the people said. Several conservative-leaning think tanks are also being sounded out. The transition team has yet to announce Trump’s picks for some key roles involved in economic statecraft. Among the lingering questions are whether Brad Smith and Andrea Gacki, two US Treasury Department

Oil retreated from a five-month high as the market adjusts to new sanctions on Russian crude and digested mixed signals from President-elect Donald Trump on his intent to uphold the measures. West Texas Intermediate slid 1.7% to settle below $79 a barrel after hitting the highest since July on Wednesday. Saudi Aramco has received inquiries from Indian and Chinese buyers for as much as 750,000 barrels a day of extra crude to make up for any shortfalls caused by the Russian sanctions. Meanwhile, the amount of oil stranded off the Chinese coast has swelled as traders and shippers try to avoid being caught in the curbs. Traders are parsing mixed signals on how the incoming Trump administration will approach Russian sanctions. Scott Bessent, Trump’s Treasury secretary nominee, said he would support sanctioning Russian oil majors. Earlier, Trump’s advisers were reported to be crafting a strategy that could benefit Russian oil producers and help end the war with Ukraine. Market participants are also using the four-day stretch ahead of Trump’s inauguration to shuffle positions in preparation for potential tariffs on Canadian oil and moves to encourage domestic production. “Crude may take a pause to consolidate its recent gains as the market looks ahead to Monday,” said Rebecca Babin, senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Group. Biden’s last-minute sanctions “have shifted the landscape for Trump’s first day in office, potentially requiring adjustments to his strategy.” Futures also may be experiencing a corrective phase after spending days in overbought territory on the relative strength index. Still, West Texas Intermediate has rallied about 10% to start the year as cold weather bolsters demand for heating fuels and threatens North American output. In the US, inventories fell for the eighth straight week to hit the lowest since April 2022. Crude’s gain on Wednesday came

A blast of extreme cold is poised to descend on the central US this weekend before spreading to New York and the rest of the East Coast, testing power grids and threatening to break temperature records. Frigid conditions will sweep the Midwest and South, including Texas, starting on Saturday and then shift east early next week. The low in Dallas is poised to reach 21F (minus 6C) Monday night, while temperatures in Manhattan will drop near 10F late Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.  The cold will start in the northern Rocky Mountains and Great Plains and “by Sunday spread all the way to the Gulf Coast and much of the eastern US,” said Marc Chenard, a senior branch forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Center. “There will be below-normal temperatures in Texas during the day on Saturday. Most of the state gets below freezing through Wednesday.” Bone—chilling weather across the densely populated areas of the central and eastern US will raise energy demand and could send utilities scrambling to meet the spike in consumption, since much of the South relies on electricity for heating. A winter storm four years ago killed more than 200 people and led to the collapse of Texas’ electric grid. Cold temperatures can also disrupt the production of oil and natural gas by causing water in wells and pipelines to freeze.  The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the state grid, has an advisory in place for Jan. 19 through noon on Jan. 23 because temperatures are expected to stay below freezing. Power demand is forecast to reach about 78.5 gigawatts on the morning of Jan. 21, which would edge over the record set last January. Still, Ercot expects to have enough supply to meet soaring electricity usage.  PJM Interconnect, which manages the grid serving

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) decreased by 2.0 million barrels from the week ending January 3 to the week ending January 10, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlighted in its latest weekly petroleum status report. Crude oil stocks, excluding the SPR, stood at 412.7 million barrels on January 10, 414.6 million barrels on January 3, and 429.9 million barrels on January 12, 2024, the EIA report revealed. Crude oil in the SPR came in at 394.3 million barrels on January 10, 393.8 million barrels on January 3, and 355.6 million barrels on January 12, 2024, the report showed. The EIA report highlighted that data may not add up to totals due to independent rounding. Total petroleum stocks – including crude oil, total motor gasoline, fuel ethanol, kerosene type jet fuel, distillate fuel oil, residual fuel oil, propane/propylene, and other oils – stood at 1.625 billion barrels on January 10, the report revealed. This figure was down 2.9 million barrels week on week and up 6.6 million barrels year on year, the report outlined. “At 412.7 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about six percent below the five year average for this time of year,” the EIA noted in its report. “Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 5.9 million barrels from last week and are sightly below the five year average for this time of year. Finished gasoline inventories and blending components inventories increased last week,” it added. “Distillate fuel inventories increased by 3.1 million barrels last week and are about four percent below the five year average for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories decreased by 4.7 million barrels from last week and are seven percent above the five year average for this time of year,” it continued. U.S. crude