The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) regulator is calling for nominations for potential carbon storage locations on the UK continental shelf (UKCS). The NSTA said the process “builds momentum” in the UK carbon capture and storage (CCS) sector following the awarding of permits for the HyNet industrial cluster. The regulator issued three carbon storage permits to Italian firm Eni for the £2 billion Liverpool Bay CCS project earlier this year. The HyNet approval came after the NSTA issued permits for the £4bn BP and Equinor-led Northern Endurance Partnership in Teesside last year. The advancement of the two so-called Track-1 CCS clusters followed the UK government pledging nearly £22bn towards the sector over the next 25 years. In addition, the industry is also calling for the UK government to provide similar backing for Track-2 projects including Harbour Energy’s Viking CCS and the Acorn Project in Scotland. Harbour cited slow progress on Track-2 support as part of the reason for its decision to cut 250 jobs from its Aberdeen headquarters last week. Meanwhile, Acorn developer Storegga has warned delays to Track-2 means the UK is at risk of falling behind Norway and the US in developing a commercial CCS sector. Outside of Track-1 and Track-2, the NSTA completed the world’s first ever carbon storage licensing round in 2023. North Sea operator Perenco recently completed its first UK CO2 injection after securing a license in the NSTA round. UK carbon storage In opening its call for carbon storage nominations, the NSTA said companies will be required to submit spatial data and provide a high-level project description. This will allow the regulator, alongside Crown Estate Scotland and The Crown Estate, to consider any spatial planning interactions in areas like offshore wind, the NSTA said. The NSTA said the pre-application process should encourage offshore firms

Oil continued to rebound from the year’s lows as US President Donald Trump threatened to ramp up sanctions against Iranian crude if a nuclear deal with the OPEC member isn’t reached. West Texas Intermediate advanced 2.8% to settle near $64 a barrel, bringing its recovery from this year’s lowest closing price to more than 11%. Trump told an audience in Saudi Arabia that the US will exert maximum pressure on Iranian energy exports if an agreement isn’t reached. The US State Department said earlier that it’s sanctioning a network that helps ship Iranian crude oil to China. Trump’s hawkish comments on Iran added to a rebound driven by softer-than-expected US inflation and lingering relief from easing trade tensions between America and China. Equity markets gained and the dollar weakened, making commodities priced in the currency more attractive. “Broadly speaking, tariffs haven’t really impacted demand yet,” said Jon Byrne, an analyst at Strategas Securities. “It appears that the likelihood they never will has increased meaningfully as investors price out worst-case scenario risk with the rollback that we are seeing now.” Saudi Arabia, OPEC+’s de facto leader, is the first stop in Trump’s trip to the Middle East. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies are expected to further boost output at a June 1 meeting, adding to concerns a glut will form later this year. The kingdom has pushed for the cartel to increase production to punish non-compliant members. Still, market gauges are providing mixed signals. Nearby gasoline spreads are the strongest in months, as Americans opt for more road trips instead of flying. However, a key North Sea trading window has been inundated with offers for crude — a bearish signal. Oil Prices WTI for June delivery added 2.8% to settle at $63.67 a barrel in New

Dive Brief: The U.S. Department of Energy moved Monday to repeal or alter 47 energy efficiency, climate reporting and other regulations, but experts say the Trump administration will likely face robust legal challenges. Most of the targeted rules do not fall into the so-called “lookback window” that allows the president and his party to repeal them easily under the Congressional Review Act, experts said. While the legal process for finalizing the proposed changes could be lengthy and legally fraught, President Donald Trump has broadly instructed department heads to cease enforcement of many regulations immediately. Dive Insight: The list DOE released Monday in part targets energy efficiency standards for appliances that have been on the books for years.  The latest round of attempted rollbacks appears to be driven by ideology more than industry pressure, said Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.  For example, the proposed changes to oven standards would take the rule back to where it was in 1987, but manufacturers have invested significant sums in meeting the current standards, he said.  “They’re looking to get rid of standards that have been around for years and years,” he said.  Utilities also use efficiency standards to plan for how they intend to meet demand for load growth, which is expected to increase with the rise of artificial intelligence and manufacturing. In 2024, these efficiency standards are estimated to have saved energy equivalent to 6.5% of total U.S. energy consumption, according to a study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In a statement, the Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned electric companies, said it broadly supports the DOE’s energy conservation standards program, including some of the items included in the latest round of proposed cuts. “The program has been one of the most successful

Intel Corp. has certified Shell Plc’s lubricant-based method for cooling servers more efficiently within data centers used for artificial intelligence. The announcement on Tuesday, which follows the chipmaker’s two-year trial of the technology, offers a way to use less energy at artificial intelligence facilities, which are booming and are expected to double their electricity demand globally by 2030, consuming as much power then as all of Japan today, according to the International Energy Agency. So far, companies have largely used giant fans to reduce temperatures inside AI data centers, which generate more heat in order to run at a higher power. Increasingly, these fans consume electricity at a rate that rivals the computers themselves, something the facilities’ operators would prefer to avoid, Intel Principal Engineer Samantha Yates said in an interview. “Upgrading existing air-cooling methods with immersion fluids can reduce data center energy use by up to 48%, as well as help reduce capital and operating expenditure by up to 33%,” Global Executive Vice President of Shell Lubricants, Jason Wong, said in a written statement. The immersion cooling fluids are ready to deploy and Intel is “providing an immersion rider warranty on top of our standard warranty terms to say we believe in this so much that you will be successful,” Yates said. Shell’s technology is the first of its kind to receive official certification by a major chip manufacturer, the companies said. Big Oil has been figuring out opportunities created by the growth in AI data centers. For Shell, the cooling fluids builds on its gas-to-liquids technology that the company has been developing for its lubricants business for decades. BP Plc sees similar potential for its Castrol lubricants business that has been working on immersion cooling fluids, although the unit is currently under strategic review and may be sold. The US oil majors,

House Republicans are proposing to eliminate a tax credit for electric vehicles and phase out incentives to develop clean-energy projects to help pay for President Donald Trump’s massive tax package. The incentives put in place by former President Joe Biden’s signature climate law have been ripe targets for lawmakers looking for trillions of dollars to help pay for extending Trump’s tax cuts. The president himself has had a bullseye on them, deriding them as part of the “green new scam.” But the draft legislation released Monday by House tax writers may not be as bad for producers of clean electricity from sources such as solar and wind, who feared a more aggressive phase out. First Solar Inc., the largest US solar manufacturer, rose 11% on Monday. Sunrun Inc., the largest US residential solar company, rose nearly 17%. “The proposal is mostly a win for US solar manufacturers and developers,” said Rob Barnett, senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “The fear is that the investment and production tax credits could have been gutted sooner.” In the Republicans’ proposal, popular production and investment tax credits for clean electricity would be phased out by the end of 2031 and new requirements against using materials from certain foreign nations would be added. Under the climate bill passed by Democrats in 2022, those credits weren’t set to expire until the later part of 2032 or until carbon emissions from the US electricity sector decline to at least 75% below 2022 levels, which analysts said would take decades. A tax credit for the production of nuclear energy would also be phased out by 2031 in the Republican plan. House Republicans opted to keep other credits, such as an incentive for carbon capture that provides as much as $85 a ton and extended by four years an incentive that

In this week’s Charging Forward, Alcemi has secured consent from the Scottish government for its 300 MW Kintore battery storage project in Aberdeenshire. Statera Energy has lodged an appeal after its 500 MW East Claydon battery storage project was refused planning permission, and more. Eku Energy has secured £145 million in financing to build its latest UK battery energy storage system (BESS) projects. Elsewhere, the Scottish government has approved two BESS projects in Aberdeenshire and Midlothian, while Highview Power has submitted plans for a 200 MW liquid air energy storage (LAES) in Ayrshire. In addition, UK firm Connected Energy has partnered with French electric bus battery manufacturer Forsee Power to develop grid-scale storage facilities using repurposed vehicle batteries. This week’s energy storage headlines: Alcemi secures consent for 300 MW Kintore BESS Statera Energy appeals 500 MW East Claydon BESS planning refusal Eku Energy secures £145m for new grid-scale battery storage DNV projects fourfold increase in UK battery storage by 2030 Island Green Power’s 105 MW Kinmuck BESS approved Buccleuch estate plans for 200 MW Salters battery storage approved Highview Power submits plans for Ayrshire liquid air energy storage Connected Energy developing grid-scale storage from electric bus batteries Elmya Energy submits plans for Shropshire BESS International energy storage news: Octopus Energy invests in 2 GW pipeline of solar and battery storage projects in Germany UK energy storage news Alcemi secures consent for 300 MW Kintore BESS UK battery storage developer Alcemi has secured consent from the Scottish government for its 300 MW Kintore Energy Storage Facility BESS project in Aberdeenshire. The project is located approximately 3km to the east of the existing Kintore substation on land south of Tofthills Avenue. Following the approval, Alcemi estimates the Kintore project will come online by October 2029. According to the company’s website, the Kintore BESS