Plans to create one of Europe’s largest hydrogen plants near Kintore have taken a step forward – despite calls for it to be thrown out. Statera Energy wants to build the massive 3GW Kintore Hydrogen project near Laylodge. Once constructed, it would be the largest site of its kind in the UK. It has been earmarked for land near the Kintore substation and a recently approved battery energy storage system. The site will produce green hydrogen at an electrolysis plant using surplus wind power generated from turbines and water from the River Don. Water from the river will also be used to cool equipment on the site and would later be returned back to the Don. Members of the Garioch area committee had called for the project to be scrapped last month over fears the Kintore area was becoming too industrialised. Historic Environment Scotland had also objected over fears it would harm the South Leylodge steading stone circle. Kintore hydrogen plant could ensure north-east is ‘global energy leader’ The application went before a council meeting today. It will ultimately be decided by the Scottish Government, but the local authority’s input will be a key consideration. Senior development manager for the Kintore project, William Summerlin, made a case for the hydrogen plant. He claimed the site would create “significant employment and economic opportunities” for the north-east and Scotland. Mr Summerlin also said that more than 3,000 jobs could be created during the construction period with over 300 operational jobs on site and in the supply chain. “Businesses up and down Aberdeenshire are standing ready to tender for this project,” he told the chamber. “Fabrication yards in Aberdeen and throughout the Shire are well-positioned to become assembly yards for electrolyser equipment. “Kintore makes use of abundant Scottish wind power converting it into

BHP Group is preparing to begin looking for a new chief executive officer in the coming months, with key lieutenants already jostling for position to succeed Mike Henry at the top of the world’s biggest miner.  The understanding at BHP is that Henry is now heading toward the end of his tenure, according to company insiders. They emphasized that no decision has been made. But some people close to BHP say a change could come as soon as early next year, and some top executives have begun increasing their interaction with investors and other stakeholders ahead of a likely succession process. The internal frontrunners for the role are seen to be Geraldine Slattery, who heads the company’s Australian mines, Chief Financial Officer Vandita Pant and Ragnar Udd, who runs the commercial team. However, the search is also likely to include external candidates, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. A change of leadership would come at a pivotal time for both BHP and the wider mining sector. The company and its biggest rivals spent the past couple of years pursuing a series of failed megadeals, while US President Donald Trump’s trade war has cast fresh uncertainty over future demand for key commodities.  BHP itself is embarking on a slew of expensive growth projects and Henry’s successor is likely to face tough questions about capital allocation, including whether the company can pursue its aggressive spending plans while sustaining its dividend and debt policies.  The miner is already tightening its belt and has significantly sharpened its focus on cost cutting across the business, some of the people said. BHP declined to comment. The process to find a replacement for Henry is likely to start in earnest in the coming months, the people said,

The closure of Scotland’s last oil refinery at Grangemouth is a “really good example of a transition done badly”, the UK energy minister has admitted. Speaking at an industry conference in London, Michael Shanks said he was “acutely aware that there is uncertainty and there is unease in the industry”. He said the situation at Grangemouth, which will see hundreds of jobs lost when refinery owner PetroIneos shutters the facility, was a problem his government “inherited”. Labour politicians in Scotland and Westminster have come under fire for failing to fulfil pledges to save jobs at the site. The UK and Scottish Governments have jointly drawn up a plan called “Project Willow” aimed at delivering a long-term industrial future for Grangemouth through investment in a number of energy and recycling schemes. Speaking to the audience on the second day of the North Sea Decarbonisation Conference, Shanks said the “problems” should have been addressed years earlier. “There is a kind of truth in government, that you sort of wish you could have dealt with some of the problems you inherit on day one, many, many years before,” he said. “The most acute example for me is Grangemouth, which is a really good example of a transition done badly. “You wish you could have tackled these things five, six years ago, when they first emerged. “You don’t get to choose your entry as a government minister, and that’s just the reality of it. But what we are seeking to do is grapple with the uncertainty and the challenge.” Shanks urged attendees at the conference to engage with the government’s current consultation on the North Sea, which is set to close 30 April. The minister said energy supply chain responses to its “Building the North Sea’s Energy Future: Consultation,” consultation will help the government

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), increased by 0.2 million barrels from the week ending April 11 to the week ending April 18, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlighted in its latest weekly petroleum status report. This report was released on April 23 and included data for the week ending April 18. It showed that crude oil stocks, not including the SPR, stood at 443.1 million barrels on April 18, 442.9 million barrels on April 11, and 453.6 million barrels on April 19, 2024. Crude oil in the SPR stood at 397.5 million barrels on April 18, 397.0 million barrels on April 11, and 365.7 million barrels on April 19, 2024, the report outlined. 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 1.605 billion barrels on April 18, the report showed. Total petroleum stocks were down 0.3 million barrels week on week and up 5.9 million barrels year on year, the report revealed. “At 443.1 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about five percent below the five year average for this time of year,” the EIA said in its latest weekly petroleum status report. “Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 4.5 million barrels from last week and are about three percent below the five year average for this time of year. Finished gasoline inventories increased and blending components inventories decreased last week,” it added. “Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 2.4 million barrels last week and are about 13 percent below the five year average for this time of year. Propane/ propylene inventories increased by 2.3 million barrels from last week and are seven percent below the five year average for

Danville Utilities, a municipal utility based in Danville, Virginia, is contracting for an 11-MW/44-MWh battery storage project to be built and owned by Lightshift Energy, the battery storage company said Wednesday. Danville Utilities plans to use the storage facility to reduce its peak demand, which it expects will lower its demand and transmission charges by about $30 million over the 20-year life of the project. About 40% of Danville Utilities’ power supply costs are demand-related and they are increasing by 10% to 15% a year, according to a Nov. 7 Danville City Council memo on the project, which Lightshift expects will be operating in the second quarter next year. The memo states that PJM Interconnection’s capacity rate for Danville Utilities is jumping to $8.29/kW-month starting June 1 from 96 cents/kW-month. An existing 10.6-MW storage project built by Lightshift has helped reduce the Danville Utilities’ transmission, capacity and congestion charges since it started operating in 2022, according to the memo from Lightshift, formerly Delorean Power. Lightshift expects the project will save the utility $40 million over its life. Lightshift will use the new battery system to sell ancillary services into the PJM market and arbitrage wholesale energy prices, according to the memo.  “The project will help lower transmission and capacity costs and allow the city’s electric rates to be competitive to other neighboring electric utilities when competing for economic development projects,” Jason Grey, Danville director of utilities, said in the press release. Danville Utilities has about 42,000 customers. The project in February received $1.5 million from the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission’s Energy Ingenuity Fund. Municipal utilities and rural cooperatives are focused on cost, and energy storage can save them money while adding resilience to their systems, according to Laura Coriell, head of market development for Lightshift, which is based in

Anna Littlefield is the program manager for low carbon energy technologies for the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines. It’s no secret that carbon capture is gaining momentum — and the United States is leading the pack. U.S. capacity alone for carbon capture, utilization and storage, or CCUS, is expected to increase sevenfold by 2035. In 2023, announced carbon capture capacity by 2030 increased by 35%. In the U.S., there are already 14 operational commercial-scale facilities that can capture and store roughly 21.4 million metric tons of CO2 per year, equivalent to the annual emissions of 5 million passenger vehicles. And new projects continue to be announced. Since 2018 when Congress enhanced the 45Q tax credit, which supports CCUS, there have been more than 120 CCUS projects announced in the states. In 2023, Chevron announced it was expanding its Bayou Bend CCS project, positioning it to be one of the largest carbon storage projects in the country. Despite all this investment and decades of proven operations, critics continue to insist the technology doesn’t work — apparently because it hasn’t scaled fast enough. A Scientific American headline from 2017 asked, “Will Carbon Capture and Storage Ever Work?” One environmental group asserted the technology “won’t work,” while others call it a “pipe dream.” This narrative allows other critics to suggest any federal support for the technology is misallocated. Two U.S. lawmakers recently introduced the 45Q Repeal Act, a bill aimed at repealing the 45Q tax credit. Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., one of the sponsors of the bill, called CCUS an “inefficient and market-distorting technology.” Opponents of CCUS cheered the legislation. What these critics overlook is that the primary challenge facing CCUS is the regulatory uncertainty created by current federal policies. Fifteen years ago, the Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage