The chief executives of more than a dozen oil companies will deliver a message of gratitude — as well as caution — when they meet with President Donald Trump on Wednesday.  Industry leaders say they have plenty of reasons to give thanks. Trump is an unabashed champion of US oil and gas production who has vowed to unleash the industry’s potential. Two months into office, he’s already taken steps to begin unwinding policies that increased operational costs and reduced demand for fuel. But for the roughly 15 oil bosses set to visit Trump at the White House, there also are warning signs on that path to energy dominance. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has floated a $50-per-barrel target for crude that’s too low to sustain some US production. The president has spent days enthusiastically praising oil price declines that came after he pushed OPEC+ to boost output and the cartel obliged.  Meanwhile, the president’s threatened tariffs are stoking industry concerns about potential economic declines even as the levies raise costs for the materials oil companies use to refine gasoline and drill wells.  “I suspect operators are enthusiastic about new market opportunities” posed by Trump, said Kevin Book, managing director of the Washington consulting firm ClearView Energy Partners LLC. But they’re also likely “concerned about demand headwinds from a trade war. And, generally speaking, in the oil patch, higher prices go over better than lower ones.” The meeting is set to be the first of its kind since Trump’s second inauguration and his creation of a new National Energy Dominance Council to shape policy.  Potential participants are set to span the industry’s full spectrum, including integrated oil companies (Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., Shell Plc, BP PLC, ConocoPhillips, Hess Corp.); independent producers (Diamondback Energy Inc., APA Corp’s Apache, Occidental Petroleum Corp., Continental Resources Inc.); refiners (Marathon

A series of clean energy projects at the Grangemouth refinery could create around 800 jobs over the next 15 years, according to the Project Willow summary. The £1.5 million feasibility study, published today, also stated that this figure could potentially rise to 1,200. The document outlines nine potential projects that could be developed at the site, helping secure a long-term industrial future for the refinery These projects are divided into three tracks. In the waste category, the proposed projects are hydrothermal upgrading (breaking down hard-to-recycle plastics), chemical plastics recycling and ABE biorefining (breaking down waste material). In the bio-feedstock track, Grangemouth could gain the capacity to break down Scottish timber into bioethanol, add anaerobic digestion of bioresources and digestate pyrolysis, or convert Scottish cover crops into sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel using low-carbon hydrogen. The third category is offshore wind conduit to replace natural gas with hydrogen, using low-carbon hydrogen to produce methanol and convert it to sustainable aviation fuel, and producing low-carbon ammonia from hydrogen for shipping and chemicals. The Project Willow report envisions that the Grangemouth overhaul could generate £600-700m of total annual gross value add for the Scottish economy by 2040 under its base case, potentially rising to £1-2bn. The developments could also reduce Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions by 3.5-6 mtpa. However, this will require around £3.5bn of capital investment from the private sector to achieve – and, according to the report, the maximum capex outlays for all projects and growth scenarios would be over £8bn. Under Project Willow’s timelines, the first projects – hydrothermal plastic recycling, dissolution plastics recycling and anaerobic digestion – could come online by 2028. Later projects, such as e-ammonia, e-methanol and methanol to jet fuel, could come online by 2035, with the final phase of bioethanol generation entering operations by 2039.

The transition to net zero is “the economic opportunity of the 21st century”, energy secretary Ed Miliband said on Wednesday. He described the opportunity as the “most important context” for the discussions being had by government in the energy sector. “There’s been a long-standing issue in our country about creating the good jobs at good wages that people want to see,” Miliband said. “We haven’t done enough for them. If you want our growth in our economy, what are good jobs in our economy? This is absolutely at the core, but we haven’t done enough as a country.” The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) published a report last month showing that the net zero economy grew three times faster than the economy as a whole last year. That report showed the economic opportunity also led to a 10.2% additional increase in employment and higher average wages. Miliband said that Britain has been “losing out” in the race to equip the country with renewable energy jobs, adding that is “what the government is determined to do”. “Denmark has almost all kinds of many renewable jobs per capita,” he said. “Why haven’t we captured these jobs?” A lack of “industrial policy” is the reason Miliband cited for falling behind in the race to create renewable energy jobs. “Industrial policy is at the heart of what we’re trying to do with GB Energy and capitalising, public investment, as part of that,” said Miliband. Despite Jonathan Reynolds’ eight months as trade secretary, the government has “lost” its “muscle memory”, according to Miliband; something he said it is now “regaining” under his leadership. He said the role of the state is to provide a “framework” for industry and break down the barriers to private investment. He made a call to make “public investment and crowd

In a statement sent to Rigzone by the ADNOC Drilling team on Tuesday, ADNOC Drilling said it is set to enhance its operational capacity this year. In that statement, the company projected a rig count of over 148 by 2026 and more than 151 by 2028. The company owned 129 rigs in 2023, according to annual data hosted on ADNOC Drilling’s website. “The introduction of advanced rigs with AI-enabled technologies will enhance efficiency and bolster … [ADNOC Drilling’s] oilfield services (OFS) segment, delivering greater value to customers,” the company said in the statement. “Having extended its contract in Jordan and gained prequalification in Kuwait and Oman, ADNOC Drilling continues to pave the way for further regional expansion in 2025,” it added. In the statement, ADNOC noted that, to date, Enersol – which is the company’s joint venture with Alpha Dhabi –  has announced acquisitions worth around $800 million to acquire majority stakes in four tech-enabled oilfield service companies, and stated that, looking ahead, it aims to solidify its position as an AI-centric investment company. ADNOC Drilling said in the statement that Turnwell – which is ADNOC Drilling’s joint venture with SLB and Patterson-UTI – “is also well-positioned to enable the recovery of Abu Dhabi’s unconventional resources to meet the global energy demand”. In a statement posted on its site back in December, ADNOC Drilling announced the closing under the agreement to create Turnwell Industries LLC OPC.  “Closing the Turnwell JV with SLB and Patterson-UTI advances our plans to unlock the UAE’s world-class unconventional energy resources, reinforcing the UAE’s position as a global leader in the responsible supply of energy,” Abdulrahman Abdulla Al Seiari, Chief Executive Officer of ADNOC Drilling, said in that statement. “This joint venture is a groundbreaking achievement and is already paying dividends through the significant reduction in well

Chevron Corp. has acquired a 4.99 percent ownership in Hess Corp. via the open market, even as the companies work to complete their embattled merger. Chevron purchased 15.38 million shares of Hess’ common stock in the first quarter of 2025 at prevailing market prices. “These purchases, which were made at prices that represent a discount to the price of shares of Hess common stock implied in the exchange ratio set forth in the Merger Agreement entered into between Chevron and Hess on October 22, 2023, reflect Chevron’s continuing confidence in the consummation of the pending acquisition of Hess”, Chevron said in a regulatory filing. “These purchases of shares of Hess common stock are in addition to repurchases of Chevron common stock being made for the first quarter ending March 31, 2025 pursuant to Chevron’s stock repurchase program”. Hess shareholders had already approved the combination with Chevron, in a vote held May 28, 2024. In a move bringing the merger closer to completion, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) earlier in 2025 finalized an agreement that bars Hess’ chief executive from holding a board position at Chevron, to settle antitrust concerns surrounding the merger. The competition regulator first announced the ban September 30, 2024, as a condition to clear Chevron’s purchase of its smaller rival. The companies said at the time the FTC had concluded its extended review of the transaction under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. On January 17, 2025, the FTC published the final consent order resolving antitrust concerns it had raised over the merger. The decision stated that John Hess should not hold a board, advisory or representative position at Chevron. The FTC alleged the Hess chief executive had talks with officials of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) about controlling oil production and that such

A Ukrainian drone strike started a fire at a Russian oil depot connected to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium pumping station damaged in an attack last month. The depot, located in the village of Kavkazskaya, halted all operations early Wednesday, according to a statement from the regional emergency service. The facility was used to send Russian crude to the Kropotkinskaya pumping station, part of the CPC export conduit, until the station halted operations in mid-February. The attack came just hours after Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump discussed the war in Ukraine. While Putin refused to commit to a 30-day ceasefire, he agreed to a possible plan under which both sides pause strikes on energy infrastructure for the same duration.  Still, Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine came under massive Russian drone attack overnight, that also targeted energy projects, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. The CPC infrastructure, stretched between Kazakhstan’s giant oil fields and Russia’s Black Sea coast, is the single-largest route for exports of Kazakh barrels. It also ships some crude from Russian projects. The latest attack highlights the vulnerability of a route that’s key for the nation and its European buyers. “The CPC pipeline continues its operations,” the project’s press service said. “The Kropotkinskaya pumping station is still not operational and repair works there are underway,” so the damaged depot has not impacted flows, it said.  However, the fire damage to the oil depot means that restoration of Russian flows to Kropotkinskaya may take longer than the two-month time-frame CPC initially gave. As a result, some minimal volumes of Russian crude will not be fed into the CPC system until both the depot and the station are back online.  Last year, European clients received about 1 million barrels a day of CPC crude, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The volumes were