DOF wins pair of deals for CSV in Gulf of Mexico

Energy News Beat

Norwegian offshore vessel owner DOF Group has won two contracts for one of its construction support vessels.

The two contracts by two undisclosed international oil companies for a pair of separate subsea construction projects in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to DOF, the total expected duration for the projects is approximately two months in total. The financial details were not revealed.

The deals were awarded to the 2018-built Skandi Implementer which recently departed Mexico following contract termination after payment default from a client. The vessel was set to work in the country until the end of April 2026.

The vessel will complete the integration of survey services and two of DOF’s ROVs in late February before starting the project mobilization.

The Skandi Implementer was previously a part of Maersk Supply Service’s fleet under the name Maersk Implementer. DOF bought Maersk Supply Service last year in a deal worth $1.1bn.

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Yinson Production buys carbon capture and storage firm

Energy News Beat

Singapore-based floater owner and operator Yinson Production has acquired 100% of the shares in Stella Maris CCS from UK floater player Altera Infrastructure.

Stella Maris is a Norway-based carbon capture and storage company developing a full CCS value chain, including carbon capture, intermediate storage, offshore transportation, and permanent sequestration of CO2 captured from industrial sources.

The company holds a 40% stake in the Havstjerne reservoir on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Developed in partnership with Harbour Energy, the Havstjerne CO2 injection and storage project is a cornerstone of Stella Maris’ activities, with its technical feasibility validated by extensive seismic data and reservoir studies.

The European Union’s Innovation Fund has selected the Havstjerne CO2 injection and storage project for a grant of up to €225m, payable against expenditures upon certain investment and commercial operation milestones. This is considered the largest EU grant for a CCS project to date.

“The acquisition of Stella Maris is a logical step in expanding our portfolio of strategic investments within the carbon capture space, and we are excited to integrate these solutions to help industrial emitters achieve their decarbonisation targets,” said Lars Gunnar Vogt, CTO of Yinson Production.

Altera Infrastructure has already sold several of its subsidiary companies outside its core business. Namely, it sold its 18-vessel-strong tanker business for an undisclosed sum in November 2024 to the Angelicoussis Group. The formerly named Altera Shuttle Tankers has been renamed this week to Maran Shuttle Tankers.

Earlier in 2024, the company also offloaded its anchor-handling and towage unit, ALP Maritime, to Dutch-based Boskalis.

As for Yinson Production, the company was able to secure a $1bn investment last month from a consortium of international investment companies to drive further growth.

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EU extends Red Sea naval operation into 2026

Energy News Beat

While no merchant ships have been attacked in the region this year, there’s little sign authorities believe the Red Sea shipping crisis is coming to an end anytime soon.

The European Union has announced it is extending the mandate of its maritime security operation, EUNAVFOR Aspides, for an additional year, reinforcing efforts to safeguard freedom of navigation in the Red Sea region. The operation will now continue until February 28, 2026, with a budget of over €17m ($17.8m) allocated for its extended period.

In addition to protecting vessels, ASPIDES has been authorised to gather intelligence on arms trafficking and shadow fleets.

Transits through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal have seen a very slight uptick in traffic in recent days, but most shipowners who have eschewed the region in favour of longer trips around the African continent are sticking with that policy as tension remains high in the Middle East with the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas still facing many hurdles. 

CMA CGM has announced a new service from India into the Red Sea passing by the Houthis in Yemen, a rare move by a global liner to deploy tonnage to the region. The new service is operated by three vessels and is operated jointly by Saudi-based Folk Maritime and Oman-based Asyad Shipping.

An unloaded LNG tanker, Trader III, has been sailing through the Red Sea this week, the second vessel of its kind to take the passage so far this year.

The leader of the Houthis warned last week his fighters have their fingers “on the trigger” ready to resume their campaign against merchant shipping passing by the Red Sea in the event that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas backfires. 

No ships have been attacked this year, with the Houthis saying they will step back so long as Israel’s war with Hamas ends.

As and when the Red Sea does open up for merchant ship traffic will drive profits and losses for many shipping companies this year. 

Top management at Maersk laid out earlier this month how the Houthis from Yemen could dictate the line between black or red ink for the coming year.

Maersk’s EBIT forecast for 2025 ranges from zero to $3bn, depending on whether the Red Sea opens in the middle of the year or the end of the year.

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Shutting the EU and Ukraine out of the talks is the only way to peace

Energy News Beat

With Russia and the US finally sitting down for negotiations, we now live in a slightly more normal world

Shutting the EU and Ukraine out of the talks is the only way to peaceShutting the EU and Ukraine out of the talks is the only way to peace

It is already certain that the high-level Russian-American meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh will have a place in the history books.

Together with a recent telephone conversation between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump and statements made in Germany by US vice president JD Vance and secretary of defense Pete Hegseth, the Riyadh talks show that something very dangerous has ended: namely the bizarre period of non-communication between the world’s two largest nuclear powers that had been imposed by US obstructionism.

We are now in a – slightly – more normal world again, where Washington has returned to the minimum requirement of diplomacy: maintaining dialogue, as Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has highlighted in his briefing after the meeting. Moreover, US representatives have explicitly acknowledged that such talks should reflect the national interest of the participating states. That is another important and potentially very promising return, namely to both capital-R Realism – as a way of thinking about international relations – and realism as such, as the healthy habit of not fantasizing. Lavrov noted that aspect as well.

The question that is harder to answer is what precisely has just begun in Riyadh (and, clearly, nothing has been finished yet). Because there can be no doubt that something has started: According to Lavrov, the talks were “very useful,” characterized by not merely “hearing” but actually “listening to” each other. That is not formal phraseology. Clearly, Moscow feels that this has, at the very least, not been a dead end. And we are not hearing anything to the contrary from the American side. So far, so good.

We all know what could be starting: obviously, the end of the Ukraine War. Beyond that, both Russia and the new US leadership have declared an interest in a broader normalization of their relationship, call it détente 2.0, if you wish. This, in turn, could affect international politics more generally. And finally, there is an economic aspect that both sides clearly treat as no less important than politics alone.

In terms of geopolitics, there is one thing Washington should not expect: any attempts to drive a wedge between Russia and its current allies and partners will fail. Moscow has already made it clear that, for instance, its relationship with Iran is not up for grabs.

Regarding the economics, it is striking that at the same moment when Moscow’s sending of Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) head Kirill Dmitriev to Riyadh shows that the US and Russia may well leave the idiocy of Western economic warfare behind, EU commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis has signaled that his politically powerless and economically anemic bloc will stick to vastly self-harming sanctions. Well, good luck with that. And also, it won’t last.

Russia’s signaling that it can accept Ukraine’s full EU membership is evidence that Moscow fears nothing from that direction. Indeed, burdening the EU with what will be left of Ukraine may even appear advantageous to Moscow.

Current, desperate EU attempts to be even more bellicist than the US and cobble together a coalition of the obstinate to keep the Ukraine War going even without US support are unimpressive. It’s simple: Even with American commitment, the West and Ukraine’s Zelensky regime have been defeated by Russia. Without it, the defeat would only get more catastrophic. And then, Lavrov has also been clear that Russia will not agree to any backhanded introduction of NATO troops as “peacekeepers.”

And here is the final take-away point from Riyadh: Locking out the NATO-EU European “elites” and the Zelensky regime works and promotes results, cooperation, and peace. Perhaps, the populations of both EU-Europe and Ukraine should start excluding their “elites” as well. 

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

 

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Croatia charges ahead with €50m to support electric buses

Energy News BeatCroatia

The Government of Croatia has launched a €50 million (£42m) call for funding to support the construction of charging infrastructure for electric buses.

The new ‘Investment C7.1 R1-I4’ initiative aims to build at least 150 charging points for electric buses to help accelerate the decarbonisation of the transport sector.

The deadline for the installations is 30th June 2026.

The chargers will not be publicly available and will be used exclusively for charging the vehicles of beneficiaries, with the infrastructure located on private property.

Applications for the funding will be accepted from 3rd March 2025 to 31st August 2025, with eligible applicants including small, medium and large firms, as well as companies founded by public institutions.

All projects must include a feasibility study with a cost-benefit analysis and a climate risk and vulnerability assessment.

A total of 18 organisations have already expressed interest in securing €46 million (£38m) for 242 charging points.

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EU targets cheap Chinese biodiesel imports with anti-dumping duties

Energy News Beatbiodiesel imports

The European Commission has imposed anti-dumping duties on biodiesel imports from China to help protect the industry.

An anti-dumping investigation revealed dumped biodiesel imports from China were harming the EU biodiesel sector, which faced unfair competition and possible plant closures.

The latest move is expected to protect nearly 6,000 EU jobs across more than 60 producers in 18 member states.

The measures are imposed on biodiesel in pure form or as included in a blend, with aviation biofuels known as Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) excluded.

Duties range from 10% to 35.6% and supersede the provisional duties imposed in August 2024.

The EU biodiesel market is worth €25 billion (£21bn) annually.

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Moscow calls for joint Russia-US projects in the Arctic

Energy News BeatArctic

The head of the Russian sovereign wealth fund has called for revival of economic cooperation between Moscow and Washington

Russia and the US should work on all areas of economic cooperation, including projects in the Arctic region, Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), has said.

Dmitriev is a member of Russian delegation that flew to the Saudi capital of Riyadh for talks with US diplomats on Tuesday, as Moscow and Washington seek to restore bilateral ties and pave the way for a settlement of the Ukraine conflict.

The head of the RDIF, responsible for economic aspects of the high-level discussions, underscored the need for cooperation and economic opportunities that could contribute to both nations.

“We need to pursue joint projects, including, for example, in the Arctic and other areas,” the official told journalists.

Dmitriev revealed that the Russian side made several proposals along economic and investment lines, which the US team took time to think about. He expressed hope for progress on the issue within several months.

The talks, proposed following last week’s phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump, “make it possible to tell the truth,” Dmitriev said. He stressed that the administration of Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden “provided a lot of disinformation, a lot of wrong messages” about the state of the Russian economy.

Relations between Moscow and Washington plunged to a multi-decade low after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. The countries have repeatedly expelled each other’s diplomats in recent years.

Western sanctions on Moscow have also impacted international cooperation in the Arctic. Apart from Russia, the Arctic Council includes all NATO states, comprising the US, Canada, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland. Nearly a third of the council’s 130 projects in the region have been frozen after cooperation with Moscow was paused.

Last year, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Moscow suspended annual payments to the council until the resumption of real work with the participation of all member countries. The ministry noted that Russia was not planning to leave the organization.

Despite the chill in diplomatic ties and sanctions imposed by Washington and its allies, Moscow managed to maintain limited cooperation with co-members of the Arctic Council, Reuters reported last year, participating in a training exercise that simulated a large oil spill.

Source: Rt.com

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Musk’s DOGE claims multi-trillion gap in US government spending

Energy News BeatDOGE

 

Some $4.7 trillion in federal payments remained untraceable, as the Treasury did not enforce a tracking code

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) claims has uncovered a massive gap of nearly $5 trillion in US federal spending that it cannot account for. DOGE has claimed that Treasury records made some payments untraceable.

Since the inauguration of US President Donald Trump on January 20, DOGE has been pressing ahead with budget and spending audits along with job cuts across federal agencies in an effort to reduce government spending by $2 trillion by 2026.

The department, headed by the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, explained that the Treasury Access Symbol (TAS), used to describe the account the money is linked to, was missing on a number of payments the department had been making.

“In the Federal Government, the TAS field was optional for ~$4.7 Trillion in payments and was often left blank, making traceability almost impossible,” DOGE said on Tuesday in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

“As of Saturday, this is now a required field, increasing insight into where money is actually going,” the agency added, having thanked the US Treasury for their work in identifying the optional field.

Musk took to X, which he owns, to hail the revelation, saying that “major improvement in Treasury payment integrity going live.” He paid tribute to the “nice work” that came as a result of a combined effort of DOGE, the Treasury, and the US Federal Reserve.

According to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, a division of the Treasury, TAS codes classify every financial transaction reported to the Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget.

Last week, DOGE set up an official website tracking the size of the federal workforce and documenting the number of federal regulations. The portal reports $55 billion in estimated savings since the launch of the department.

Source: Rt.com

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RWE commissions 220MW of battery storage systems in Germany

Energy News BeatGermany

Energy giant RWE has commissioned 220MW of battery storage systems in Germany to help stabilise the grid.

The Hamm and Nurath project consists of 690 battery cabinets with eight battery modules each and is capable of reaching its nominal capacity “within seconds”.

Around 140MW of capacity is located in Hamm and 80MW in Grevenbroich-Neurath.

RWE also built the associated grid infrastructure, which includes high-voltage transformers as a connection point to the 110kV grid.

Nikolaus Valerius, CEO RWE Generation SE said: “With the storage plants in Neurath and Hamm, we are commissioning one of the largest battery systems in Germany. Our batteries perfectly complement the expansion of renewables which requires a growing number of large-scale energy storage systems. Further battery storage systems are already in planning.”

The company currently operates battery storage systems with a total capacity of approximately 1.2GW.

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Woodside in Talks to Sell Stake in Louisiana LNG

Energy News BeatWoodside

Woodside has talked to at least three potential partners for the Louisiana LNG project, Reuters has reported, citing unnamed sources as saying the suitors include Japan’s JERA and Tokyo Gas, along with Aramco-backed MidOcean Energy.

Per media reports, the Australian energy major is looking to sell 50% of Louisiana LNG’s first phase of development, which is estimated to cost some $16 billion. This first phase will have an annual production capacity of 11 million tons of liquefied natural gas. Upon completion of all four phases, Louisiana LNG should have a total capacity of 27.6 million tons of the superchilled commodity.

The Louisiana LNG project was called Driftwood LNG until it changed owners following Woodside’s acquisition of troubled energy player Tellurian last year for $1.2 billion. The deal “adds a scalable US LNG development opportunity to our existing approximately 10 Mtpa of equity LNG in Australia,” Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill said at the time.

“Having a complementary US position would allow us to better serve customers globally and capture further marketing optimization opportunities across both the Atlantic and Pacific Basins.” Tellurian had been trying to secure funding for the project and start construction for years but it kept running into obstacles.

The decision on the new partner or partners in Louisiana LNG should be made by next month, per plans, after which Woodside should make the final investment decision on the facility. According to the Reuters sources, the company will be asking premium prices for the LNG once the facility begins operating.

Louisiana LNG is part of the next wave of LNG capacity set to come on stream in North America in response to the bullish demand outlook for natural gas. U.S. LNG exports are expected to jump by 15% in 2025, reaching almost 14 billion cu ft daily, thanks to higher export capacity with Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG and Cheniere Energy’s Corpus Christi LNG Stage 3 plants.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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