US NEWS

Following a traditional Hawaiian blessing, Clearway Energy Group broke ground on two utility-scale solar projects in Mililani and Waiawa, Hawai‘i, advancing the state’s goal of 100% renewable energy by 2045. The 39 MW Mililani I Solar and 36 MW Waiawa Solar Power sites will be paired with a combined 300 MWh of storage, becoming among the first utility-scale battery storage and solar on the island.

Energy infrastructure company Sempra Energy said on Monday it would sell a 20% stake in its new business platform, Sempra Infrastructure Partners, to investment firm KKR for $3.37 billion in cash.The sale was flagged by Sempra in December and comes as the company sharpens its focus on renewables and energy storage to capitalize on the growing global demand for cleaner fuels.

Clearway Energy Group (Clearway) has closed financing and begun repowering construction on Pinnacle, a 55 MW wind farm in Keyser, West Virginia, US. Pinnacle represents the first repowering project for Clearway in West Virginia and marks the company’s fourth overall repowering effort. “We’re thrilled to deepen our roots in West Virginia by extending the life of Pinnacle,” said Valerie Wooley, Vice President of Origination at Clearway.

GE Renewable Energy has announced that it has been selected to provide onshore wind turbines for the 1485 MW North Central Wind Energy Facilities in Oklahoma, US. Through this agreement, GE Renewable Energy will deliver 492 2.X-127s and 39 2.X-116 turbines with varying nameplates and hub heights. All three projects will be owned by American Electric Power (AEP) upon completion.

The Student Government (SG) Senate unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday calling on USF President Steven Currall to commit the university to have all electricity come from renewable sources universitywide by 2030 and operate on 100% renewable energy by 2040. The resolution was authored by members of USF’s Florida Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) chapter, including the 100% Renewable Energy Campaign Coordinator Daisy Perez.

Nucor Corporation, a steel production company, announced today that it has signed a 10-year Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) with Ørsted Onshore North America, LLC for 100 megawatts from Ørsted’s Western Trail wind farm (WTW) in North Texas. This is Nucor’s second VPPA. In 2020, Nucor announced the signing of a 15-year VPPA for 250 MW of solar energy in Texas.

Units of Vantage Drilling International will manage, operate, and market four Seadrill Partners LLC deepwater floaters under a new framework agreement between the companies, Vantage reported toward the end of last week.

Dozens of wind farms in Texas have been left reeling from billions of dollars of losses incurred during last month’s state-wide electrical grid failure. Those facilities either shut down, under-performed or were unable to fully export power during all or part of a week of historically cold winter weather, according to industry officials.

Oil prices dropped for a fifth day on Thursday after official data showed a sustained rise in U.S. crude and fuel inventories, while the ever-present pandemic clouded the demand outlook. Stocks of gasoline and diesel increased against expectations among analysts for a decline.

Titan Division of Hunting Energy Services, today introduced its new PowerSet Recon addressable power charge. Enabled by Hunting’s ControlFire Recon technology, PowerSet Recon is industry’s only fully addressable power charge, which can be interrogated downhole with ControlFire software and at the surface with Hunting’s VeriFire panel. Complete with a built-in initiation device that eliminates the need for plug switches and igniters, PowerSet Recon is available in sizes #10F (fast-burning) and #20, and is compatible with Hunting’s T-Set setting tools.

The United States overtook Saudi Arabia as India's second biggest oil supplier last month, as refiners boosted cheaper U.S. crude purchases to record levels and to offset supply cuts from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+), data from trade sources showed.

The U.S. company ConocoPhillips is buying back stock at an annualized rate of $1.5 billion to return more cash to investors. That’s an increase of 50% compared with the pace of repurchases in the fourth quarter, the point at which the program was suspended in the wake of Conoco’s acquisition of rival producer Concho Resources Inc. The shares rose 1.5% in pre-market trading in New York.

Brent crude futures jumped above $70 a barrel on Monday for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, while U.S. crude touched its highest in more than two years, following reports of attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities.Despite fast-rising crude prices, Saudi Arabia's oil minister has voiced doubts on demand recovery.

Saudi Arabia raised pricing for its crude for shipment to Asia and the U.S. next month after OPEC+ extended oil supply constraints, pointing to a tightening physical market. State oil producer Saudi Aramco increased pricing for Arab Light crude for Asia, its largest regional market, by 40 cents a barrel to $1.40 more than the benchmark. Aramco raised all other pricing to Asia, except for its Heavy crude which remained unchanged.

Oil rallied toward $70 a barrel after OPEC+ chose not to relax supply curbs even as the global economy pulls out of its pandemic-driven slump, confounding widespread expectations the group would loosen the taps. West Texas Intermediate edged higher in Asia, building on Thursday’s 4.2% surge to the highest close since April 2019. The producer alliance agreed to hold output steady in April, while Saudi Arabia said that it will maintain its 1 million barrel-a-day voluntary production cut.

National climate advisor Gina McCarthy told oil and gas industry executives that rebuilding the COVID-19 battered U.S. economy is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to invest in a rapid transition to clean energy. McCarthy headlined the CERAWeek virtual conference, where she pitched an optimistic picture of a low-carbon economy based on electric vehicles and renewable energy for the next four years.

U.S. alternative fuels supplier Clean Energy Fuels Corp and its largest shareholder, European oil and gas producer Total SE, announced terms of a new joint venture on Thursday focused on renewable natural gas (RNG) production. Clean Energy's shares rose 7.5% to $13.15 in pre-market trading. U.S. oil major Exxon and Chevron are also investing in carbon-removal technology.

Jennifer Granholm used her first speech as U.S. Energy Secretary to warn oil and gas companies they risk being left behind unless they embrace a transition to cleaner sources of energy, while also offering them an opportunity to partner with the new administration. Granholm’s remarks come as the Biden administration seeks to reassure hundreds of thousands of workers in oil, gas, and coal who feel imperilled by his fight against climate change, which includes a plan to rid the economy of carbon emissions by 2050.