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Energy/Automotive News; International Rig Count up 7 rigs to 978

London ,03 May 2024, (Oilandgaspress): –PGS, a leading provider of seismic and reservoir data for energy exploration and development, has data over 10 offshore blocks on offer in the Nigeria 2024 Bid Round announced this week.

On Monday 29 April 2024, the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) announced the opening of the Nigeria 2024 Bid Round. Twelve blocks are on offer: six located on the continental shelf, four deep offshore blocks and two onshore blocks in the Niger Delta..PGS has MultiClient seismic data over ten of the blocks, from MegaSurvey full-stack PSTM to the currently in-processing Nigeria Vision a fully reprocessed PSDM dataset, which is accompanied by pre-stack products, and will be available to license in Q3, 2024. Read More


Shareholders are invited to participate at the Ordinary and Extraordinary Shareholders’ Meeting of TotalEnergies which will be held on Friday May 24, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. at Tour Coupole, 2 place Jean Millier, La Défense 6, 92 400 Courbevoie.

The Shareholders’ Meeting will be streamed live in full on the website www.totalenergies.com/investors/shareholders-meetings. All useful information relating to this Meeting is regularly updated on this page of the website.

Shareholders may exercise their voting rights before the holding of the Shareholders’ Meeting, either by internet via the secured Votaccess platform, or by returning their postal voting form, or also by giving proxy. The detailed procedures relating to the exercise of the right to vote are specified in the notice of the Shareholders’ Meeting.

The preliminary notice of the Shareholders’ Meeting and the convening notice were published in the French Bulletin des annonces légales obligatoires (BALO) on March 29, 2024 and on May 3, 2024 respectively.

The documents referred to in Article R. 225-83 of the French Commercial Code are made available to Shareholders as from the date of the convening notice for the Meeting in accordance with applicable regulations:

Shareholders holding registered shares may, up to and including the fifth day prior to the Meeting, request that the Company sends these documents to them free of charge. For shareholders holding bearer shares, the exercise of this right is subject to the provision of a certificate of registration in the accounts of the bearer shares issued by the authorized intermediary;
Shareholders may consult these documents at the Company’s registered office, 2 place Jean Millier, La Défense 6, 92400 Courbevoie, under the conditions provided for by applicable regulations. Read More


Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised a syndicate of lenders comprising ABSA Bank Limited, ING Bank N.V., The Mauritius Commercial Bank Limited, Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, Trafigura PTE Ltd. and TOTSA TotalEnergies Trading SA on a reserves-backed term loan facility agreement granted to Trident Energy Production Ltd (“Trident Energy”) for the acquisition of oil and gas assets from Chevron and Total in the Republic of Congo (“Congo”).

The facility was granted for the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Chevron Overseas (Congo) Limited from Chevron Congo Holdings Ltd (“Chevron”); the acquisition of a 53.5% interest in the Nkossa and Nsoko II licences from TotalEnergies EP Congo (“Total”); and the sale of 10% interest in the Moho licence from Trident Energy to Total. Subject to approval from the relevant authorities, the transaction is anticipated to be completed by the end of Q4 2024. Following completion of the transactions, Trident Energy will hold a 21.5% interest in the Moho licence, an 85% interest in each of the Nkossa and Nsoko II licences and a 15.75% interest in the Lianzi unit.

The Moho, Nkossa, Nsoko II and Lianzi fields are located offshore Congo with the Lianzi field straddling its border with Angola.

Trident Energy is an independent, international oil and gas Group focussed on unlocking the value of mid-life oil and gas assets. In addition to these acquisitions, it also has assets in Brazil and Equatorial Guinea. Trident Energy is supported by a line of equity from leading private equity firms Warburg Pincus and Quantum Energy Partners.

The WFW team advising the lenders was led by London Projects Partner Joe Levin, supported by Associates Oli Baines, Michelle Rance, Tom Harvey, Elizabeth Lee and Trainee Matt Buxton. London Corporate and M&A Group Head Chris Kilburn advised on the sale and purchase agreements with Associate Shaun Young. Partner Nick Walker and Associate Hamish Ungless advised on environmental law; Partner Claire Miles on tax; Partner John Ahern on financial regulatory matters; and Partner Rob McBride and Associate Kristina Buckberry on hedging and intercreditor matters. Partner Heike Trischmann ran due diligence for the lenders, with Paris Partner Philippe Monfort and Associates Hugues Hounkpati and Vincent Cossavella advising on the OHADA law aspects of the transaction.

Trident Energy was advised on the facility and sale and purchase agreements by Bracewell (UK) LLP as international lead counsel.

Joe commented: “We’re delighted to have been able to assist on the financing for this landmark acquisition by Trident Energy. This was a highly complex deal that highlights WFW’s ability to provide top-tier legal advice on cross-border African oil & gas acquisition financings by drawing on the unrivalled expertise of our upstream sector specialist lawyers”. . Read More


INEOS publishes its 2023 sustainability report showing continued progress with climate and circular economy goals.
INEOS has published its global sustainability report for 2023, prepared in line with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards and externally assured by KPMG, at the end of April.

INEOS remains focused on its strategic goals throughout 2023: expanding its presence in key markets, giving assets a new lease of life, and developing groundbreaking technologies. At the same time, the company advanced its environmental objectives, while maintaining the highest standards in safety, business conduct, and the treatment of people throughout our operations and value chains.

Progress towards net-zero emissions: The report highlights a 22% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2019. The emission reductions are attributed to major clean power deals supplying several INEOS sites with renewable electricity, as well as optimisation measures and step changes in our processes across our sites. Lower production levels due to economic conditions in 2023 also played a significant role, with a 10% year-on-year reduction in energy consumption.

A leading role in CCUS: INEOS also highlights its leading role in Project Greensand. On March 8th 2023, Project Greensand initiated the world’s first cross-border offshore CO2 storage intended to mitigate climate change. INEOS demonstrated the capture of CO2 from its Antwerp site in Belgium, transportation to the Danish North Sea and injection into a depleted oil well for permanent storage.
Advancing the circular economy: INEOS remains committed to playing its part in the transition to a circular and bio-based economy and continues to make progress with its 2025 and 2030 polymer pledges. In 2023, INEOS added circular flexible packaging and PVC to its product portfolio, as well as bio-based acrylonitrile, acetonitrile and low-carbon PVC. It also commissioned new facilities to incorporate pyrolysis oil made from recycled plastic waste into its cracking operations in Cologne

Delivering excellence in health and safety: The health and safety of its workforce, contractors and visitors to our sites, is a priority for INEOS and it is committed to maintaining the highest standards.
In 2023 INEOS sites recorded 0.19 injuries per 200,000 hours worked for its employees and contractors combined.

Improving the sustainability of its business and operations is central to the way INEOS works. It is of critical importance to its employees, partners and customers, to the communities in which it operates, and to its investors. It drives innovation across all INEOS businesses and sites.
The full report can be downloaded from the INEOS website: . Read More


Oil and Gas Blends Units Oil Price US$/bbl Change
Crude Oil (WTI) USD/bbl $78.39 Down
Crude Oil (Brent) USD/bbl $83.26 Down
Bonny Light USD/bbl $84.86 Down
Saharan Blend USD/bbl $84.34 Down
Natural Gas USD/MMBtu $2.14 Up
Murban Crude USD/bbl $83.41 Down
OPEC basket 02/05/24 USD/bbl $84.23 Down
At press time 03 April 2024

Three Just Stop Oil supporters are being sentenced today, after being convicted of public nuisance. The three took action during the 40 degree heatwave in 2022, demanding the UK government halt all new fossil fuel licensing and consents.
Cressie Gethin, a 22-year-old music student from Hereford, along with co-defendants Emma Mani and Alexander Wilcox each face a potential custodial sentence of up to ten years. On 20th July 2022, five Just Stop Oil supporters scaled motorway gantries above the M25, just two days after the government’s net zero strategy was ruled unlawful, and a day after the UK experienced its highest recorded temperature of 40.3 degrees Celsius—a level previously considered impossible.
Emma Mani and Alexander Wilcox pleaded guilty to the charge of public nuisance. Cressie proceeded to trial, which commenced on 5th February 2024 at Isleworth Crown Court, presided over by Judge Duncan. During the trial, she was prevented from talking about her reasons for taking action and was denied any legal defence by the judge. The jury convicted Cressie Gethin by a majority verdict of ten to two.
Renowned naturalist and television presenter Chris Packham provided testimony at the trial, where he emphasised on the universality of Cressie’s demand. “It’s not ‘her’ cause – it’s THE cause. I support the need to raise the alarm on the most serious issue that threatens life and threatens us,” he remarked. Read More


Aquila European Renewables has today published its unaudited net asset value for Q1 2024.

Key drivers of the NAV movement in the quarter include:

• Decrease in European, especially Iberian, short-term power price forecasts relative to Q4 2023, mirroring lower commodity prices and demand due to mild winter weather conditions, partially offset by increase in Nordic mid-to-long term forecast prices driven by expectation of higher carbon prices and slower wind buildout due to higher investment costs (-4.3 cents per Ordinary Share);

• Marginal decrease in risk-free rates across the portfolio (+2.1 cents per Ordinary Share);

• Higher balancing costs for Nordic assets, new generation tax in Spain and increased social cost assumptions in Portugal (-2.4 cents per Ordinary Share). Read More


.Prospex Energy PLC (AIM: PXEN), the AIM quoted investment company focused on European gas and power projects, is pleased to provide an update from the Selva Malvezzi production concession in Italy following the publication by Po Valley Energy Limited (“Po Valley Energy”) (ASX: PVE) of its Q1 2024 activity report. Po Valley Operations Pty Limited (“PVO”), a wholly owned subsidiary of PVE is the operator of the Selva Malvezzi production concession, which has a 63% working interest, while Prospex has the remaining 37% working interest.

Highlights
• The Podere Maiar-1 well at Selva (“PM-1”) has continued to perform consistently during Q1 2024.
• Average daily production for the quarter was in the order of ~80,000 scm/d.
• A standard slickline operation in March 2024 confirmed strong pressure build up confirming the average daily production rate for the foreseeable future.
• PM-1 is supplying the gas to BP Gas Marketing under an 18-month offtake agreement.
• The weighted average gas sales price for the quarter was €0.30/scm (~€29/MWh).
• Gross Quarterly production was 6,385,255 scm of gas (2,362,544 scm net to Prospex) and gross revenue for the quarter was €1,906,891 (€705,549 net to Prospex).
• The operator is progressing the permitting process with the regulatory authorities on the other projects in the Selva Malvezzi production concession.
• Following a successful project of reprocessing the existing 2D seismic lines in the production concession, the Joint Venture is now evaluating the potential for a new seismic acquisition programme over the licence area in order to optimise the drilling programmes of the identified contingent resources at Selva North, Selva South and the East Selva and Riccardina prospects.

Gas production at the PM-1 gas facility in the Selva Malvezzi Production Concession for the quarter is shown in the table below: . Read More


Trans Mountain Announces Milestones of Commercial Service for Expanded System
As of today, all deliveries for shippers will be subject to the Expanded System tariff and tolls, and tankers will be able to receive oil from Line 2 by mid-May.

Line fill on the Expanded System continues, and is expected to be completed within the next few weeks. Both the existing and expanded pipelines are now able to transport crude oil and Trans Mountain has the ability to load cargoes from all three berths. As of April 30, 2024, the expanded pipeline is 70 per cent full by volume, and 69 per cent complete by distance.

Recent milestones of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project include:

The “Golden Weld”: On April 11, 2024, at 8:11 pm MST, the Golden Weld occurred near the Mountain 3 Horizontal Directional Drill in the Fraser Valley between Hope and Chilliwack, BC. The Coquihalla – Hope region has some of the most difficult terrain, rugged conditions and sensitive areas along the entire pipeline route.
First Oil: On April 16, 2024, oil was loaded into Line 2 from Edmonton Terminal at approximately 11:00 am MST.
Mechanical Completion: On April 30, 2024, the last of the 42 Leave to Open (LTO) decisions from the Canada Energy Regulator (CER) were granted. This followed various submissions by Trans Mountain including required testing results, inspections and safety information to demonstrate the pipeline and associated facilities could be safely opened for operation. The receipt of the last LTO decision officially marks mechanical completion.
“Trans Mountain has demonstrated that challenging, long linear infrastructure can be built in Canada,” said Dawn Farrell, President and CEO, Trans Mountain Corporation. “With our project management team and contractors, we were able to build 988 kilometres of new pipeline, 193 kilometres of reactivated pipeline, 12 new pump stations, 19 new storage tanks, and three new berths at Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby. We did this while adhering to the highest environmental, safety and social standards including respecting and working with local First Nations and Métis communities throughout the entire process.” Read More


Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor), today celebrated the official launch of NorCAL ZERO Project – a major initiative that is utilizing the company’s hydrogen fuel cell technology to bring zero-emission freight transportation to the San Francisco Bay Area and California’s Central Valley.
The dedication event held at Oakland’s FirstElement Fuel Hydrogen Refueling Station brought Hyundai Motor together with its project partners, including the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE), GLOVIS America, Inc. (GLOVIS America), East Bay Municipal Utilities District, FirstElement Fuel (FEF), Papé, the University of California, the Port of Oakland, the City of Oakland and the community of West Oakland represented by the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project (WOEIP). Representatives from the Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC), the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), the California Air Resources Board (CARB), and the California Energy Commission (CEC), all of whom provided grant funds to make this project possible, were also in attendance.
As part of the NorCAL ZERO Project, also known as Zero-Emission Regional Truck Operations with Fuel Cell Electric Trucks, Hyundai Motor deployed 30 Class 8 XCIENT Fuel Cell with a 6×4 drive axle configuration in California, which has been in commercial operation since last year. This delivery marks the single largest commercial deployment of Class 8 hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric truck in the U.S.
“The NorCAL ZERO Project in Oakland marks a significant step forward in realizing Hyundai’s vision for a global hydrogen society,” said Ken Ramirez, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Commercial Vehicle & Hydrogen Business at Hyundai Motor Company. “The project demonstrates how the transport energy transition is achievable today and will serve as one of the building blocks for Hyundai’s port decarbonization initiatives worldwide.”
Hyundai Motor has been collaborating with key partners to build a comprehensive hydrogen mobility ecosystem across North America, ensuring the successful deployment and operation of its hydrogen-powered trucks. Last year, Hyundai Motor supplied 30 units of XCIENT Fuel Cell electric truck to G.E.T Freight Corp, a truck-based freight transport business of GLOVIS America. Leveraging its logistics network and capabilities, the commercial operation has been ongoing since last year, hauling containers from the Port of Oakland and transporting vehicles from the Port of Richmond. Hyundai Capital America is providing competitive leasing and financing services to GLOVIS America. The trucks can be fueled at FirstElement Fuel’s recently built hydrogen refueling station, which is designed to fuel up to 200 heavy-duty trucks per day. Papé, a specialized truck service provider in the western region, will provide vehicle maintenance and services at its facility in San Leandro, California. Through collaboration with its drayage consortium partners, Hyundai is accelerating the transition to a more sustainable transportation future in North America, with its hydrogen ecosystem playing a key role. Read full article


Shell platform en route to major oilfield.

Hyundai leads the industry with nine TOP SAFETY PICK recognitions by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS). The 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe and 2024 Sonata have received a TOP SAFETY PICK designation and the Hyundai IONIQ 5 has been upgraded to a TOP SAFETY PICK+ by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, (IIHS). The 2024 IONIQ 5 achieved the highest-safety rating, TSP+ due to advancements with rear occupant safety to address the new (ODB 2.0), Offset Deformable crashworthiness evaluation with rear occupant added to the TSP+ requirement. The focus of the IIHS TSP evaluation is to prevent fatalities on roadways and protect occupants. IIHS announced more strict testing criteria to further protect back seat passengers and improve pedestrian crash avoidance systems. Hyundai stepped-up to the IIHS challenge for tougher testing guidelines by instituting several testing improvements including enhanced side structure, advanced seat belts for rear seat occupants and SmartSense safety features such as Forward Collision Avoidance Assist (with pedestrian detection), Lane Departure and Driver Assist Warnings as standard across the Hyundai product lineup. Read full article


The Future Is NEUTRAL is expanding its business portfolio with the integration of the automotive parts remanufacturing activity of the Flins Refactory. At the heart of the automotive circular economy value chain covered by The Future Is NEUTRAL, this activity has strong growth potential allowing it to become a key European player in parts refurbishment, serving the entire automotive sector. On this occasion, it took on a new name: THE REMAKERS. THE REMAKERS capitalises on know-how acquired since 1949 and widely recognized on the market. Its mission is to remanufacture automotive components to a level of quality equivalent to the original part, thanks to a combination of refurbished and new parts. This expertise will now be offered to the entire automotive industry, in line with the development and opening strategy of all The Future Is NEUTRAL activities.

Its growth will be supported by The Future Is NEUTRAL’s investment plan, totalling €500 million by 2030, to expand existing businesses and launch new ones. The European replacement parts market is dynamic and has high development potential. Estimated at around €6.8 billion in 2022, it is expected to reach €8.2 billion in 2030[1]. This increase is mainly driven by the aging of the vehicle fleet and the acceleration of electrification. Thanks to the support of Renault Group, a pioneer in electric vehicles, and its skills in reverse engineering, THE REMAKERS is taking a head start in the remanufacturing of electrical and electronic parts and intends to double its investments to anchor its leading position. Read full article


.Symbioz joins a proud line of family ‘voitures à vivre’, almost 60 years after the launch of Renault 16, with its modern, spacious and functional design, and 40 years after the revolutionary Espace, an adaptable vehicle just 4.25m long but able to carry seven people.

Symbioz is a versatile vehicle that incorporates the best technologies from Renault’s C segment, offering compactness and spaciousness to meet the needs of everyone. Symbioz shares this same DNA. Able to adapt its boot and passenger compartment to family needs, with useful technologies delivering human added value and compact dimensions that are also ideal for city driving, it joins a long line of versatile ‘voitures à vivre’, reflecting its times. Showcasing Renault’s new design language, Symbioz follows on from the recent Scénic E-Tech electric and New Captur. Read More


Masdar, the UAE’s clean energy powerhouse, has signed an agreement with Bapco Energies, the integrated energy company leading the energy transition in the Kingdom of Bahrain, to jointly explore the development and investment in wind projects in the Kingdom with a capacity of up to 2 gigawatts (GW).

Marking a strategic entry into the Bahrain market for the UAE’s clean energy champion, the agreement for near-shore and offshore wind farms is Masdar’s first in the Kingdom and will be the first project of its kind in the region and the Middle East. At up to 2GW, this clean energy collaboration will support the Kingdom of Bahrain to accelerate the decarbonization of critical industrial sectors and open avenues to develop new market sectors. The Kingdom of Bahrain aims to reduce emissions by 30 percent by 2035 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2060, as outlined in its National Energy Strategy. Read More


The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has today offered a further 31 licences in the latest phase of the 33rd oil and gas licensing round.

A total of 82 offers to 50 companies have now been made in the round which attracted 115 bids from 76 companies across 257 blocks and part-blocks.

The licences offered in the round would be expected to add an estimated 600 mmboe up to 2060, or 545 by 2050.
The first tranche offered 27 licences in October 2023, with the second offering 24 licences in January 2024.

The 31 offers in the final tranche are made up of 29 new licences and two merges. Of the 29 new licences, 23 are Initial Term Phase A or B, two will be Initial Term Phase C (firm wells), and the remaining four will go straight to Second Term, meaning they can theoretically go into production more quickly. Read More


Subsea 7 S.A. announced that, on 3 May 2024, Barclays Capital Securities Limited1 informed the Company that it had breached thresholds provided for by Luxembourg’s Transparency Law of 11 January 2008 on transparency requirements for issuers of securities as amended (the “Transparency Law”) as follows:
• On 30 April 2024 the total number of voting rights in the Company according to Article 8 and 9 of the Transparency Law attached to shares was 1,044,272
• On 30 April 2024 the total number of voting rights in the Company attached to financial instruments with similar economic effect according to Article 12 (1) (a) of the Transparency Law (right to recall) was 13,906,019
• On 30 April 2024 the total number of voting rights in the Company attached to financial instruments with similar economic effect according to Article 12 (1) (b) of the Transparency Law (swaps) was 499,740
• When combined, the above positions equate to 5.07% of voting rights of Subsea 7 S.A. Read More


Gazprom, the Russian energy giant majority owned by the Kremlin has recently revealed the worst loss in more than 20 years, of 629 billion roubles (€6.38 billion) in 2023. This was much worse than the 447 billion roubles loss expected by the market, according to the Interfax news agency. It was also sharply at odds with the 1.2 trillion roubles profit seen in 2022.

Furthermore, the company clocked in a sales net loss of 364 billion roubles in 2023, also a disappointment from the 1.9 trillion roubles profit seen in the previous year. Total revenue also dropped to 8.5 trillion roubles in 2023, a slide from the 11.7 trillion seen in the previous year.

These disappointing figures were mostly due to Gazprom’s European exports falling significantly, as a result of Europe’s continuing sanctions on both Gazprom, and several of its individual employees because of the Russia-Ukraine war. Read More


Baker Hughes Rig Count: : U.S. -6 to 613 Canada -9 to 118
U.S. Rig Count is down 6 from last week to 613 with oil rigs down 5 to 506, gas rigs down 1 to 105 and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 2
Canada Rig Count is down 9 from last week to 118, with oil rigs down 4 to 56, and gas rigs down 5 to 62.

International Rig Count is up 7 rigs from last month to 978 with land rigs up 7 to 743, offshore rigs unchanged at 235

The Worldwide Rig Count for April was 1,726, down 67 from the 1,793 counted in March 2024, and down 82,from the 1,808 counted in April 2023.

Region Period Rig Count Change
U.S.A 26 April 2024 613 -6
Canada 26 April 2024 118 -9
International April 2024 978. +7
Baker Hughes

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