Triso-X can use HALEU uranium to make reactor fuel
The U.S. Nuclear?power regulator announced on?Friday that it had issued a license to?Triso X for the use of a more-enriched uranium, known as HALEU, for making a fuel for high-tech commercial nuclear reactors. Triso-X is a subsidiary company of X-energy and plans to manufacture TRISO fuel in Oak Ridge Tennessee. This fuel contains uranium that has been coated with hard ceramics and carbon layers. Ho K. Nieh said that commercial-scale production is essential to enable the deployment of advanced reactor designs. Joel Duling, TRISOX's?president, said that the regulatory approval brought us closer to a reliable, American fuel supply, for next-generation nuclear technologie.
Schedule for US Energy Data in Holiday Week
The Presidents Day federal holidays on Monday, 16th February will affect the release schedule for?some of the major energy data that is to be released during?the week of February 15th. The schedule below shows the U.S. supply of petroleum, oil, and natural gas for each week. API's Weekly Petroleum Stocks Report will be?delayed to Wednesday, 18th February at 4:30 pm EST (2130 GMT). The report would normally be released on Tuesday. The EIA will release its weekly report on natural gas stocks as usual, Thursday, February 19th at 10:30 am EST (1530 GMT).
Sources say that Trinidad's Atlantic LNG has shut down its Train 3 facility for emergency repairs.
Three people familiar with the situation said that on Wednesday, Trinidad and Tobago’s flagship Atlantic LNG complex, which produces liquefied gas from natural gas in Trinidad and Tobago, shut down its Train 3 facility for emergency repairs. Repairs at the unit with a 3 million tonne per year capacity are likely to take a month. A crack was found in the?flaring systems. Sources said that the shutdown could affect a quarter or more of Atlantic LNG’s production in?the island. BP and Shell did not respond immediately to Friday's requests for comments. Each company owns 45% of the complex. Atlantic LNG also did not respond to any inquiries.
Baker Hughes reports that US drillers have cut three oil rigs and added three gas rigs to their weekly count, while maintaining the same number of rigs.
Baker Hughes, a leading energy services company, said that the U.S. oil and gas companies this week reduced three oil rigs while adding three natural-gas rigs. The overall rig count remained unchanged. The 'oil and gas rig number, a leading indicator of future production, remained at 551 during the week ending February 13. Baker Hughes reported that the total count was down 37 rigs or 6% from this time last year. Baker Hughes reported that oil rigs dropped by three this week to 409, their lowest level since early January. Gas rigs, however, rose?by three, to 133, the highest level since July 2023.
Caturus signs a 20-year LNG Supply Deal with Saudi Aramco
U.S. Gas Producer 'Caturus' said on Friday that its unit, Commonwealth LNG, had signed a twenty-year agreement with Saudi Aramco to supply 1,000,000 tonne per year of lNG from?its proposed Louisiana Export Project. The U.S. is working hard to surpass Qatar and Australia as the largest LNG exporter in the world. Since President Donald Trump lifted the pause on export permits last summer, commercial activity in the LNG sector has risen. Caturus CEO David Lawler said, "This agreement highlights the strong demand for U.S. LNG developers usually reach a final decision on a project once they have secured sufficient supply deals to get the financing needed for construction.
TotalEnergies CEO: TotalEnergies did not pay French taxes last year because of a loss in the refining business
TotalEnergies, the French oil giant, did not pay corporate tax in France in 2017 because its operations there generated a loss in excess of 300 million euros (about 356.07 million dollars), said CEO Patrick Pouyanne on Friday. Pouyanne, in an interview, was asked how Total, who on Wednesday reported a 2025 adjusted net profit of $15.6 billion escaped France's surtax on large corporations -- a measure which was supposed to be temporary, but was rolled into the budget for 2026 as France struggles with its high debt. Pouyanne said on TF1 Ecorama that "in France…
TC Energy exceeds profit expectations as natural gas and power demand increases
Canadian 'pipeline operator TC Energy' beat analysts' expectations for the fourth quarter?profit % on Friday. This was helped by record natural-gas flows across its North American networks as soaring demand for power from data centers boosted volume. Major pipeline operators are doubling down on expectations of rising natural gas demand as LNG export facilities expand, and cryptocurrency miners and artificial-intelligence ?systems ramp up electricity use. On a call after earnings, executives said that they expected the demand for natural gas in North America to grow by 45 billion cubic ft per day (bcfpd), from 2025-2035.
US permits oil majors to resume Venezuelan operations and broadly approves new energy investment
The U.S. eased its sanctions against Venezuela's energy industry on?Friday. It issued two general licenses allowing global energy companies? to resume oil and?gas operations in the OPEC?member?and other companies?to negotiate??contracts? on investments in???new???energy operations?. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued a license allowing Chevron BP Eni Shell Repsol and Repsol resume their oil and gas operations. The second license is for companies to invest in Venezuelan oil or gas. The license does not permit transactions with Russian, Iranian, or Chinese companies or entities controlled or owned by joint ventures in these countries.
EEX invites comments on the extension of trading hours for benchmark gas contracts
The CEO of Deutsche Boerse's EEX (Europe's largest electricity and gas 'exchange) said that the company is currently in discussions with market participants about whether to extend trading hours on Europe's main gas benchmark. EEX - peer Intercontinental Exchange - announced last month that it would extend the daily trading hours of European gas and electricity contracts from 0800 CET until 1800 CET on April 13 to 0150 CET (2300 CET) (0050 GMT-2200 GMT). Peter Reitz, CEO of EEX, said that the company is "listening closely" to what the market participants have to say about the issue, and added that the feedback has been mixed. DOES THE MARKET WANT IT?
EUROPE GAS - European prices rise ahead of weekend temperatures drop
Dutch and British gas wholesale contracts traded within a small?range Friday morning. A possible?increase ahead of the temperature drop that is expected this weekend. By 0826 GMT, the benchmark Dutch 'front-month contract' at the TTF hub was nearly flat at 32.29 Euros per Megawatt Hour (MWh), which is $11.22/mmBtu. LSEG data shows that the day-ahead contract increased by 0.25 euro to 32.90 euros/MWh. The British equivalent day-ahead contract increased by 1.98 cents to 82.90 pence per therm. Dzmitry Dzmitry Dauhalevich, LSEG analyst, said that temperatures in Northwest Europe will fall this weekend and then recover early next week before returning to normal.
India looks at increasing gas usage during peak hours in order to guarantee power supply
India's top power official revealed on Friday that the country is looking at whether its under-used, gas-fired plants can be used during evening peak hours to provide flexibility in generation as renewable energy grows rapidly. Gas-fired power generation is usually only maximized during the summer peak months, because it's relatively expensive. It is still aiming to maintain its approximately 20?gigawatts gas-based capacity in order to balance the grid. The plants are cleaner than coal, and they offset the intermittent nature?of?wind and?solar power.
Sources say that Venezuela's PDVSA has expanded its oil fields to joint venture partners.
Three sources familiar with the matter have confirmed that PDVSA, Venezuela's state-run petroleum company, is in talks with its joint-venture partners to offer them expansions of?the oilfields assigned to their projects. This could lead to an increase in crude and natural gas production and exports. Venezuela's National Assembly approved in late January a reform of the country's oil law that grants foreign oil companies autonomy to operate, export, and cash out sale proceeds - even if they are minor partners in joint ventures. Two sources claim that the'reform' gave the 'oil ministry' of Venezuela…
Iberdrola denies grid operator's claim its solar plant caused blackout
Iberdrola's CEO in Spain,?on Thursday, rejected the 'claim' by the head of Spain's power grid operator that mismanagement at a'solar plant' owned by Iberdrola could have led to the massive blackout of April 28, last year. Mario Ruiz Tagle's testimony in front of an investigating committee before the Spanish Senate was the first public acknowledgment by Iberdrola, that it owned the infrastructure that the grid operator had singled out, the Nunez de Balboa Solar Plant in the southwest province of Badajoz. He denied that there had been poor management at the plant on that particular day. Redeia, the owner of grid operator REE, declined to comment.
Sources say that Venezuela's PDVSA has expanded its oil fields to joint venture partners.
Three sources familiar with the matter said that the state-run PDVSA of Venezuela is currently in discussions with its joint venture partners including Chevron Repsol and Maurel & Prom to expand the oilfields assigned to their respective projects. This could lead to an increase in crude and natural gas production. Venezuela's National assembly?approved a reform of the main oil law in late January, allowing foreign oil companies autonomy to export and receive cash sales proceeds even though they are minor partners in joint ventures with PDVSA.
Spanish grid blackout risks remain, Endesa CEO says
The widespread 'blackout' that affected Spain and Portugal last year could be repeated under similar circumstances, according to the CEO of Endesa, who blamed the Spanish grid operator REE, for the outage. On April 28, last year, Europe's biggest blackout in over two decades paralyzed cities and left passengers stranded aboard trains throughout Portugal and Spain. After the outage, grid operators increased the use of stable power generation, such as?gas plants. This helps better control voltage, but increases costs. REE is owned and operated by Redeia, in which the government owns a 20% stake.
Vitol CEO: Oil supply is squeezed by geopolitical factors
Vitol CEO Russell Hardy stated on Thursday that the global oil market has tightened despite predictions of an 'oversupply'. U.S. sanctions have limited the?outlets? for Russian and Iranian oil, which is causing a?increase in demand for oil from alternative sources. Due to sanctions, Russia and Iran have become increasingly dependent on China. India has agreed to stop buying Russian oil under the pressure of U.S. president Donald Trump. Hardy, speaking at the International Energy Week in London, said that the overall demand for non-sanctioned crude oil has increased. This is tightening the oil market, while sanctioned crude oil remains in floating storage in the high seas.
Data shows that Yamal LNG has resumed transhipments in the vicinity of Murmansk.
LSEG data showed on 'Thursday that Yamal LNG has resumed ship to ship?liquefied gas operations near a port in the Arctic called Murmansk. This could mean a possible resumption for the first time of this winter of fuel exports into Asia. Ship-to-ship allows the company to optimize the use of expensive ice-class tankers during the winter when the Northern Sea Route, which runs along the Russian Arctic coast, is restricted. This?scheme is used to export goods to Asia. The LSEG data revealed that the Arc7 LNG Tanker Vladimir Vize carrying an LNG cargo of Yamal LNG and?Seapeak Yamal Gas carrier were positioned near Kildin Island.
YPF's XRG and ADNOC XRG sign agreement to advance Argentina LNG Project
Argentine's state oil company YPF, Italy’s?Eni, and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s international investments arm XRG'signed a binding 'joint 'development 'agreement' to advance Argentina LNG. The project is expected to achieve a liquefied gas capacity of 12,000,000 tons per year, XRG stated in a Thursday statement. In a statement, YPF's CEO Horacio Martin said that the deal marked XRG’s formal inclusion. The three companies would work together to reach a?final investment decision by the second half 2026. The Vaca-Muerta formation, located in western Argentina, is responsible for most of the oil produced by the country.
ARKO Petroleum raises 200 million dollars in an upsized US IPO
Fuel distributor ARKO Petroleum has priced its "upsized" U.S. IPO at the lower end of its range. This raised a little over $200 million. The company based in?Richmond?Virginia sold 11,11 million shares on Wednesday at $18 each, as opposed to its advertised range of $18-$20. ARKO Petroleum was valued at $819 million in the IPO. In early 2026, the IPO market is booming as soaring equity markets have sparked a flurry activity. The company will be listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol APC. ARKO Petroleum reported that it had made a profit in the nine months ended September 30 of $24.7million on revenues of $4.27billion…
Inpex, a Japanese oil and gas company, sees a shortage of LNG in Asia by 2035
Inpex, Japan’s largest oil and 'gas producer, anticipates that global demand for LNG will grow by 75%, to 700 million metric tons annually, in 2035. This could lead to a shortage of LNG along the Pacific coast, including Asia. Inpex, who runs the Ichthys LNG Project in Australia and develops Abadi LNG in Indonesia, said that it expects global LNG consumption to rise from its current 400 million tons annually, driven by Asia-Oceania?region needs, in its results presentation released on Thursday. The report forecasts a 231-million-ton annual shortage in the Pacific Coast region by 2035.