MDN’s Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Jul 30, 2025 [FREE ACCESS]
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Spire to acquire Tennessee Piedmont Natural Gas business from Duke Energy; Hyperscale data subsidiary agreement with local utility for Michigan data center; NATIONAL: Baker Hughes to acquire Chart Industries; Trump’s AI executive order sets the stage for trillion-dollar investment; U.S. natural gas futures recover ground; North American LNG exports poised to set a record; Less than 400 EV charging ports built under $7.5 billion U.S. infrastructure program; INTERNATIONAL: Crude futures soar; OPEC+ oil gambit looking a little less costly, for now; Rigzone holds exclusive AI Q&A with BP; Shell-led LNG Canada faces problems as it ramps up production; FLNG capacity to jump.
OTHER U.S. REGIONS
Spire to acquire Tennessee Piedmont Natural Gas business from Duke Energy
Spire Inc.
Spire Inc. (NYSE: SR) has agreed to acquire Piedmont Natural Gas’s Tennessee local distribution company business from Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) for $2.48 billion in cash, as announced on July 29, 2025. The acquisition, which includes nearly 3,800 miles of pipelines and serves over 200,000 customers in the fast-growing Nashville area, is expected to close in Q1 2026, pending regulatory approvals. The deal, valued at 1.5x the estimated 2026 rate base, is anticipated to boost Spire’s adjusted earnings per share and support 5-7% long-term earnings growth. Post-acquisition, the business will operate as Spire Tennessee, expanding Spire’s utility footprint alongside its operations in Missouri, Alabama, and Mississippi. Spire’s CEO, Scott Doyle, emphasized the acquisition’s alignment with the company’s focus on safety and community engagement, aiming to maintain Piedmont’s high customer satisfaction standards while integrating into Nashville’s thriving business community. [MDN: Spire, mainly a local utility company (but also owns pipelines) keeps growing. Keep an eye on this company.]
Hyperscale data subsidiary agreement with local utility for Michigan data center
Hyperscale Data Inc.
Hyperscale Data, Inc., a diversified holding company listed on NYSE American (GPUS), announced that its subsidiary, Alliance Cloud Services, LLC (ACS), has entered into an engineering design agreement with SEMCO Energy Inc. to develop natural gas distribution infrastructure for its Michigan data center. This agreement aims to enable approximately 40 megawatts of incremental on-site power generation capacity to meet the growing demands of the artificial intelligence industry. SEMCO will conduct preliminary engineering and design work for pipeline routing and metering infrastructure, with plans to negotiate a definitive construction agreement within months. The project, subject to regulatory approvals and due diligence, is a step toward expanding the Michigan site’s infrastructure. Hyperscale Data, through its subsidiary Sentinum, Inc., operates data centers for digital asset mining and AI ecosystem colocation services, while planning to divest its Ault Capital Group by December 31, 2025, to focus solely on data center operations. [MDN: We have no idea if this gas-fired AI data center will use M-U molecules. It’s possible. Our point in bringing you this blurb is to point out these deals are happening almost daily. Almost all of them use natural gas as the source to generate electricity.]
NATIONAL
Baker Hughes to acquire Chart Industries
Baker Hughes
Baker Hughes will acquire Chart Industries for $13.6 billion, paying $210 per share in cash, in a move to bolster its Industrial & Energy Technology segment. Announced on July 29, 2025, the acquisition enhances Baker Hughes’ portfolio with Chart’s expertise in process technologies and equipment for gas and liquid handling, targeting high-growth markets like natural gas, data centers, and decarbonization. The deal is expected to yield $325 million in annualized cost synergies by the third year, improve margins, EPS, and cash flow, and deliver double-digit ROIC. Chart’s complementary capabilities and Baker Hughes’ service network will drive aftermarket growth and lifecycle solutions. The transaction, unanimously approved by both companies’ boards, is set to close by mid-2026, pending regulatory and Chart shareholder approvals. Baker Hughes will finance the deal with debt, aiming to reduce leverage to 1.0-1.5x within 24 months while maintaining its dividend. [MDN: Baker Hughes is a big oilfield services company. Chart is also a big company. According to the press release, Chart brings differentiated capabilities across a diverse set of end markets such as natural gas, data centers, and decarbonization. Chart was supposed to merge with Flowserve Corporation. That deal has been terminated in favor of BH.]
Trump’s AI executive order sets the stage for trillion-dollar investment
Investing.com/Frank Holmes
President Trump’s recent executive order, signed on July 23, 2025, aims to accelerate the development of AI data centers and supporting infrastructure, such as semiconductors and power generation, by prioritizing projects with over $500 million in capital expenditures and streamlining regulatory processes. This move, likened to the Reagan defense buildout or the shale revolution, is driving significant private investment, with $90 billion pledged at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, including $25 billion each from Alphabet and Blackstone for AI and natural gas facilities. McKinsey estimates a $6.7 trillion global investment in AI data centers by 2030, with Goldman Sachs forecasting a 165% rise in electricity demand. Despite only 9.2% of U.S. firms currently using AI, adoption is growing rapidly, signaling the early stages of a transformative industrial era. This policy push positions the U.S. to lead the AI race, creating substantial investment opportunities. [MDN: Although Trump will always be affectionately remembered by us for his policies returning the country to energy sanity (i.e., promoting fossil fuels), history is likely to remember him for lighting the AI revolution. We live in interesting times!]
U.S. natural gas futures recover ground
Wall Street Journal
U.S. natural gas futures rise with support from warmer temperature forecasts for the second week of August and indications of a pickup in LNG feedgas flows. Weather-driven demand is likely to moderate late this week and early next week, NatGasWeather.com says in a note. But “a hotter than normal pattern is expected to return over most of the U.S. for the 2nd week of August with highs of upper 80s to 100s, and where the weather pattern returns bullish.” The Nymex August contract goes off the board at $3.081/mmBtu, up 3.1%. Gas for September delivery rises 2.5% to $3.142/mmBtu. [MDN: Whew. Two days ago the NYMEX natgas price slide below $3 to close at $2.99. We’re happy to see that yesterday it went back higher, closing above $3.]
North American LNG exports poised to set a record
RBN Energy/Lisa Shidler
In July, North American LNG exports have surpassed June’s levels and are approaching the all-time record set in April, driven by robust U.S. exports and contributions from LNG Canada. Last week, 30 cargoes were shipped from the U.S., with key terminals like Sabine Pass, Freeport, Plaquemines, and Corpus Christi leading the output, alongside one cargo from LNG Canada. The rebound from maintenance-related dips in May and June, combined with commissioning cargoes from new facilities like Plaquemines, Corpus Christi Stage III, and LNG Canada, has bolstered global supply. Approximately 60% of July’s exports are directed to Europe, consistent with prior months, but a shift toward Asia is anticipated as LNG Canada, located on the Pacific Coast, ramps up operations, having already sent four commissioning cargoes to Asian markets. This surge underscores North America’s growing role in global LNG supply. [MDN: Let the good LNG times roll! It only goes higher from here. And just think, one year ago, we were mired in a DOE “pause” on authorizing new LNG export facilities. Just a bad nightmare memory now.]
Less than 400 EV charging ports built under $7.5 billion U.S. infrastructure program
Reuters/David Shepardson
As of April 2025, U.S. states have constructed fewer than 400 electric vehicle (EV) charging ports under a $7.5 billion federal infrastructure program, with only 384 ports operational at 68 stations across 16 states, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO criticized the program’s joint office for lacking defined performance goals and measurable targets. In May, California and 15 other states sued the U.S. Transportation Department, alleging the illegal withholding of at least $3 billion allocated for EV charging stations under a 2021 infrastructure law. The Trump administration, which has taken steps to discourage EV adoption, suspended the program in February, rescinded state plan approvals, and signed legislation to end EV tax credits by September 30. Additionally, the General Services Administration canceled 32 EV charging projects and ordered non-critical federal EV stations disconnected. Critics, including Senator Jeff Merkley, have called the program’s progress “pathetic,” highlighting significant administrative failures. [MDN: What an awful blunder. Not one more dime for this crony capitalist boondoggle. The left is CORRUPT. Biden and his minions were among the most corrupt in American history.]
INTERNATIONAL
Crude futures soar
Bloomberg/Julia Fanzeres, Catherine Cartier
Oil prices surged to their highest levels in over a month, with West Texas Intermediate settling at $69.21 a barrel and Brent at $72.51, driven by President Donald Trump’s threat of additional U.S. sanctions on Russia unless it agrees to a ceasefire with Ukraine within ten days. The potential for tighter Russian crude and fuel supplies sparked market concerns, as Trump dismissed worries about oil market impacts, citing the U.S.’s ability to increase domestic production. Bullish sentiment was further evidenced by Brent crude options flipping to a premium over bearish ones, while WTI futures broke above the 200-day moving average, triggering technical buying. Despite the Kremlin’s resistance to altering its stance, global markets remain focused on upcoming U.S. trade deal deadlines and OPEC+ supply decisions. While tight stockpiles and strong summer demand support prices, an anticipated supply glut later in the year looms. [MDN: So, a return to the low $70s. We can live with that. We like the $60s better, but low $70s works, too. We suspect the price will slip back into the $60s before long.]
OPEC+ oil gambit looking a little less costly, for now
Bloomberg/Grant Smith
Four months after OPEC+’s unexpected decision to increase crude oil production, leading to a price crash to a four-year low and significant budget deficits for member countries, the financial impact appears to be easing. As Brent crude prices recover to $70 per barrel and production targets rise, the nominal output value from four key Middle East OPEC members has reached its highest level since February, hitting nearly $1.4 billion daily, according to Rystad Energy data. However, this rebound is fragile, with analysts from Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan predicting a potential price slump later this year due to increased OPEC+ supply, weakening Chinese demand, and abundant US production. This weekend, eight key OPEC+ nations will decide on further production increases for September, potentially completing a 2.2 million-barrel supply restart ahead of schedule. While revenues remain below pre-increase levels, the strategy’s impact has been less severe than feared, though future uncertainties loom. [MDN: OPEC+ is not our friend. Remember that. We like the price of oil in the $60s because it denies these thug dictatorships extra revenue to make mischief.]
Rigzone holds exclusive AI Q&A with BP
Rigzone/Andreas Exarheas
In an upstream investor presentation, BP’s EVP of Production and Operations, Gordon Birrell, highlighted the company’s focus on advancing artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, as discussed in a Rigzone Q&A with Jack Cameron, Vice President at BP Technical Solutions India. BP employs AI tools like Optimization Genie, which enhances real-time digital hydraulic twin technology to optimize well and facility operations, boosting production by approximately 2,000 barrels per day at the Atlantis facility in the Gulf of America. Another tool, Wells Assistant, leverages 100 years of institutional knowledge to provide rapid, accurate responses to well-related queries, improving efficiency for over 2,000 users. Developed in 2024, these technologies integrate with BP’s digital twin platform APEX and Frontier Large Language models. BP is expanding AI use, increasing production by 4% and preventing 10% of potential outages between 2022 and 2024, while addressing challenges like cultural shifts and ensuring tool reliability. [MDN: If you want a great career, try AI in the oil and gas industry. It’s expanding daily!]
Shell-led LNG Canada faces problems as it ramps up production
Reuters/M. Rashad, C. Williams, A. Stephenson
The Shell-led LNG Canada facility in Kitimat, British Columbia, the first major LNG export plant in Canada, is facing technical challenges as it ramps up production, according to four sources and LSEG ship tracking data. Operational since July 1, the facility, designed to convert 2 billion cubic feet of gas per day into LNG for export to Asia, is running at less than half capacity due to issues with a gas turbine and a Refrigerant Production Unit. Despite expectations that the plant would boost Western Canadian natural gas prices, a persistent supply glut has kept prices low, with the AECO hub at $0.22 per mmBtu compared to the U.S. Henry Hub’s $3.12. An LNG tanker, Ferrol Knutsen, was diverted to Peru without cargo. LNG Canada, a joint venture with Shell, Petronas, PetroChina, Mitsubishi, and KOGAS, has exported four cargoes so far and anticipates increasing its export pace. [MDN: Not that we’re happy or anything about the problems this facility is having (giggle), but we wonder if the same folks who built Freeport LNG built this facility (giggle giggle)?]
FLNG capacity to jump
Maritime Reporter Magazine
Floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) terminals are poised for significant growth, with global capacity projected to triple to 42 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) by 2030 and reach 55 Mtpa by 2035, up from 14.1 Mtpa in 2024, according to Rystad Energy. Driven by rising LNG demand and the viability of smaller gas fields, FLNG offers a faster, more flexible, and cost-effective alternative to onshore terminals, unlocking stranded reserves and adapting to dynamic market conditions. Utilization rates for FLNG terminals, averaging 86.5% in 2024 and 76% in 2025, now rival onshore facilities. Technological advancements and operational experience have reduced costs, with new projects averaging $1,054 per tonne, while vessel conversions, like Tortue/Ahmeyim and Cameroon FLNG, achieve even lower costs around $500-$640 per tonne. FLNG’s shorter construction timelines—approximately three years compared to 4.5 years for onshore plants—enhance its appeal, enabling quicker investment decisions and operational flexibility across diverse environments. [MDN: We can make all the LNG the world needs, but if other countries can’t receive it (regasify and flow it into pipelines), it’s all for naught. FLNG is helping to solve the issue of quickly constructing facilities that can take our exported LNG and use it.]