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South Korean power utility Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) has started up its new Shin Kori-4 nuclear reactor, the fourth unit of the Shin Kori nuclear power plant. The Advanced Pressurized Reactor-1400 (APR1400) reactor, rated 1,340 MW, was expected to start operations in November 2017 and has been delayed since then. It has now been synchronised and will be connected to the domestic power grid at the end of April 2019. Commissioning is scheduled for late August 2019.

The Shin Kori facility consists of the Shin Kori-1 and Shin Kori-2, two operational OPR-1000 reactors (950 MW net, 1,000 MW gross) that were commissioned in 2011 and 2012, respectively, and of the 1,340 MW Shin Kori-3 unit, the first Korean-designed APR-1400, which was commissioned in December 2016. The construction of Shin Kori-4 started in August 2009 and was delayed, as for Shin Kori-3, by technical issues.

Two other APR-1400 units, Shin Kori-5 and 6, were approved by South Korea’s nuclear regulator in June 2016 and were scheduled to come onstream in March 2021 and 2022, respectively. In July 2017, KHNP decided to put their construction temporarily on hold following the South Korean government decision to temporarily suspend the construction of the facilities and form a public debate committee to determine whether or not the construction will be completely stopped.

US energy infrastructure company Sempra Energy has completed the sale of its wholly-owned subsidiary Sempra Renewables to the US power group American Electric Power (AEP). The total amount of the transaction nears US$1bn, of which US$584m in cash, which includes US$33m in working capital and US$470m in assuming existing project debt and tax equity obligations. ….

Thailand’s state-held power generator EGAT (Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand) has narrowed its current list of potential LNG suppliers to 12 companies, including Qatargas, Shell, Chevron, Marubeni, Petronas and Total. EGAT will select the one that offers the lowest price to supply up to 1.5 Mt/year of LNG.

Saudi Arabian state-run oil company Saudi Aramco has announced plans to acquire Shell’s 50% stake in the Saudi refining joint venture SASREF for a total consideration of US$631m. Expected to be completed later in 2019, the transaction entails a 305,000 bbl/d refining facility located in Jubail Industrial City (Saudi Arabia), which was commissioned between 1985 and 1988.

Global oil and gas company ExxonMobil has signed a 20-year sales and purchase agreement with the Chinese firm Zhejiang Provincial Energy Group, to deliver 1 Mt/year of LNG to the Chinese company. LNG supplies will come from ExxonMobil’s portfolio production outside the United States..

The companies involved in the development of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea have made a US$6bn investment decision to build an additional platform in the license area. Upon commissioning in 2023, the new Azeri-Central-East (ACE) platform will process up to 100,000 bbl/d of crude oil, i.e. up to 300 mbl over its lifetime.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities has approved long-term off-take contracts for the 800 MW Vineyard Wind offshore wind project, which will be located 15 miles (24 km) to the south of Martha’s Vineyard and approximately 34 miles (55 km) to the Cape Cod mainland in the United States.

Chinese power company Guodian Power has started commercial operations at the 252 MW Zhejiang Zhoushan offshore wind park, which is located 12 km south of Liuheng island off the Zheijiang province, in the eastern portion of the Chinese sea. The project broke ground in 2017 and features 63 Siemens Gamesa turbines.