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The Polish government has released its draft energy strategy until 2040 and considers the development of a domestic nuclear power project that could start commercial operations in 2033. According to the document, the nuclear project should have an installed capacity standing between 1 GW and 1.5 GW. Later on, the government forecasts to deploy around 6 GW – 9 GW of nuclear power capacity by 2043 and expects this capacity to account for approximately 10% of the domestic power generation by then. At the moment, two possible sites in northern Poland are under consideration for the first units: Lubiatowo-Kopalino and Żarnowiec (Pomerania).

Poland has mulled over the development of a nuclear power plant project for years but a binding decision has still to be taken. In April 2017, Polska Grupa Energetyczna Energia Jądrowa 1 (PGE EJ1), the nuclear subsidiary of the Polish company Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE) started localisation and environmental studies related to the preparatory work for the construction of the first Polish nuclear plant. The studies are expected to be completed during the first half of 2020.

The document also forecasts that the domestic energy demand will ramp up between 20% and 25% by 2030 and Poland will be required to build new power plants as the upgrade of the domestic power plants will not be sufficient to cope with this significant increase. Coal-fired power generation will still account for 60% of the domestic power generation in 2030.

The government also forecasts renewable energies to reach a share of 21% in the final gross energy consumption by 2030 (including electricity, heating, cooling and transport).

Major oil and gas company BP has announced plans to invest US$1bn in its South African operations over the next five years, of which more than ZAR 3.5-4bn (US$250-290m) set aside to upgrade the 180,000 bbl/d SAPREF refinery in Durban. The refinery is jointly owned by BP’s subsidiary BPSA (50%) and Shell (50%). The upgrade is meant to enable it to produce lower sulphur diesel,…

Spanish energy group Endesa has published its 2019-2021 strategic business plan: the group plans to invest €6.4bn (net capital expenditures) by 2021, of which €2bn in renewables, €1.9bn in distribution networks, €1.2bn in generation, €0.7bn in supply and €0.6bn in non-mainland activities.

Japanese utility Kansai Electric has filed a detailed decommissioning plan to the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) for the Ohi-1 and Ohi-2 nuclear reactors in Fukui prefecture (Japan).

Norwegian energy company Equinor and its partners Northern Gas Networks and Cadent have launched a feasibility study («H21 North of England» report) on how it is technically viable to use natural gas converted to hydrogen to decarbonise the heating sector in the United Kingdom.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) worth US$200m to increase power connectivity in Afghanistan and develop domestic transmission projects. US$106m will come from ADB’s special funds and US$94m will be co-financed by the Afghanistan Infrastructure Trust Fund.

Greek gas grid operator DESFA has completed the second expansion of the Revithoussa LNG regasification terminal near Athens (Greece). The project includes the construction of a third LNG storage tank, the upgrade of marine facilities and the deployment of additional technology equipment to increase its regasification capacity by an additional 2 bcm/year (1.48 Mt/year).

Major oil and gas company BP and its partners Shell, Chevron and ConocoPhillips have announced first oil production from the giant Clair Ridge offshore project in the West Shetlands region (United Kingdom). The project is the second development of the Clair field, which was discovered in 1977 and holds an estimated 7 Gboe of hydrocarbons.