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Finnish power generation company Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) has provided an updated schedule for the commissioning of the 1,650 MWe Olkiluoto-3 (OL3) nuclear power project in Eurajoki (Finland), which will be delayed by a further four months as commissioning tests are taking much more time than expected. The Areva-Siemens consortium will load fuel into the reactor core in June 2019 and the first connection to the grid is scheduled to take place in October 2019. Eventually, OL-3 will begin regular electricity production in January 2020.

The OL-3 European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) project is being built by a consortium of Areva GmbH, Areva NP (now Orano) and Siemens under a fixed-price turnkey contract. The project has been hit by repeated delays, court disputes and rising costs. Initially planned to start in 2009, the new reactor will be completed more than 10 years behind schedule.

TVO originally claimed €2.6bn from the Areva-led consortium, which has filed a counter-claim of €3.5bn. In November 2017, TVO received a final and binding partial award under the framework of the ongoing International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration proceeding. In March 2018, TVO agreed a settlement with Areva-Siemens, which will pay TVO compensation of €450m (the consortium is entitle to receive an «incentive payment» of up to €150m for on time commissioning).

The Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs has proposed a significant cut in feed-in tariffs (FITs) for offshore wind projects and plans to set a flat rate of NTD5.1/kWh or US$1.7c/kWh for 2019. The time frame of the FiTs would remain identical,…

Global commodity trading company Vitol has signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) paving the way for a long-term LNG sale and purchase (SPA) agreement with the Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas. As per the transaction, Petronas will supply 0.8 Mt/year (about 1.1 bcm/year) of LNG to Vitol on both delivered ex-ship (DeS) and free on board (FOB) basis starting from 2024 and for a 15-year period.

Mexican state-run oil and gas company Pemex has doubled the proven, probable and possible (3P) reserve estimates of its Ixachi onshore oil and gas field in the state of Veracruz (Mexico). The company believes that the asset will reach plateau production of 700 mcf/d (19.8 mcm/d) of natural gas and 80,000 bbl/d of condensate in 2022.

State-held Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has outlined plans to develop a CO2 capture, storage and utilization (CCUS) project, which will capure CO2 produced either from the Habshan-Bab gas processing facilities or the Shah gas processing plant in the United Arab Emirates.

Chinese oil and gas company Petrochina plans to triple the annual crude oil output of the Mahu field it recently discovered in the Junggar basin (Xinjiang region, China) to 3 Mt/year by 2021. Once implemented, the project will be the first step of Petrochina’s plan to boost its output at Mahu to 5 Mt/year by 2025.

Global turbine manufacturer and installer MHI Vestas has been selected as preferred turbine supplier for the 800 MW Vineyard Wind project off Massachusetts (United States). The company is likely to deploy V164-9.5 MW turbines on the site, which is serve as a catalyst for the build-up of a local offshore wind supply chain in the region.

Global oil and gas company BP estimates that the new Brazilian policy regarding biofuels (RenovaBio) has improved the outlook for domestic ethanol production and should attract new investment in plants. It believes that RenovaBio will create a stable regulatory environment allowing foreign companies to invest in the sector.