The Rise of Battery Trains

By Felicity Bradstock - Sep 06, 2025

• Japan pioneered battery-powered passenger trains, cutting thousands of tonnes of CO? since 2016.
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• The UK is testing battery trains on intercity routes and metro lines, aiming for fast-charging systems to bridge gaps in electrification.
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• U.S. startup Voltify is targeting freight rail with battery-powered “VoltCars,” estimating potential savings of $94 billion over 20 years.

As countries worldwide strive to undergo a green transition, one sector that many are finding challenging to decarbonise is transport. Shifting large-scale passenger transport away from fossil fuels to be powered by electricity, batteries, or green fuels is a complex endeavour. However, thanks to higher investment and recent innovations, we are getting ever closer to achieving green transport technology, such as battery-powered trains.

Several countries have invested in research and development into battery trains, some with greater success than others. In Japan, Japan Rail introduced its first fleet of battery trains between 2016 and 2019 following the conversion of 18 Dencha trains from diesel power to electric battery. These became the world's first battery trains for an AC network.

The trains run on AC power from overhead power lines through a pantograph, just like a conventional train, with the AC power being converted to charge the train’s battery. In non-electrified sections, the pantograph is lowered, and the train is powered by a battery. As there is no diesel car pulling the train, there is no engine noise, vibration, or exhaust emissions. Maintenance costs are also reduced. By 2021, the operators JR Kyushu and Hitachi Rail announced that they had cut carbon emissions by around 2,700 tonnes since the 2016 launch.

In the U.K., several train operators are hoping to follow in Japan’s footsteps after seeing the success JR Kyushu and Hitachi Rail have experienced over the last nine years. In 2024, Hitachi Rail replaced the diesel engine in one of its intercity Class 802 trains with a single 700kW battery in its U.K. operations, with 70 km of the pilot journey powered wholly by battery. The initial test was a success, giving hope for a broader rollout of the technology.

The chief director for Hitachi Rail’s U.K. and Ireland operations said, “Everyone should be immensely proud of creating battery technology that had zero failures during the entire trial. Using our global expertise, Hitachi Rail has created new technology, which means the greenest mode of transport just got greener.” The aim now is to develop a full intercity battery-powered train with a range of between 100 km and 150 km.

Other U.K. operators are also progressing in the shift to battery-powered. The U.K. is well-suited to this transition as much of the country’s rail network already runs on overhead electric lines. However, full electrification of Britain’s rail could take several decades, according to the operator GWR, due to the high set-up costs. For this reason, GWR hopes to introduce more fast-charging battery trains to fill the gap. 

GWR recently converted a London Underground train to trial its battery technology across a five-mile return trip between West Ealing and Greenford in West London. It placed fast-charging rails are placed within existing rails in stations to charge the battery. The project showed promise for a wider rollout, and GWR saw around an 80 percent decrease in carbon emissions during operation compared to an equivalent diesel train on the same route.

In the U.S., according to a 2021 study, if U.S. rail freight shifts to battery power, it could save companies around $94 billion over 20 years. One startup is hoping to launch a new battery-powered service for U.S. freight trains to support this goal. Voltify hopes to encourage U.S. freight companies to switch from diesel power to rechargeable batteries over the coming decade, using its VoltCars. These cars are essentially sodium-ion batteries on wheels that are used to pull existing train carriages. 

Voltify’s co-founder, Daphna Langer, believes she can earn her company as much as $10 billion a year if she can convince major U.S. rail freight companies to make the switch. At present, the six largest freight railroad companies in the U.S. — including Union Pacific and CSX, collectively spend over $11 billion a year on diesel, according to Voltify’s estimates. This means that investing in batteries and shifting away from diesel could result in significant savings in fuel. While there are nearly 140,000 miles of freight railroad track in the U.S., little of it is electrified.

Voltify is currently developing solar-powered microgrids that it hopes to use to eventually power trains across North America. Powering the whole region’s network would require up to 1,400 microgrids, according to company estimates. The startup hopes to commence its pilot project with a Class 1 railroad company in early 2026 and develop commercial-scale operations a few months later. 

While we are still a long way from achieving widespread battery-powered passenger and freight rail travel, recent innovations and successful pilot projects show great promise. With a variety of batteries being developed, tobe powered by overhead lines or train tracks, there is significant potential for a wider deployment of the technology in the coming decades, which could save rail companies vast amounts on fuel, as well as contribute to a significant reduction in carbon emissions. 

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

TRUMP GRIFT

Japan Said to Hire Wood Mackenzie to Review Alaska LNG Project

By Charles Kennedy - Sep 08, 2025,

Japan has reportedly tapped global consultancy Wood Mackenzie to study the long-proposed Alaska LNG pipeline and export terminal, signaling Tokyo is taking a closer look at whether to back a $44 billion megaproject long championed by Washington. Two sources with direct knowledge told Reuters the assessment aims to reassure wary Japanese investors and utilities still uncertain about the venture’s economics.

The Alaska LNG project involves an 800-mile gas pipeline running from Alaska’s North Slope to a liquefaction plant on the southern coast, enabling stranded reserves to reach global markets. Despite decades of planning, the sheer cost and remoteness have left the project on ice. Now, with President Donald Trump promising to push it forward as part of a broader energy diplomacy effort, Tokyo’s involvement could prove decisive.

Trump last month touted the idea of a U.S.-Japan joint venture tied to a wider trade deal, though Tokyo has yet to confirm any such commitment. The final agreement did, however, include language on exploring new offtake contracts for Alaskan LNG and a sweeping pledge of $550 billion in Japanese investment across U.S. sectors such as energy and pipelines.

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) declined to comment on the Wood Mackenzie contract, while the consultancy itself, project developer Glenfarne, and the state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) offered no immediate response to Reuters.

Behind closed doors, Japanese officials are weighing the benefits of a secure U.S. supply against the project’s notorious cost hurdles. Energy Minister Yoji Muto said in July that Tokyo continues “close discussions with U.S. officials on the economic viability, a forecast for starting production, and the form of cooperation” needed to make LNG procurement work for both sides.

Securing Japanese participation would mark a breakthrough. Japan remains the world’s second-largest LNG buyer and has become an increasingly active player in global gas infrastructure. Support from Japanese firms could unlock state bank financing through institutions like the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), which earlier this year said it would consider lending if Japanese companies were involved.

As always, economics will ultimately decide the fate of this project. Global LNG markets have cooled since prices soared in 2022, and new supply from Qatar and the U.S. Gulf Coast is expected to enter the market later this decade, potentially putting downward pressure on prices.

Security interests will also play a key role, however, with U.S. officials emphasizing that Alaskan shipments would be closer to Japan than Middle Eastern cargoes and avoid chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz or the South China Sea. With Tokyo now sourcing around 10% of its LNG from the U.S., 10% from Russia, and roughly 40% from Australia, diversifying supply has become a priority.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

Microplastics Backlash Threatens Petrochemical Growth

By Felicity Bradstock - Sep 07, 2025

• Growing consumer awareness and concern about microplastics, found in everyday products and even human bodies, are creating significant pushback against the petrochemical industry.
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• The petrochemical industry, a major consumer of oil and gas, is projected to continue growing even as fossil fuel demand wanes in other sectors, driven by increasing demand for plastics and other related products.
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• Despite its anticipated growth, the industry faces threats from rising public and scientific scrutiny over the environmental and health impacts of microplastics, which could alter consumer habits and lead to greater regulatory pressure.
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In recent years, consumer concerns about microplastics have grown, with more people aware of the plastics that end up in everyday products, food, and even drinking water, as well as the potential impact they may have on human health. This has led to pushback by consumers for companies to address the issue. The petrochemicals industry is forecast to continue growing even as countries reduce their reliance on fossil fuels for power and heating, but could this controversy change this?

Petrochemicals are produced from oil and gas. In 2023, the petrochemical industry contributed over 16 percent of oil demand across OECD countries, used for a wide variety of applications, including in the production of plastics, synthetic fibres, and fertilisers, to adhesives, dyes, detergents, and synthetic paints and coatings. The market was valued at $585 billion. Global petrochemical production reached 2.6 billion tonnes in 2023, with China, India and Iran dominating output. China is expected to add 134 million tonnes a year of petrochemicals production capacity. 

The industry is expected to continue expanding over the next decade, to reach a market value of more than $1 trillion by 2030 as demand for petrochemical products continues to increase, while fossil fuel demand from other sectors starts to wane. However, there are significant concerns about the environmental implications of this growing demand, as an ongoing reliance on petrochemicals for a wide range of products could compromise the world’s aim for a green transition. 

The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects global oil demand to peak before 2030. Meanwhile, the petrochemical demand will likely drive the remaining demand over the coming decades, as the world struggles to move away from a reliance on plastics, fertilisers, and other petrochemical products. A 2023 review of the major oil and gas chemicals firms showed that over the following three years, ExxonMobil was expected to invest more than $20 billion in expanding its plastic production, while CPChem planned to spend $14.5 billion, and Dow Inc. expected to invest $10 billion. 

Plastic is widely used in packaging, with most of the things we eat and drink being wrapped in plastic. This led global plastics production to more than double between 2000 and 2020. In the United States, around 1.5 percent of natural gas is transformed into chemicals used to make plastics and other consumer goods, according to research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The IEA reported that the increase in China’s oil demand between 2021 and 2024 would be driven by chemical feedstocks, such as LPG, ethane, and naphtha, with additional Chinese production capacity for ethylene and propylene exceeding the combined current capacities of Europe, Japan, and South Korea. Between 2018 and 2023, China’s synthetic fibre production increased by 21 million tonnes, or enough to produce 100 billion T-shirts, as the fashion industry continues to rely heavily on petrochemicals for a wide range of products. 

However, rising consumer worries about microplastics, as well as concerns over the environmental impact of petrochemical production, could threaten the industry’s growth over the coming decades. Microplastics have been found in an increasing number of products and have even been found in our food and drinking water. These plastics are smaller than 5 millimetres, with many nanoplastics that are too small for the human eye to see. 

In recent years, more scientists have focused on the impact of microplastics on human and environmental health. This growth in research has revealed that humans have microplastics in their bodies, with human brains found to have an average of around 7 grammes of plastic in 2024, around 50 percent more than in 2016. They have also been found in the muscle tissue of fish and even in fruits and vegetables. This has led consumers to question the widespread use of plastics and the potential health implications of microplastics, as they call on companies across a range of industries to change their practices. 

Richard Wiles, president of the Centre for Climate Integrity, stated, “Where the industry is most vulnerable is on the human exposure to microplastics.” Wiles said, “They’re going to have to try to tell us that exposure to microplastics every day, from birth to death, is just fine. It’s just great. You should just eat more of it. It’s no problem. And I just don’t think they can win that argument.” 

Researchers now believe that microplastics in our bodies could harm respiratory and reproductive health, as well as our digestive systems. They have also been increasingly linked to certain types of cancer. While there is still little public awareness about the negative health effects of microplastics, growing awareness in the coming years will likely alter consumer habits, as people begin to demand change. Consumers and governments have already put pressure on companies to reduce the utilisation of single-use plastics over environmental concerns, and similar efforts are expected to lead to pressure to change packaging and other products that could harm human health. 

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

 

Iraq Explores Global Crude Storage with Exxon

By Tsvetana Paraskova - Sep 09, 2025

Iraq’s state oil marketing firm is in discussions with Exxon for potential crude storage sites close to demand markets in Asia, the United States, and Europe, Bloomberg reports, citing a senior Iraqi executive.

“We, as SOMO, are in need to create a stable market for Iraqi crude oil, and to have good strategic storage for Iraqi crude oil and oil products in future as well,” Ali Nizar, the director general of the Iraqi state oil marketing company, SOMO, said. 

Iraq plans to use storage sites in Singapore and “wherever there is an opportunity to target major markets including Asian market and European market,” the executive said, as carried by Bloomberg. 

SOMO is considering whether to use existing storage sites or to take part in building new storage facilities close to its demand markets, according to Nizar. 

Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest oil producer, and other major oil-producing nations in the Gulf have been looking to have overseas storage in recent years. 

For example, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) of the United Arab Emirates has been using and storing petroleum at the existing crude storage sites in India, the world’s third-largest crude oil importer. 

The recent geopolitical flare-ups and the threat to key shipping lanes in the Middle East, including the critical Strait of Hormuz, have prompted Middle Eastern producers to seek to have at least some supply stored outside the region to hedge against potential disruption. 

Iraq is also looking to boost its oil production in the medium term, under a $25-billion deal with BP to redevelop Kirkuk fields. 

The wider resource opportunity across the contract and surrounding area is believed to include up to 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent, according to the British supermajor. 

For Iraq, the agreement is aligned with its plan to raise its oil production capacity to above 6 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2029, up from about 4.5 million bpd now.  

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

Kurdistan Has Lost $28 Billion From Its Oil Dispute

By Charles Kennedy - Sep 09, 2025

Kurdistan has lost some $28 billion from a dispute between the government of the semi-autonomous region, the central Iraqi government, and Turkey that has been running for over two years now.

“From March 25, 2023, until now, Iraq and the Kurdistan Region have suffered losses of more than 28bn dollars due to the halt in oil exports,” Safin Dizayee, who is the head of foreign relations at the Kurdistan Regional Government, told media this week.

Oil exports from Kurdistan have now been halted for two and a half years, after they were shut in in March 2023 due to a dispute over who should authorize the Kurdish exports. Despite some breakthroughs in negotiations in recent months, the disagreements have continued. Before the halt to exports, oil supply from Kurdistan averaged more than 400,000 barrels per day.

The dispute showed some signs of progress earlier this year, with Baghdad and Ankara reaching an agreement on some major points. A final agreement between the Kurdistan government and the central Iraqi government in Baghdad, however, is yet to be achieved. Meanwhile, the situation is causing security concerns for the Kurdish government, Dizayee also said.

In July, drone attacks on oil fields operated by U.S. companies shut in some 200,000 barrels daily in production. No group claimed responsibility, but the incidents marked the most serious disruption in the region since April.

The dispute between Erbil and Baghdad concerns the link between revenues from oil exports from the semi-autonomous region and public servant salaries.

Prior to the March 2023 halt, the Kurdistan Region was exporting approximately 400,000 barrels per day of crude through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline to Ceyhan. These volumes accounted for over 10 percent of Iraq’s total oil exports and were a critical revenue stream for the Kurdistan Regional Government.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

OOPS

Trump’s ( ANTI) Clean Energy Law Sends Insurance Costs Soaring

By Alex Kimani - Sep 07, 2025

• OBBBA speeds up deadlines, ends the 5% safe-harbor, and adds tariffs on key materials.
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• Insurance costs are jumping as underwriters add exclusions and shorten policies.
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• Several reinsurers have cut U.S. offshore wind exposure, pushing project risks and premiums higher.
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President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBBA), signed into law on July 4, 2025, intended to phase out tax credits for wind and solar by mid-2026. But its true impact extends well beyond incentives: OBBBA is unsettling the entire financial and insurance underpinning of the U.S. clean energy industry.

OBBBA has accelerated deadlines, with projects now required to begin construction by July 4, 2026, or be in service by December 31, 2027, to qualify for credits. It has also removed the 5% cost-based safe harbor starting September 1, 2025, meaning that only physical work counts toward eligibility. That change alone has lenders and insurers spooked, uncertain when or if returns will materialize.

Meanwhile, Trump’s tariffs on essential materials like steel, copper, and solar components have pushed construction costs even higher. “We’re really now seeing the impacts of what the new reality in the U.S. has meant for investor confidence,” says Meredith Annex, Head of Clean Power at BloombergNEF, after reporting that wind and solar investments plunged 36% year-on-year to $36.4 billion in H1 2025, with onshore wind collapsing 80 percent, the Financial Times reported.

At the same time, insurance is becoming a major issue. Underwriters are recalibrating risk models that now include political unpredictability. As Canaan Crouch of Jencap Specialty Insurance Services warns, “Higher insurance premiums add another cost burden to contractors and developers already grappling with reduced subsidies, higher tariffs and volatile demand.” That’s effectively redefining how projects are valued and bankrolled.

Insurers are tightening their terms in ways that directly reshape project economics. Premiums for utility-scale solar and offshore wind have climbed sharply over the past year, with underwriters increasingly carving out exclusions for mechanical failure and weather-related damage, according to Reuters. Industry brokers say some carriers have shortened policy durations from three years to one, forcing developers to renegotiate coverage annually at higher cost. In offshore wind, several European reinsurers have already reduced their U.S. exposure, leaving a smaller pool of carriers willing to underwrite billion-dollar projects and driving up rates for those that remain.

The disruption is being felt by the industry’s biggest players. Denmark’s Ørsted, once a clean-energy trailblazer, has approved a $9.4 billion emergency rights issue after its U.S. offshore wind projects, Sunrise Wind and Revolution Wind, hit policy roadblocks. Construction on Revolution Wind, almost 80% complete, was halted by a federal stop-work order citing national security concerns, prompting Ørsted to sue the Trump administration. Meanwhile, the company is burning millions weekly in holding costs, and S&P Global has already downgraded its credit rating though Equinor, a 10% shareholder, has pledged up to $941 million in support.

Nor is this limited to utility-scale clean energy. 

In residential solar, firms like Sunnova and Mosaic have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid uncertainty over tax credits and a decline in demand. Canary Media reported that Sunnova laid off over half its workforce (over 700 employees) before filing, citing untenable debt and market retrenchment. Mosaic, a major residential solar loan provider, also went bankrupt, pointing to macroeconomic headwinds and policy unpredictability. 

These are not small casualties. Analysts predict a 50-60% reduction in residential solar demand, risking over 250,000 jobs. As Ara Agopian, CEO of Solar Insure, put it, “There’s going to be a 50 to 60 percent downturn in demand. Many of them will shut their doors as they can’t stay in business without the tax credit.” The Financial Times noted that Guggenheim’s Joe Osha underscored the long-standing difficulties.

In Sunnova’s case, a July 31, 2025 court approval allowed the sale of substantially all assets to a creditor group highlighting how even bankruptcy is being managed to mitigate fallout for homeowners.

States are also feeling the heat, with Texas, once a renewable stronghold, seeing developers cancel or delay nearly $8 billion in projects, while BloombergNEF has tallied over $22 billion in clean energy development shelved nationally, costing more than 16,000 jobs.

Beyond wind and solar, OBBBA’s implications also extend to battery and hydrogen sectors. The law phases out credits for battery manufacturing and accelerates deadlines for hydrogen projects under Section 45V. Experts at the International Council on Clean Transportation estimate U.S. battery production could fall 75 percent short of expectations by 2030, cutting into the clean energy value chain.

Banks that once offered competitive terms on project loans are now widening spreads to reflect heightened policy risk, while credit rating agencies have flagged uncertainty over future cash flows as a trigger for downgrades. Institutional investors that fueled the tax-equity boom of the past decade are becoming more selective, in some cases pausing commitments entirely until the regulatory landscape stabilizes. The result is a much smaller pipeline of available capital and steeper financing costs for developers.

What’s emerging is a clarity that OBBBA’s biggest impact may be the erosion of the industry’s financial ecosystem. Insurance premiums are climbing. Lenders are retreating or demanding new risk-adjusted returns. Developers are cannibalizing capital just to stay afloat.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com