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UAE to accelerate second West-East pipeline, bypassing Strait

Finance News — Sat, 16 May 2026 00:59:45 +0000

Abu Dhabi is accelerating construction of the new West-East pipeline to Fujairah as it looks to expand its oil export capacity and bypass the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint.

The project, expected to come online in 2027, will double the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s (ADNOC) export capacity.

The second pipeline project comes as global energy supplies remain under pressure, flows through the Strait of Hormuz are severely limited, and repeated attacks on energy infrastructure and shipping have curtailed the UAE’s ability to restore normal output.

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Friday called for faster delivery of the pipeline to meet rising global energy demand.

ADNOC is “well positioned as a responsible and reliable global energy producer, with the operational flexibility to responsibly increase production to meet market needs when export constraints allow,” the Crown Prince said during a meeting of the company’s executive committee.

The Emirates announced earlier this month it would depart the producer group OPEC, of which it was a member since 1967, before the UAE was even founded. The UAE has been investing heavily via ADNOC to increase its production capacity.

Before the war, the UAE was producing just over 3 million barrels a day — broadly in line with OPEC+ targets. Abu Dhabi has targeted a capacity to produce 4.9 million BPD. Now, due to the war, the UAE is producing between 1.8 and 2.1 million barrels per day.

The Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (Adcop) — also known as the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline — is the only existing pipeline through which the UAE can export its oil and diverge from the Strait of Hormuz. It can carry up to 1.8 million barrels.

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China’s self-driving truck leaders say AI breakthroughs won’t accelerate

Finance News — Sat, 02 May 2026 05:20:02 +0000

The steering wheel on an Inceptio Technology autonomous truck in Jinan, Shandong Province, China, on Thursday, April 18, 2024.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

BEIJING — While AI updates make headlines every few weeks, those advances are not enough to get self-driving vehicles on the road more quickly.

That’s according to Chinese autonomous trucking companies, who say that improvements in large language model, from Anthropic’s Claude to China’s DeepSeek, have little impact on the timeline for vehicle deployment.

“The world’s best linguistics [expert] doesn’t mean he’s a good driver,” Pony.ai CEO James Peng told reporters last week. “AI is a very broad term. They’re completely different things. Absolutely … zero relevance.”

“When we process language, when we play sports, when we drive we all use different skills,” he said.

Autonomous driving uses artificial intelligence to imitate a human driver with a combination of sensors, chips and algorithms. But the real-world training data needed is very different from what powers large language models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, requiring what’s called world models.

Inceptio, a self-driving truck startup, is still sticking to its timeline for a mid-2028 commercialization milestone, unaffected by the broad advances in AI, CEO Julian Ma told CNBC.

By the third or fourth quarter of 2028, he expects Inceptio will have racked up 5 billion kilometers (3.1 billion miles) of truck driving data in China — enough to allow fully autonomous heavy-duty trucks to ply public roads.

With 5 billion kilometers in collected driving data, AI can extrapolate that into 50 billion km of experience in a world model — which is then sufficient to allow a heavy-duty truck to drive completely on its own, Ma said. He expects the trucks can then start operating without any humans inside in certain parts of the country.

Achieving that goal in about two years is already quite fast, he said, noting that in order for driverless trucks to become a widespread reality, they will need partnerships with manufacturers and regulatory approval — in addition to the tech.

Autonomous vehicles rely heavily on data about driving on roads. Just like robotaxi companies, self-driving truck operators run manned tests in order to gather training data safely.

Inceptio has by far recorded the most commercial autonomous truck miles in the industry, exceeding U.S. rivals, according to ARK Invest’s Big Ideas 2026 report in January. At the time, the company had driven 250 million miles — exponentially more than fellow Chinese autonomous driving company Pony.ai, which held second place at 4.2 million miles.

U.S.-based rivals Aurora, Kodiak and Gatik rounded out the top five, with a combined 8.9 million miles, according to the report.

Inceptio’s Ma said in late April the company’s trucks had driven 700 million kilometers (434.96 million miles), and aimed for 1 billion kilometers (621.4 million miles) by the end of the year. He said the company can use…

How AI could accelerate energy transition

Finance News — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 06:20:04 +0000

Stalled demand for energy in Europe pushed investors away from renewables, but artificial intelligence could see cash flow back into the sector, while also uplifting fossil fuels.

Global electricity generation from renewables is expected to jump by 60% in 2030, accounting for 45% of total electricity output, per the International Energy Agency. Almost 50% of European power came from renewables in 2024, and the region has a strong pipeline of solar and on- and offshore wind waiting to be connected to the grid.

“The problem we have now is integrating all of that variable supply into our power markets,” Peter Osbaldstone, research director for European power and renewables at Wood Mackenzie, told CNBC.

Pressure on integration results in pressure on prices, “which undermines the economics of investments, which makes the whole process of supporting a decarbonized power mix more difficult, more expensive for governments to bear,” he said.

As AI-driven power demand grows, market watchers are eyeing fossil fuels to beat the energy bottleneck. The IEA revised its 2025-2030 growth forecast for renewables downward by 5% compared to 2024, reflecting the changing sentiment and policy, largely from the U.S.

Redeploying fossil fuel energy is a “short‑term crutch” that helps the AI roll-out get going, but “renewable energy is the only way to win in the long term,” Agate Freimane, partner at venture capital firm Norrsken, told CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” on Jan. 8.

“China and the U.S. have both acknowledged the need for vast energy resources to power an AI future, and this is reflected in the adoption of renewables. Taking the global view — renewable energy prices have dropped by more than 90%, and in 2024, 91% of new renewable projects were cheaper than fossil alternatives,” Freimane said in a follow-up email.

“This shift triggers a self-reinforcing cycle: cheaper clean power accelerates electrification, rising electrification boosts demand for storage and grid intelligence, and those upgrades push the cost of clean energy even lower. In this way, it can be argued that AI is accelerating the shift to renewables,” she added.

Dealing with intermittency

For Alberto Faraco, a senior analyst who covers infrastructure at Morningstar DBRS, intermittency is still a fundamental issue with renewables. Investment needs to be made across the whole system — not just the energy-generating side, he told CNBC.

“Data centers should help the development of renewables, because that should push the price of electricity up, but transmission would need to be developed, battery storage would need to be developed,” he said, adding that renewables alone will not be enough to serve the stable needs of the data centers.

“Gas for the time being would be impossible to phase out,” said Faraco.

Nuclear energy is touted as a steady baseload option for renewables, but that doesn’t account for volatility in their supply and demand. Nuclear can’t be switched on and off when it’s…

What Cramer says Nike must do to accelerate its turnaround and boost its

Finance News — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 15:42:05 +0000

Successful Capital Raising to Accelerate Exploration at the High Grade

Finance News — Fri, 02 May 2025 06:30:22 +0000

Advance Metals Limited (“Advance” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce the successful completion of a capital raising initiative to fully fund a follow-up exploration program at the Myrtleford Project in Victoria. The Company has secured firm commitments to raise $2.55 million (before costs) through a single-tranche Placement to institutional and sophisticated investors. Evolution Capital acted as Lead Manager for the raising, with significant backing from key existing AVM shareholders.

The raising follows recent exceptional gold results from the Company’s maiden drilling program at Happy Valley, including an intersection of 7.5 metres at 47.Gg/t gold in AMD003 (see ASX AVM 17 April 2025). Further assay results are currently pending for the fourth hole completed at Happy Valley, along with two additional holes now completed in the Twist Creek area to the north. The placement will also support upcoming exploration at the Company’s high grade projects in Mexico, with a maiden drilling program set to commence in the coming week at the Yoquivo Silver-Gold Project in Chihuahua.

Placement details:

Total funds raised: $2.55 million
Placement price: $0.050 per share
Total new shares to be issued: 51,000,000 under Listing Rule 7.1 and 7.1A
Attaching options: 1-for-3 listed options (AVMO), exercisable at $0.05 per option and expiring on 31 May 2029, subject to shareholder approval
The issue price of $0.050 per new share represents a:
- 10.7% discount to the last closing price of $0.056 per share
- 2.5% discount to the 15-day VWAP of $0.0513
Share issue date: Shares will be issued indicatively on Thursday 8th May 2025
Advance’s Managing Director Dr Adam McKinnon will also subscribe for $25,000 of shares as a part of the placement, subject to shareholder approval

Placement structure:

All shares will be issued in a single tranche using AVM’s existing placement capacity, comprising 30,000,000 Shares under ASX Listing Rule 7.1 and 21,000,000 Shares under Listing Rule 7.1A.
The Placement shares will be cleansed via a cleansing prospectus to facilitate secondary trading
All attaching options and the share issue to the Managing Director will be subject to shareholder approval

Use of funds

Follow-up diamond drilling at the Happy Valley Prospect and further regional exploration and target generation across the Myrtleford and Beaufort Projects in Victoria
Support and extension of the Company’s planned programs in Mexico, including the maiden drilling at the Yoquivo Silver-Gold Project set to commence in the coming week
General working capital

Fees

The Placement was led by Evolution Capital who will receive a fee of up to 6% for funds raised as a part of the placement
Evolution Capital will also be entitled to 3.5 million AVMO options, subject to shareholder approval

Commenting on the Placement, Managing Director Dr Adam McKinnon said:

“We welcome new institutional and sophisticated investors to AVM and acknowledge the ongoing support of existing shareholders,…

RLF Secures Short Term Funding to Accelerate its Sales Expansion

Finance News — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 06:05:08 +0000

RLF AgTech Ltd (ASX: RLF) (RLF or the Company) is pleased to advise that it has successfully completed a placement of 7,000 unsecured convertible notes (Notes) to a group of institutional, professional, and sophisticated investors, raising total proceeds of $700,000.

Key Highlights

$700,000 raised through the issue of 7,000 unsecured Convertible Notes at a face value of $100 per Note Conversion price set at $0.06 per RLF share.
Funding supports increased working capital expansion of Australian sales team and marketing as well as new application equipment for LiquaForce
Funding also supports increased inventory requirements for the China business
Matures on 30 September 2025 with the Company reserving the right to redeem earlier.

The funds raised will be used to support the Company’s near-term operational priorities across both domestic and international markets, with a primary focus on inventory requirements for the upcoming March—July sales period. This short-term funding ensures the Company is well-positioned to meet current demand, with the capital typically returned by July or August in line with seasonal trading cycles.

In Australia, the Company has secured a greater number of distribution or supply agreements than initially forecast. The recent agreements have resulted in a national distribution reach that have over 500 locations. To support these agreements, the Company is investing in the deployment of sales and technical personnel, the development of marketing and agronomic support materials, and the delivery of comprehensive product training.

In China, stronger-than-anticipated sales have accelerated inventory requirements for the upcoming March—July sales period. This short-term funding enables the Company to meet this demand.

A portion of the proceeds will also be directed toward capital expenditure within the RLF LiquaForce business. Specifically, funds will be used to acquire variable rate liquid fertiliser application machinery. This equipment is expected to enhance application efficiency, reduce cost differentials compared to granular fertiliser systems, and strengthen LiquaForce’s competitive position in key Queensland markets.

Click here for the full ASX Release

This article includes content from RLF AgTech, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.

Asra Completes $3M Placement to Accelerate Leonora Drilling

Finance News — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 00:01:15 +0000

USA News Group News Commentary Since March, the ongoing gold rally has been attracting investors back to mining stocks . As the precious metal reaches record highs, mining stocks have been rising too, defying markets that outside the metal have undergoing turbulence caused by the “Trump Blink” on tariffs . Several miners from juniors to majors have been reporting important progress that’s been capturing the market’s attention such as Rua Gold Inc. (TSXV: RUA) (OTCQB: NZAUF), Collective Mining Ltd. (NYSE-American: CNL) (TSX: CNL), Sandstorm Gold Ltd. (NYSE: SAND) (TSX: SSL), New Found Gold Corp. (NYSE-American: NFGC) (TSXV: NFG), and Meridian Mining UK Societas (TSX: MNO) (OTCQX: MRRDF).

The article continued: After gold prices soared past $3,200 this month, analysts at UBS and Deutsch Bank have increased their projections for the precious metal to $3,500 and $3,700 respectively. As macroeconomic risks continue to rise, strategists are highlighting how gold prices have gone parabolic , and how to prepare for what’s next.

Rua Gold reports improving gold grades with depth on the Reefton Project’s Auld Creek gold-antimony project

Rua Gold Inc. (TSXV: RUA) (OTCQB: NZAUF) , today announced an update to its gold-antimony exploration on its Auld Creek project, Reefton on the South Island of New Zealand ; reporting improving gold grades from current drilling in diamond drillholes ACDDH026, ACDDH027, ACDDH028.

Highlights:

Following up on the last high-grade results from the Company, the next holes intersected broader zones of gold in hole ACDDH027 and narrow but strong gold-stibnite (antimony sulphide) mineralization in ACDDH028.
Assay results show:
o ACDDH026: 2.1m @ 1.25g/t Au from 175m depth
o ACDDH027: 9m @ 5.9g/t AuEq ^* (5.2g/t Au & 0.16% Sb) from 159m depth
o ACDDH028: 1.25m @ 48.3g/t AuEq ^* (13.3g/t Au & 8.1% Sb) from 210m depth
ACDD024,025 confirmed higher grade antimony mineralisation on the Fraternal shoot, the recent drilling ACDDH27,28 indicates an improvement in gold grade with depth.
The gold grades on the Fraternal shoot plunge to the south, current drilling is testing 80- 100m below the current resource envelope, before pivoting to testing the northerly extensions of the Fraternal ore body.
Auld Creek has an inferred resource hosted by two ore shoots, Bonanza and Fraternal. This resource outcrops at surface and is continuous to 160m vertically and open at depth.

Gold equivalent (AuEq) calculated as Au g/t + 4.3 × Sb%, using spot prices and 85% recovery with ~30% discount applied.

Surface soil geochemistry strongly endorses extensions to the Fraternal north prospect and Bonanza northeast prospect, confirming the system is traceable over a 2.5km length.

“It is encouraging to see an improvement in gold grades with depth on the Fraternal lode, and the continuation of high-grade antimony accompanying the gold in narrow plunging shoots,” said Robert Eckford , CEO of Rua Gold . “Drilling…