European Union countries are negotiating changes to the bloc’s gas storage regulations that could loosen this year’s winter fuel obligations—if the new rules are finalised in time. The ongoing talks focus on reforming the bloc’s gas storage targets for 2026 and 2027.

A key change under discussion is replacing the current binding requirement to fill gas storage sites to 90% by November 1 with a more flexible timeframe—allowing countries to reach the 90% level at any point between October 1 and December 1. While this shift is intended for future years, EU diplomats say the revised schedule could also apply in 2025, provided the new law is finalised and published in the EU’s official journal before November 1 of this year.

The G7 is about to formalize a playbook it has been testing piecemeal for two years: use coordinated offtakes, price floors, and public stockpiles to pull critical minerals projects over the investment line and blunt Beijing’s ability to whipsaw markets. Energy ministers in Toronto are set to unveil a production alliance that turns June’s leaders’ “action plan” into a funding and procurement machine.

G7 governments and aligned buyers would pre-commit to buy slices of mine output at pre-agreed terms, stand up buffer stocks, and, where needed, stabilize prices so Western projects aren’t killed by a flood-then-choke cycle of Chinese supply and export controls. It’s an overt shift from exhortation to execution.

Norwegian energy company Equinor, along with its partners, is set to inaugurate the world’s largest floating offshore wind power farm, named Hywind Tampen. The wind farm, located in the North Sea about 140 kilometers off Norway’s west coast, began producing power in November the previous year and recently reached full output. The 88-megawatt capacity of Hywind Tampen will supply about 35% of the annual power demand for five oil and gas platforms at the Snorre and Gullfaks fields, operated by Equinor and its partners.