The researchers say that, regardless of the purpose and scenario of the mission, a reliable source of energy is needed for successful exploration of the Moon.

As the world pushes towards net-zero emissions targets, and away from the war-influenced roller coaster of fossil fuel prices, many countries – including Canada – are putting the nuclear option back on the table.

The awards announced today are provided through the DOE Office of Science’s Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE) program, which was established in 2019 to accelerate fusion energy development through public-private research partnerships.

The UAE government has also announced that it will invest US$30bn in South Korea’s nuclear power, defense, solar, and hydrogen industries. The investment will come from sovereign wealth funds, which include the UAE’s Mubadala Investment Company.

Brent fell 62 cents, or 0.7%, to $84.66 a barrel, WTI was down 51 cents, or 0.6%, at $79.35 a barrel.

The OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, on which Mazrouei sits, is co-chaired by Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.

With India becoming the largest buyer of Russian crude in late 2022 and China posting close to double-digit growth in Russian inflows over January-November, refiners in South Korea, Japan and Thailand are finding it easier to procure term and spot crude supplies from Middle Eastern producers,

Gas prices may have dropped, but are still almost double their five-year average for the time of year.

China's natural gas imports also fell, by 9.9% to 109.25 Mt in 2022 (121.26 Mt in 2021). LNG imports dropped by 19% to 64.13 Mt in 2022 (79.3 Mt in 2021). Similarly, China’s coal imports fell 9.2% to 293.2 Mt in 2022 (335 Mt in 2021).

Despite the adoption of the Versailles Declaration in March 2022, when leaders of the 27 EU member states pledged to phase out the EU’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels as soon as possible, imports of Russian LNG increased by 12% in 2022 compared to 2021.