Author: Merrel Briona

Rift Helium (RIFT ) has commenced a programme of 3D seismic data acquisition at its Upepo project in Tanzania. 

The programme is designed to identify and rank potential helium traps ahead of exploration drilling in the first half of 2027.

Rift is planning approximately 90 square kilometres of 3D seismic coverage, increasing the area envisaged at IPO by approximately 83% for an 18% increase in the survey budget. 

The company has deliberately expanded the programme to gain a more comprehensive understanding of Upepo’s subsurface structures, improve target ranking and make better-informed drilling decisions.

The Rukwa Basin, in which Upepo lies, already boasts a demonstrated working helium system. New imaging will help assess structural closures and faults that may influence whether helium is trapped.

The survey will thus build on the five existing exploration leads, helping Rift rank targets and refine well locations before drilling.

Rift’s existing mid-case (P50) prospective helium resource estimate is approximately 19 billion cubic feet of helium. The data now being acquired are expected to support an updated independent resource assessment targeted for the first quarter of 2027.

“It is exciting to see our team acquiring 3D seismic data at Upepo.” Said Charles FitzRoy, chief executive of Rift Helium.

“This marks an important step in Rift’s exploration strategy, as we gather the information needed to better understand where helium may have accumulated and refine our drilling targets ahead of our planned exploration programme in the first half of next year. The Rukwa Basin has already demonstrated a working helium system. The critical question for Rift is where helium may have been trapped in commercially meaningful volumes. Our expanded survey is designed to give us a clearer picture of those structures, rank our strongest leads and focus drilling capital where the geological case is most compelling. We have made a deliberate decision to invest more in seismic because we believe the additional geological understanding will improve the quality of our drilling decisions. That is central to our approach at Rift: investing in the right information before committing capital to exploration wells.”

 View from Vox

The company remains on schedule for its two-well exploration programme commencing in the first half of 2027, with no change to the timetable. But this seismic programme is a crucial prelude to that and will provide a meaningful guide as to what’s likely to follow. So far Rift has been keeping to schedule, and progress has been good. 

TOKYO – Nintendo sold 5.2 million copies of its The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake in just four days, invigorating the Switch 2 platform that had been waiting for a blockbuster hit.

Released on Nov 5 for US$59.99 (S$77), the 2026 edition is a complete recreation of the 1998 classic action-adventure game for the Nintendo 64 console, replete with new graphics, level and character designs.

It ranks among the best-reviewed video games of recent times, earning a score of 96 out of 100 from both players and professional reviewers on aggregator Metacritic.

The Switch 2 console has had an uneven first year on the market, challenged by the rising cost of memory pushing hardware prices up.

The fast start by the new Ocarina Of Time takes the Zelda game past the cumulative sales of Donkey Kong Bananza, another popular title from 2025. Only Mario Kart World, which was part of a launch bundle with the Switch 2 console, has sold more units so far.

The first Switch, released in 2017, got a huge boost from having The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild as a launch-day title that helped draw in gamers from outside the Nintendo ecosystem.

Though a remake, the new Ocarina of Time may have a similar effect as Nintendo heads into the crucial holiday season. BLOOMBERG

Recently, a video circulating online shows a Waymo driverless taxi attempting to evade a police car on a highway. The incident actually occurred in May 2026 in San Francisco, USA.

That day, passenger Elliot Slade and his fiancée hailed a Waymo driverless vehicle through the platform, planning to travel from San Mateo back to their home in the Mission District. The highway section where the incident occurred was undergoing construction, and the California Highway Patrol was conducting a traffic control operation by pacing vehicles at reduced speed, with a patrol car ahead slowing traffic and guiding civilian vehicles to queue up at lower speeds. Other vehicles in the traffic flow slowed down in line, but the Waymo did not stop to queue—it activated its turn signal and attempted to maneuver around the patrol car to continue forward. After entering the construction-only lane, the vehicle continued to accelerate for approximately 20 seconds. Eventually, the vehicle exited the highway and came to a stop in a residential area. The passengers connected with Waymo back-office staff by phone, and Slade stated he demanded to get out immediately and refused to continue the trip.

After the incident, Waymo responded that it had temporarily suspended highway Robotaxi operations in four cities—San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Miami—and that the team would update and recalibrate the vehicle software based on this incident, with highway routes to be restored after further evaluation. Waymo subsequently provided Slade with 3 ride vouchers, each worth up to $40. Slade said he most likely would not use them, would no longer ride in driverless taxis that require highway travel, and stated that unless an independent investigation is completed and full data is made public, it would be difficult for him to trust autonomous vehicles again.