Saturday, 11 July 2026

SBM Offshore closed USD 465 million in project financing for FSO Chalchi, a storage and offloading vessel destined for Woodside Energy's Trion deepwater project off Mexico, World Oil reported.

The vessel is now under construction and will serve Woodside Petróleo Operaciones de México under lease and operate contracts running 20 years. Its design targets water depths near 2,500 m, with a storage capacity of roughly 950,000 bbl of crude oil.

Trion sits about 180 km off the Mexican coast and 30 km south of the U.S.-Mexico maritime border, where the FSO will be stationed, according to World Oil. Woodside runs the field with a 60% stake, while Pemex holds the remaining 40%.

A consortium of international banks and institutional investors put up the money, backed in part by insurance from China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation.

Douglas Wood, chief financial officer of SBM Offshore, called it the company's "first transaction combining commercial banks, institutional investors and support from an export credit agency".

Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has hired SLB for seven years under its Ahmadi Innovation Valley (AIV) initiative, a deal aimed at putting advanced technologies to work across Kuwait's upstream oil and gas sector, according to World Oil.

The two companies will jointly run close to 100 technology projects during the term, World Oil reported. The work is weighted toward artificial intelligence (AI) and production optimization, alongside industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications, reservoir technologies, water management and energy transition initiatives.

SLB will build a dedicated Ahmadi Innovation Valley facility inside Kuwait to house the effort. Construction should start this year, and the center is set to open in 2028, according to World Oil.

SLB and KOC have worked together for more than 85 years, World Oil reported.

SLB chief executive Olivier Le Peuch framed the task as one of scale rather than invention. "The challenge is deploying it at scale and turning innovation into operational impact," he said.

President Donald J. Trump ordered U.S. gasoline retailers to cut their prices immediately in a statement posted on his Truth Social page, according to Rigzone. He told retailers to start targeting around USD 2.50 a gallon and warned that big problems lie ahead if they do not comply.

The demand sits well above current pump levels. AAA data showed the average price of regular gasoline in the U.S. at USD 3.8470 per gallon on July 1, according to Rigzone. GasBuddy put the national average at USD 3.78 per gallon, down 6.9 cents over the past week and the lowest since mid-March.

GasBuddy reported that average gasoline prices fell in 46 states over the last week, while diesel declined in 49. Colorado recorded the biggest weekly reduction at 20.4 cents, followed by Washington at 19.4 cents and Oregon at 18.4 cents, according to GasBuddy.

Retailers control only a thin slice of the pump price. NACS said about 90 percent of the cost of a gallon of gas is determined before the retailer takes possession of the fuel. After expenses, especially credit card fees, retailers typically make about five percent profit before taxes on the fuel they sell, according to NACS.

DOF Group has secured a subsea construction and mooring services contract from TotalEnergies for the floating storage and offloading (FSO) Unity Replacement Project, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The company classifies the award as a large contract, with a value between USD 50 million and USD 100 million, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

The scope covers engineering, transportation and installation of mooring systems along with subsea construction work, according to the same report. That work includes disconnecting the existing FSO unit and connecting its replacement.

DOF said the project will use four vessels for a combined total of about 330 vessel days, per Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Project management and engineering will begin immediately from DOF's offices in Aberdeen, Scotland, and Bergen, Norway, the report said. Offshore operations are scheduled for Q4 2027 and Q1 2028.

Global liquefied natural gas (LNG) traded volumes this year could still reach last year's level despite the Middle East war, according to Shell PLC, provided shipping through the Strait of Hormuz normalizes this summer.

Disruption to Strait of Hormuz shipping has shut in about one fifth of the world's monthly LNG supply since the conflict began, Shell said, pushing up spot-market prices and hitting some countries in Asia. At the peak of the crisis, Asian LNG spot prices rose to over USD 20 per MMBtu, according to the company.

Long-term supply agreements account for about two-thirds of total LNG trade, which tempered the price move for many buyers. The average price buyers paid in May was about USD 11-12 per MMBtu, compared with USD 7-11 in January before the conflict began, Shell said.

Shell expects the trade in LNG to return to growth next year, moving toward nearly 700 million metric tons a year by 2050. About 180 million tonnes of new annual supply is forecast to enter the market by 2030, improving the availability and affordability of gas and opening demand in new markets, the company said.

Shell's own LNG sales rose 11% to 72.9 million metric tons last year, according to the company's annual report, with liquefaction volumes of 28.4 million metric tons.

The company forecasts LNG bunkering will grow seven-fold to 27 million tonnes by 2035.

Oil and gas executives lifted their year-end WTI crude forecast to an average of $80.55 per barrel in the second quarter 2026 Dallas Fed Energy Survey, based on responses from 124 firms, according to Rigzone.

That marks a rise from the first quarter survey, when executives from 131 firms gave an average year-end forecast of $74.04 per barrel, Rigzone reported. The estimate has climbed further from the fourth quarter 2025 survey, in which 128 firms projected an average end-of-2026 price of $62.41 per barrel.

Longer-dated forecasts point to a softer path. Executives from 107 firms gave a mean WTI forecast of $83 per barrel at the six-month mark, $78 per barrel at both the one-year and two-year marks, and $82 per barrel at the five-year mark, according to Rigzone.

The survey also probed how conflict could move prices. About two-thirds of respondents said WTI would peak at $125 per barrel or less if the military conflict in Iran continues through year-end, Rigzone reported.

Across scenarios of $100, $125 and $150 per barrel, executives most frequently selected U.S. crude oil production growth of more than 0.25 but not more than 0.50 million barrels per day for next year.

Saudi Aramco has placed at least 6 million barrels of crude on the spot market, loading three supertankers headed for South Korea, Japan and China, traders told Rigzone.

That channel sits outside Saudi Arabia's usual playbook, which relies on long-term contracts to move its supplies, according to Rigzone.

Gulf crude exports have climbed back to at least 75% of their pre-conflict volume after loadings resumed at Ras Tanura, Rigzone reported.

The recovery in shipments coincided with Brent futures falling to $72 a barrel, according to Rigzone.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. has ranked among the region's busiest spot sellers, moving tens of millions of barrels through tenders, Rigzone reported.

Russia is starting to import gasoline from India, according to Reuters, a move Semafor Net Zero describes as a sign of the severity of Moscow's fuel shortages.

The direction of trade reverses an earlier arrangement. Earlier this year, India turned to Russia to mitigate a disruption to oil supplies caused by the Iran war, according to Semafor Net Zero.

Russian President Vladimir Putin this week acknowledged that Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries had triggered the shortages, while downplaying the severity of the crisis, according to Semafor Net Zero.

The strain is visible at the pump. Lines are growing at gas stations across Russia, with average people grumbling and suffering, according to RFE/RL.

A commentary published on July 2, 2026 argues that Darwin residents' concerns about toxic gas export emissions are supported by science, according to RenewEconomy.

The piece, written by Melissa Haswell and Kerrie Mengersen, states that residents want answers on the emissions tied to gas exports.

The Ichthys LNG onshore process facilities sit at Bladin Point in Darwin, according to RenewEconomy.