Sunday, 12 July 2026

Eni and Mercuria have signed an agreement to merge their main trading books for oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and biofuels under a new entity based in Geneva, according to statements reported by World Oil on Wednesday.

The two firms expect the joint venture to be operational in 2027, with equal representation at the senior managerial level, according to a spokesperson for Eni cited by World Oil. The same spokesperson said Eni does not currently expect refinery assets to form part of the venture.

"This partnership brings together two highly complementary organizations," Mercuria Chief Executive Officer Marco Dunand said.

Mercuria's first-half profit jumped 88%, putting the firm on track for one of its best-ever annual results, according to World Oil. The company also committed USD 1.2 billion to help finance the buyout of a copper mining company in Kazakhstan.

Genel Energy PLC has agreed to acquire Capricorn Energy PLC for an expected price of $360 million, or GBP 271 million, expanding into Egypt, according to Rigzone.

Under the agreement disclosed in regulatory filings, each shareholder of London-listed Capricorn is entitled to $4.74 in cash plus a special dividend of $0.99 per share, the companies said.

The combined business would hold pro-forma 2P reserves of 117 mmboe and production of 41,003 bopd based on the combined December 2025 exit rate, split evenly between Kurdistan and Egypt, according to Rigzone.

A consolidated Egyptian license allowed Capricorn to book an additional 20.2 MMboe in 2P reserves, according to Rigzone.

Genel derives its production from the Kurdistan region of Iraq and holds exploration licenses in Oman and Somaliland, according to Rigzone.

Genel held $222 million in cash at the end of the first quarter, with total debt of $92 million and net cash of $131 million, the company said in its quarterly report dated May 7.

Gulf sovereign wealth funds invested USD 53.9 billion across 108 transactions in the first half of 2026, an all-time high, according to data compiled by Global SWF.

Abu Dhabi's Mubadala led the field, deploying USD 15.2 billion so far this year to rank as the world's most active sovereign fund in the first half, Global SWF said.

Half of the world's largest deals this year involved Gulf sovereign capital, according to Global SWF. China was a distant second as a destination, receiving 17% of Gulf investments.

ADNOC's XRG has closed a deal for an extra 7.6% equity interest in Trains 4 and 5 of the Rio Grande LNG project, buying the holding from an acquisition vehicle of Global Infrastructure Partners, part of BlackRock, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The purchase raises XRG's total participation in the NextDecade-operated project. XRG already held an indirect 11.7% stake in Phase 1, which covers Trains 1, 2 and 3, acquired in its initial investment through Global Infrastructure Partners.

All customary regulatory approvals cleared the transaction, including sign-off from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

XRG expects Trains 4 and 5 to deliver combined LNG production capacity of about 12 million tonnes per annum.

Across its five trains, Rio Grande LNG has roughly 30 million tonnes per annum of liquefaction capacity under construction. First gas into the facility is expected in the second half of 2026, with production starting in the first half of 2027.

Mohamed Al Aryani, President of XRG's International Gas business, said the project connects U.S. gas supply with international demand.

Shell agreed to hand its 50% stake in its only non-operated Gulf of America platform, along with the linked fields, and its full 100% holding in the Coulomb tieback, to Ridgewood Energy and Talos Energy in a USD 1.7 billion deal, Rigzone reported.

The platform in question, the Na Kika semisubmersible, is run by BP under a matching 50% interest. It fed 37,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day into Shell's output during 2025, Rigzone reported.

At the close of 2025, Na Kika held 4.3 million boe of Shell's proven reserves, and Coulomb carried 7.2 million boe, according to Rigzone. Shell's own modeling shows neither asset supplying meaningful volumes by 2030.

Clearing the sale of Na Kika and its four tied fields, named Ariel, Fourier, Herschel and Kepler, depends on BP declining its option to buy the stake it does not currently hold, Rigzone reported.

Shell upstream president Peter Costello framed the move around portfolio positioning, calling the Gulf of America "one of our highest-value basins" and pointing to work aimed at keeping the upstream business "resilient and increasingly competitive".

Separately, Shell closed the transfer of Jiffy Lube International to Monomoy Capital Partners for USD 1.3 billion, according to Rigzone.

Both disposals feed a structural cost reduction target Shell set last year, ranging from USD 5 billion to USD 7 billion, to be delivered by 2028 measured against 2022.