Thursday, 16 July 2026

TotalEnergies SE has shipped the first LNG cargo from its Ensenada, Mexico venture with Sempra Infrastructure, sending it to Asia, according to Rigzone.

The French producer owns 16.6 percent of the project alongside operator Sempra Infrastructure, and its offtake runs to 1.7 million tonnes a year across 20 years once commercial operations begin, Rigzone reported. Through the ramp-up window, TotalEnergies takes all output while ECA LNG Phase 1 stays in commissioning, the company said.

Combined, TotalEnergies and Japan's Mitsui & Co Ltd have contracted 2.5 MMtpa for 20 years out of phase 1, a single-train plant rated at 3.25 MMtpa, according to Rigzone. The feedgas comes from United States supply out of the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, the company said.

When it enters commercial service, ECA LNG Phase 1 will be the first LNG liquefaction plant on Mexico's Pacific Coast, according to Rigzone. Substantial completion is expected in the summer of 2026, with the long-term sales agreements taking effect once the facility starts commercial operations.

A proposed second stage, ECA LNG Phase 2, would add two trains and one storage tank for roughly 12 Mtpa of export capacity, according to Rigzone.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) lowered its Brent spot price forecast to an average of $81.91 per barrel in 2026 and $64.76 per barrel in 2027 in its July short term energy outlook. The June outlook had put Brent at $95.39 per barrel in 2026 and $79.39 per barrel in 2027, well above the latest numbers.

The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz sits behind the revision. According to the EIA, the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on June 18 to end the conflict and reopen the strait, which had been effectively shut since February 28 when fighting began.

Daily Brent spot prices dropped below $70 per barrel on July 1, close to the level seen when the conflict started in late February, the EIA said.

Production shut-ins averaged 8.3 million barrels per day in June, down from a May peak of 11.2 million barrels per day, on the EIA's assessment.

The agency estimated that global oil inventories drew down by an average of 5.1 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2026, with a further draw of 2.2 million barrels per day expected in the third quarter.

That pattern reverses toward year end. Inventories are forecast to build by an average of 2.7 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2026 and 5.0 million barrels per day across 2027.

Eni North Ganal Limited has awarded SLB's OneSubsea joint venture a contract to supply a steel tube umbilical system for the Kutei North Hub deepwater development offshore East Kalimantan, Indonesia, according to World Oil.

The scope runs to engineering, procurement and manufacture of 94.6 km of steel tube umbilical rated for water depths reaching 2,200 m, World Oil reported. SLB put the total system weight at roughly 6,700 tonnes and described the award as a major umbilical contract.

The design carries a 10,000-psi operating pressure and covers a single continuous 30-km umbilical weighing about 2,100 tonnes, according to World Oil.

Eni North Ganal is held under Searah Limited, a joint venture linking Eni and PETRONAS.

Production will run across the company's Oscilay and planetary lines at the same time, an approach SLB OneSubsea said supports parallel manufacturing.

Mads Hjelmeland, chief executive of SLB OneSubsea, tied the award to the group's technical and manufacturing capabilities for deepwater work.

Qatar is delaying plans to increase liquefied natural gas (LNG) production after attacks on vessels near the Strait of Hormuz renewed concern about shipping through the waterway, according to Semafor Net Zero.

The fading prospect of a durable US-Iran ceasefire is prompting investors and energy companies to brace for prolonged instability in the Middle East, Semafor Net Zero reported.

Energy analysts warned that US oil stockpiles are far from prepared for a collapse of the ceasefire, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Energy Substantiation has issued a token called WTIC that each stand for a single barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude, according to Rigzone. The startup markets the token as claimed on physical oil holdings rather than futures or other derivatives, a departure from oil exchange-traded funds and crypto perpetuals.

WTIC carries an on-chain value near $80,000, Rigzone reported. Energy Substantiation plans to list the token on LMAX and add a further $1 million in liquidity.

The firm is coordinating with roughly a dozen commodities companies and oil suppliers, one of them a major trading house, said co-founder JP Thieriot, who added that talks with additional exchanges and market makers are underway.

Oil enters the system when suppliers bid barrels through a reverse Dutch auction, pricing them below the day's market rate, according to Rigzone.

Token holders can cash out at the daily spot closing price, though Energy Substantiation anticipates few buyers will call for actual barrels of crude.

Tokenized WTI and Brent perpetual futures now rank as the two busiest commodity products on Hyperliquid, according to Rigzone.

The IEA committed $900 million in fresh funding for clean cooking across Africa, building on the $2.2 billion pledged at the inaugural Africa Clean Cooking Summit in Paris in 2024, Climate Home News reported.

Executive director Fatih Birol told the gathering that 3.4 billion people worldwide, the majority in Africa, lack access to affordable LPG amid the current supply crisis. He said fuel reserves in many countries have dropped below 15 days.

Roughly 30% of global seaborne LPG trade moves through the shipping route off the coast of Iran, Climate Home News reported.

Of the earlier pledges, about $750 million has already reached recipients in 22 African countries.

Clean cooking access in sub-Saharan Africa extended to nearly 12 million people in 2024. Population growth kept outpacing that gain, with the count of people still relying on more polluting fuels climbing by roughly 14 million last year.

Kenyan President William Ruto identified financing as the central obstacle, saying Kenya alone needs about $1 billion to meet its clean cooking targets.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright pointed to the United States as the largest producer and exporter of LPG, and said the Trump administration now ranks wider access to clean cooking fuels as its top international energy priority.

Israel Natural Gas Lines has finished expanding the pipeline network that carries Israeli gas into Egypt, Rigzone reported.

The upgrade lays a 46-kilometer subsea segment between Ashdod and Ashkelon, pushing East Mediterranean Gas Pipeline capacity to about 850 MMcfd, or roughly 8.5 Bcm per year.

That added throughput lets the Leviathan gas and condensate field ship up to approximately 6.5 Bcm per year to Egypt, according to Rigzone. The field already sends about 2 Bcm per year to Egypt through the Jordan North export pipeline.

The amended export deal steps up in increments. Its first tranche lifts flows from 450 MMcfd, about 4.7 Bcm per year, to 650 MMcfd, about 6.7 Bcm per year, Rigzone reported.

The pipeline work sits alongside a $2.36-billion final investment decision at Leviathan. NewMed Energy said on January 16, 2026, that the consortium had agreed the FID for stage 1 of Phase 1B, according to Rigzone. That stage targets production capacity near 21 Bcm per year and is due onstream in the second half of 2029.

Ownership of the field splits between NewMed Energy at 45.34 percent, operator Chevron at 39.66 percent through Chevron Mediterranean Ltd, and Ratio Energies LP at 15 percent, Rigzone reported.

Petrobras has completed the acquisition of a 75% interest and operatorship in Block 3 offshore São Tomé and Príncipe, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital. The purchase expands the Brazilian state-controlled company's exploration portfolio in Africa.

Following completion, the Block 3 consortium consists of Petrobras as operator with 75%, Oranto with 15%, and the National Petroleum Agency of São Tomé and Príncipe with 10%, per Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Petrobras had previously disclosed the transaction on April 17, 2026, according to the same outlet. Oranto sold its 75% interest to Petrobras while retaining a 15% share in the block.

Petrobras said the deal aligns with its strategy of replenishing oil and gas reserves by exploring new frontiers in Brazil and abroad, as set out in its Business Plan.

Chevron Corp has signed an agreement to supply 46 petajoules of natural gas to Alinta Energy Pty Ltd over five years, according to Rigzone. Supply to the Perth-based utility, sourced from Chevron's Western Australian projects, will start July 2027, a joint statement said Wednesday.

The deal continues a supply relationship that began in 2020, when Chevron executed a seven-year agreement to supply 20 petajoules per year of Western Australian gas to Alinta, Rigzone reported. That earlier arrangement drew on the Wheatstone project.

The new agreement expands sourcing to include production from the Gorgon and North West Shelf projects alongside Wheatstone, according to Rigzone. Gorgon and Wheatstone together provide approximately 40 percent of Western Australia's domestic gas supply, Chevron Australia president Balaji Krishnamurthy said.

The Wheatstone project includes a two-train liquefied natural gas facility with a capacity of 8.9 million metric tons per annum and a domestic gas plant that delivers up to 230 terajoules per day, Rigzone reported. Gorgon has three liquefaction trains with a combined capacity of 15.6 million metric tons per annum and a domestic gas plant that supplies up to 300 terajoules a day.

Alinta and LNG Japan Corp announced a separate deal earlier this week under which Alinta committed to buying 30 petajoules of gas from the Scarborough field offshore Western Australia, according to Rigzone.