Wednesday, 19 August 2026

Helmerich & Payne drilled 15.85 million ft of total measured depth across 776 wells, ranking as the most active U.S. land drilling contractor, according to Enverus first-quarter 2026 data.

On the operator side of the same Enverus ranking, ExxonMobil came first with 5.44 million ft drilled across 229 wells in the first quarter. That places the operator leader at roughly a third of the footage recorded by the top contractor, whose totals span work for multiple customers.

Enverus also reported that active U.S. rigs averaged 637.6 during the week ended July 31, 2026, a 13% increase from a year earlier.

President Irfaan Ali has put Guyana's share of crude output from the ExxonMobil-led Stabroek project at 39.8%, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

That share began at 12.5%. The move to 39.8% was announced by Ali.

The higher take follows cost recovery on the project by the Exxon-led consortium, Ali told journalists. He said the change is expected to increase the country's oil revenue.

Recovery ran ahead of the original schedule. Exxon's Chief Financial Officer put the recouped investment at USD 55 billion since 2014, reached roughly two years earlier than planned as the Stabroek block was developed quickly, in remarks reported for July by Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

IEA member countries released 26 million barrels from emergency stocks in July, lifting cumulative releases to 300 million barrels since the agency announced a coordinated 400-million-barrel action on March 11, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

The monthly pace has fallen sharply. Government stock draws averaged 750,000 b/d in July, against 1.5 million b/d in June and 2.5 million b/d in May, Oil & Gas Journal reported.

Asia Oceania members accounted for 4 million barrels of the July total, down from 8 million barrels in June and 44 million barrels in May, the same report said.

US Strategic Petroleum Reserve withdrawals came to 17 million barrels in July, roughly half the volume released in June, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

More than 100 million barrels of the volumes committed under the 400-million-barrel coordinated action have still not reached the market, the report said.

Commercial and government stocks are drawing down together. Global observed oil inventories fell by 69 million barrels in July, equivalent to 2.2 million b/d, with oil on water accounting for more than 90% of the decline, per Oil & Gas Journal.

That left global observed inventories below 7.9 billion barrels at the end of July, the first time they have been under that level since April 2025, the report said.

Measured from the end of February through July, cumulative stock draws totaled 410 million barrels, an average of 2.7 million b/d, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

A federal appeals court has stripped Sentinel Midstream's Texas GulfLink crude export terminal of its federal authorization, finding the licensing agency committed "serious procedural errors." The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the license on Aug. 12, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

The court found that the US Maritime Administration (MARAD) breached the Deepwater Port Act by drawing an improper boundary map that overlooked pipeline infrastructure overlapping with a competing terminal, the Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT), Oil & Gas Journal reported.

The challenge came from Citizens for Clean Air & Clean Water in Brazoria County, known as Better Brazoria and represented by Earthjustice. The group argued that MARAD violated the "one port" rule when it issued the GulfLink license in February, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

GulfLink sits about 30 miles offshore Freeport, Texas, and was designed to load Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) at rates of up to 1 million b/d, with the government of Japan and Freeport Commodities as offtakers, per Oil & Gas Journal.

The terminal's onshore and subsea build-out centers on a 44-mile, 42-in. OD pipeline. Oil & Gas Journal put the estimated investment at USD 2.1 billion, funded as part of a broader trade agreement between the US and Japan, with first operations scheduled for around 2028.

The overlap that undid the license involves a substantially larger rival. SPOT, developed by Enterprise Products Partners in partnership with Enbridge Inc., also lies about 30 miles from Freeport and is designed to handle VLCCs at export rates of up to 2 million b/d, according to Oil & Gas Journal. Its estimated cost is USD 2.5-3 billion.

Taken together, the two terminals were positioned in the same offshore corridor with pipeline routes MARAD failed to reconcile. That is the specific defect the Fifth Circuit identified in revoking federal authorization.

Eneva and GE Vernova started commercial operation of the Azulão I thermal power plant at Silves, Brazil, according to GE Vernova, which described Eneva as the largest private natural gas operator in the country.

The plant holds a contract to supply 295 MW of capacity to Brazil's National Interconnected System (SIN) over 15 years, GE Vernova said. The company said the plant will contribute to the stability, reliability and security of the country's electricity supply.

Generation equipment at the site centres on GE Vernova's 7HA.02 gas turbine, paired with an H65 generator, per the company's release.

Alongside the supply scope, GE Vernova secured a 15-year service agreement covering the plant, which it said aims to sustain reliability and operational availability.

Azulão I is the first of two units. The wider Azulão Complex, taking in Azulão I and Azulão II, is expected to deliver a combined output of up to 950 MW, an amount GE Vernova equated to the power needed by approximately four million Brazilian homes. Commercial operation of the complex is scheduled for July 2027.

BP plc and ADNOC plan to develop a major offshore gas field in Venezuela, according to Semafor Net Zero.

The two companies vowed to raise oil and gas production in the country, with concerns over a protracted conflict in the Middle East overriding worries about Caracas' treatment of international firms, Semafor Net Zero reported.

Semafor Net Zero framed the plans as a response to calls from Washington for energy companies to help rebuild production in Venezuela.

Venezuela holds the world's largest stated crude reserves, according to Semafor Net Zero.

Marathon released 13 compounds above the levels allowed under its air permits at its El Paso Refinery during the night of Aug. 4 into the early morning of Aug. 5, according to reports the company filed with TCEQ and reviewed by Inside Climate News.

The filing lists more than 10,000 pounds of propylene, 15 pounds of hydrogen sulfide and over 1,400 pounds of isopentane released between Aug. 4 and 5, along with other hazardous compounds, Inside Climate News reported.

The releases did not stop there. Marathon reported ongoing emissions until Aug. 7, including hydrogen cyanide, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide beyond its permit allowances.

In an updated report filed with TCEQ on Aug. 18, the company said its investigation had traced the event to an electrical issue that shut down the fluid catalytic cracker on Aug. 4. Hydrocarbons then escaped through an external floating roof tank as the cracker was restarting.

County Commissioner David Stout, whose district includes the refinery, called Marathon's handling of the Aug. 4 and 5 incident "entirely unacceptable".

U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate recent incidents at the refinery, according to Inside Climate News.

The emissions land while the plant's air permit is already contested. El Paso County protested the renewal, and TCEQ commissioners granted the hearing request in June. No hearing date has been scheduled.

Equinor has acquired a 17% stake in a Chevron deepwater exploration block off the coast of Namibia, according to Semafor Net Zero.

The purchase places Equinor alongside Chevron, QatarEnergy, and Namibian companies including Trago Energy on the license, Semafor Net Zero reported.

State oil company NAMCOR holds a guaranteed 10% stake in all exploration licenses in the country, according to the same report, giving Windhoek a direct share of any future production without carrying upfront drilling costs.

Norway's direct state ownership in offshore oil and gas licences and infrastructure carries a combined value of 1.41 trillion Norwegian crowns, or USD 150 billion, according to a survey published by the industry ministry and reported by Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The figure covers the government's direct financial interest in producing fields, undeveloped licences and associated infrastructure on the Norwegian continental shelf.

Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported that state oil holding company Petoro carried out the valuation of the SDFI stakes, with the industry ministry presenting the result.

The survey was published on Wednesday, according to the same account.

Wells drilled with laterals longer than 15,000 ft made up 15% of new Permian well completions in 2025, the EIA reported, as operators pushed horizontal sections close to three miles.

The shift shows up most clearly in the average. A newly completed horizontal Permian well ran 10,867 ft of lateral in 2025, up from 6,149 ft in 2015, according to Enverus data cited by the EIA.

Short wells have all but disappeared from the mix. Laterals under 5,000 ft accounted for 43% of Permian completions in 2015 and just 4% in 2025, per the EIA.

The mid-range has also started to give ground. Laterals between 5,000 ft and 15,000 ft rose from 57% of completions in 2015 to a peak of 90% in 2021, then slipped to 81% in 2025 as operators adopted super-lateral designs, the EIA reported.

Well count itself has flattened. Setting aside the disruptions of 2020 and 2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic and negative oil prices curtailed activity, new horizontal completions have held near 6,000 per year since 2022, according to the EIA.

Output over the same period moved in the opposite direction. Combined Permian oil and natural gas production rose from 2.9 MMboed in 2015 to 11.2 MMboed in 2025, the EIA reported.

The combination of a stable completion count and longer laterals means each new well contacts more reservoir rock than its predecessor a decade earlier. The average newly completed horizontal well now covers roughly the lateral footage that two wells delivered in 2015.

ConocoPhillips Alaska brought its Coyote 3SX development online on August 7, taking first oil from the Kuparuk River Unit on Alaska's North Slope, according to World Oil.

The project cost approximately USD 800 million, World Oil reported. It came online ahead of schedule and under budget.

Peak gross oil production is expected to reach approximately 12,000 bpd, according to World Oil. The development sits on state land.

Funding was approved in October 2025, with construction starting in early 2026, per the same report. Site work peaked in April, when approximately 365 workers were on the project.

CoreMarine has finished disconnecting Golar LNG's Hilli Episeyo floating LNG vessel off Cameroon, ending eight years of operations at the site, according to World Oil.

The disconnection clears the vessel for its planned redeployment to Argentina, World Oil reported.

The unit carries LNG production capacity of 2.45 MMtpa and is expected to reach Golfo San Matías by mid-2027, per World Oil.

Before that deployment offshore Argentina, Hilli Episeyo is expected to undergo upgrade work in Singapore, World Oil said, as part of the country's developing LNG export infrastructure.