Wednesday, 2 September 2026

Valeura Energy will begin installing the central processing platform (CPP) at its Wassana field in October 2026, roughly two months ahead of the original schedule, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital. The company said it intends to accelerate the redevelopment of the field on block G10/48, in which it holds a 100% operated interest, in the offshore Gulf of Thailand.

Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported that Valeura has finalized all commercial arrangements and contractual amendments needed to bring the installation date forward.

The earlier start-up is expected to add approximately 430,000 barrels of oil production in 2027 compared with the original project plan, the company anticipates. Valeura expects the new CPP to reach a production plateau rate of about 7,500 barrels per day.

Rig logistics have been adjusted to match. Valeura has notified its drilling rig contractor that the charter of the Shelf Enterprise will start on 1 November 2026, with the rig first drilling Nong Yao wells through the additional well slots at the Nong Yao A facility before moving to support earlier development drilling at Wassana.

The redevelopment stems from a final investment decision taken in 2025, when Valeura opted for a new-build CPP to commercialize more oil than the existing production facility allows, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital. That facility, the mobile offshore production unit (MOPU) Ingenium, is due for decommissioning at approximately the end of 2027. The replacement schedule leaves the field with a facility gap that the CPP timing is designed to close.

Crude rose more than 5% to USD 95 a barrel after Iran struck US military bases in Bahrain, Iraq, and Jordan, according to Semafor Net Zero.

Semafor Net Zero reported the Iranian attacks were retaliation for overnight US strikes. Tehran said those strikes killed at least 18 people.

The exchange roiled global markets, according to the same report. Asian stocks slid on worries that the latest attacks point to protracted hostilities.

Chevron, ENI and Geopark are among the companies preparing to sign energy agreements in Venezuela as soon as Wednesday, according to three sources close to the preparations cited by Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The signings would come as Venezuela's oil industry runs at about 1.25 million barrels per day, according to the same report, well below the 3 million barrel-per-day peak the country reached in the late 1990s.

Chevron plans to spend more than USD 7 billion to more than double its crude output in the country to about 600,000 barrels per day over the next five years, part of a strategy of expanding joint ventures with PDVSA, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

Separately, KEO Capital said in a release last week that one of its subsidiaries had reached an agreement covering the Petrourdaneta oil joint venture with PDVSA, following board approval. The deal makes the company the project's operator and includes a USD 350 million credit facility.

The agreements sit inside a wider push. The U.S. is spearheading a USD 100 billion investment plan that officials say will double Venezuela's oil output in coming years, according to the report.

The arithmetic of that ambition is stark against current volumes. Doubling from 1.25 million barrels per day would still leave production short of the late-1990s high. Chevron's own target of about 600,000 barrels per day would account for a substantial share of the increase officials are projecting.

A production target of approximately 600,000 bpd, more than double 2026 levels, sits at the center of Chevron's revised Venezuelan program, the company said. Backing it is a capital commitment of more than USD 7 billion across the next five years, according to World Oil.

A Chevron subsidiary holds 49% of Petroindependencia S.A., and the newly signed agreements hand that venture additional acreage, World Oil reported. Development rights now cover the adjacent Carabobo 1 and Carabobo-2-South-A areas within the Orinoco Belt.

Chevron reported that combined output from its three Venezuelan joint ventures is up 15% year to date.

Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth pointed to "improved terms and additional acreage" as the basis for strengthening the portfolio, according to World Oil.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright is expected to announce more than a dozen agreements with energy companies in Venezuela, according to World Oil.

The largest of those agreements involves Chevron Corp., which is significantly expanding its Venezuela operations with two giant oil fields in the Orinoco Belt, World Oil reported.

Wright said deals have also already been signed with GE Vernova Inc. and Eni SpA.

Shell Plc, BP plc and Spain's Repsol SA are also expected to sign deals, Rodríguez said on Venezuelan state television, according to World Oil.

On the question of who holds a claim on the proceeds, Wright said China won't have any debt claims to the revenue from new Venezuelan production.

Uganda has named its export crude blend Pearl Sweet as the Tilenga-Kingfisher-EACOP development moves toward first oil and exports, World Oil reported.

The blend draws on two separate upstream projects. According to World Oil, Pearl Sweet will combine crude from the TotalEnergies-operated Tilenga development with output from the CNOOC-operated Kingfisher development, with the two streams commingled at the Kabaale Shared Facilities in Hoima before entering the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) for export through Tanzania.

Tilenga is designed for peak production of approximately 190,000 bpd, while Kingfisher has a planned peak capacity of about 40,000 bpd, World Oil reported. Combined peak output is put at approximately 230,000 bpd.

Buyers will be handling a medium-light barrel. World Oil describes Pearl Sweet as carrying an API gravity of approximately 28-31 degrees with low sulfur content.

The pipeline is what turns those barrels into exports. The 1,443-km EACOP will carry crude from Kabaale in western Uganda to the marine export terminal near Tanga, Tanzania, giving the landlocked country access to international crude markets, according to World Oil.

Spending across the three components has already passed the USD 12 billion mark. World Oil reported that more than USD 12 billion has been invested to date across Tilenga, Kingfisher and EACOP.

The upstream resource base underpinning the scheme is substantial by East African standards. The projects form part of the Lake Albert Integrated Development, which is based on approximately 1.65 billion barrels of recoverable oil resources, according to World Oil.