Thursday, 17 September 2026

BKV Corp. has closed its acquisition of Barnett shale upstream, midstream and carbon capture assets, adding more than 65 MMcfe/d of production and roughly 117,000 net acres to its Texas portfolio, according to World Oil.

The transaction closed on Sept. 15 after customary closing conditions were satisfied.

The acquired package includes approximately 0.35 Tcfe of proved developed producing reserves and roughly 1,000 gross operated wells, concentrated in Montague County. The midstream footprint adds a gas plant with 180 MMcf/d of capacity and about 340 miles of owned gas gathering lines.

Shell attributes the loss of 36 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply this year to the war on Iran, which has prevented Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from shipping cargoes through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Offshore Engineer.

Equinor's Senior Vice President Marketing and Supply Helle Ostergaard Kristiansen told Reuters that a cold winter across Europe and Asia, combined with continued disruption to Hormuz LNG shipments, would likely force European buyers to compete with Asia for US supplies.

European gas storage stood at 68.04% of capacity on September 12, 2026, according to IEEFA.

IEEFA argues that weather will decide how tight Europe's gas supply becomes over the coming winter and how far prices climb. With inventories below full, European buyers face the prospect of outbidding Asian rivals for LNG cargoes, a dynamic IEEFA says pushes up consumer gas and electricity bills.

The specialist analyst frames demand reduction as the biggest lever still within Europe's control heading into the heating season.

MODEC and Eld Energy have cleared an early qualification stage for solid oxide fuel cell technology designed to power floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels, according to Offshore Magazine.

The two companies completed the Technology Feasibility and Concept Verification stage of ABS' New Technology Qualification process, Offshore Magazine reported. The publication said the SOFC systems are intended to generate power from produced gas and carbon-capture byproducts, offering a route to lower FPSO emissions.

MODEC and Eld Energy said the milestone confirms the safety, reliability and regulatory compliance of the SOFC technology for offshore applications, per Offshore Magazine.

The qualification program is advancing the technology toward an offshore pilot installation, which Offshore Magazine described as a critical step before commercial deployment on future FPSO developments.

Advances in seismic imaging and subsurface intelligence are helping operators evaluate opportunities in Brazil's frontier basins, according to TGS in comments reported by Offshore Magazine.

The seismic firm told Offshore Magazine that Brazil's Equatorial Margin combines large resource potential with improving subsurface understanding drawn from modern seismic technologies.

Further south, TGS characterises the Pelotas Basin as a distinct frontier play with similarities to Namibia, while cautioning that drilling is still needed to confirm key petroleum system elements, per the same interview.

Across these plays, TGS said new well results and advanced 3D seismic are shifting industry focus from whether petroleum systems are present to questions of commercial scale and repeatability.

Offshore Magazine argues that the headline tally of offshore rigs under construction paints a rosier picture of future fleet additions than the yard reality supports.

In its survey, the largest cohort covers 14 uncontracted units sitting at shipyards in a mechanically finished or near-finished state: nine jackups, four semisubmersibles and a single drillship.

A separate group of 10 rigs, five drillships plus three jackups and two semisubmersibles, has been stranded mid-build after work was stopped, often years earlier.

Treating those 10 as delayed newbuilds misreads the situation, the publication says: activating any of them would demand additional capital to source missing equipment, secure recertification and, for some hulls, complete outstanding structural work.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian did not appear before the Texas House Committee on Energy Resources after being summoned to testify, according to Inside Climate News. The committee oversees the Railroad Commission, the regulator of the state's oil and gas industry.

Committee Chairman Drew Darby had called Christian to appear before the panel. Inside Climate News reported that Darby said it was beyond clear the commissioner had willfully chosen to defy the committee.