Sunday, 20 September 2026

Petrobras has entered eight production-sharing contracts for offshore exploration blocks in Côte d'Ivoire, according to Offshore Technology.

The agreements were signed in Abidjan on September 17, according to The Electricity Hub. They cover blocks CI-513, CI-600, CI-601, CI-602, CI-603, CI-605, CI-701 and CI-702, all located offshore Côte d'Ivoire, per Offshore Technology.

Under the terms, Petrobras will act as operator through a subsidiary and hold a 90% interest in each block, with the remaining 10% held by PETROCI, Offshore Technology reported.

UNOC has committed to completing the Kampala Storage Terminal within 24 months, according to CGTN.

The terminal will connect to a planned refinery at Kabaale in Uganda's Hoima District via a 211-kilometer multiproduct pipeline, Ecofin Agency reported.

Uganda consumes about 240 million liters of petroleum products each month, per Ecofin Agency.

A fire broke out Friday morning at the Moss Landing battery plant in Monterey County, prompting a shelter-in-place order for nearby residents along a portion of Highway 1. Authorities issued the order as a precaution because of smoke and potential hazardous materials tied to the blaze.

Flames were burning the plant's battery energy storage facility, officials said, with the North County Fire Protection District responding. By a noon briefing, the fire at Vistra's battery storage facility was hot and smoldering, and Fire Chief Jess Cortez of the North Monterey County Fire District said there was no active fire at that point. Cortez said the blaze was burning among the 1,500 battery modules remaining on the north side of the facility wall.

Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church linked the incident to ongoing cleanup work at the Vistra BESS facility, saying there had always been concern that removing remaining batteries could cause ignition, and that this was what happened.

Firefighters confirmed that everyone working on the site was accounted for and no injuries were reported.

Hungary intends to be ready to phase out Russian gas by October 2027, meeting the European Union deadline, Economy and Energy Minister Istvan Kapitany told Telex in an interview reported by TASS.

Kapitany, speaking for the government led by Peter Magyar, said Hungary's gas demand can be covered from non-Russian sources if conditions develop as currently anticipated.

To replace Russian pipeline supply, Budapest is in active talks with neighboring countries, including Romania, and with LNG suppliers, according to Azernews citing the same Telex interview.

A drone hit the cooling tower of a reactor unit at Russia's Kursk nuclear power plant early on September 17, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.

The IAEA reported no fire, no change in the operating reactor's status, and no immediate radiological consequences after the strike.

Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, said the strike caused minor damage at the plant's No. 1 reactor but did not affect operations. According to Rosatom's statement, the reactor continued to work at 100% capacity.

Emerald AI, Google and Nvidia have set up the AI Energy Management Alliance (AEMA), a grouping aimed at making AI data centres more responsive to conditions on the US power grid, Enlit reported.

The founders said AEMA will coordinate AI developers, chipmakers and power sector participants, with the goal of speeding up grid connections for data centres designed to flex their load.

According to Enlit, a flexible data centre can vary the electricity it pulls from the grid by moving computing jobs to other times or sites, drawing on onsite batteries, running paired generation, or cutting demand during system stress events.

AEMA points to work by Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability, which estimates that moderate flexibility at data centres could free up as much as 100 GW on the existing US grid.

A federal judge in Rhode Island ruled that the Trump administration illegally ended the USD 7 billion Solar for All program, which was intended to provide solar power to more than 900,000 lower-income Americans.

District Judge Mary McElroy vacated the termination. She said Congress had clearly intended the agency to continue administering Solar for All grants that had already been obligated.

In her ruling, McElroy said the agency acted against that congressional intent and had no other statutory authority to terminate the program.

Diesel prices have reached all-time highs in 44 US states after New Jersey and Maine joined the list, marking a broad escalation in fuel costs across the country.

The reach of diesel into consumer prices runs deeper than the pump figure suggests. Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital, said diesel cost increases get layered in at multiple points before a product reaches a shelf, which is part of why the eventual retail price increase can be larger than the diesel price increase itself.

The US national average diesel price reached $6.44 per gallon on Friday after rising five cents overnight, according to NBC News. Reuters reported this week that European diesel futures hit a record $210 per barrel, while US retail diesel topped $6 per gallon for the first time.

Reuters attributes the squeeze primarily to a severe shortfall in refining capacity to convert crude into fuels, rather than to any shortage of crude itself.

Commercial diesel prices in the US have climbed 71% since the start of the Iran war, per NBC News. Russian diesel supplies fell by roughly 350,000 barrels per day over the March-to-August period, a loss the reporting describes as less than half the shortfall attributed to the Iran war.

Millions of Cubans lost electricity on Friday after the national grid gave way in an island-wide blackout.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines confirmed the outage through its official X account and said crews were working to restore service.

Authorities traced the collapse to a transmission-line failure in the west that took down the system as far as Matanzas province, then cut off the eastern half of the island.

By dusk, 5% of customers in Havana had power back.

Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE is selling 4.1 billion ordinary shares at NGN 525 each in its initial public offering, according to Punch. The offer is valued at about NGN 2.15 trillion if fully subscribed, Punch reported.

The subscription window opened on September 14 and is scheduled to close on October 13. The minimum subscription is set at 10 shares, meaning individual investors can apply with as little as NGN 5,250.

FCMB Group has taken key roles in the transaction, according to Punch. The public offer opens the door for ordinary investors to take an ownership stake in one of Africa's largest industrial projects.

Retail demand has strained fintech infrastructure. Several Nigerian digital investment platforms suffered outages as retail investors rushed to buy shares, in what Yahoo Finance described as Africa's largest-ever share sale.

Interest has extended beyond Nigeria. The Capital Markets Authority of Rwanda said it is working with relevant stakeholders to facilitate participation by Rwandan investors in the offer, according to Vanguard and Hallmark News.

Talks under preparation to discuss the return of Russian gas supplies would proceed only if a peace framework is first agreed between Russia and Ukraine, according to Reuters, The Straits Times and Global Banking and Finance, citing a person familiar with the plans.

The organisers hoped the meeting would bring together the AfD, Russia and the United States, the same reporting said.

Albeu, citing the same conditionality, reported that the proposed meeting depends on the prior establishment of a framework for peace between Russia and Ukraine.

Oil prices fell around 1% in Asian trading on Friday, extending losses into a third consecutive session, according to Qatar News Agency. Brent crude futures traded at USD 103.77 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate futures at USD 100.88 per barrel.

The decline came as traders weighed reports that Saudi Arabia had found alternative routes to move crude to Asian buyers via Oman, easing concerns over a more severe supply disruption after a key pipeline was shut following Houthi attacks, CNBC reported.

According to Anadolu Agency, Saudi Arabia offered additional crude cargoes to Asian refiners through ship-to-ship transfers off Oman's Sohar port, opening an alternative export route. Those measures helped ease worries about prolonged supply disruptions and weighed on prices toward the end of the week, Anadolu Agency reported.

India has told senior officials in the US administration that proposed legislation targeting buyers of Russian oil and gas could carry consequences for the India-US relationship and for global energy markets, according to Firstpost.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said energy sourcing decisions are guided by national interest, according to reporting by ANI, The Economic Times, Newkerala, Latestly and The New Indian Express. The MEA framed meeting the energy needs of India's 1.4 billion people as an imperative and said the country continues to buy from a range of suppliers.

In a statement carried by News18, India said it remains committed to energy security for its 1.4 billion population through diversified sourcing shaped by evolving market conditions. The government also signaled it will take the measures it considers necessary to protect its trade and economic interests, and will coordinate with Indian trade and industry bodies on how to handle the fallout from the bill, per News18.

Iran struck the Togo-flagged oil tanker Trend on Thursday night after what it described as an illegal attempt to transit the Strait of Hormuz, a state broadcaster reported, citing the Revolutionary Guard Corps. State media said the vessel caught fire and came to a halt following the alleged attempted illegal passage.

The Associated Press could not verify the report.

A separate account from United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations described a tanker in the strait struck by an unknown projectile, with a subsequent fire extinguished, the crew safe, and no immediate sign of environmental damage. UKMTO also logged a ship security incident 16 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman, across the strait, again with the crew safe and no environmental impact; whether that notice referred to the strike Iran claimed remained unclear.

Riviera Maritime Media counted at least three tanker attacks in the Strait of Hormuz between September 16 and 18, a span of less than 48 hours.

The US national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline reached $4.47 on Friday, according to AAA. A day earlier, AAA had pegged the average at $4.43, a 16-cent gain over the prior week and roughly $1.20 above the same point a year earlier.

Diesel set a record. GasBuddy put the US average at around $6.43 a gallon on Friday morning, which it called a record high.

The run-up coincides with continued disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20% of global oil supply passes annually, and the closure of a key Saudi Arabian oil pipeline that had served as an alternative supply route. The ongoing conflict with Iran is also contributing to higher energy costs.

Regional prices remain uneven. AAA Texas reported the state's average price for unleaded at $3.93 a gallon, below the national figure.