Friday, 25 September 2026

The District of Squamish has rejected a proposed agreement under which Woodfibre LNG would have paid $142 million over 10 years, according to CBC.

Council voted 5 to 2 against the arrangement between the municipality and the company.

Councillor Jenna Stoner said the proposed community enhancement contributions would not be indexed to inflation, and argued the overall deal exposed the district to greater risk and liability, as reported by CBC.

Without the agreement in place, the district will continue to rely on regular property taxation.

Diesel prices have climbed to record highs worldwide, driven by disruption in the Strait of Hormuz and to supplies from Russian refineries, according to the Financial Times.

French President Emmanuel Macron has written to Brussels urging a temporary and exceptional easing of fuel-quality specifications, the Financial Times reported.

European leaders are pressing for joint policy action, including relaxed fuel-quality standards and revised biofuels regulations, to bring costs down before peak winter demand, according to Hellenic Shipping News.

Lloyd's Register has identified 200,000m³ LNG carriers as a credible option for renewing the global LNG fleet, arguing the larger design could lift cargo capacity and cut transport costs without forcing major changes at existing terminals.

The classification society's analysis found that 88 LNG terminals worldwide could handle the 200,000m³ concept, against 97 terminals compatible with the conventional 174,000m³ vessel.

Lloyd's Register's modelling points to a potential owner benefit of roughly USD 85.5 million over 30 years from the larger carrier.

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides urged Chevron to speed up development of the Aphrodite gas field and move toward a final investment decision that would open the way to natural gas production, according to NewsFire.GR.

Christodoulides met Chevron's President of Base Assets and Emerging Countries, Javier La Rosa, in New York on Tuesday, and described Aphrodite's development as a strategic priority for Cyprus, according to Greek City Times.

Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said the meeting reaffirmed a shared commitment between Cyprus and Chevron to advance the deposit under an approved development and production plan, Cyprus Mail reported.

Discussions also covered progress on technical and commercial workstreams and the next steps required to reach a final investment decision on the project, Letymbiotis said, according to the Famagusta Gazette.

The Environmental Defense Center and other conservation groups filed a federal lawsuit on Sept. 22 challenging a special permit that cleared Sable Offshore to restart oil production at its Santa Ynez Unit off the coast of Santa Barbara County, according to Pacific Coast Business Times.

The contested permit waives certain federal pipeline safety regulations for the onshore pipeline, RTT News reported.

The complaint alleges the permit violates the Pipeline Safety Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act by omitting required environmental reviews and pipeline-safety findings, according to RTT News. The lawsuit further alleges that PHMSA unlawfully took jurisdiction over the pipeline away from California.

Kenyan households could face higher cooking gas bills from next month as rising international propane and butane prices threaten to push up local liquefied petroleum gas costs, according to Diaspora Digital Media.

Saudi Aramco data cited in the report showed butane prices climbed 25.8%, while propane rose 23.2%.

The report frames the movement in global feedstock prices as the trigger for the expected pass-through into Kenya's retail LPG market.

Nigeria's Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has approved petrol import permits covering about 830,000 metric tonnes for the fourth quarter of 2026, according to Premium Times.

An NMDPRA spokesperson said the permits were cleared to prevent supply gaps heading into the end-of-year period.

TV360 Nigeria reported that six companies received the licences: Matrix Energy, AA Rano, AYM Shafa, NIPCO, Pinnacle Oil and Bono Energy.

India and OPEC pressed for tighter cooperation to keep the global energy market stable and predictable.

The two sides used the meeting to work through oil market stability, energy security and the case for adequate and timely investment across the oil industry.

Indian Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said continued producer-consumer dialogue is needed to underpin investment in oil supply.

The eighth high-level meeting of the OPEC-India Energy Dialogue will convene in Vienna, Austria, on a date still to be set.

State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has struck natural gas in a deepwater well of the Mahanadi Basin, sited about 43 km off Odisha's Konark coast, Organiser reported.

The well is the first sunk under the government's Samudra Manthan offshore exploration campaign, and the show was logged on September 18, according to Moneycontrol.

Drillers pushed the bore to a target of 1,623 metres, with the gas-bearing section falling between 1,441 and 1,452 metres, Organiser said.

Whether the reservoir holds enough recoverable gas to justify production hinges on further appraisal and commercial evaluation still to come, Moneycontrol added.

Oil prices held near their lowest level in more than two weeks as improving Gulf crude supplies weighed on the market.

Brent crude touched US$97.36 in the previous session, its lowest since September 8.

Alongside the rise in Gulf supplies, hopes for diplomatic talks to halt hostilities in the Middle East added pressure on prices this week.

President Trump said on Tuesday he would support a ban on exports of diesel fuel, according to reporting carried by Yahoo Finance.

Citi analysts, cited in the same report, said a possible diesel export restriction could significantly tighten global supply and benefit Asian refiners.

The analysts argued that refineries would not be able to process all the diesel trapped by such a restriction, which would ultimately reduce total fuel supplies.

A separate report carried by Crypto Briefing said a diesel export ban could severely disrupt global diesel supply chains, lifting prices both domestically and internationally.

Bangladesh raised the price of all types of fuel oil by Tk 20 on the night of September 20, according to Prothom Alo.

Following the diesel price rise and higher transport operating costs, the government issued a gazette notification on Wednesday lifting diesel-run bus and minibus fares by Tk 0.17 per kilometre, with the revised rates taking effect from September 22, UNB reported.

On the downstream logistics side, the government decided to appoint Indonesian company PT Pertamina Trans Kontinental as the operations and maintenance contractor for the single point mooring built at sea to unload oil from large ships and pipe the fuel to onshore storage facilities, according to The Daily Star.

In parallel, State Minister for LGRD and Cooperatives Mir Shahe Alam said on Wednesday that the government has allocated Tk 3.7 billion to install rooftop solar panels at five types of local government institutions, The Financial Express reported.

Diesel was selling for USD 9.39 per gallon at a Valero station in Fremont, California, with prices at many other stations in the region hovering near or above USD 9 per gallon in recent days, according to The Epoch Times.

GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan identified the U.S.-Iran conflict as the main driver of rising gasoline and diesel prices nationwide.

De Haan warned that gasoline prices would probably remain elevated until there is drastic improvement in geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran or between Ukraine and Russia.

Roughly 20% of global LNG supply has become interruptible for buyers following the Strait of Hormuz crisis, according to Oilprice.

Oilprice reports that LNG exports from Qatar and the UAE remain severely constrained after the collapse of traffic through the strait.

Buyers in Europe and Asia are responding by seeking cargoes from Canada, Mozambique, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Argentina, routes that do not depend on Hormuz, per Oilprice.

Goldman Sachs estimates that European gas prices would need to exceed EUR 100 per megawatt hour during peak winter to destroy additional demand outside Europe if Persian Gulf LNG exports stay very low, according to Peakoil.

Maine Senators Susan Collins and Angus King have asked President Donald Trump to release supplies from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve, citing high prices squeezing household budgets in their state, according to a letter sent on Tuesday and reported by Event Registry.

Collins, a Republican, and King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, wrote that a release is needed to protect Mainers from prices that are imposing a difficult financial burden.

The reserve holds 1 million barrels of diesel across four sites from Maine to New Jersey, and was created in 2000 under former President Bill Clinton.

The request comes as diesel, which is chemically similar to heating oil, has climbed to a record above USD 6.50 per gallon. Event Registry attributed the surge to the wars in Iran and Ukraine, which have crimped fuel production and petroleum shipments.

China's crude oil imports are likely to stay subdued in the fourth quarter if elevated prices persist, limiting the scope for further gains in global oil prices, according to a Goldman Sachs note.

The bank forecast that fourth-quarter Chinese crude imports would run about 3 million barrels a day below their year-earlier level, even with an expected increase from the third quarter, according to Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs identified a possible escalation of strikes on Middle East crude production and export infrastructure, rather than stronger Chinese buying, as the main upside risk to its crude price forecast.

Pakistan lowered retail fuel prices, with petrol down Rs1.93 per litre and high-speed diesel down Rs4.21 per litre, according to a notification reported by UrduPoint.

The revised petrol price is Rs390.12 per litre, while high-speed diesel is set at Rs414.75 per litre, UrduPoint reported.

The Petroleum Division said the adjustment reflected changes in Platts rates, petroleum premiums and other incidental costs, according to Daily Pakistan.

Bangladesh has pushed up every category of fuel by Tk20 per litre, with the government tying the move to operational losses at the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) and worries that cheaper domestic fuel was leaking across the border.

The hike was declared on Sunday night and applied at once.

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Aninda Islam Amit tied the decision to a widening price gap with neighbouring countries and said the domestic market could not sit apart from external conditions.

Amit said Bangladesh will roll back fuel prices once the international market steadies and the Middle East situation calms.

Aramco has picked SLB for four integrated well construction contracts in Saudi Arabia that cover more than 450 oil and gas wells over an initial three-year term, Offshore Engineer reported. Each of the four contracts also carries an option to extend by up to two years.

World Oil reported that SLB will handle the full scope of well construction work for Aramco across different operating settings in the country. Offshore Engineer described the awards as an expansion of the contractor's integrated well construction business in Saudi Arabia.

Inpex has agreed to buy Jera's 0.735% participating interest in the Ichthys Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project in Australia, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The deal covers Jera's interests in Australian blocks WA-50-L and WA-51-L, which host the Ichthys gas-condensate field, along with shares in the entity that owns the project's gas export pipeline and downstream liquefaction facilities, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

Completion of the transaction remains subject to conditions, including approval from Australian government regulatory agencies.

The transferred stake amounts to 0.735%, per Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Filling a family car now costs almost GBP 5 more than at the start of September, according to the RAC.

The motoring group expects UK petrol and diesel prices to keep climbing while crude oil trades above USD 100 a barrel. The RAC cites the ongoing war in Iran as a major factor behind the rise in fuel prices.

Allseas has hired ABL to act as marine warranty surveyor on the single-lift removal of the Statfjord A topside in the North Sea, World Oil reported. The lift forms part of the decommissioning of the Equinor-operated platform.

ABL is tasked to run independent technical reviews of the project procedures and deliver marine assurance work checking that the proposed vessel fleet is fit for the job.

The firm will also put personnel offshore to witness the removal and sign it off.

ABL's Norwegian arm will lead the survey, backed by its wider North Sea decommissioning team.

The Energy Workforce & Technology Council is pressing U.S. policymakers to reject a proposed ban on diesel exports, arguing the measure would push Gulf Coast refineries to cut production without delivering lasting relief on fuel prices, according to World Oil.

Group President Tim Tarpley said transportation constraints stop surplus diesel produced along the Gulf Coast from being redirected to U.S. regions where supplies are tighter, per World Oil.

Tarpley warned that if the restriction prompts refineries to cut output, it risks worsening the supply problem the policy is meant to address.

Navitas Petroleum has assumed operatorship of Block 1 CBK offshore South Africa after Eco Atlantic completed the farm-down of a 37.5% working interest, following regulatory approval from the South African government.

Eco retains a 37.5% working interest in the license after completion, with an option to move up to 47.5% through an arrangement with OrangeBasin Energies. Navitas assumes operatorship with a matching 37.5% working interest, and can also rise to 47.5% if the Eco-OrangeBasin Energies option is exercised.

The transfer of operatorship shifts day-to-day control of the block from Eco Atlantic to Navitas Petroleum, while leaving the two companies with equal headline stakes.

WTI crude traded through a $12-per-barrel high-low spread during the week, according to Oil & Gas Journal, in a session the outlet described as whipsawed by several factors.

October WTI hit its weekly high of $101.10 per barrel on Monday and bottomed at $88.70 on Wednesday, Oil & Gas Journal reported.

October Brent crude peaked on Thursday at $108.25 per barrel, with the week's low of $97.35 printed on Tuesday, according to the same report.

By the close of the week, WTI was down while Brent finished essentially flat, per Oil & Gas Journal.

A housing development and school in Johnson County, Texas were built on land previously used to dispose of oil and gas drilling waste, according to the Texas Observer.

The site, known in records as the Joshua Land Farm, received more than 4 million barrels of drilling waste plowed into the North Texas land between 2009 and 2015, the Texas Observer and Truthdig reported. That property is now the location of the Silo Mills development.

Many residents of Silo Mills say they were told nothing about the former landfarm when they purchased their homes, according to reporting by the Texas Observer and Truthdig.

Truthdig reported that it is unclear whether the developers had a duty under Texas law to disclose the property's history as a waste site to the new owners or to Godley Independent School District.

Two Bank of England deputy governors warned that persistently high energy prices may force the central bank to tighten monetary policy, according to statements reported this week.

Deputy Governor Clare Lombardelli said in prepared remarks that policy is increasingly likely to need to tighten if elevated energy prices persist, absent clear evidence of disinflation or weaker activity.

Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden said it looked increasingly appropriate to raise rates as oil prices rose above USD 108 a barrel, adding to global price pressures.

Breeden framed the risk in terms of duration and scale. The larger and longer the shock, she said, the more likely second-round effects emerge that policy needs to respond to.

Lombardelli pointed to the transmission channel from energy costs into broader inflation dynamics. The longer higher energy prices persist, she said, the greater the risk that indirect effects build and that inflation expectations, wage bargaining and price-setting behaviour begin to adjust.

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy denied that the Kingdom bought 25 oil tankers and rejected assertions that such purchases raised the cost of transporting Iraqi crude.

Separately, Iraq has opened a tender to sell 2 million barrels of Basrah Heavy crude via ship-to-ship transfer off the coast of Oman, outside the Strait of Hormuz, according to IDN Financials.

Capital spending by the 30 largest publicly traded US exploration and production companies dropped 49% year over year in 2025, according to Baystreet. Over the same period, oil production by the group reached an all-time high, the outlet reported.

The divergence between falling budgets and rising barrels marks a shift from earlier cycles in which the largest US producers leaned on heavy reinvestment to grow output.

Chevron's spending trajectory illustrates the earlier retrenchment phase. According to PM Parrot, Chevron cut its capital program by 20%, and planned a capital and exploratory budget of USD 14 billion for 2021.

Global oil price shocks no longer push the United States into recession, according to research by economists Diego R. Känzig, James H. Stock, and Luca Zanotti. The authors attribute the shift to the shale revolution, which turned the country from a petroleum importer into a net exporter.

The historical link between oil shocks and U.S. downturns decoupled around 2010, per the research.

The domestic production boom flipped the United States from a net petroleum importer into a net exporter, reshaping how oil price swings transmit through the economy.

West Texas Intermediate gained 1.95% on Thursday, according to Investing.com analysis, as Iranian officials issued fresh threats against two critical maritime energy corridors.

An Iranian senior adviser warned that Iranian forces and Houthi allies could respond to any new U.S. attack by opening a front targeting Red Sea energy supplies, per the same analysis.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran would restrict freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz as long as U.S. sanctions and a blockade remain in place, Investing.com reported.