Thursday, 1 October 2026

President Donald Trump plans to unveil a USD 200 billion investment package from South Korea, with USD 54 billion directed at a liquefied natural gas project in Alaska, according to Event Registry.

The commitment would mark the first capital drawn down under a bilateral trade pact that bound Seoul to USD 350 billion in total investments, according to Event Registry.

Glenfarne Group, the privately held developer, is building the Alaska LNG project named in the pledge, according to Event Registry. The project would move natural gas along an 800-mile pipeline running from Alaska's North Slope to the state's southern coast, targeting export to Asian markets.

Fly ash slurry from the Mettur Thermal Power Station in Salem entered agricultural fields behind the plant, according to The New Indian Express.

The slurry inundated nearly 10 acres of agricultural land, the outlet reported.

Farmers said the slurry affected standing maize, onion and cotton crops after it entered the fields.

Nigeria does not have a gas shortage but a gas conversion problem, according to Rabiu Umar, Authority Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

Umar called for increased investment in infrastructure and domestic gas use to unlock the economic value of Nigeria's gas resources.

The NMDPRA will run a digital licensing round for gas distribution areas before the end of 2026, following a nationwide gas-grid mapping exercise expected in October, according to Vanguard.

Umar said the initiative is part of efforts to move Nigeria from a fragmented gas-access system to an open-access regime that would let more participants use existing infrastructure.

California Governor Gavin Newsom suspended the state's seasonal summer-blend gasoline requirement for the remainder of the season, according to Event Registry.

Newsom ended the summer fuel requirement Monday, citing a recent state law that requires a reevaluation of regulations when retail gasoline prices rise substantially, according to ABC7 News.

He directed state agencies to take steps allowing winter-blend gasoline to be manufactured, imported, distributed and sold in California immediately, according to Event Registry.

Centrica has signed a non-binding heads of agreement for 1 million tonnes per year of LNG supply, according to Argus. The agreement commits the parent company behind British Gas to buy 1 million tonnes of LNG per year for 20 years, according to the Delta Optimist.

The deal brings Ksi Lisims LNG's allotted volume to 9 million tonnes per year, or 75% of its nameplate capacity, according to Argus. The project is working toward a final investment decision by the end of the year, Argus reported.

U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 0.922 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) as reported by Investing.com. The build ran counter to market forecasts, which had anticipated a draw of 0.700 million barrels.

The latest reading marked a slower pace of accumulation than the prior week. The previous inventory report recorded an increase of 2.969 million barrels, according to Investing.com.

Cheniere Marketing, LLC has signed a long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) sale and purchase agreement with Petrobras, according to Cheniere Energy, Inc.

Under the deal, Petrobras agreed to purchase about 0.8 million tonnes of LNG per year from Cheniere Marketing, the company said. The agreement runs for 22 years and is structured on a free-on-board basis.

A lawyers' group has pressed for urgent action in Bille Kingdom, Rivers, after Joy Amos died from burns she suffered in a gas explosion at her home, according to the Niger Delta Environmental Justice Lawyers' Network (NDEJLN). Amos sustained severe burns in the September 3, 2026 blast at Bille, Degema Local Government Area.

The network blamed government agencies and oil operators for ignoring repeated warnings about hazardous gas seepages in the community.

NDEJLN wants an independent forensic investigation into Amos' death, with a full medical autopsy, to pin down how the explosion happened and who is liable.

The group asked authorities to send in specialised technical teams to find, contain and permanently seal the source of the seepage.

Goldman Sachs said physical oil prices near USD 120 a barrel reflect a large risk premium driven by supply escalation risks and record-low global inventories, according to Investing.com.

Explaining why benchmarks such as dated Brent held near USD 120 a barrel, Goldman pointed to downside risks to supply from escalation that threatens long-term oil production, record-low global stocks excluding OECD commercial stocks, and the resulting push to rebuild inventories quickly given those escalation risks.

Brent crude stayed anchored near pre-conflict levels despite a material improvement in vessel flows, according to Sunday Guardian. Traders kept substantial geopolitical risk premiums because of doubts about the ceasefire's durability.

CITGO is preparing to move gasoline from its Lemont Refinery in Illinois to customers in New York in early October, according to oilprice.com.

The delivery marks the first shipment on Buckeye Partners' new bi-directional service along the Laurel Pipeline, oilprice.com reported.

The route creates another outlet for Midwest-produced refined products to reach East Coast markets.

NNPCL retail outlets across parts of Abuja and its environs sold petrol at NGN 1,370 per litre on September 30, according to a market survey reported by Lindaikejisblog.

The pump price fell by NGN 25 per litre at those outlets, according to the same survey.

The reduction followed a NGN 25 cut in the gantry price of petrol by the Dangote Refinery, Lindaikejisblog reported.

The opening of the East African oil pipeline has been pushed to June 2027, according to apanews.net. The Petroleum Authority of Uganda blamed the delay on disruptions to equipment deliveries caused by the Middle East war, including parts for metering, electrical instrumentation, and telecom systems.

Earlier plans had put the first export cargo from EACOP in October 2026, apanews.net reported. Government officials now say the 1,443-kilometre pipeline will be ready to receive crude by mid-December, with first commercial oil production expected before the end of June 2027.

Crude and refined-product loadings have restarted at the Red Sea port of Yanbu after Saudi Arabia brought its East-West Pipeline back online, reopening an export route that a drone attack had cut earlier in the month, Reuters reported.

The pipeline went offline on September 11 after drone strikes that Saudi Arabia blamed on Iraqi militias. Flows resumed on September 22, letting the country rebuild crude deliveries to its Red Sea export terminals.

Vessel-tracking firm TankerTrackers, citing European Space Agency satellite imagery from September 27, said nearly 10 million barrels of crude were loading at Yanbu and the nearby Al Muajjiz terminal.

Throughput on the pipeline now runs at about 2 million barrels per day by industry estimates, against roughly 2.65 million barrels per day measured by Kpler, Reuters reported.

India's crude oil import bill rose 48% in April-August 2026 against the same period a year earlier, even though import volumes were almost unchanged, according to IEEFA.

The pattern extended to gas. IEEFA found India's LNG import bill climbed 24% in April-July 2026 compared with 2025, while import volumes rose 5.3%, meaning the country paid more for each unit of gas.

Energy prices drove India's retail inflation to a 20-month high of 4.82% in August 2026, IEEFA said.

The group pointed to earlier volatility to illustrate how demand responds to price swings. India's LNG imports fell 17% in 2022 when prices rose, then rebounded only 9% in 2023 after supply eased.

IEEFA identified increasing renewable energy as India's best hedge against recurring energy shocks.

Seismos has opened an applied acoustics research center in Jarrell, Texas, built around a 2,349-ft full-scale flow loop, according to World Oil. The site is set up to test acoustic sensing, closed-loop well stimulation and real-time completion optimization.

The center measures 87,120 sq ft and lets operators, technology partners and researchers recreate wellbore and pipeline conditions to build and test measurement technologies, World Oil reported.

One stated area of work is closed-loop stimulation, which reads real-time physical measurements during a hydraulic fracturing stage to judge treatment performance and adjust operations as pumping runs.

World Oil said the facility is open for joint work with oil and gas operators, technology partners, universities and national laboratories.

Saudi Arabia's Finance Ministry now forecasts a government budget deficit equal to 4.9% of GDP this year, according to Semafor Net Zero. That marks an increase from the 3.3% the ministry predicted late last year.

The kingdom expects wider budget deficits for several years as it increases spending to support growth amid regional conflict, Semafor Net Zero reported.

Higher oil prices have largely offset lower export volumes and lifted revenue above prewar estimates. Even so, spending is set to rise faster than revenue, according to Semafor Net Zero.

Borr Drilling has booked fresh work for three jack-up rigs, with a three-well award off West Africa, an exercised option in Nigeria and an accommodation job in the UK, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

An unnamed operator handed the Norve rig a binding letter of award for three wells off West Africa, work estimated to run for a firm 245 days, OEDigital reported.

Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) took up a one-well option on the Natt rig, according to OEDigital.

The Joro rig drew a UK accommodation contract from an undisclosed operator, OEDigital reported. Work is set to begin in mid-October 2026 and run a firm 60 days, keeping the rig busy into December.

Petronas said on September 30 that it had temporarily shut the Songkhla Export Pipeline after identifying an issue during a routine inspection, according to a company statement. The pipeline is operated by Trans Thai-Malaysia (Thailand), the company's joint venture with Thailand's PTT.

Petronas described the shutdown as a precautionary measure to protect the integrity of the pipeline and ensure safe operations.

The pipeline will resume operations only after it has been confirmed safe to do so, Petronas said.

Floating LNG will become the main route to supply diversification by 2030, according to a new report from Wood Mackenzie. The consulting firm projects that roughly half of global LNG production capacity will reside in two countries by 2030.

Wood Mackenzie attributes the emergence of floating LNG (FLNG) as a real supply option mainly to a more concentrated and geopolitically fragile market. The firm says FLNG has moved from a niche workaround to a credible supply option.

Seven floating LNG projects sanctioned since 2023 are adding 18 MMtpa of capacity across six countries, according to Wood Mackenzie. The firm describes these projects as the market's most direct response to both the concentration and fragility pressures.

The average price of diesel in the UK has reached 199.53p per litre, according to the latest data from RAC Fuel Watch.

That level marks the highest price for diesel in UK history, according to the motoring experts. The record surpassed the previous high of 199.09p set in June 2022.