Sunday, 4 October 2026

Surging oil prices and a weaker rand were expected to push South African petrol and diesel prices up by R3 per litre in October, according to Daily Investor.

Central Energy Fund projections indicated that the country's 95 petrol price could increase by R3.21 per litre, according to African Insider.

Multiple large fires broke out at an oil pumping and storage facility in Russia's Samara region following a reported Ukrainian drone attack, according to Cedar News, which cited new footage of the blazes.

In a separate incident, wildfires occurred in two areas of Russia's Rostov region after a drone attack and were extinguished, according to Kavkaz-Uzel.

India and South Korea adopted a cooperation framework called VOYAGES in April 2026, spanning shipbuilding, shipping and maritime logistics.

The pact lands in a market where two builders dominate. China and South Korea hold 89 percent of the world orderbook for alternative-fuel-capable vessels, measured by compensated gross tonnage. The engines for that shift sit elsewhere: European designers account for more than 65 percent of engine supply across the alternative-fuel fleet and its orderbook.

Ulsan has bunkered LNG, methanol and ammonia, making it the first port anywhere to supply all three major alternative marine fuels.

On the Indian side, Deendayal, Paradip and V.O. Chidambaranar carry Green Hydrogen Hub status.

The two governments frame the tie-up as a way to spread the technologies and infrastructure behind cleaner shipping. Cooperation between them "can help diversify the capabilities, technologies and infrastructure needed to make green shipping more resilient and accessible," the analysis said.

Origin Energy is pulling out of the Skye Ridge Wind Farm immediately and will put its development work in the New England Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) behind the Northern Tablelands Wind Farm instead.

The company pointed to higher costs for building new wind generation, which it said weakened the argument for running two projects in the same region at once.

Skye Ridge, first called the Ruby Hills Wind Farm, had been mapped 10km west of Walcha at the southern end of the New England REZ. Early scoping outlined as much as 870 MW and 140 turbines.

NNPC New Energy Limited, 3D HighTech Systems and the Ogun-Oshun River Basin Development Authority (OORBDA) signed a memorandum of understanding on September 29 to implement a bioethanol production project in Lagos State, Nigeria, according to Ecofin Agency.

The plant would be built on a 200-hectare site in the Itokin area at an announced cost of EUR 256 million, about USD 290 million, Ecofin Agency reported.

To secure feedstock, OORBDA plans to make 15,000 hectares available for large-scale cassava cultivation across Lagos, Ogun, Osun and Oyo states, according to Ecofin Agency.

The plan would turn cassava into fuel for blending with petrol to cut import bills, with the plant sited at Itokin in Lagos State, Nigeria's commercial hub.

The Crisafulli Government awarded petroleum and gas tenders for five areas in the Cooper-Eromanga Basin and Taroom Trough to secure future domestic oil and gas supply, according to Mirage News.

In the Cooper-Eromanga Basin, Bridgeport Energy was awarded about 2,712 square kilometres of exploration ground across PLR2026-1-4, PLR2026-1-5, and PLR2026-1-11, according to Industry Queensland.

Vintage Energy was awarded about 625 square kilometres across PLR2026-1-3, Industry Queensland reported.

A joint venture that includes subsidiaries of Amplitude Energy, Beetaloo Energy, Eastern States Energy and Xstate Resources won a land release tender for exploration in the Taroom Trough, according to Industry Queensland.

The Australian stock market traded notably higher on Friday, reversing some of the sharp losses from the previous session, according to finanznachrichten.de.

The S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.58% on Friday, according to ibtimes.com.au.

Energy shares recovered after falling 3% on Thursday as oil prices moved higher, according to ibtimes.com.au.

The S&P/ASX 200 information technology index climbed 3.2% on Friday, according to ibtimes.com.au.

Satellite data may assist in identifying sites for the data centers behind AI growth, pointing to where renewable power, water and land are available and where drought and climate risks run highest, University of Surrey researchers said.

The team, writing in Nature Reviews Clean Technology, said Earth observation should become a required input when governments, regulators and investors plan, run and check the clean energy transition. Much of this satellite-gathered information goes underused, they said.

The authors want governments and regulators to make satellite evidence mandatory in renewable energy zoning, infrastructure permitting, climate-risk screening and environmental impact assessment, especially for projects touching land, water, biodiversity or grid access.

Such evidence should back up these decisions, not stand in for ground data, local knowledge or official reporting, the researchers added.

Inflation accelerated across several of the euro area's largest economies in September as elevated oil, gas and fuel prices associated with the Middle East conflict increasingly reached consumers.

France's harmonised inflation rose to 3.4% in September from 2.6% in August. Italy's climbed to 4.1% from 3.2% over the same period. Germany's annual inflation was up from 2.9% in August.

Each major economy remains above the European Central Bank's 2% inflation objective.

Meghalaya introduced a revised Standard Operating Procedure requiring QR-coded Transit Passes and GPS-enabled vehicles for transporting scientifically mined coal. The revised procedure subjects such coal movement to enhanced digital tracking and verification.

The tighter controls come as global coal demand climbs. The International Energy Agency expects coal demand to reach a record 8.94 billion tonnes this year.

South Korea's coal-fired generation rose 30% in the first quarter, with gas expensive and several nuclear reactors offline.

Democratic US senators said on Friday they expect a vote before December 13 on the Trump administration's pact to share nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia, according to MarketScreener.

Senator Jeff Merkley said the Senate would have a chance to study and weigh in on the agreement, including its potential effect on nuclear proliferation. He said the vote would let the chamber assess whether the deal could drive a nuclear arms race in the Middle East and undermine nonproliferation efforts.

Merkley worked with four other Democratic senators to secure the vote.

Downtown Calgary's office market recorded its strongest quarter since the start of the 2014 oil price crash, with signs that companies are hiring and seeking more space, according to a new report cited by the Financial Post.

Companies took up nearly 325,000 square feet of office space in Calgary's downtown during the most recent quarter, alongside more than 240,000 square feet in the suburbs, the data show.

Several traditional oil and gas users are looking for additional floors in the downtown, said Michael Hoffman, a managing director at CBRE's Calgary office, who said he could not reveal the names of specific companies.

An August gas leak from Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline in northern Wisconsin will cost at least USD 15.1 million, according to a report filed with federal regulators.

The accident report, submitted by Enbridge Energy Limited Partnership to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, shows emergency response accounts for the bulk of the total at nearly USD 9.9 million. The company estimated public and private property damage and repairs at about USD 5 million.

Following the spill in Iron County, tribal nations and environmental advocacy groups called on Wisconsin officials to act against Enbridge.

The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa declared the situation a disaster and called on Governor Tony Evers to issue a state disaster declaration, Chairwoman Arbuckle said. The band also called on the state to revoke permits issued for a new segment of the pipeline around its reservation.

German companies are showing growing interest in Romania's energy sector, particularly solar and wind power, German Ambassador to Romania Angela Ganninger said at the launch conference of the third edition of the Code of Good Practice for Renewable Energy in Romania.

Greek companies have already built a substantial position in the same market. Investments by Greek companies in Romania's energy sector have exceeded EUR 5.5 billion, according to Greek Ambassador to Bucharest Evangelia Grammatika, who said the figure confirmed the significant presence of Greek enterprises in the Romanian energy market.

Fresh Iranian crude exports have effectively halted while shipments from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Arab producers have recovered sharply, according to tanker-tracking data cited by Gulf News.

Kpler data showed regional crude exports averaged about 16.5 million barrels per day in September before rising to roughly 19.5 million bpd in the final week, above the approximately 17 million bpd pre-war level, CNBC reported. Some recent weekly measurements exceeded pre-war volumes, according to Gulf News.

Asia's crude imports are rising as Strait of Hormuz flows recover, though volumes remain below pre-conflict levels, according to The Electricity Hub. The region was expected to import about 22.18 million barrels per day of crude in June, compared with 20.35 million bpd in May.

Refined fuel exports remain 13% below pre-conflict levels, keeping diesel, gasoline and jet fuel prices elevated, according to The Electricity Hub.

Researchers in China have produced concrete that can store electricity, according to ZME Science. The team used a 3D printer to embed a supercapacitor directly into a cement-based structure while retaining enough strength to bear substantial loads.

Three of the small devices, connected together, produced enough electricity to illuminate an array of LEDs, according to ZME Science.

The supercapacitor continued to work through moderate heating and cooling, but its performance dropped sharply at minus 18 degrees Celsius, according to ZME Science, apparently as freezing interfered with the water and ions inside the material.

Nexans inaugurated a 53-metre-high high-voltage tower at its Charleroi facility in Belgium to expand its European manufacturing capacity for high-voltage cables, according to Windtech International.

The plant will support production of high-voltage land cables, including 525 kV HVDC cable systems with copper conductors of up to 3,000 mm2, Windtech International reported.

The expansion will also prepare the site for future HVAC cable systems with aluminium conductors of up to 3,500 mm2, according to Windtech International.

The tower forms part of a EUR 90 million investment programme that Nexans announced in 2024, Windtech International reported.