Sunday, 11 October 2026

SEMCO Energy and UPPCO will buy Xcel Energy's natural gas and electric operations in Michigan's Gogebic and Ontonagon counties, according to a Tuesday press release by Xcel Energy cited by the Mining Journal. The deal is subject to regulatory approval.

In a separate transaction, the Wembley asset sale changes Advantage Energy's asset portfolio, according to Kalkine Media.

The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCS) is inviting public feedback on Eneos Apac's proposed acquisition of Chevron Singapore, a distributor of petroleum products, according to The Straits Times and The Business Times.

Eneos Apac is a subsidiary of energy, resources and materials group Eneos. The CCS accepted the companies' application on Oct. 2 for a decision on whether the proposed transaction would infringe section 54 of Singapore's Competition Act 2004, according to The Business Times.

Eneos Apac said its only overlap with Chevron Singapore is in the market for lubricant blending and wholesale supply in the city-state, according to The Straits Times.

Public submissions, which can be made via an online form or by email, will close at 5 pm on Oct. 16.

India's three state-run oil marketing companies are set to swing to a combined profit of about ₹14,470 crore for the quarter ended September 30, according to ICICI Securities, as crude prices eased.

Brent crude averaged $91.4 a barrel in Q2FY27, down from $96.9 a barrel in Q1FY27.

The lower crude feedstock lifted fuel marketing margins. Petrol marketing margins are estimated to have improved to about ₹2.9 a litre from a loss of about ₹12 a litre in the prior quarter, according to the estimate carried by Investing.com. Diesel losses narrowed to about ₹16.7 a litre from roughly ₹32 a litre.

Tanzania's competition regulator has rejected a transaction that would have given businessman Rostam Aziz a large holding in the operator of the Songo Songo gas field, which accounts for roughly half of national gas output.

Orca Energy Group Inc., the Canadian-listed company that runs the field, said in a statement late on Oct. 9 that the Fair Competition Commission prohibited the merger application on Oct. 5.

The April agreement would have split Orca's Tanzanian operations between two buyers. Aziz's Taifa Gas Tanzania Ltd. was set to hold 49%, while Amber Energy Investment L.L.C-FZ was to acquire 51%.

Orca said the transaction remains in place and has not been terminated. The company is requesting further detail from the regulator and weighing its next steps.

Aditya Birla Renewables is seeking about USD 1.5 billion in rupee-denominated loans to finance its planned USD 1.8 billion acquisition of Solenergi Power, Shell's Indian renewable energy business, according to EQ Magazine. Solenergi Power includes the Sprng Energy group companies.

The company has approached major Indian lenders, including State Bank of India and HDFC Bank, as it works to finalize the funding structure ahead of the transaction's completion, according to EQ Magazine.

Ken Etete spent more than a decade operating floating oil production ships for foreign owners off the coast of Nigeria before he began buying them, according to Billionaires Africa.

In 2019, Etete's company, Century Group, agreed to pay USD 40 million for one vessel and USD 15 million for another, Billionaires Africa reported. Four years later, it paid USD 15 million for a third.

The company now owns three floating production, storage and offloading vessels, known as FPSOs, which pump, process and store crude at sea. Century leases the vessels to Nigerian oil producers.

Etete had run such ships for foreign owners before the purchases that built the fleet.