Wednesday, 14 October 2026

The African Petroleum Producers' Organization (APPO) has named Godfrey Moagi, who runs the South African National Petroleum Company (SANPC), to chair its National Oil Companies (NOCs) CEOs Forum, World Oil reported.

The handover came at the forum's eighth edition, convened under African Energy Week 2026 in Cape Town, according to World Oil.

Moagi used his acceptance remarks to flag three areas of focus: building viable refining capacity, lining up finance for strategic energy projects, and deepening technical skills across the continent's oil and gas workforce.

Drilling inventory in the Anadarko basin grew 37% year over year to 8,055 gross operated locations, according to World Oil.

The basin offered leading full-cycle economics among major Lower 48 plays at an oil price of $60 per barrel, according to Enverus Intelligence Research.

Enverus Intelligence Research identified 1,554 locations with breakeven prices below $50 per barrel of WTI on a PV-10, half-cycle basis.

Oscar Quintero, who ran Occidental's enhanced oil recovery division in Houston, will head Primavera's operating team in Venezuela, World Oil reported. His hire comes as Primavera Infinita LLC lines up staff to run oil assets in the country.

Those assets fall under agreements the company signed with the Ministry of Hydrocarbons and PdVSA, per Oil & Gas Journal, which reported the staffing moves tied to the pending handover.

Three former Chevron Venezuela executives round out the senior bench. Mario Gandara takes the chief commercial officer post, while Jorge Castro steps in as senior vice-president of finance and business management and Ivette Lopez as vice-president of legal and compliance.

Murphy Oil brought the Chinook #8 well online in the US Gulf through the Pioneer FPSO and confirmed additional oil pay at the Bubale West-1X appraisal well offshore Côte d'Ivoire, according to Offshore Magazine.

Offshore Côte d'Ivoire in Block CI-103, Murphy proved more oil through appraisal drilling of its deepwater Bubale discovery, Offshore Magazine reported.

Initial studies of logs and fluid samples from Bubale West-1X indicated good-quality oil, according to Offshore Magazine.

Murphy plans to combine the Bubale West-1X results with existing subsurface data to optimize the remaining appraisal work for the discovery.

TotalEnergies awarded Vallourec a tubulars contract for the Absheron gas field tieback, according to Offshore Magazine.

Vallourec will supply more than 16,000 metric tons of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and line pipe for the Absheron gas development in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, Offshore Magazine reported.

The award covers advanced premium tubular connections and corrosion-resistant line pipe designed for demanding offshore operating conditions, according to Offshore Magazine.

Drilling in the Bedout Sub-basin is set to start in April 2027, and Carnarvon Energy views the Ara prospect as the first well it is most likely to spud, according to Offshore Magazine.

Ara holds an estimated 191 MMboe of prospective resources, Offshore Magazine reports.

The prospect sits within permit WA-435-P offshore Western Australia and is listed among the exploration targets in Carnarvon Energy's Bedout Sub-basin portfolio, alongside the Dorado, Roc and Phoenix South discoveries.

For the 2027 campaign, the company has secured the Transocean Equinox rig, per Offshore Magazine.

Rockhopper Exploration has taken a 35% share in the OSX-1 FPSO, a vessel set aside for a later phase of work at the Sea Lion field, Offshore Magazine reported.

Running a second FPSO at Sea Lion could push combined output to roughly 180,000 barrels per day, according to Offshore Magazine.

Drilling at the field is scheduled to start in early 2027, Rockhopper said.

The company plans to reach a final investment decision on the central development area in the first half of 2028, with first oil possible in 2030, Offshore Magazine reported.

Crude oil demand may have peaked in 2025, partly because biofuels are increasingly meeting higher fuel needs, according to FGE NexantECA.

Fuel demand is increasingly being met by biofuels and hydrocarbons derived from processing natural gas, such as ethane. Combined demand for biofuels and natural gas liquids grew faster than crude from 2019 to 2025, according to FGE NexantECA.

"The world will keep consuming more liquids, but not necessarily more crude," Chairman Emeritus Fereidun Fesharaki and analyst Cuneyt Kazokoglu said in a report.

Romania's gas market should be re-liberalized on April 1, 2027, Septimiu Stoica, Chairman of the General Meeting of Shareholders of the Romanian Commodities Exchange, said on Monday at the Natural Gas Forum.

Stoica argued that re-liberalizing the gas market, resuming the gas release program and extracting gas from the Black Sea could give Romania the opportunity to become a significant energy market and the hub under discussion.

He maintained that market prices should be determined freely and that the market should be liberalized.

Shell is preparing another phase of offshore exploration in Namibia to assess whether discoveries in the Orange Basin can support commercial development.

The move follows Merlin-1X, the 10th well drilled on petroleum exploration licence 39 (PEL 39), which Shell said delivered the strongest subsurface results on the licence to date.

Shell said the well encountered good reservoir quality, light oil and limited associated gas.

South Africa's 95 unleaded petrol rose by R3.33 per litre and 93 unleaded petrol increased by R3.12 per litre, according to Sentinel News.

Diesel climbed by between R2.84 and R3.24 per litre, depending on the grade.

In the coastal pricing zone, which includes Cape Town, 95 unleaded now sells at R29.38 per litre.

The increases were driven largely by higher international oil and petroleum-product prices.

An International Chamber of Commerce tribunal ruled against Tullow Oil in a long-running Ghana tax dispute tied to proceeds from its business interruption insurance, according to Kalkine Media. The company disclosed the decision to the market.

The tribunal found that the Ghana tax assessment does not breach Tullow Oil's petroleum agreements, Kalkine Media reported. It also ruled that penalties fall outside the contractual protections in those agreements.

Tullow Oil said it was disappointed with the outcome and would consider its next steps after speaking to the Government of Ghana. The company flagged the announcement as inside information.

South African petrol and diesel prices rose by more than R3 per litre in October 2026, according to Daily Investor. Motorists could face another petrol price increase as rising global oil prices put further pressure on domestic fuel costs, Daily Investor reported.

The rand has held firm against the dollar over the same stretch. The USD/ZAR exchange rate fell more than 0.8% over the past week, according to InvestingCube. InvestingCube said the pair will likely see more near-term declines if oil prices ease.

European gas prices rose amid Iran transit bottlenecks and Norwegian outages, according to Investing.com. The benchmark Dutch front-month gas contract traded at EUR 86.00 per MWh.

Gassco, the Norwegian gas pipeline operator, reported an unplanned outage at the major Kårstø gas processing plant that cut export capacity to Western Europe, according to Investing.com.

In Great Britain, the equivalent wholesale gas contract advanced by more than 2%.

Bharat Coking Coal Limited raised basic prices for several grades of raw coking coal sold to non-regulated sector consumers by approximately 0.1% to 14% over existing prices, according to a stock exchange filing cited by PSU Watch.

The new prices took effect on October 14.

The revision applies only to the non-regulated sector. It covers steel grades I and II, direct feed coal, prime coking coal washery grades W-II to W-VI and HVMC washery grades W-I to W-VI, according to the filing.

China's Ningbo-Zhoushan Port fueled three vessels on the same day with LNG, green methanol and B24 biofuel, which Ship & Bunker described as the first such operation in the country.

The fueling ran on September 30 across three port areas, Chuanshan, Meishan and Daxie, according to Ship & Bunker.

The three transfers moved roughly 7,400 cubic meters of LNG, 7,500 tonnes of green methanol and 3,000 tonnes of B24 biofuel.

Bunker vessel Zhongran Green Energy 85 handled the methanol delivery, which Ship & Bunker reported as the largest single methanol bunkering in Zhejiang Province.

The International Monetary Fund assumed oil prices will average $95.74 a barrel this year, up from $67.74 in 2025. The assumption, published in its October 2026 World Economic Outlook, is based on futures markets.

The IMF said the assumed price eases to $87.39 a barrel in 2027.

Energy-importing economies with little connection to the technology value chain face the most difficult configuration, according to the IMF: higher import costs, exchange-rate pressure, weaker real incomes, more constrained fiscal space, and fewer offsetting demand impulses.

Equinor, Petoro and TotalEnergies have made an oil and gas discovery at the Grimsnes exploration well near the Oseberg field in the Norwegian North Sea, according to World Oil.

Preliminary estimates put recoverable volumes at 19 million to 50 million barrels of oil equivalent, World Oil reported.

The partners plan to tie Grimsnes back to the Stjerne subsea installation and produce the volumes through Oseberg Sør, according to World Oil.

Malawi launched a nationwide crackdown on fuel hoarders and black market sellers as the country struggles with shortages, according to Semafor Net Zero. The shortages have left truckers queuing for up to a week and doubled bus fares on some routes.

Semafor reported that diesel and petrol have been scarce for weeks because the country lacks the hard currency to buy fuel supplies.

Under the new measures, unlicensed resellers face arrest, and stations caught hoarding can lose their license, according to Semafor.

Guardian Decommissioning and Wild Well Control signed an agreement to decommission the Bullwinkle offshore platform in Green Canyon Block 65 in the U.S. Gulf, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Well abandonment at the platform is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Under the agreement, Guardian will assume operatorship as agent of the wells and, later, the pipelines and platform, overseeing the project through final decommissioning.

The project will run in phases, OEDigital reported. Well abandonment will start while Bullwinkle remains in production, with pipeline and platform decommissioning to follow once Talos ceases production from the asset.

Sunda Energy holds the only live bid for an offshore petroleum exploration permit over the Awakino gas condensate discovery in New Zealand's Taranaki Basin, after a three-month window for rival bids closed, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

The acreage spans about 645 square kilometers off the west coast of New Zealand's North Island and takes in the Awakino-1 and Awakino South-1/ST1 gas condensate field, according to OEDigital.

The window for competing applications closed on October 14, which left Sunda Energy as the sole applicant.

New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals is assessing the proposal before it decides whether to grant the permit, OEDigital reported.

Australia will limit ministerial discretion over gas supply obligations and move to prevent loopholes under changes to its gas reservation scheme, according to an advance copy of King's speech viewed by AFP. The changes make the supply-obligation rules more transparent.

The scheme aims to supply Australia's east coast cities, home to most of the population, with 110 percent of forecast gas requirements, AFP reported.

Existing gas contracts are exempt from the domestic reservation obligation, according to the Blayney Chronicle.

The Jammu and Kashmir government has notified the City Gas Distribution Policy, 2026, after the Council of Ministers headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah approved it, according to Indian Cement Review.

The policy sets out plans to expand city gas distribution networks in phases across all 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir. The stated aim is to bring natural gas closer to consumers and support a gradual shift from conventional fuels.

Under the policy, gas connectivity is prioritized for major industrial estates in Kathua, Samba and Pulwama.

The framework provides for single-window and time-bound clearances, streamlined procedures for setting up CNG stations and standardized Right of Way norms.

Cuba repealed oil laws dating to 1938 and 1959 to attract foreign investment in hydrocarbon exploration and production amid a deepening energy crisis, according to Cuba's Official Gazette.

The new framework allows production-sharing contracts lasting up to 40 years, with possible extensions of 10 years, according to the Official Gazette. Oil concessions can run for up to 30 years and be renewed for another decade.

The Cuban state retains ownership of the country's oil and gas deposits under the new rules.

South Asian LNG demand is now expected to decline by around 6 million tonnes in 2026, according to Wood Mackenzie's latest analysis. That reverses an earlier projection for the region of 2.7 million tonnes of growth, or 7%.

The shift follows a supply shock that Wood Mackenzie tied to the war in West Asia and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which disrupted LNG supplies from Qatar and the UAE to the region. South Asia depends heavily on imports from both countries.

The disruption pushed spot LNG prices above contracted prices, straining government finances across the region, according to Wood Mackenzie. Those higher spot prices cut gas demand by more than 3 million tonnes in Bangladesh and by approximately 1.5 million tonnes each in India and Pakistan.

India came through the shock more intact than its neighbours. The country kept city gas distribution uninterrupted while restricting supplies to the fertiliser, refinery and industrial sectors in March and April.

Tenaris has begun producing its proprietary TN 95EY steel grade at its Sault Ste. Marie Industrial Centre in Ontario, Canada, according to World Oil.

The grade targets Western Canadian operators drilling in high-pressure, high-temperature and sour-service conditions, World Oil reported.

Tenaris said the steel is well suited to unconventional plays in the Montney and Duvernay formations.

Petrobras plans to drill 15 Equatorial Margin wells between 2026 and 2030, according to Offshore Magazine.

That drilling program could increase demand for logistics, vessel support, maintenance and emergency-response services in northern Brazil, Offshore Magazine reported.

The Morpho location sits far from Brazil's established offshore service centers in the Southeast, according to Offshore Magazine.

The IEA said the rebound in oil supply remains fragile, according to Oil & Gas Journal. The agency expects tightness in the diesel market to extend well into 2027.

Global diesel and refined product inventories sit at historic lows and prices remain high, Oil & Gas Journal reported. The agency attributed the strain to disruptions in Middle East exports and geopolitical tensions.

Shell plc has agreed to acquire a 30% non-operated interest in Equinor's Bay du Nord development offshore Newfoundland and Labrador, according to Business News Today.

In a separate oil and gas development, Tanzania is nearing an agreement on its long-delayed $42 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, Finance Minister Khamis Mussa Omar said, although definitive accords remain unsigned, according to intellinews.

Iraq's North Oil Company (NOC) aims to eliminate associated gas flaring at its oilfields by the end of 2027, according to the Ministry of Oil.

In Baghdad, holders of postgraduate degrees and top-ranking graduates began an open-ended sit-in outside Iraq's Federal Public Service Council after government authorities failed to respond to their demands.

Texas Eastern Transmission LP launched a non-binding open season for its proposed Katy to Gillis Expansion Project, which would connect the Katy Hub in Texas with markets in southwest Louisiana by early 2031, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

The project is designed to move natural gas from the Katy Hub in Texas to demand markets in southwest Louisiana.

Parent company Enbridge Inc. expects the project to provide up to 2 bcfd of additional transportation capacity along the US Gulf Coast, enhancing access to LNG plants, industrial customers, electric generation markets, and pipeline interconnections, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

The open season will close on October 30, 2026.

North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) is putting 11 new 550-horsepower workover rigs into service across Venezuelan oil fields, the company said. The deployment is the first for new mobile maintenance rigs in those fields in over 15 years.

Two 1,500-horsepower drilling rigs reached NABEP's operations on October 7.

NABEP said it is scaling up activity in Lake Maracaibo and the Orinoco Belt, with a near-term objective of lifting output above 1 million barrels per day.

Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi warned that escalating conflict in the Middle East is disrupting global oil supplies, raising shipping costs and driving up petroleum import costs.

At CIF Mombasa, Super Petrol import costs rose from about USD 1,199 per tonne in August to USD 1,385 in September, according to a statement cited in the reporting. Diesel import costs increased from approximately USD 1,200 to USD 1,313 per tonne over the same period.

Wandayi said the higher import bill creates further upward pressure on fuel prices.

Guyana received USD 1.9 billion in earnings from its oil sector during a six-month period in which USD 15 billion worth of oil left the country, according to Kaieteur News.

The country collected USD 761 million in petroleum receipts between January and March 2026, Kaieteur News reported, citing figures published by the Ministry of Finance. Its Natural Resource Fund received a further USD 1.2 billion between April and June.

Guyana exported more oil over the first six months than a year earlier, with export volume up 40% year over year, according to Kaieteur News.

Guyana's Central Bank attributed the rise in oil export earnings to higher export volumes and higher prices during the period, Kaieteur News reported.