Saturday, 17 October 2026

North Dakota officials are advancing the second phase of the Crack the Code project, an enhanced oil recovery effort aimed at raising Bakken oil production and extending the life of existing fields, according to KFYR-TV.

The project uses technology to reach oil in shale rock formations such as the Bakken, with the stated goal of increasing production and prolonging the life of producing fields.

The research centers on enhanced oil recovery, a set of technologies officials hope will double the amount of recoverable oil in the state and extend the Bakken field's longevity by decades, according to CNHI News.

The second phase seeks to move beyond single-well tests and apply the technology across a broader area involving up to 200 oil wells, CNHI News reported.

Sen. John Hoeven is working with Under Secretary of Energy Kyle Haustveit to unlock USD 400 million in federal loan guarantees to help fund the expanded initiative, according to CNHI News.

Regional energy officials are studying a plan to move Cypriot gas to Europe over Egypt's existing pipelines and liquefaction terminals rather than building a dedicated subsea line, the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) said on October 16.

The route would tie offshore fields into Egypt's pipeline network and LNG export terminals, with cargoes directed through Greece for onward delivery to southeastern Europe, according to MEES.

Under the Cronos development plan, Cypriot gas reaches Egypt, is processed at facilities tied to the Zohr field, then exits the Damietta LNG terminal bound mainly for European markets.

MEES reported that the gas deals with Cyprus, along with other energy projects, are widening Egypt's role in regional supply.

California oil well permit approvals totaled 433 in the first nine months of 2026, rising through the third quarter.

Permits climbed 22.7% between the first half of the year and the first nine months.

Approvals for new well drilling permits rose sharply year over year. State data analyzed by FracTracker shows approvals jumped from two in the third quarter of 2025 to 80 in the third quarter of 2026.

The nine-month total of 433 reflects continued growth in the third quarter.

Heavy crude from Canada, Colombia and Ecuador is piling up at home as record freight costs sap buyer appetite and weigh on prices, Reuters reported. Tanker rates climbed to all-time highs amid the Middle East crisis, which also left shippers short of available vessels.

Heavy grades from the three producers have each lost roughly USD 10 per barrel over recent weeks, according to Argus data cited by Reuters.

Those quoted levels leave out freight and insurance, which have climbed to as much as USD 40 per barrel, even as the global diesel crunch keeps demand for heavy crude unusually firm.

The shipping squeeze has contributed to oversupply conditions for heavy crude across North and South America, while buyers in Asia and Europe face a shortage of the same grades.

Indian oil companies are losing Rs 26 per litre on petrol and Rs 30 per litre on diesel, based on 15-day average pricing, according to Jefferies.

The estimate appeared in a Jefferies report titled "Energy Market Letter: Volume XXII". Procurement costs for oil marketing companies are similar to an Indian crude basket price of USD 125 per barrel, which Jefferies said is driving the steep losses.

Freight rates have added to the cost of bringing crude oil into India, according to Jefferies. The firm said rates rose 8% week over week and were about eight times their level at the start of the Middle East conflict.

Toyota Tsusho Petroleum Pte. Ltd., a former Singapore-licensed bunker supplier, has entered a members' voluntary liquidation, according to Ship & Bunker.

Creditors have 30 days to submit details of their debts or claims to liquidator Alex Lee Tiong Wee of Boardroom Corporate & Advisory Services Pte. Ltd., Ship & Bunker reported, citing a notice published in the Government Gazette.

A new oil and gas find near Norway's Oseberg field in the North Sea holds preliminary recoverable resources put at 19 million to 50 million barrels of oil equivalent, Equinor said, crediting the discovery to its work with partners Petoro and TotalEnergies.

The three partners intend to tie the find into existing subsea infrastructure and route the volumes through the Oseberg Sør platform, according to Equinor.

An investment decision may be made as early as summer 2027, with production targeted within three years, Equinor said.

Twelve vessels were attacked in and around the Strait of Hormuz between October 5 and October 11, the largest weekly number reported since the US-Israeli war with Iran began, according to The Brief.

Oil flows through the strait dropped sharply over the same period. Kpler shipping data showed average flows fell to 11.62 million barrels per day in the week to October 13, down from a baseline of 17.15 million barrels per day.

Washington is weighing measures that could let certain previously sanctioned tankers carry legally traded oil, a step that might raise available shipping capacity and ease freight costs, according to The Arabian Post.

Traders and analysts told Baird Maritime that a potential Trump administration plan to ease sanctions on vessels that have carried sanctioned oil and fuel would likely have limited impact on tanker availability.

Shadow fleet ships still face sanctions from other countries and lack the certification, insurance and maintenance needed to enter mainstream trade, according to Baird Maritime.

Kpler estimated that only about 24 ships could rejoin global trade once vessel age is accounted for and tankers owned by Iran's National Tanker Company are excluded.

CASE Group Founder and Managing Director Dr Roger Kumar called for thermal gasification to complement coal-to-chemicals projects and help advance India's target of gasifying 100 million tonnes of coal by 2030, according to Construction Times.

Kumar recommended a dedicated thermal gasification track, cluster-based industrial conversions and high-ash gasifier standards, according to the same report. He also pressed for easier coal access and stronger industry-academia collaboration to support the push.

The recommendations are framed to complement the government scheme backing the coal gasification effort.

Enbridge subsidiary Texas Eastern Transmission has launched a non-binding open season for the proposed Katy to Gillis Expansion Project, according to Kalkine Media. The project would move natural gas from the Katy Hub near Houston, Texas, to Gillis in southwest Louisiana.

The proposal would add up to 2 Bcf/d of incremental gas transportation capacity from Katy to the Gillis Hub in southwestern Louisiana, according to RBN Energy.

Rather than building a new system, the plan combines transportation services on the Mustang Express and Texas Eastern systems to create a path between the two regions, according to Kalkine Media. The Katy Hub ranks among the busiest gas trading points in Texas.

TotalEnergies expects Refining & Chemicals cash flow to rise by USD 2 billion from the previous quarter. The European Refining Margin Marker reached USD 33.2 per barrel, against USD 13.5 in the second quarter and USD 8.4 a year earlier, according to the October 15 trading update.

The margin gains come as global oil prices climbed toward USD 110 per barrel, reaching their highest levels since May. Concerns about Middle Eastern supply disruptions and renewed attacks on Russian energy infrastructure increased uncertainty across petroleum markets.

US natural gas prices settled higher on Thursday after weekly storage levels rose less than expected, according to Nasdaq.

November Nymex natural gas closed 1.19% higher on the session.

The EIA reported that US natural gas inventories increased by 67 bcf in the week ended October 9, below expectations of 74 bcf, according to Nasdaq. That build also came in well below the five-year weekly average of 90 bcf.

The Norwegian Offshore Directorate says potentially significant petroleum resources could exist beneath extensive basalt formations in the western Vøring and Møre basins of the Norwegian Sea.

The areas have drawn minimal drilling since they opened for petroleum exploration in 1994, according to reporting on the directorate's assessment. The basalt layers interfere with conventional seismic imaging, making it difficult to identify subsurface structures. That technical barrier accounts for the limited activity over the decades since the acreage became available.

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has licensed the Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange (LCFE) to handle trading and clearing of petroleum liquids, Businessday reported.

With the licence in hand, LCFE plans to run a trading platform linking the physical petroleum market to Nigeria's capital market, according to Businessday.

The exchange is pitching organised commodities trading as a route to more transparent petroleum pricing in Nigeria's downstream market, Businessday and Leadership reported.

LCFE managing director and chief executive Akin Akeredolu-Ale said the venture would create a marketplace where petroleum products trade through structured clearing and settlement processes, according to Leadership. He made the comments in a statement on Friday.

Akeredolu-Ale said the framework would use two-way quotations, standardised contracts and transparent transaction records to produce more reliable pricing data.

Coastal GasLink plans to build three new compressor facilities in the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako as part of a pipeline expansion in northern B.C., according to The Northern View.

The work follows the final investment decision for LNG Canada's Phase 2 expansion, a collective $33 billion commitment to building and expanding assets in northern B.C. that will proceed into construction in 2027, the outlet reported.

The company aims to increase the pipeline's capacity to 5 billion cubic feet per day without adding another pipeline, Moulton said.

The maritime authorities of Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia ran a joint ground deployment exercise aimed at tightening how the three countries respond together to oil spills across the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, according to Marinelink and Hellenic Shipping News.

The drill ran ahead of Singapore's 17th Joint Oil Spill Exercise (JOSE) 2026. Its scenario put a vessel collision in Singapore waters, releasing oil that then drifted toward the Indonesian and Malaysian coasts.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) ran the exercise, which put information sharing, response planning and mutual assistance between the three states to the test.

Indonesia and Malaysia each sent response assets into their own waters to check how their arrangements held up.

South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy is negotiating with Washington over possible participation in the Alaska LNG project, according to Adnkronos.

Alaska imposes an annual tax equal to 2% of assessed value on natural gas pipelines and processing facilities. State tax authorities expect the project's annual tax to reach USD 740 million when fully implemented by 2033, and Seoul believes a reduction would improve the project's profitability, according to 매일경제 as cited by Adnkronos.

The ministry is in talks about a possible stake in the project.