Sunday, 8 November 2026

African Energy Chamber (AEC) Executive Chairman NJ Ayuk arrived in Brazzaville for a working visit to the Republic of Congo, with planned meetings at the Ministry of Hydrocarbons to discuss the country's energy sector and investment priorities, according to the AEC.

The visit coincides with the Congolese government's pursuit of an oil and gas expansion that encompasses higher crude production, growing exports of liquefied natural gas and a larger upstream role for the state-owned SNPC, according to the AEC.

Congo is targeting oil production of 500,000 barrels per day, well above current output of approximately 279,000 barrels per day, according to the AEC.

The government is seeking investment and participation from independent and mid-sized operators to develop offshore resources and add production, according to the AEC.

Kongsberg Maritime secured a contract to supply the Safety and Automation System for Equinor's Wisting Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessel, according to Kongsberg Maritime.

The contract award comes alongside scientific criticism of the project. The Norwegian Institute of Marine Research argues that Equinor's Wisting development would threaten marine life along the ice edge, the Barents Observer reported.

Researchers said an oil spill near Wisting could affect important plankton species and fish stocks, particularly if oil drifted with the ice into spawning and nursery grounds, according to the Barents Observer.

Brazil extended its 12% export tax on crude oil through December 31, 2026, according to Reuters and Datamarnews.

The Executive Management Committee of Brazil's Foreign Trade Chamber, known as Gecex-Camex, approved the extension at its November 5 meeting, Datamarnews reported.

The Brazilian government said the measure aims to maintain normal domestic supplies of oil products, according to Reuters.

Crude oil prices fell by more than 12 to 14% over 48 hours, according to COPEC Executive Secretary Duncan Amoah, raising the prospect of fuel price reductions at the pump.

Refined petroleum product prices typically take six to seven days to respond to changes in global crude oil prices, Amoah noted. The lag means any relief for drivers would follow rather than arrive immediately after the drop in crude benchmarks.

The Port of Malaga in Spain carried out its first ship-to-ship Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) bunkering operation for a cruise ship, according to Ship & Bunker.

The sailing cruise ship OE Corinthian, which features hybrid propulsion, received 300 cubic metres of LNG during the operation, the port said, as reported by Ship & Bunker. Axpo Group's bunkering vessel Alisios LNG supplied the fuel.

TotalEnergies has deployed a deepwater rig to the Akpo field to begin fresh drilling operations in Nigeria, according to Premium Times and Business Elites Africa.

The drillship Noble Black Rhino arrived at the Akpo field ahead of the campaign, with drilling of a well designated AFE-1X scheduled to begin on 13 November, Premium Times reported.

Thousands of homes across Sussex that rely on heating oil face bills that have doubled since the start of 2026, according to the BBC, forcing residents to take extra work or go without heating entirely.

Sheila Williams, from Golden Cross in East Sussex, took a winter waitress job to help cover her oil bills, the BBC reported. Williams said her oil bill had doubled since the start of 2026 and the extra employment was needed to pay for it.

Filling a 1,000-litre household tank could cost more than GBP 970, the BBC reported, noting that thousands of Sussex homes are not connected to the gas mains and depend on oil deliveries.

A Sheffield Park resident told the BBC he had no heating at all because he could not afford to fill his oil tank.

Al Dhafra Petroleum signed an AED 1 billion (USD 272 million) agreement with Excel Astra Engineering & Construction for produced water treatment facilities at the Haliba oil field in Abu Dhabi, according to Trade Arabia and its reporting partner.

Under the deal, Excel Astra will design, build and operate the new facilities, which will treat water extracted from the reservoir alongside oil. Al Dhafra Petroleum said the contract was its largest design, build and operate agreement to date.

The Nigerian Navy dismantled three illegal refining sites in Rivers State on November 5, recovering about 117,000 litres of suspected stolen crude oil, according to Daily Post.

The operation, carried out by the Forward Operating Base Bonny, targeted Awokiri Community in Ogu-Bolo Local Government Area. The naval team discovered 16 dugout pits at the sites, nine of which held about 115,000 litres of suspected stolen crude oil. A separate storage tank contained an additional 2,000 litres, bringing the total to approximately 117,000 litres, Daily Post reported.

Petroleum dealers across Assam have called a 24-hour "No Purchase, No Sale" protest on November 12, alleging high-handedness, arbitrary decisions, and financial harassment by public-sector oil marketing companies, according to Northeast Now.

The dealers attributed the action to what they described as persistent mistreatment by the state-owned fuel distributors.

NEIPDA warned that failure to resolve the grievances could trigger an indefinite shutdown from November 23, potentially intensifying fuel-supply disruption across the state, according to Northeast Live TV.

Petrol dealers in Pune have accused Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) of blocking fuel loads despite completed payments, raising concerns that pumps could run dry during the Diwali demand surge.

The Petrol Dealers Association Pune (PDAP) said HPCL blocked petroleum product loads for several dealers even though payments had been made through authorised SBI channels and valid transaction proofs submitted to officials, according to Punekar News. PDAP attributed the problem to banking delays or internal payment-reconciliation issues that prevented payments from reflecting in HPCL's accounts, Punekar News reported.

The Times of India reported that dealers warned several pumps could run dry if pending fuel loads were not cleared in time, with the warning tied to a surge in fuel demand during Diwali. Dealers flagged supply disruptions at retail outlets of both BPCL and HPCL, according to the Times of India.

HPCL pushed back against the complaints. In a statement, the company termed reports of fuel supply disruption at its Pune outlets "misleading" and said the outlets were adequately supplied, the Times of India reported.

Murban crude oil dropped from USD 110.46 per barrel on October 29 to USD 94.04 per barrel on November 5, according to Tuko and Breaking Kenya News. The slide arrived just ahead of the next monthly pump-price review by Kenya's Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), due on November 14.

The Central Bank of Kenya attributed the decline to two factors: the conclusion of the United States mid-term elections and reduced market expectations of supply disruptions originating from the Middle East, according to the same reports.

EPRA conducts monthly reviews of domestic fuel prices in Kenya, and the lower international benchmark could feed into the November cycle.

Karnataka alleged that ethanol concentrations in retail petrol samples reached as high as 31.2%, far above the statutory range, according to Autocar Professional. State-owned refiners IOCL, BPCL, and HPCL rejected the findings, arguing that the state's October 2026 survey violated mandatory sampling rules established under the Essential Commodities Act's Motor Spirit and High Speed Diesel Control Order, 2005, and the Marketing Discipline Guidelines 2024, according to the same report.

The oil marketing companies and the Centre for High Technology reported that their own independent quality monitoring across 893 national samples found 100% compliance within the statutory 19% to 21% ethanol range, Autocar Professional reported. That monitoring included 56 samples in Karnataka, which averaged 19.30% ethanol.

The dispute centers on whether Karnataka's sampling and testing procedures followed statutory protocols. The refiners cited deviations from those protocols as grounds to reject the state's findings.

India is targeting steel production of 300 million tonnes by 2030 and 500 million tonnes by 2047, Coal and Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy said, according to newsonair.gov.in.

Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) has set a target of supplying at least 20,000 tonnes of coal daily from the Naini coal block in Odisha to Telangana, UNI India reported. SCCL Chairman and Managing Director Buddhaprakash Jyoti directed officials to accelerate coal production and transportation from the block in anticipation of El Niño impacts.

Regular gasoline averaged USD 4.10 per gallon nationwide on Nov. 5, down from USD 4.23 a week earlier, according to AAA fuel-price figures reported by TheStreet.

The short-term relief may mask a longer structural problem. Exxon CEO Darren Woods said during the company's Oct. 30 earnings call that it may take far beyond 2027 for normal refining conditions to return.

Woods attributed the prolonged tightness to global refining capacity disruptions caused by the crises in the Middle East and Ukraine, according to TheStreet. Until that capacity recovers, fuel markets cannot normalize, he said.

TotalEnergies has moved the ultra-deepwater drillship Noble Black Rhino to Nigeria's Akpo field to begin a new drilling campaign at one of the country's largest offshore condensate and gas assets, according to BusinessDay.

Drilling of the AFE-1X well is scheduled to start on November 13, 2026, according to naija247news.com.

Gujarat Energy Ltd (GEL), described by The Hindu BusinessLine as India's largest city gas distribution company by sales volume, plans to build around 200 tonnes per day of compressed biogas (CBG) production capacity in an initial phase. Half of that capacity - 100 tonnes per day - is proposed in Gujarat, with the remaining 100 tonnes per day outside the state, according to The Hindu BusinessLine.

The company aims to diversify its gas sourcing portfolio and reduce dependence on imported liquefied natural gas.

GEL is seeking joint venture partners and proposes to hold a 49% stake in the ventures, with selected partners owning the remaining 51%, The Hindu BusinessLine reported.

Brent crude futures settled at USD 98.32 a barrel on Friday, November 6, according to FinanceFeeds, after losing more than 16% over the week.

The sell-off marked Brent's largest weekly loss since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Seeking Alpha, as the war premium that had supported prices began to unwind.

Colombian oilfield service companies are moving equipment across the border into Venezuela, according to Peak Oil, as renewed investment in Venezuelan crude production pulls resources from its neighbor. Campetrol, Colombia's petroleum services industry association, warns that Venezuela is now competing with Colombia for oil-sector goods, services, and capital.

Separately, India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is negotiating to assume operations at two oil projects in Venezuela, aiming to recover more than USD 500 million in owed dividends, Udaipur Kiran reported.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty met Libya's Oil and Gas Minister Khalifa Abdul-Sadiq in Tripoli to discuss strengthening bilateral energy cooperation, according to the Egyptian Gazette.

Abdelatty called for faster work on gas pipeline connections between the two countries and expanded cooperation on petroleum products, the Egyptian Gazette reported. He also pressed for swift completion of projects to refine Libyan oil in Egypt for re-export, rehabilitate Libyan refineries, and establish electricity links between the two countries.

Abdul-Sadiq said existing joint projects would continue and that he would visit Cairo soon for technical talks with Egypt's petroleum and electricity ministers, according to the Egyptian Gazette.

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman Ola Olukoyede led senior officials on an inspection of suspected illegal oil refining and mining facilities in Ogere, Ogun State, according to tv360nigeria.com.

The EFCC said operatives from its Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 uncovered an illegal sludge oil refinery at the site on October 31, 2026, following intelligence reports and surveillance operations. The facility had been abandoned by the time operatives arrived.

The discovery came shortly after an earlier operation that led to the uncovering of four illegal lithium processing plants in the same area, according to the commission.

Two tanks examined at the Ogere facility contained substances suspected to be diesel, tv360nigeria.com reported.

Việt Nam's crude oil production has fallen to roughly half its 2004 peak as mature oilfields naturally decline, according to Việt Nam News, intensifying pressure on the country to secure energy supplies through diplomacy and regulatory overhaul.

Growing dependence on imported energy and mounting geopolitical uncertainties are making economic diplomacy increasingly important to the country's national energy security, Việt Nam News reported.

On the policy front, Việt Nam's National Assembly passed a new Petroleum Law on August 23, 2026, scheduled to take effect on March 1, 2027, replacing the 2022 Petroleum Law. The legislation is expected to address structural barriers facing the industry as it enters a more challenging phase, with new discoveries becoming harder and costlier to develop and the sector under pressure to diversify beyond exploration and production.

Stable and predictable policies will be critical to attracting investment in Việt Nam's oil and gas industry, according to Việt Nam News.

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority's (AIDEA) oil exploration plans for the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) are paused until at least mid-January while the agency awaits federal permission, according to a court filing reported by KPVI.

AIDEA's exploration plan calls for seismic oil and gas surveys using above-ground vehicles, without drilling, according to KPVI.

Staging and preliminary work outside ANWR has already begun and is expected to increase at the end of November, according to the same reporting.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) signed a long-term Sales and Purchase Agreement with Gujarat Energy Ltd to supply Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to India from the international gas portfolio of XRG, ADNOC's international investment company, according to Indiablooms.

Gujarat Energy will receive up to 4 million tonnes of LNG over 10 years beginning in 2028, Indiablooms reported.

The agreement is the first LNG sale from XRG's international portfolio, according to the report. It is also ADNOC's fifth LNG supply agreement with an Indian company.

Egypt announced a plan to revitalize its oil and gas sector through faster resource development and greater foreign investment, according to Rocket News.

The country aims to reach oil and gas production capacity of 6.6 billion cubic feet per day by 2027, supported by increased drilling, new exploration incentives, and larger commitments from international majors, OilPrice reported.

To rebuild confidence among foreign partners, Egypt has settled USD 6.1 billion in overdue payments to energy companies, according to OilPrice. The government is also modernizing infrastructure to attract further capital.

Separately, Egypt plans to invest more than USD 4 billion to upgrade six refineries, aiming to raise domestic output of higher-value petroleum products and cut the country's fuel import bill, OilPrice reported.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) signed a long-term Sales and Purchase Agreement with Gujarat Energy Ltd to supply Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to India from the international gas portfolio of XRG, ADNOC's international investment company, according to Connected to India.

Gujarat Energy will receive up to 4 million tonnes of LNG over 10 years, with deliveries beginning in 2028, the outlet reported.

The agreement is the first LNG sale from XRG's international portfolio. It is also ADNOC's fifth LNG supply agreement with an Indian company, according to Connected to India.

Gas supply from Summit's liquefied natural gas terminal in Moheshkhali, Bangladesh, resumed after scheduled maintenance, restoring operations at both terminals serving the national grid, according to bdnews24 and The Financial Express.

Petrobangla, Bangladesh's state oil and gas company, said the Summit terminal began regasifying imported LNG at 1pm on Saturday, with both Moheshkhali facilities supplying the national grid as before, bdnews24 reported.

Bangladesh's total gas supply stood at 2,408 million cubic feet per day at 2pm on Saturday after the terminal resumed operations, according to Petrobangla data cited by Dhaka Tribune.

Drones struck an oil refinery in Saratov, Russia, overnight on November 7, setting the facility ablaze, according to Ukrinform.

OSINT analysts from the ASTRA project identified the burning site as the Saratov Oil Refinery after reviewing eyewitness video, Ukrinform reported. The refinery has a design capacity of approximately 7 million tonnes of crude oil per year, according to Censor.net.

Pakistan's oil refineries face mounting financial pressure after international petrol prices fell below crude oil prices, driving refining margins into negative territory, according to TechJuice.

The daily refining margin dropped to negative USD 5 per barrel on November 5, TechJuice reported. The inversion - petrol trading below the cost of the crude used to produce it - has squeezed refinery economics across the country.