US oil supplies at a 38 year low; gasoline demand at a 9 month low, gasoline production at an 8 month low

natural gas prices at an 8 month high; commercial crude inventories at a 10 month low; total US oil supplies at a 38 year low; gasoline demand at a nine month low, gasoline inventories at a six month high despite production that was at an 8 month low

after rising to their highest since August 2022 last week, oil prices tumbled $8 or 8.8% to $82.79 a barrel this week, the largest weekly drop since March, after OPEC left their production cuts unchanged, Fed officials signaled tighter monetary policy in the months ahead, and US gasoline demand fell to a nine month low, leaving our gasoline inventories at a six month high despite production that was at an 8 month low...

natural gas prices, on the other hand, rose 14.0% to an 8 month high of $3.338 per mmBTU on ongoing production interruptions, a looming outbreak of cold weather, a relatively anemic storage injection, record pipeline exports to Mexico, and the likelihood that a strike by Australian LNG workers would resume...

The EIA's natural gas storage report for the week ending September 29th indicated that the amount of working natural gas held in underground storage in the US increased by 86 billion cubic feet to 3,445 billion cubic feet by the end of the week, which left our natural gas supplies 357 billion cubic feet, or 11.8% above the 3,088 billion cubic feet that were in storage on September 29th of last year, and 172 billion cubic feet, or 5.3% more than the five-year average of 3.273 billion cubic feet of natural gas that were in working storage as of the 29th of September over the most recent five years…the 86 billion cubic foot injection into US natural gas working storage for the cited week was less than the 92 billion cubic feet addition to supplies that was expected by industry analysts surveyed by Reuters, and much less than the 126 billion cubic feet that were added to natural gas storage during the corresponding week of 2022, and also quite a bit less than the average 103 billion cubic feet addition to natural gas storage that has been typical for the same ​a​utumn week over the past 5 years…

The Latest US Oil Supply and Disposition Data from the EIA

US oil data from the US Energy Information Administration for the week ending September 29th indicated that after a big increase in our oil exports and an even bigger decrease in our oil imports, we had to pull oil out of our stored commercial crude supplies for the tenth time in twelve weeks, and for the 21st time in the past 41 weeks, despite a big jump in oil supplies that the EIA could not account for....Our imports of crude oil fell by an average of 1,014,000 barrels per day to 6,215,000 barrels per day, after rising by an average of 711,000 barrels per day the prior week, while our exports of crude oil rose by 944,000 barrels per day to average 4,956,000 barrels per day, which combined meant that the net of our trade in oil worked out to a net import average of 1,259,000 barrels of oil per day during the week ending September 29th, 1,958,000 fewer barrels per day than the net of our imports minus our exports during the prior week. Over the same period, production of crude from US wells was reportedly unchanged at a forty-two month high of 12,900,000 barrels per day, and hence our daily supply of oil from the net of our international trade in oil and from domestic well production appears to have averaged a total of 14,159,000 barrels per day during the September 29th reporting week…

Meanwhile, US oil refineries reported they were processing an average of 15,602,000 barrels of crude per day during the week ending September 29th, an average of 463,000 fewer barrels per day than the amount of oil that our refineries were processing during the prior week, while over the same period the EIA’s surveys indicated that an average of 275,000 barrels of oil per day were being pulled from the supplies of oil stored in the US. So, based on that reported & estimated data, the crude oil figures provided by the EIA for the week ending September 29th appears to indicate that our total working supply of oil from storage, from net imports and from oilfield production was 1,168, 000 barrels per day ​l​ess than what our oil refineries reported they used during the week. To account for that difference between the apparent supply of oil and the apparent disposition of it, the EIA just inserted a [ +1,168,000 ] barrel per day figure onto line 13 of the weekly U.S. Petroleum Balance Sheet in order to make the reported data for the daily supply of oil and for the consumption of it balance out, a fudge factor that they label in their footnotes as “unaccounted for crude oil”, thus suggesting there was an error of that magnitude in the week’s oil supply & demand figures that we have just transcribed.... Moreover, since last week’s “unaccounted for crude oil” figure was a rare [-397,000 ] barrels per day, representing unaccounted for demand, that means there was a 1,566,000 barrel per day difference between this week's oil balance sheet error and the EIA's big crude oil balance sheet error from a week ago, and hence the changes to supply and demand from that week to this one that are indicated by this week's report are off by that much, and therefore nonsense...however, since most oil traders react to these weekly EIA reports as if they were accurate, and since these weekly figures therefore often drive oil pricing, and hence decisions to drill or complete oil wells, we’ll continue to report this data just as it's published, and just as it's watched & believed to be reasonably reliable by most everyone in the industry...(for more on how this weekly oil data is gathered, and the possible reasons for that “unaccounted for” oil, see this EIA explainer)….(NB: there is also a more recent twitter thread from an EIA administrator addressing these errors, and what they had hoped to do about it)

This week's 275,000 barrel per day decrease in our overall crude oil inventories left out total oil supplies at 765,343,000 barrels, the lowest since April 5th, 1985, and it came as an average of 318,000 barrels per day were being pulled out of our commercially available stocks of crude oil, while an average of 43,000 barrels per day were being added to our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the eighth addition to the SPR in​ the past nine weeks, following three years of withdrawals.  Further details from the weekly Petroleum Status Report (pdf) indicate that the 4 week average of our oil imports fell to 6,886,000 barrels per day last week, which was still 9.6% more than the 6,284,000 barrel per day average that we were importing over the same four-week period last year. This week’s crude oil production was reported to be unchanged at a forty-two month high of 12,900,000 barrels per day because the EIA's rounded estimate of the output from wells in the lower 48 states was unchanged at a forty-two month high of 12,500,000 barrels per day, while Alaska’s oil production was 2,000 barrels per day higher at 420,000 barrels per day but still added the same 400,000 barrels per day to the EIA's rounded national total as it did last week...US crude oil production had reached a pre-pandemic high of 13,100,000 barrels per day during the week ending March 13th 2020, so this week’s reported oil production figure was still 1.5% below that of our pre-pandemic production peak, but was 33.0% above the pandemic low of 9,700,000 barrels per day that US oil production had fallen to during the third week of February of 2021.

US oil refineries were operating at 87.3% of their capacity while processing those 15,602,000 barrels of crude per day during the week ending September 29th, down from their 93.7% utilization rate of three weeks ago, a decline in refinery utilization that is not unusual during the weeks right after Labor Day​, as refineries undergo seasonal maintenance during a changeover to produce winter blends of fuel.. The 15,602,000 barrels per day of oil that were refined this week were 2.2% less  than the 15,961,000 barrels of crude that were being processed daily during week ending September 30th of 2022, and 2.6% less than the 16,513,000 barrels that were being refined during the prepandemic week ending September 27th, 2019, when our refinery utilization rate was at 86.4%, also down sharply from the September 6th week of that year...

With decrease in the amount of oil being refined this week, the gasoline output from our refineries was also lower, decreasing by 313,000 barrels per day to a eight month low of 8,826,000 barrels per day during the week ending September 29th, after our refineries' gasoline output had decreased by 572,000 barrels per day during the prior week. This week’s gasoline production was 11.9% less than the 10,014,000 barrels of gasoline that were being produced daily over the same week of last year, and 12.4% less than the gasoline production of 10,081,000 barrels per day during the prepandemic week ending September 27th, 2019. ​  At the same time, our refineries’ production of distillate fuels (diesel fuel and heat oil) decreased by 243,000 barrels per day to 4,689,000 barrels per day, after our distillates output had increased by 150,000 barrels per day during the prior week. With that decrease, our distillates output was 9.6% less than the 5,188,000 barrels of distillates that were being produced daily during the week ending September 30th of 2022, and 2.6% less than the 4,813,000 barrels of distillates that were being produced daily during the week ending September 27th, 2019...

Even with this week's decrease in our gasoline production, our supplies of gasoline in storage at the end of the week rose for the 11th time in thirty-three weeks, increasing by 6,481,000 barrels to a six month high of 226,984,000 barrels during the week ending September 29th, after our gasoline inventories had increased by 1,027,000 barrels during the prior week. Our gasoline supplies rose by more this week because the amount of gasoline supplied to US users fell by 605,000 barrels per day to a nine month low of 8,014,000 barrels per day, and because our imports of gasoline rose by 209,000 barrels per day to 919,000 barrels per day while our exports of gasoline rose by 23,000 barrels per day to 837,000 barrels per day,....Even after twenty-two gasoline inventory decreases over the past thirty-three weeks, our gasoline supplies were 9.4% more than last September 30th's gasoline inventories of 207,460,000 barrels, and about 1% above the five year average of our gasoline supplies for this time of the year…

Meanwhile, with this week's decrease in our our distillates production, our supplies of distillate fuels decreased for the sixteenth time in thirty weeks, falling by 1,269,000 barrels to 118,795,000 barrels over the week ending September 29th, after our distillates supplies had increased by 398,000 barrels during the prior week. Our distillates supplies fell this week even though the amount of distillates supplied to US markets, an indicator of our domestic demand, fell by 157,000 barrels per day to 3,815,000 barrels per day, because our exports of distillates rose by 123,000 barrels per day to 1,140,000 barrels per day and because our imports of distillates fell by 29,000 barrels per day to 85,000 barrels per day,....With 40 inventory increases over the past seventy-two weeks, our distillates supplies at the end of the week were ​still 7.1% above the 110,916,000 barrels of distillates that we had in storage on September 30th of 2022, but were also about 13% below the five year average of our distillates inventories for this time of the year...

Finally, with our oil imports lower and our oil exports higher, our commercial supplies of crude oil in storage fell for 18th time in twenty-six weeks and for the 27th time in the past year, decreasing by 2,224,000 barrels over the week, from 416,287,000 barrels on September 22nd to a ten month low of 414,063,000 barrels on September 29th, after our commercial crude supplies had decreased by 2,169,000 barrels over the prior week. With this week's decrease, our commercial crude oil inventories slipped to about 5% below the most recent five-year average of commercial oil supplies for this time of year, but were still about 25% above the average of our available crude oil stocks as of the​ first weekend of ​O​ctober over the 5 years at the beginning of the past decade, with the big difference between those comparisons arising because it wasn’t until early 2015 that our oil inventories​ had first topped 400 million barrels. After our commercial crude oil inventories had jumped to record highs during the Covid lockdowns of the Spring of 2020, then jumped again after February 2021's winter storm Uri froze off US Gulf Coast refining, but then fell in the wake of the Ukraine war, only to jump again following the Christmas 2022 refinery freeze offs, our commercial crude supplies as of this September 29th were 3.5% less than the 429,203,000 barrels of oil in commercial storage on September 30th of 2022, were 1.6% less than the 420,887,000 barrels of oil that we still had in storage on October 1st of 2021, and were 16.0% less than the 492,927,000 barrels of oil we had in commercial storage on October 2nd of 2020, after early pandemic precautions had left a lot of oil unused…

This Week's Rig Count

in lieu of our usual detailed rig count coverage, we are again just including below a screenshot of the rig count summary pdf from Baker Hughes...in the table below, the first column shows the active rig count as of October 6th, the second column shows the change in the number of working rigs between last week’s count (September 29th) and this week’s (October 6th) count, the third column shows last week’s September 29th active rig count, the 4th column shows the change between the number of rigs running on Friday and the number running on the Friday before the same weekend of a year ago, and the 5th column shows the number of rigs that were drilling at the end of that reporting week a year ago, which in this week’s case was the 7th of October, 2022...

​we expect to resume our usual coverage of this report in two weeks

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Ohio commission could soon decide whether to allow fracking under state parks, wildlife areas ... – WVXU --Hydraulic fracturing has been used for decades in Ohio for oil and gas production. Now a new law paves a clearer path for fracking under state-owned lands. Last week an Ohio Department of Natural Resources panel voted to let companies bid on rights to drill in four parcels of state-owned land, but delayed a vote on drilling in state parks. This comes after a Cleveland.com investigation revealed dozens of people whose names appeared on pro-fracking letters say they never signed the letters.On Cincinnati Edition, we discuss the latest bids for drilling on state-owned lands and the fracking industry in Ohio. Guests:

• Jake Zuckerman, reporter, Cleveland.com and the Cleveland Plain Dealer
• Cathy Cowan Becker, Save Ohio Parks steering committee member
• Rob Brundrett, president, Ohio Oil and Gas Association

Tune in live at noon ET M-F. Call 513-419-7100 or email talk@wvxu.org to have your voice heard on today’s topic. Audio for this segment will be uploaded to this page by 4 p.m. ET., or subscribe to our podcast.

Utica Leasing Up in Columbiana County, Royalties Down - Youngstown Business Journal – Energy companies doing business in Columbiana County have exhibited a strong appetite for new lease deals with property owners across the Utica/Point Pleasant shale formation over the last year, records show. It amounts to what is a post-COVID rush to expand or renew existing leaseholds across the county and other areas of the shale play, says attorney Alan Wenger, who oversees the oil and gas division of Harrington, Hoppe and Mitchell law firm in Youngstown. “It’s become evident in the aftermath of COVID,” Wenger says. Yet gone are the days when these leases commanded lucrative signing bonuses and promising royalty returns, Wenger says. Twelve years ago, major oil and gas companies – led by Chesapeake Energy Corp. – descended on eastern Ohio in a race to lock up acreage positions in what was then the unproven Utica/Point Pleasant. Some agreements at that time yielded bonuses of $6,000 an acre and royalties of 20% gross production of an oil and gas well. Today, many of those lease agreements that covered acreage where wells were not drilled have expired, and companies have returned to the table to re-sign property owners to new leases. Or, these energy companies have reached out to landowners whose acreage was not leased during the initial push. “They’re back, and people think the terms should be the same,” Wenger says. “It’s not happening. The days of $5,000 and $6,000 bonuses and 20% royalties don’t happen anymore.” Wenger says property owners no longer hold the leverage they used to, as the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and changes in state law have made it easier for oil and gas firms to combine property tracts for drilling purposes – a practice commonly known as unitization, or “forced pooling.” In Ohio, a unit consists of 640 contiguous surface acres. Wenger says that landowners who are designated as part of a well unit, but have refused to lease their land to an oil and gas company, today negotiate from a disadvantage. “In my experience, the ability of landowners to negotiate is compromised since the boom,” he says. Under Ohio law, a unit today requires that 65% of the landowners within the pool approve of developing a well. “It used to be about 90%. It used to be a roadblock,” Wenger says. Once an application for a unit is filed with ODNR, then the chief of the oil and gas division will hold a hearing as to whether the unit should be approved. Should the unit go forward, those landowners who had not signed leases would be compelled to do so on terms that Wenger says are unfavorable to them. “The ones who once held out and would get the lion’s share are now going to lose,” he says. Those landowners who leased acreage during the early phase of the play have seen their royalties diminish over the years, as many of these wells aren’t producing as much compared to when they were first drilled. “I’d like to know where the royalty checks are,” says Bob Crosser, who owns a 100-acre farm in Center Township. Approximately 80 of his acres are tied to a well unit. Crosser says he hasn’t seen a royalty payment in two months from the well’s operator, EAP. “It’s been a steady decline since the well started producing.” Nevertheless, leasing activity is gaining momentum across the Utica/Point Pleasant, data show. Records from the Columbiana County Recorder’s office show that the three active energy companies that own producing horizontal wells in Columbiana County – EAP Ohio, Hilcorp Energy Co., and Pin Oak Energy Partners LLC – have recorded at least a combined 407 new leases or lease assignments from Jan. 1 through Sept. 19. That’s a 210% increase from 2022, when the three recorded a total of 131 leases. In 2021, EAP, Hilcorp and Pin Oak together recorded 243 leases, records show. Meanwhile oil and gas production in the county remains strong, according to ODNR data. During the first half of 2023 – the most recent figures available – horizontal wells in Columbiana County pumped out an impressive 376,059 barrels of oil. Oil production across the county is driven by four wells operated by EAP Ohio, a division of Houston-based Encino Energy Partners, in Hanover Township. These wells collectively yielded 366,222 barrels during the first half of 2022. “Encino’s second pad is online, and we are currently working on a third pad in Columbiana County,” spokeswoman Jackie Stewart said in a statement. “We continue to be cautiously optimistic about the northern Utica play and look forward to seeing ongoing growth and investment in the region.” These figures represent a shift among energy companies to target what they believe is an emerging oil window in this part of the Utica/Point Pleasant. Traditionally, oil production in the northern tier has been negligible. For example, during the fourth quarter of 2022, the approximately 120 operating wells in the county produced just 5,084 barrels of oil. During the second quarter, Columbiana County was ranked the fourth-highest oil-producing county in the state, data show, with 142,669 barrels. That’s still well behind heavy-hitters such as Guernsey County to the southeast, which yielded 2.6 million barrels during the period. Natural gas production through the first half of 2023 was also strong, as Columbiana County’s horizontal wells produced a combined 28.4 billion cubic feet.

23 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 25 – Oct 1 | Marcellus Drilling News - New shale permits issued for Sep 25 – Oct 1 in the Marcellus/Utica were up a few ticks from the previous week. There were 23 new permits issued last week, up from 21 permits issued two weeks ago. Last week’s permit tally included 10 new permits in Pennsylvania, no new permits in Ohio, and a surprising 13 new permits in West Virginia. Two companies tied for top permittee, one you know, one you may not know. Olympus Energy received 5 permits to drill in Westmoreland County, PA. Consol Mining Company received 5 permits to drill in Monongalia County, WV. Consol used to own CNX Resources before spinning off CNX into its own company. Consol concentrates on coal mining. We were surprised to see Consol wandering back into shale drilling. APEX ENERGY | BUTLER COUNTY | CONSOL ENERGY | EQT CORP | HG ENERGY | LEWIS COUNTY | LYCOMING COUNTY | MARION COUNTY |MONONGALIA COUNTY | OHIO COUNTY | OLYMPUS/HUNTLEY & HUNTLEY | PENNENERGY RESOURCES | SOUTHWESTERN ENERGY | WESTMORELAND COUNTY

Summit Midstream 3Q Update – Considers Selling Part or All of Co. -- Marcellus Drilling News -- Summit Midstream Partners, formed in 2009 and headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, operates natural gas, crude oil, and produced water gathering (pipeline) systems in several unconventional shale plays, including the Marcellus and Utica. On Tuesday, the company issued an operational update based on third-quarter results (no financials, just operations). The company saw significant quarterly volume growth across nearly every segment, including 19% volume growth in its Northeast (Marcellus/Utica) segment. However, the big news from the update is that the company has received overtures to buy some or all of the entire company. The Summit board is now actively considering those offers.

Biden is touting hydrogen as a source of clean energy and West Virginia officials want in. Here’s what to know about hydrogen hubs -- As the Biden administration looks to make good on its goal to reduce carbon emissions, West Virginia is among the states vying for the federal funding earmarked to push the country towards hydrogen as an alternative energy source.Hydrogen energy, also known as “hydrogen power” or “hydrogen fuel,” is a form of energy derived from hydrogen gas. Electricity, which can come from a variety of sources, is used to split water, generating oxygen and hydrogen. As several of the methods used to produce hydrogen generate minimal carbon emissions, it’s often lauded as a low-carbon energy alternative.The program is a crucial part of the strategy to achieve President Joe Biden’s goal of a 100% clean electrical grid by 2035 as well as net zero carbon emissions by 2050, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. But critics are skeptical hydrogen energy is the way to do this, and are concerned about the feasibility as well as the economic and environmental impacts of this substantial push toward hydrogen energy production. Hydrogen hubs refer to networks of facilities that help produce, store, distribute and utilize hydrogen as an energy source through a collection of power plants, storage facilities and pipelines. The hubs developed through the federal government’s initial push — called the H2Hubs program — are supposed to form the foundation for a national network of hydrogen facilities and producers. The Biden administration hopes this in turn will increase the use of hydrogen as an energy source and reach its climate-related goals, according to the DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations. While “clean hydrogen” is commonly used by the Biden administration and others as a general term to refer to hydrogen as an alternative source of energy, it’s not that simple. The term isn’t specific to any one type of hydrogen energy production, of which there are several, because there is no universal definition of the term “clean hydrogen.” Instead the concept has become a “catchall term” for all low-carbon production methods of hydrogen, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute. The electricity used in the process can come from fossil fuels, or it can come from cleaner power sources. Generally, “clean” hydrogen can refer to any hydrogen produced with emission levels lower than current fossil fuel-based ways; the U.S. Department of Energy has released guidance for clean hydrogen that it will use to determine how to prioritize projects that qualify for funding earmarked by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. While there are several hydrogen production methods that are considered clean, the two most common types are hydrogen produced by renewable sources and hydrogen produced from natural gas in combination with carbon capture and storage. Carbon capture and storage, also known as CCS, is a set of technologies and processes designed to capture the carbon dioxide byproduct, preventing it from being released into the atmosphere.

Hope Gas closes acquisition of Peoples Gas WV - Hope Gas today announced that it closed the acquisition of Peoples Gas WV with Essential Utilities. The acquisition of Peoples Gas WV adds 13,000 new customers and grows the company’s customer base by approximately 10%.“I welcome our new customers and employees to Hope Gas,” said Morgan O’Brien, CEO of Hope Gas. “This acquisition continues Hope’s growth and our investment in building the future of West Virginia. West Virginia’s rich energy supply and distribution system is a benefit to economic development. It is a key piece in attracting other businesses to this beautiful state.” Founded in 1898, Hope Gas is already one of the largest local natural gas distribution companies in West Virginia. The Hope Gas vision is to be a leader in the energy industry in the Mountain State and to empower and improve communities through the safe delivery of local, abundant, and reliable energy. Hope Gas now serves approximately 125,000 homes and businesses. It owns and operates over 6900 miles of natural gas pipelines throughout the state.

WV's Hope Gas Parent Hearthstone Rebrands as Hope Utilities In August 2022, MDN brought you the news that Hearthstone Utilities, a Naperville, Illinois-based company, was planning to move its corporate headquarters to Morgantown, West Virginia (see Hearthstone Utilities Moving HQ to WV to Leverage Marcellus/Utica). The move finally happened in June of this year (see Utility Co. Hope Gas Transfers HQ from Illinois to Morgantown, WV). Why move? According to CEO Morgan O’Brien, “We’re very bullish on West Virginia and the idea of having a gas utility sitting on top of the Marcellus and Utica shales, and what that could mean.” Hearthstone operates local natural gas utilities in Indiana, Maine, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, and with the purchase of Hope Gas from Dominion Energy earlier this year, it now operates in West Virginia (see Dominion Selling WV Utility – Deal Incl. 2K Miles Gathering Pipes). The parent company is changing its name from Hearthstone Utilities to Hope Utilities.

Mountain Valley Pipeline to receive additional oversight - A federal safety agency is ordering Mountain Valley Pipeline to take additional steps to inspect and repair any sections of pipe that may have been damaged by exposure to the elements during long delays in construction. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued a consent order Tuesday. The action, which follows an informal consultation with lead pipeline partner Equitrans Midstream Corp., was taken to address concerns that prolonged exposure to sunlight may have worn thin a protective coating on the pipe meant to curb corrosion once it’s buried. KTA-Tator Inc. will serve as an independent, third-party expert to review Mountain Valley’s process of inspecting the pipes and re-applying the coating when necessary. In a filing late Tuesday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Mountain Valley wrote that “transparently outlining the steps being taken by the project team to responsibly complete construction is of critical importance and will reinforce public confidence in the safe operation of the pipeline.” In recent comments to FERC, pipeline opponents have said PHMSA was taking too long to act after filing a proposed safety order on Aug. 11. As legal challenges have delayed construction of a natural gas pipeline that will run through the New River and Roanoke Valleys, concerns have grown about a fusion-bonded epoxy coating that was applied to the pipes five or six years ago when work first started.

Equitrans Midstream signs agreement regarding MVP project -Equitrans Midstream, the operator of Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project, has secured a consent order from the US pipeline regulator for the MVP project. Equitrans will be required to submit an appropriate action plan and carry out tests on coatings intended to prevent corrosion and pipeline damage in accordance with the conditions of the consent agreement with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). The agreement comes in response to the notice issued by PHMSA in August 2023, highlighting the potential risk to public safety, property, or the environment from the MVP project. According to Equitrans, the consent order resolved that notice, and the terms of the agreement's conditions are not anticipated to materially affect the project's budget or schedule. Spanning over 487 km from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia, MVP is a US$6.6 billion project. The pipeline, which is currently 94% complete, will give drillers in the gas-rich Appalachian Basin essential transport capacity, reported Bloomberg. The MVP has been designed to carry up to 2 billion ft3 of Marcellus and Utica shale natural gas per day. Mountain Valley, the company that owns the pipeline project, is run by Equitrans. Other partners in the project include Con Edison Transmission, NextEra Capital, WGL Midstream, and RGC Midstream. Equitrans President and Chief Operating Officer Diana Charletta said: “The terms of this consent agreement are directly aligned with Equitrans’ core values, which include continually striving to go above and beyond regulatory compliance requirements. Importantly, the agreement outlines actions that are designed to reassure the public of MVP’s integrity and demonstrates our commitment to safe, responsible construction and in-service operations.

Shale Can Play Big Role in World LNG – But Not Without New Pipes - Marcellus Drilling News - According to consulting powerhouse McKinsey & Co., world demand for LNG is forecast to see robust demand growth through at least 2040, and U.S. shale gas producers can effectively compete to fill a coming supply gap. But only if we can build enough new pipelines and liquefaction plants to meet the demand. And that’s the open question. As we report in a related story today (see Diversified CEO Says Gulf Coast has Brighter Future than Appalachia), it’s easier to build new pipelines in the Gulf Coast than in the Marcellus/Utica region. At the recent America’s Natural Gas Conference, McKinsey Partner Dumitru Dediu commented, “Without new infrastructure, we may see Henry Hub prices increasing and, respectively, other less competitive basins supplying these LNG projects.”

Cheniere Energy (LNG) Reduces Feed Gas Intake by 1 Bcfd -- Cheniere Energy LNG, the largest U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer, reduced its combined feed gas intake at two of its plants by about 1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd). This reduction comes at a time when the United States is the world's largest LNG exporter and the global demand for LNG is high. This helped push the overall U.S. feed gas consumption to a four-week low of 11.2 bcfd. The reduction was due to a combination of factors, including a maintenance shutdown at Berkshire Hathaway Energy's Cove Point LNG plant and smaller reductions elsewhere. Despite the reduction in feed gas intake, U.S. LNG exports remain strong. According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA), the country regained its crown as the largest LNG exporter in the world in the first half of 2023. The reduction in Cheniere Energy’s feed gas intake is a short-term development. However, the fact that U.S. LNG exports remain strong despite the reduction in feed gas intake is a positive sign for the U.S. LNG market. This suggests that there is strong demand for U.S. LNG, both in Europe and Asia. The high gas prices in these continents are also supporting the LNG exports. However, gas prices can be volatile and if they fall in either Europe or Asia, it could reduce the demand for U.S. LNG.

Delfin gets extension to build US FLNG project - Delfin LNG, a unit of Delfin Midstream and the developer of a floating LNG export project in the Gulf of Mexico, has won more time from the US FERC to put into service the project’s onshore facilities in Louisiana.Last year, the FERC granted a one-year extension of time, to September 28, 2023, to Delfin to construct and make available for service the LNG project’s onshore facilities.The LNG terminal developer filed a request with the FERC on July 21 this year seeking a four-year extension of time.“Because we find that Delfin has demonstrated good cause for the extension of time, we will grant the requested four-year extension of time to complete the onshore facilities authorized in the 2017 certificate order,” the regulator said in a filling dated October 4.Delfin now has time until September 28, 2027, to construct and make available for service the onshore facilities, it said.The company plans to install up to four self-propelled FLNG vessels that could produce up to 13.3 mtpa of LNG or 1.7 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas as part of its Delfin LNG project.It also aims to install two FLNG units under the Avocet LNG project.In the July filling, Delfin Midstream said it expects to take a final investment decision on its first FLNG in October this year.Delfin also negotiated a binding engineering, construction, and procurement contract with South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries and US engineer Black & Veatch and said that that it expects to sign this deal by September this year.The firm recently also joined forces with China’s Wison Offshore & Marine to develop additional floating LNG producersBesides the Wison deal, Delfin sealed a supply deal in July with UK-based Centrica worth about $8 billion.Prior to that, the firm secured an investment from Japan’s shipping giant MOL and previously signed supply deals with Hartree Partners and Vitol.

Tellurian seeks more time to complete Driftwood LNG terminal - US LNG terminal developer Tellurian has requested more time from the US FERC to complete the construction of its Driftwood LNG project in Louisiana. In April 2019, the FERC authorized Driftwood LNG to site, construct, and operate facilities for the liquefaction and export of natural gas in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. Besides the 27 mtpa LNG terminal, the regulator also authorized Driftwood Pipeline to build a new 48-inch interstate natural gas pipeline system in Evangeline, Acadia, Jefferson Davis, and Calcasieu Parishes. The order said that Driftwood LNG’s facilities and the pipeline must be fully completed and made available for service within seven years of the date of order. However, Driftwood told the FERC in a filling dated October 4 that it would need an additional 36 months to complete construction of the LNG terminal and the pipeline and place the entire project in service, rendering the current inservice deadlines in the order infeasible. In this regard, Driftwood requests that the FERC grant an approximately 36-month extension of time so that it has the required time to receive its long lead manufactured equipment, which cannot be manufactured and delivered to the site in time to meet the current deadline, install the equipment and construct the remaining facilities, and continue to attract and secure customers, and financing, it said. “Driftwood respectfully requests that the Commission grant this request for extension by November 16, 2023 so as to help expedite the timely conclusion of ongoing commercial and financial discussions between the project and certain potential partners,” the firm said.Freeport LNG working to place second LNG jetty back in service - Freeport LNG, the operator of the three-train 15 mtpa liquefaction plant in Texas, is working to secure approvals to place back its second jetty in service and to return the export facility to full commercial operations.In February this year, the LNG terminal operator shipped the first cargo from its LNG export plant in Texas since the shutdown in June 2022.Freeport received regulatory approvals from both the US FERC and PHMSA during the first quarter to restart Phase I operations, which consists of three liquefaction trains, two LNG storage tanks (tanks 1 and 2) and a single LNG jetty (dock 1).These approvals did not grant authorization to Freeport to commission or place LNG tank 3, Loop 2, and Dock 2 back into service.In order to continue Freeport’s sequential plan to return the export facility to full commercial operations, Freeport has requested authorization from FERC for the nitrogen cooldown of the Loop 2 LNG rundown piping system and the introduction of hydrocarbons to Loop 2 to complete its cooldown and commissioning.“These activities are necessary to move into Phase II operations, which would return Dock 2 to service,” Freeport said in a filling with FERC dated September 30.Freeport noted that any authorization pursuant to this request will be limited to the nitrogen cool down of the Loop 2 LNG rundown piping system and introduction of LNG into the Loop 2 piping.Subsequent approvals will be necessary to fully return Dock 2 to service, the LNG terminal operator said.

Freeport LNG Seeks FERC Permission to Progress Return of Full Commercial Operations - Freeport LNG Development LP has asked FERC for permission to move forward with the next phase of its operational restart, moving its Texas export facility closer to full commercial operations for the first time since last summer. In a recent filing, the firm asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for permission to allow it to begin the nitrogen cooldown of its Loop 2 system and introduce natural gas so it can begin the commissioning process. Freeport requested a response by Friday. “These activities are necessary to move into Phase II Operations, which would return Dock 2 to service,” Freeport representatives wrote in the request to FERC.

U.S., Mexico Projects Driving TotalEnergies Plan to Grow LNG Business by 50% - of its key “pillars” as it aims to grow natural gas and oil production by at least 2% annually until the end of the decade. In an outlook presentation as a part of TotalEnergies’ investor day in New York, executives outlined how the French major plans to grow its already substantial portfolio of liquefied natural gas by 50% through the end of the decade. At the center of those plans are five key LNG projects, including two in North America that will contribute almost half of TotalEnergies’ expected capacity increases. Earlier in the year, the firm finalized an equity and offtake agreement with NextDecade Corp., gaining 5.4 million metric tons/year (mmty) in U.S. supply from Rio Grande LNG.

US natgas prices jump 7% to 8-month high on small storage build, lower output (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures jumped about 7% to an eight-month high on Thursday on a smaller-than-expected storage build, technical buying, a drop in output and forecasts for seasonally cooler weather that should boost heating demand in coming weeks. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said utilities added 86 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas into storage during the week ended Sept. 29. That was lower than the 92-bcf build analysts forecast in a Reuters poll and compares with an increase of 126 bcf in the same week last year and a five-year (2018-2022) average increase of 103 bcf. The "sharp (storage) miss to the downside compared to analyst estimates ... may have caught many newly opened short positions offsides," . Front-month gas futures for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 20.4 cents, or 6.9%, to settle at $3.166 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), their highest close since Jan. 24. Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the lower 48 U.S. states slid to 102.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in October, down from 102.9 bcfd in September and a monthly record high of 103.1 bcfd in August. On a daily basis, output dropped by 1.4 bcfd over the past two days to a preliminary 14-week low of 101.2 bcfd on Thursday. Energy analysts, however, have said that preliminary data is often revised later in the day. Meteorologists forecast the weather in the lower 48 states would remain mostly near normal through Oct. 20. LSEG forecast U.S. gas demand, including exports, would rise from 94.8 bcfd this week to 95.5 bcfd next week as the normal seasonal cooling of the weather boosts heating demand. The forecast for this week was lower than LSEG's outlook on Wednesday, while the forecast for next week was higher. Pipeline exports to Mexico rose to an average of 7.3 bcfd so far in October, up from a record 7.2 bcfd in September, according to LSEG data. Analysts expect exports to Mexico to rise even higher in coming months once New Fortress Energy's plant in Altamira starts pulling in U.S. gas to turn into liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export. Gas flows to the seven big U.S. LNG export plants slid to 12.4 bcfd so far in October, down from 12.6 bcfd in September and a record high of 14.0 bcfd in April. Energy traders said they expected Berkshire Hathaway Energy's 0.8-bcfd Cove Point facility in Maryland to exit a maintenance outage over the next week or so based in part on company notices to customers that some pipeline work was expected to be completed on Oct. 4. Cove Point shut around Sept. 20. Analysts at LSEG have said the plant usually shuts for about three weeks of maintenance each autumn. Much higher global prices have fed demand for U.S. exports due to supply disruptions and sanctions linked to the war in Ukraine. Gas was trading around $11 per mmBtu at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark in Europe and $14 at the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) in Asia.

Natural Gas Futures Further Price Rally on Supply Interruptions, Australian LNG Strike Threat - The bull parade barreling through the natural gas futures market extended to a fourth consecutive session on Friday, fueled by lighter production and amplified by warnings of a worker walkout at key LNG export facilities. Building on a 20.4 cent-spike the prior session, the November Nymex gas futures contract rose another 17.2 cents on Friday and settled at $3.338/MMBtu. For the week, it gained 14%. Following strong gains earlier in the week, NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. declined 5.5 cents on Friday to $2.425. Production averaged about 100 Bcf/d during the week, off more than 2 Bcf/d from 2023 highs amid maintenance projects in multiple basins.

U.S. Natural Gas Producers, Marketers Forecasting Lower Prices This Winter Amid Stout Supply - A confluence of bearish supply and demand factors is expected to put slight downward pressure on U.S. natural gas prices this winter versus the last one, even with demand poised to hit record levels, according to the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA). The group, which represents both integrated and independent producers and marketers of gas, unveiled its 2023 Winter Outlook on Thursday. Winter is defined as November through March, when heating demand for natural gas typically spikes. “The outlook shows producers are rising to the challenge of meeting strong winter demand for natural gas at home, while continuing to meet the critical needs of an under-supplied global market,” said NGSA Chairman Freeman Shaheen. “We also continue to see growth in new gas-fired power...

What Do Asian Investments in U.S. Ammonia, Hydrogen Exports Mean for the Natural Gas Market? - The U.S. Gulf Coast has seen a bevy of potential deals and partnerships as large Asian natural gas buyers eye using gas-derivative, low-carbon fuels to help meet ambitious climate goals. Specifically, Japanese and South Korean plans to lean on ammonia and hydrogen made from natural gas to decarbonize existing infrastructure are raising the interest of U.S. firms from LNG exporters to fertilizer producers. However, the potential upside for the domestic gas market from ammonia or hydrogen projects could prove much more complicated than the future of liquefied natural gas.

Oil and gas job promises out of reach for people of color - There’s an unspoken promise when an industry moves into any community: We will disrupt your lives, but in exchange we will provide good-paying jobs. Except, according to new research shared exclusively with Floodlight, in Louisiana’s majority Black communities in the area known as “Cancer Alley,” because of its high concentration of polluting industries, the majority of jobs go to white workers. Similar disparities occur in minority-dominant communities along Texas’ Gulf Coast, where the majority of workers are white. “If one group gets all the pollution and another group gets all the jobs, it’s not really a tradeoff anymore,” said Kimberly Terrell, director of community engagement and a staff scientist with the Tulane University Environmental Law Clinic who led the research team. The highest disparity was found in St. John the Baptist Parish, home to the third largest oil refinery in the nation, and plants that make neoprene and absorbent material for diapers. There, people of color represent nearly 70% of the working-age population but make up only 28% of the manufacturing workforce, according to initial data from Tulane. That disparity is even greater with respect to higher-paying jobs, such as managers, sales workers and technicians. Minorities hold only 19% of those positions. “I would hear the people here say these plants keep coming but they’re not hiring Black people,” said retired educator Stephanie Aubert, who is Black and lives in St. John the Baptist Parish. “They’ll hire people from outside the parish before they hire us. That’s what they do to us.” The second highest disparity was found in Jefferson County, Texas, where minorities represent 59% of the working age population but make up only 28% of the manufacturing workforce, according to the data. Industry representatives who responded to Floodlight say they are working to increase diversity. Louisiana’s economic development agency, which gives industry generous incentives to locate in the state, says their hiring requirements don’t have any racial or location requirements.

Oil and Gas Sector Reacts to Federal Offshore Leasing Program - Several oil and gas groups have reacted to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) release of a proposed final 2024-2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program. In a statement posted on its website, the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) President and CEO Mike Sommers said, “this restrictive offshore leasing program is the latest tactic in a coordinated strategy to reduce energy production, ultimately weakening America’s energy dominance, limiting consumers access to affordable reliable energy, and compromising our ability to lead on the global stage”. “For decades, we’ve strived for energy security and this administration keeps trying to give it away,” he added. “At a time when inflation runs rampant across the country, the Biden administration is choosing failed energy policies that are adding to the pain Americans are feeling at the pump,” Sommers noted in the statement. In a statement posted on its site, the Independent Petroleum Association of America’s (IPAA) President and CEO Jeff Eshelman said the group was “disappointed by the content of the Biden administration’s offshore five-year leasing program”. “It’s clear that the Biden administration has chosen to align its policy decisions with environmental activists rather than put the best interest of American consumers first,” Eshelman said in the statement. “A plan with only three leases in five years will not only hamper American production but jeopardizes our energy security and will result in hundreds of millions of dollars of lost revenue to coastal states and the federal treasury,” he added. “The sad truth is that this plan will force the U.S. to get oil from other nations rather than develop American resources by American companies,” Eshelman continued.

BP says shore clean-up after Gulf of Mexico oil spill ends (Reuters) - BP Plc said the U.S. Coast Guardon Tuesday ended patrols and operations on the final threeshoreline miles in Louisiana, bringing to a close the four-yearcleanup of the Gulf Coast following the Deepwater Horizon oilspill. The move completes a cleanup operations that ended inFlorida, Alabama and Mississippi last June, BP said in astatement on Tuesday. (http://r.reuters.com/zuz58v) The 2010 disaster in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 rigworkers and spilled 4 million barrels of oil in the worstoffshore spill in U.S. history. "BP has spent more than $14 billion and more than 70 millionpersonnel hours on response and cleanup activities," LauraFolse, BP's executive vice president for Response andEnvironmental Restoration, said in a statement

Manatee County port absolved of involvement in oil spill -The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its efforts investigating the SeaPort Manatee oil spill that was first discovered Aug. 31, absolving the port from any involvement. The port samples collected for type testing didn’t match the oil found in the inner harbor, a press release states. While the coast guard was unable to pinpoint the source, it has suspended its investigation. James Satcher, chairman of the Manatee County Port Authority, expressed his gratitude for the coast guard’s efforts in cleaning up and investigating the event. “While it is disappointing that the investigation could not pinpoint the origin of the material, we are reassured in our proactive response efforts and pleased to learn that it was not identified as coming from a Seaport Manatee-related source,” Satcher says in the release. The discoloration of water was found the day after Hurricane Idalia made landfall. After the port notified the coast guard, the St. Petersburg Coast Guard sector showed up to deploy booms, which are floating barriers used to contain oil spills. It was determined the discoloration was caused by refined oil. As of Sept. 29, the oil was entirely removed and an endangered species analysis by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that no fish or wildlife had been affected. During a Sept. 7 interview with the Business Observer, Executive Director Carlos Buqueras speculated that the oil could have come from anywhere since it happened after the hurricane, before adding he wasn’t sure if it was possible for a storm to wash in oil into the port. “It’s frustrating for us,” Buqueras says of the port’s involvement in the spill, “because we’re innocent bystanders in that we don’t handle the oil.” The port generates over $5.1 billion in economic impacts annually, according to the release, and provides over 37,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Coast Guard halts investigation into Port Manatee oil spill - (WFLA) — Over 20,000 gallons of water and crude oil were recovered from Port Manatee following the spill on Sep. 1, but nearly one month later, questions still remain. Following a month-long effort, the U.S. Coast Guard suspended its investigation into the spill which sought responsibility for the environmental fiasco. Officials said they performed a thorough examination of 30 potential sources, including port facilities and ships. Roughly 20,500 gallons of oil/water mixture and 6.4 tons of oily debris were removed in the process. “I am pleased that we were able to quickly isolate the spilled material within the port to mitigate impacts to the environment,” said Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg commander Capt. Michael Kahle. “Our investigators worked tirelessly in search of the spill source and the responsible party.” Alas, the $1.17 million clean-up and investigative efforts came up empty-handed in the search for a source. SeaPort Manatee was quick to note that “none of the samples collected for type-testing at the port matched the oil found in the inner harbor.” It added that port team members were among the first to notice a visible discoloration within the water and notify the National Response Center. According to the port, an endangered species analysis of the area conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that “no fish or wildlife were affected by the spill.” Further investigation is pending new information.

Oilfield companies helped craft Texas’ new oil waste rules, documents show - State regulators on Monday released their draft rules for what to do with all the hazardous oilfield waste that’s left over once a well is drilled. The announcement gives the public one month to comment on the new rules — while some industry representatives started giving input more than two years ago, documents and interviews show.Oilfield waste executives and consultants helped write the regulations beginning in 2021. Oil and gas business advocates also gave feedback to the Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates the industry. The effort was initiated by a commissioner who has investments in oilfield waste companies. Jim Wright, one of the agency’s three elected commissioners, ran for his seat with an eye on rewriting what’s known as Rule 8. Wright owns stock in several hazardous waste management companies in Texas, according to statements filed with the Texas Ethics Commission. In an interview, Wright brushed off critics who suggest his involvement in the industry makes him a biased regulator. He said that he had little to do with re-writing the rules after he became commissioner, and that, if anything, his position on the Commission has hurt his businesses rather than helped it. Few companies want to risk doing business with companies associated with regulators, he said. “For those who think this is my rule — what Jim Wright wants — that couldn’t be further from the truth,” Wright said. “Even before I came to office, [commission] staff knew we really needed to take a hard look at Rule 8.” Wright said he believes the new rules will benefit all Texans, not just the oilfield waste industry. Supporters of industry’s early involvement say the rules, which haven’t been significantly revised since 1984, needed to be changed to make the permitting process more efficient and to allow new waste recycling technologies to be permitted. Critics say the revised regulations would benefit the industry over the public. “There’s an obvious conflict of interest if the industry gets to rewrite their own rules to their own financial benefit, and they end up writing rules that make people sick or contaminate groundwater and put our collective future at risk,” said Virginia Palacios, executive director of Commission Shift, a watchdog group that advocates for stricter financial policies for commissioners.

ExxonMobil, Pioneer Merger Could Finally Become Reality -- In a story that should surprise no one, the Wall Street Journal and others are reporting that the long-anticipated deal between U.S. energy giant ExxonMobilXOM and Permian Basin titan Pioneer Natural ResourcesPXD could finally be upon us. Rumors about a possible deal between the two companies have circulated off and on since at least 2017, and heated up again this past April. But, as with so many times before, the rumors soon cooled down when no deal was consummated. Perhaps this time will be different, but only time will tell. As of close of business Thursday, Pioneer boasted a market cap of more than $50 billion, meaning it would become Exxon’s biggest acquisition since its $81 billion merger with Mobil Oil Company in 1998. If completed, this deal would easily surpass ExxonMobil’s $41 billion buyout of Fort Worth-based independent XTO Energy in 2009. A merger between the two companies would also cement the combined company as far and away the dominant producer in the Permian Basin, the world’s most active oil and gas play. Pioneer has long ranked as the biggest holder of leases and drilling opportunities in the Midland sub-basin of the greater Permian Basin region, while ExxonMobil owns substantial leasehold in both the Midland and Delaware basins. An ExxonMobil/Pioneer deal would signify the continuation of the ‘bigger is better’ philosophy that has dominated the shale oil and gas sector in recent years. That has been the dominant theme as upstream companies have sought to grow through acquisitions as the main means of maintaining their inventories of future drilling projects. Growth via M&A also provides opportunities to optimize head counts and take advantage of other economies of scale and operational efficiencies. The large amount of contiguous acreage owned by the two companies would allow ExxonMobil to optimize water usage, recycling and transport operations, minimize the number of truck trips related to each specific task, and maximize efficiencies related to both drilling and hydraulic fracturing scheduling, among an array of additional efficiencies. For its own part, Pioneer has also been active in the growth via acquisitions space, executing buyouts of both Parsley Energy and DoublePoint Energy for a combined $11 billion during 2021. The company has grown to become the largest pure-play Permian Basin company under the leadership of longtime CEO Scott Sheffield. A deal with Pioneer would come just three months after ExxonMobil’s last big acquisition, the $4.9 billion buyout of midstream company Denbury in July. That deal was another natural fit for the energy giant, mainly additive to its Low Carbon Ventures (LCV) business unit, given Denbury’s suite of CO2 pipelines and other CO2-related assets. Exxon’s LCV unit has a heavy focus on mounting major carbon capture and storage projects along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast, where much of the Denbury assets are located. But a deal with Pioneer would be all about oil and gas, all about the upstream, and all about the prolific Permian Basin. It would also be entirely consistent with the beefed-up, Permian-heavy capital budget Exxon and its CEO, Darren Woods, rolled out early this year. This is a deal that has always seemed like a natural fit but has never managed to come to fruition. Perhaps this time will be the charm.

World's Top Shareholder Urges Systemic Change to Rein In Oil Emissions -A senior executive at Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, which owns a larger share of global stocks than any other investor, says Big Oil’s transition strategy isn’t holding up as carbon emissions continue to rise. “The oil and gas industry, as a whole, clearly isn’t doing enough to cut emissions,” said Carine Smith Ihenacho, chief governance and compliance officer at Norges Bank Investment Management. “Currently, there’s a long way to go, as global emissions are still going up.” The criticism comes as some of the world’s biggest oil companies double down on their core business and Brent crude inches toward $100 a barrel. Meanwhile, producers attending a recent petroleum summit lashed out at the International Energy Agency for its unequivocal warning that the industry needs to stop developing new oil fields if the planet is to limit global heating to the critical threshold of 1.5C. Such talk, according to the oil executives present, politicizes the climate debate. For investors trying to align their portfolios with the goals of the Paris climate agreement, such developments represent a worrying shift in the wrong direction. “The whole energy system needs to change, with companies taking bigger strides to reduce their use of fossil fuels in favor of renewable-energy sources,” Smith Ihenacho said. “At the moment, companies aren’t making the transition at a fast enough pace to achieve net zero by 2050.” A number of Wall Street heavyweights, meanwhile, are declaring their unwavering commitment to Big Oil. Speaking Monday at the American Energy Security Summit in Oklahoma City, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer David Solomon defended the need to support fossil fuel companies, dismissing demands from climate activists to restrict their access to finance. “Traditional energy companies are hugely important to the global economy, they are hugely important to Goldman Sachs,” he said. “We are all going to continue to finance traditional companies for a long time.” According to Smith Ihenacho, it’s up to the world’s largest investors to pressure companies and ensure they have proper transition plans. That applies not just to fossil fuel companies, but across high-carbon industries including cement, steel, chemicals, transportation and construction, she said. “Let’s be clear, the energy transition is about much more than oil and gas,” Smith Ihenacho said. The reality is that just 23 percent of the companies in which Norway’s $1.4 trillion wealth fund invests have credible net zero targets, she said. The fund held roughly 1 percent of Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. at the end of last year, and more than 3 percent of Shell Plc and BP Plc as recently as last month, according to the latest data compiled by Bloomberg. BP and Shell are among companies that actually have “fairly extensive transition plans, and we are watching to see how the industry follows through on those plans,” Smith Ihenacho said.

Lack of Investor Interest Inhibits Colombia’s Plan to Boost LNG Imports - Colombia needs more natural gas imports to meet growing power demand as El Niño-influenced weather conditions have resulted in water shortages, necessitating a shift away from hydroelectricity. The trend has put pressure on already constrained gas supplies in the country. But a recent proposal to add import capacity with a second LNG terminal received only one bid. “It is likely that Colombia will require more liquefied natural gas imports in the next few years, especially with El Niño weather conditions and significant variations on rain patterns…” said Diego Rivera Rivota, a research associate at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.

Liz Truss Urges Rishi Sunak To Support Fracking And Tax Cuts - Liz Truss will today urge Rishi Sunak to give his support for fracking and commit to slashing business taxes before the next election. The former prime minister will tell her former Tory leadership rival that both policies are necessary to grow the British economy. Truss has angered many in the party by deciding to appear at this year’s Conservative conference in Manchester less than a year after she was humiliatingly forced to resign as PM. She will appear alongside the likes of Priti Patel and Jacob Rees-Mogg at a “Great British Growth” rally on the fringes of the annual gathering. Truss will use her appearance to push for the government to support two of the policies she tried and failed to implement during her seven weeks in No.10 - shale gas exploration and cutting corporation tax from 25p to 19p in the pound. She will say: “By the end of this decade, if we don’t get fracking for shale, the UK is set to import over two thirds of the gas we need – from places over which we have no control. “That puts our security at risk, it’s expensive, and it’s worse for the planet – you have to burn petroleum to get it here. I’ve never understood why environmental activists prefer importing gas from abroad instead of producing it here at home.” “Fracking here in the UK – as they do in the US – could cut family gas bills by as much as half.” On corporation tax, she will say: “We can’t stand idly while companies like AstraZeneca move operations abroad because of our huge tax burden or small businesses shut up shop because they are drowning in red tape. “We should be hungry to attract the world’s best businesses and encouraging people to start businesses here at home. We must not normalise the raiding of businesses’ coffers. “So ahead of this year’s autumn statement, we must make the Conservative Party the party of business once again, by getting corporation tax back down to 19%.”

LNG Market Said Calm Heading Into Winter, but Risks Remain - The sense of urgency that pervaded the global natural gas market at this time last year has eased as storage inventories in Europe and Asia are well stocked, and the supply outlook is said to have improved considerably heading into winter. In Europe, which continues to drive the market as it replaces Russian gas supplies cut off last year, storage caverns are nearly full and close to record capacities. Global LNG demand has been steady, with Asian and European imports largely flat from last year’s levels. There is no flurry of buying activity and gas benchmarks in both regions have fallen significantly from where they stood last year.

Trafigura Secures U.S.-Backed Credit Line for LNG Exports - Trafigura Group Pte. Ltd. has secured a $400 million credit line insured by the U.S. Export-Import Bank to move more LNG to Europe. The global commodities trader said the two revolving credit facilities would be “used exclusively” to deliver U.S. liquefied natural gas to “customers primarily in Europe.” U.S. exporters have provided about 40% of the continent’s LNG this year, according to Kpler. Citigroup Inc. was the sole arranger for the deal and is one of two lenders for the facilities.

Trafigura enters $400 million loan to buy US LNG cargoes for Europe - Energy trader Trafigura has entered into two revolving credit facilities worth $400 million and will use the funds to purchase LNG cargoes from US exporters for supply to customers in Europe.Trafigura said in a statement on Wednesday that the facilities are supported by the Export-Import Bank of the United States.The signing of the deals follows approval by the US EXIM board of directors of two financial institution buyer credit (FIBC) policies issued to two financial institutions, including Citibank, for short-term facilities being extended to Trafigura, it said.Trafigura said it will use the facilities to purchase LNG cargoes from US exporters for supply to customers primarily in Europe, providing “energy security through replacement of Russian gas due to the war in Ukraine.”In December last year, Trafigura entered into a $3 billion four-year loan to supply US LNG to German gas trader Sefe, previously known as Gazprom Germania.The commodity firm said at the time that first gas delivery took place on November 1, 2022 and Trafigura would primarily use existing quantities from its global gas and LNG portfolio to help secure gas supplies to Sefe.Trafigura has a long-term LNG supply deal with US LNG exporting giant Cheniere.The 15-year deal started back in 2019 and Trafigura buys about 1 million tonnes a year of LNG from Cheniere.Trafigura’s LNG volumes dropped about 7.1 percent in the fiscal year ending September 30 while the company’s net profit more than doubled to $7 billion.LNG volumes declined to 13 million tonnes compared to 14 million tonnes during the same period last year, Trafigura said in its annual report.Trafigura did not reveal its LNG volumes for the six-month period ended March 31, 2023.The company’s profit more than doubled during the period to $5.5 billion.

Ireland Rejects LNG Terminal Project on Climate Grounds -- Amid Europe’s angst over energy security, Ireland has made one of the boldest moves of any nation on the continent in the name of climate action: It rejected a new fossil fuel import facility. The country’s planning authority last month refused a proposal for a liquefied natural gas import terminal on the Shannon estuary and a related gas-fired power plant, after taking into consideration policies outlined in Ireland’s energy and climate action plan. The strategy calls for the country to reduce greenhouse gas emissions annually by 7 percent on average between 2021 and 2030. “It is considered that the development at this time would be contrary to current government policy,” according to the board decision. Ireland is “probably the first” country to deny an LNG facility based “on climate, as opposed to local environmental opposition,” according to Jonathan Stern, distinguished research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. The decision comes ahead of the country’s review of its energy security in the coming weeks. Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan told national broadcaster RTE the review could recommend some form of LNG but it would be “strategic” and not commercial. Unlike the rest of Europe, Ireland appears to be pushing ahead with its zero carbon transition policy, despite energy shocks last year that left most European countries scrambling for more, not less, LNG. Germany installed three floating LNG facilities in a matter of months, and more are planned. France made a U-turn on LNG in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and went from scrapping a US LNG supply deal to eventually signing it. The UK in September announced it’s stepping back from some of its most aggressive net zero targets.

TTF Slides as European Natural Gas Supply Concerns Ease – LNG Recap - Global natural gas prices declined Monday, driven lower by mild temperatures and easing supply concerns. Sunday kicked off the winter heating season in Europe, but unusually warm temperatures are forecast over the next two weeks. Norwegian natural gas production also continues to rebound after weeks of maintenance that lasted longer than expected. Exports were nominated at nearly 275 million cubic meters (MMcm) on Monday, up from 254 MMcm a week prior. Norwegian exports typically flow at levels above 300 MMcm. Maintenance at the massive Troll and Skarv fields is scheduled to end within the next week.

Egypt Signals Return of LNG Cargoes as Global Prices Continue to Plunge - Egypt has resumed loading LNG cargoes after months of absence from the export market, adding a further supply buffer for Europe as prices continue dipping. EgyptA ship controlled by TotalEnergies SE loaded at the Idku liquefied natural gas terminal in Egypt Thursday (10/5) before making a possible voyage to an import terminal in Europe, according to shipping and navigational data from Kpler. It is the first vessel to pick up an LNG cargo from Egypt since July. Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla recently told news media that the country’s export plans were still under review, but it was preparing to resume exports after intense summer heat spiked domestic gas consumption. Egypt could be able to supply cargoes into April 2024 before having to retain...

Shell puts large LNG bunkering newbuild to work in Caribbean - LNG giant Shell has completed the first liquefied natural gas bunkering operation in the Caribbean with the 18,000-cbm bunkering vessel, New Frontier 2.In July, Shell and South Korea’s Pan Ocean named this LNG bunkering vessel. South Korea’s Hyundai Mipo built the ship.Shell’s unit Shell NA LNG previously entered into a six-year charter deal worth about $55 million for the newbuild and Shell said it will deploy the ship in the Americas.According to a social media post on Monday by Shell’s head of downstream LNG,Tahir Faruqui, the firm has put New Frontier 2 to work in the Caribbean with the completion of its first operation in Jamaica.The vessel bunkered the oil and chemical tanker Solar Catie during the operation.Shell joined forces with the Maritime Authority of Jamaica and the Port Authority of Jamaica for this bunkering operation.Faruqui said this operation also “signified an important milestone for us in Jamaica where we conducted our first ship-to-ship LNG bunkering in Portland Bight.”Eerlier this year, Shell and Israel’s shipping firm Zim completed the first LNG bunkering operation in Jamaica as part of their 10-year bunkering deal.This LNG bunkering vessel is Shell’s third ship deployed in the Americas and “is part of our expansive lineup of 12 bunker vessels,” Faruqui added.

Chevron Australia LNG Workers Agree to Resume Strike | Rigzone - Workers at Chevron Corp.’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in Western Australia have voted to resume a strike, accusing the energy giant of failing to honor government-recommended employment conditions the company earlier agreed to heed. The Offshore Alliance, a coalition between the Australian Workers’ Union and the Maritime Union of Australia, had gone on so-called protracted industrial action (PIA) on September 8 for a planned three weeks after the two sides failed to reach a bargaining agreement despite mediation by the Fair Work Commission (FWC). On September 25 in a statement emailed to Rigzone the union said it was suspending the strike after Chevron Australia Pty. Ltd. agreed to a recommendation by the FWC and union members also agreed to the terms put forward by the tribunal. The Offshore Alliance has now said the strike would resume after consensus achieved by ballot. “Offshore Alliance members at Chevron have voted to recommence industrial action after the American petrochemical company reneged on the commitment they gave the Fair Work Commission to incorporate its recommendations into Enterprise Agreements covering workers at the Gorgon and Wheatstone Downstream facilities”, the union said in a statement emailed to Rigzone. The decision was reached in votes by workers on Thursday and Friday, according to the statement. The Australian government’s labor mediator issued September 21 a recommendation laying out employment terms concerning work hours, lodging conditions, allowances, salary, promotion and job security. "The parties are on the precipice of achieving historical first enterprise agreements for these Chevron LNG facilities in Western Australia", FWC Commissioner B Riordan said in the decision posted on the agency's website. "To date, a large number of issues have been settled, on a without prejudice basis, which should form the foundation of enterprise agreements between the parties for the future". Chevron Australia told Rigzone September 21 it has accepted the recommendation, after initially refusing to cede to what it said were above-market-level demands by the workers. The Offshore Alliance has said its demands are for terms at par with the industry, claiming Chevron Australia is the only major player in Western Australia not to have an agreement with workers on minimum conditions of employment, or an enterprise agreement. "After considering the recommendation, Chevron has accepted the recommendation to resolve all outstanding issues and finalize the agreements", the company said in an emailed statement to Rigzone at the time. "We have informed the Commissioner of our position and written to the unions and other employee bargaining representatives confirming our acceptance". In also accepting the FWC recommendation, the Offshore Alliance told Rigzone in an email September 22, “The proposed enterprise agreements, which incorporate the Commissioner's recommendations, contain substantial improvements in terms and conditions of employment including increased remuneration, job security, locked-in rosters, career progression and returning all employees to a 40 percent roster". But the latest statement from the union received by Rigzone Friday said, “Since that agreement was reached the Offshore Alliance has been working with Chevron to finalize the drafting of the agreements however as part of that process lawyers acting for Chevron have been attempting to walk back some clauses previously settled”. “As a result of Offshore Alliance members voting to recommence PIA the Offshore Alliance has written to the Fair Work Commission to apply to have the matter re-listed, this ensures workplace issues already agreed to won’t be lost due to Chevron’s recent poor behavior”, the latest statement added.

QatarEnergy officially starts work on giant LNG expansion project - State-owned LNG giant QatarEnergy has officially started building its North Field expansion project, which will raise Qatar’s LNG production capacity to 126 Mtpa by 2026. The project’s ground breaking took place during a special ceremony on Tuesday at Ras Laffan attended by Qatar’s energy minister and chief executive of QatarEnergy, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, and the CEOs and senior executives of QatarEnergy’s partners in the expansion project. QatarEnergy’s partners in the project are Shell, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Eni, Sinopec, and CNPC. The project includes six mega trains, each with a production capacity of eight Mtpa of LNG, four of which are part of the North Field East expansion project, and two are part of the North Field South expansion project. In addition to 48 Mtpa of LNG, the project will produce 6,500 tons per day of ethane gas, which will be used as a feedstock in the local petrochemical industries. The project will also produce about 200,000 barrels per day of liquefied petroleum gas (propane and butane), and about 450,000 barrels per day of condensates, in addition to large quantities of helium and pure sulfur. Technip and Chiyoda won the EPC award for the North Field East project, while QatarEnergy awarded the contract for the North Field South project to a joint venture of Technip Energies and Consolidated Contractors Company. QatarEnergy LNG, previously known as Qatargas, currently operates 14 LNG production trains with a capacity of about 77 Mtpa in Ras Laffan.

Baker Hughes Bags $400MM Equipment Contract for Adnoc LNG Project | Rigzone -- Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (Adnoc) has awarded a contract valued over $400 million (AED 1.47 billion) to Baker Hughes Co. for the supply of compression systems for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the Al Ruwais Industrial City. The equipment will be all-electric, according to press releases by both companies, with Adnoc touting the project as the first liquefaction plant in the Middle East and North Africa to run on clean power. The facility’s LNG trains will use the USA firm’s 75-megawatt BRUSH electric motor technology, Baker Hughes said in its announcement Wednesday. The project consists of two trains with a capacity of 4.8 million metric tons per annum (mtpa) each, according to Adnoc. “When completed, it will more than double ADNOC’s LNG production target capacity to meet increased global demand for natural gas”, Adnoc said in its own announcement. “The award of the contract underscores ADNOC’s commitment to accelerate its net zero ambition and decarbonization plans”, the company said. Adnoc has doubled its target carbon dioxide capture capacity to 10 mtpa by 2030. “As the first clean electricity powered LNG facility in the Middle East, the Ruwais LNG project reinforces ADNOC’s leadership within the LNG industry and underscores our commitment to decarbonization, sustainability and innovation”, Fatema Al Nuaimi, executive vice-president for downstream business management at Adnoc, said in a statement. Baker Hughes said in its announcement it expects to book the order in the fourth quarter. The equipment will be provided by the former power generation unit of BRUSH Group, a United Kingdom-based equipment maker. Baker Hughes acquired the BRUSH business last year, in a transaction that it said advances its “commitment to lead in providing decarbonization solutions for the natural gas industry and historically hard-to-abate sectors”, as stated in a Baker Hughes news release August 8, 2022 announcing the purchase. The acquisition was completed October 2022, as announced by Baker Hughes October 19, 2022. Ganesh Ramaswamy, executive vice-president of industrial and energy technology at Baker Hughes, noted in the American company’s announcement, “This award represents an important milestone for Baker Hughes in the LNG market and demonstrates the strength of our portfolio, which we strategically expanded through the BRUSH Power Generation acquisition in 2022”. The Adnoc award follows a contract Baker Hughes scored from Venture Global LNG Inc. for the supply of a modularized LNG system and a power island. “The contract was awarded under a master equipment supply agreement between Venture Global LNG and Baker Hughes for more than 100 million tons per annum (MTPA) of production capacity, which was expanded from 70 MTPA”, Baker Hughes said in a news release Monday. It did not disclose the value of the “major contract”.

Trafigura, Vitol offer spot LNG cargoes to Pakistan - LNG Prime -State-owned Pakistan LNG has received offers for spot liquefied natural gas shipments from traders Trafigura and Vitol following a recent spot cargo tender.Pakistan LNG released this tender on September 27 for two spot cargoes with deliveries on December 7-8 and December 13-14.The tender closed on October 4 and Pakistan LNG received offers from Trafigura and Vitol Bahrain, according to an evaluation report published by the company.Trafigura was the only firm to submit an offer for the delivery on December 13-14 and it offered a price of $19.3900/MMBtu.Vitol offered the lowest price of 15.9700/MMBtu for the December 7-8 delivery, while Trafigura offered a price of 18.3900/MMBtu, the document shows.Media reports suggest that Pakistan LNG decided only to accept the offer from Vitol for the December 7-8 delivery.In June this year, Pakistan LNG launched two tenders for spot cargoes.The firm received no offers for its tender seeking bids for a total of six spot LNG shipments for delivery in October and December, while Trafigura offered two shipments for the second tender seeking three cargoes over January-February 2024.Trafigura offered a price of $23.4711/MMBtu for the January 3-4 delivery and $22.4722/MMBtu for the February 23-24 delivery.This Trafigura offer was the first bid for spot LNG cargoes Pakistan received for its tenders in about a year.However, several reports said that Pakistan LNG did not take this offer due to high prices.Pakistan gets most of its supplies under long-term contracts from Qatar and on the spot market, however, last year prices surged and Europe took most of the available spot supplies.In July this year, Pakistan also signed a one-year deal to buy one LNG cargo per month from Azerbaijan’s Socar.GIIGNL data shows that Pakistan’s LNG imports dropped by 16 percent to 6.91 million tons last year due to high prices.The country imported almost all of these volumes under long-term contracts from Qatar, or some 6.10 million tons, the data shows.Spot prices dropped considerably this year, prompting Pakistan and other Asian countries such as Bangladesh to return to buying spot LNG.

Nigeria loses N843 billion to gas flaring in 2022-2023 -- From January 2022 to August 2023, oil companies in Nigeria flared gas worth over $1billion. The unutilized gas had the capacity to produce a significant 17,100 gigawatt-hours of electricity, The responsible companies could potentially be subject to penalties totaling $342 million, which is roughly equivalent to N251 billion. Oil companies in Nigeria flared gas worth over $1 billion from January 2022 to August 2023, resulting in a financial loss of N843 billion to the government, according to data from the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA). The unutilised gas had the capacity to produce a significant 17,100 gigawatt-hours of electricity, alongside releasing 9.1 million tonnes of detrimental carbon dioxide into the environment. According to NOSDRA's latest gas flaring report, oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria burned 147.1 billion standard cubic feet (SCF) of gas, equivalent to a value of $514.9 million from January to August 2022. Moreover, in the same period of 2023, these companies flared even larger quantities of gas, amounting to 171.1 billion SCF, with an estimated value of around $599 million or N453 billion. This amounts to a combined loss of N847 billion between the corresponding periods in the previous and current years. As per the report, the volume of gas burned during the first eight months of 2023 showed a significant increase, with a 16.28 per cent higher rate compared to the same period in 2022. The responsible companies could potentially be subject to penalties totalling $342 million, which is roughly equivalent to N251 billion. However, the Federal Government has not collected a significant portion of these penalties. In contrast, the oil spill remediation agency reported that between January and August 2022, oil companies incurred penalties of approximately $294 million (N223 billion) for oil spills. The gas wasted in 2022 had the potential to generate 14,700 gigawatt-hours of electricity and resulted in carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to 7,800 metric tonnes.

Substantial Drilling Activity to Help Elevate Liquid and Gas Output | Rigzone -- In a statement sent to Rigzone recently, Westwood Global Energy Group reported that “substantial” drilling activity, averaging 53,000 wells per year through to 2030, will help elevate the production of crude, condensate, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs) to a “high” of 173 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2030. That figure represents a nine percent jump from 2022’s figure of 159 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, according to the statement. It also marks a seven percent increase on the 2020 average of 151 million barrels of oil equivalent per day and a two percent increase on 2023’s expected average of 162 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, Westwood Senior Analyst Ben Wilby outlined in a separate comment to Rigzone. In its statement, Westwood highlighted that its findings indicate that 428,000 wells are expected to be drilled over the forecast, “with onshore accounting for 95 percent, dominated by China, Russia, and the United States”. Offshore, more than 17,000 surface wells are forecast, Westwood noted, outlining that activities will be driven by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, “while 2,000 subsea wells are expected between 2023-2030, led by the Americas”. Liquids production (crude, condensate, and NGLs) is forecast at 100 million barrels per day by 2030, according to Westwood, which highlighted that this is up eight percent on 2022, “driven by increased crude production from deepwater areas, such as Brazil and Guyana, as well as additional supply from the Middle East”. “Crucially, much of the basis for this supply has been sanctioned,” Westwood said in the statement. “Between Brazil and Guyana, three million barrels per day of floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) capacity have passed final investment decision (FID) but are yet to commence commercial operations, while many of the major expansion projects in Saudi Arabia and the UAE have also been sanctioned, with construction underway,” the company added. Gas production is expected to increase 10 percent by 2030 from new projects in areas such as Mozambique, the Mediterranean, onshore U.S., and brownfield developments, such as the North Field expansion offshore Qatar, Westwood pointed out. In the statement, Wilby said, “the level of investment seen in the last few years will lead to a material increase in structural production capacity over the forecast”. “As a result, continued OPEC+ intervention will likely be required beyond 2024 to ensure a balanced market and for oil prices to remain at or above Saudi Arabia’s fiscal breakeven range,” he added. “Deeper oil production cuts in 2Q and 3Q, including an additional one million barrel per day cut by Saudi Arabia, a move intended for July, has been extended to the end of 2023. The cuts could see Saudi Arabian crude production fall to nine million barrels per day for much of 2H 2023 with uncertainty over when production will be restored,” he continued. “Supply additions, especially in the latter years of the forecast, remain at the pre-sanctioning stage, which represents a downward risk to expected output, especially if prices drop below $60 per barrel,” Wilby went on to state. When Rigzone asked Westwood about the main risks to its forecasts, Wilby said fluctuation in oil and gas demand remains key, “as this has an impact on commodity prices, which in turn impacts investments”. “An uplift in demand post-pandemic, coupled with OPEC+ supply side market intervention has helped Brent prices recover from a 2020 average of $42 per barrel to an average of $84 per barrel 2021-2023. However, a material change from the expected demand trajectory remains a clear risk,” he added. “In terms of supply, numerous production-boosting projects, especially in Africa, still need to be sanctioned; hence increasing downside risk to the outlook should oil prices decline below a level that supports appetite for investment,” Wilby continued.

Shell Bay, Banks Peninsula oil spill: Plan to remove boat in the works - A plan to remove the vessel at risk of spilling oil on to an endangered penguin colony after it ran aground will be drafted this week. The 25m Austro Carina, owned and operated by Lyttelton-based Pegasus Fishing Ltd, ran aground near picturesque Shell Bay on the southeastern side of the Banks Peninsula on Sunday, September 24. The 140-150 tonne boat is currently still stuck with the gaping hole at the bottom of a 100-metre, potentially unstable cliff. The unfortunate position of the boat means it cannot be reached, according to the regional council, Environment Canterbury (ECan). “Access to the vessel by water has been heavily restricted by heavy seas, the rugged shoreline, and poor weather over the last week,” Emma Parr, Regional On-Scene Commander for the Harbourmaster’s Office, said. “Access from land is on foot and weather-dependent.” Equipment for a refloat of this vessel is not available in New Zealand. A helicopter recovered the skipper and three crew of the vessel, which was carrying 10,000 litres of diesel and 400 litres of hydraulic oil. . The risk to the environment due to the oil is a real concern to the number of endangered species that call Shelly Bay home. This includes the endangered yellow-eyed penguin, or hoiho, the white-flippered penguin and little blue penguins. The bay also hosts the nationally vulnerable spotted shag, along with seals and their pups. In an update on the current situation, Parr said diesel is currently slowly leaking from the boat. “The advantage of this is the fuel naturally disperses well, with the environment able to cope and recover quickly,” Parr said.

IOPC pays Mindoro oil spill victims | The Manila Times -- The provincial government of Oriental Mindoro has announced the initial release of the compensation for fishermen who were affected by an oil spill after a tanker sank in February this year. Oriental Mindoro Gov. Humerlito Dolor said on his social media post that the International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) had distributed compensation ranging from P3,000 to P70,000 to 816 out of the 827 eligible claimants. The post did not specify where those 816 claimants came from. However, the post added that eleven other claimants either died or transferred to new residences. Dolor said that the IOPC is still looking for ways on how to distribute the claims to the relatives or legitimate beneficiary of the unclaimed amounts. In the same post, Dolor said that distribution to affected residents in Naujan was undertaken from September 20-22 and in Pinamalayan from Sept. 27 to 30, 2023. The MT Princess Empress sank off Oriental Mindoro waters on February 28, causing widespread loss of livelihood in the province, especially for fisherfolks because of the huge amount of oil that spilled from it. One of the most devastated towns though was Pola, whose mayor, Jennifer "Ina Alegre" Cruz, said they have not yet received any amount of compensation from the IOPC fund. In a telephone interview, Cruz told The Manila Times that as of this month, her town had not received any compensation from the IOPC and that the municipal government is the one doing everything to provide for the needs of the affected fisherfolk. "We have more or less five thousand affected fishermen but until now, we have not received any compensation. Even the representative of the IOPC Fund had not communicated with us or our affected residents," said Cruz, adding she thought they were being left out in the compensation. The mayor is also asking for the promised fuel subsidy for the affected fishermen that was released to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR). A source from the agency said that the provincial government told them that the funds are already scheduled for release to beneficiaries. Dolor said in the same social media post that the "schedule of payment is based on the date of the filing of the claims after the claims caravan made a round to affected areas in coordination with the Provincial Government of Oriental Mindoro and local government units (LGUs)." The governor also clarified that the payment is only provisional or initial while experts are still finalizing the assessment of the actual damages and that they are pushing the claims of the affected residents first before the province files its own claim.

Saudis to Stick With 1MM Barrel Oil Supply Cut For Now - Saudi Arabia and Russia said they will stick with oil supply curbs of more than 1 million barrels a day to the end of the year as a rally in prices falters. The leaders of the OPEC+ coalition announced the plans in separate official statements on Wednesday. Riyadh has slashed crude production by 1 million barrels a day, and Moscow is curbing exports by 300,000 a day, on top of earlier cuts made with fellow OPEC+ nations. Oil prices surged to almost $100 a barrel in London last week as the two nations choke supplies just as global demand hits records, draining inventories at the fastest pace in years. But the rally has since cooled, with Brent futures retreating to near $90 on Wednesday amid signs that the price spike is encouraging the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher for longer. JPMorgan Chase & Co. says “demand destruction has begun” as fuel costs squeeze consumers. The two oil allies reaffirmed their plans with identical wording in separate statements, released first on the Saudi Press Agency and then shortly after by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak. The output curbs are in intended “to reinforce the precautionary efforts made by OPEC+ countries with the aim of supporting the stability and balance of oil markets,” they said. Yet OPEC’s own data indicate the measures will leave global markets severely short this quarter, potentially draining inventories by more than 3 million barrels a day — the fastest pace in years. High prices stand to benefit Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as his kingdom splashes out on everything from futuristic cities and international telecommunications deals to top-flight footballers and golfers. They are also a critical source of extra revenue for President Vladimir Putin as his country wages war on Ukraine. That’s inflicting pain on consumers. Indian Oil Minister Hardeep Puri told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday that oil prices need to fall to levels of around $80 a barrel to be good for the economy. The world’s third biggest oil user is continually telling producing nations that crude is too costly, an official told the Adipec energy conference in Abu Dhabi the previous day. Meanwhile, US policymakers have signaled that monetary policy may need to remain tight. Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said the US will likely need to raise rates once more this year, and that rising gas prices resonate strongly with consumers. Key nations among the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners will hold an online monitoring meeting later today, but with most members unable to join in the Saudi-Russia action, delegates say it’s unlikely to make any policy adjustments. The full 23-nation OPEC+ coalition will hold a ministerial meeting on Nov. 26 to review policy for 2024.

OPEC+ Leaves Oil Production Levels Unchanged - The OPEC+ panel reviewing the oil market ended a brief meeting on Wednesday without recommending any changes to the current oil production policy, hours after Saudi Arabia and Russia said in separate statements they would stick to their respective voluntary supply cuts by the end of the year.The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) of the OPEC+ group, which met via videoconference today, affirmed the commitment of the several OPEC+ members and thanked Saudi Arabia and Russia for their voluntary supply cuts and “expressed its full recognition and support for the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia aimed at supporting the stability of the oil market.” The committee will also “stand ready to take additional measures at any time,” OPEC said in a statement.The next JMMC meeting is scheduled to be held on November 26, 2023.Earlier today, Saudi Arabia and Russia, the key OPEC+ partners, said they would keep their respective production and export cuts in November, and review the decisions next month to decide if the cuts should be deepened or eased.Saudi Arabia said early on Wednesday it would continue cutting an extra 1 million barrels per day (bpd) from its crude oil production in November and December, and Russia said in a separate statement it would continue to reduce oil exports by 300,000 bpd until the end of the year.“This voluntary cut decision will be reviewed next month to consider deepening the cut or increasing production,” Saudi Arabia said.Both Saudi Arabia and Russia reiterated today that the ongoing oil supply cuts are aimed at keeping “stability and balance on the oil markets.”

Oil falls more than 5% on weak U.S. gasoline demand - -- Oil prices settled down more than $5 on Wednesday as fuel demand destruction and a bleaker macroeconomic picture took center stage in the day's trade. Brent crude oil futures settled down 5.11, or 5.6%, to $85.81 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell $5.01, or 5.6%, to $84.22. At session lows, both benchmarks were down by more than $5, and heating oil and gasoline futures also fell by more than 5%. Crude oil prices have fallen by about $10 since last week's settlement. Finished motor gasoline supplied, a proxy for demand, fell last week to about 8 million barrels per day, its lowest since the start of this year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Wednesday. Some of that demand destruction could be due to torrential rains which brought flooding to New York last Friday and post-tropical storm Ophelia, which doused the Northeast with torrential downpours in late September, said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho. Seasonally, U.S. gasoline consumption is at the lowest level in 22 years, according to commodity analysts at JP Morgan. A 30% spike in fuel prices in the third quarter of this year depressed demand, resulting in a counter seasonal plunge of 223,000 barrels per day, the analysts wrote in a Wednesday note. Gasoline stocks rose by 6.5 million barrels, far exceeding expectations of a 200,000-barrel rise. U.S. nationwide crude stocks fell by 2.2 million barrels to 414.1 million barrels in the week to Sept. 29, but stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma, the WTI delivery hub, rose for the first time in eight weeks. Saudi Arabia's energy ministry confirmed it will continue its voluntary 1 million barrel per day (bpd) crude supply cut until year end, while Russia said it will continue its 300,000 bpd crude export cuts, and in November will review its voluntary 500,000 bpd output cut set in April. But crack spreads, a proxy for refining margins, fell below $20 a barrel on Wednesday to the lowest level in about 1.5 years. This margin "freefall" indicates high prices and interest rates are curtailing crude inventory purchases and increasing odds of a recession, "This could force further demand weakness that the Saudis and Russia may be unable to counter via additional production cuts," Economic news also pressured oil prices. Growth in the U.S. services sector slowed in September, data showed. The daily Kommersant reported that Russia could be ready to ease its diesel ban in coming days, citing unidentified sources. The OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) online meeting kept the group's output policy unchanged. Oil markets are heading in the "right direction" by balancing supply and demand, Kuwait's oil minister Saad Al Barrak said, according to state media agency KUNA. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said the Saudi and Russian cuts have helped to balance oil markets, and said the domestic market benefited from the Kremlin's diesel and gasoline export ban.

Oil Plummets Amid Demand Outlook Concerns - Oil plunged the most in more than a year as early signals that demand is flagging exacerbated markets’ unease over the prospect of a punishing stretch of high interest rates. West Texas Intermediate slumped 5.6% to settle below $85 a barrel, the biggest one-day drop since September 2022. Despite signs of a tight market currently, the prospect of more supplies in the future, as well as technical selling and algorithm-driven traders rushing to exit, pushed the price decline into a full-blown rout. After rallying about 40% from mid-June to late September, crude has reversed course over the past week amid a drumbeat of commentary that the surge was overdone. The retreat has come against a backdrop of rising angst about interest rates and the economy that has rattled equity and bond markets in recent weeks. “It is clear that the global growth outlook will be taking a major hit over the next year, which spells trouble for the crude demand outlook,” said Ed Moya, senior markets analyst at Oanda. “Energy traders quickly realized the path to $100 oil isn’t quite there.” Both WTI and global benchmark Brent have now dropped below their 50-day moving averages, a bearish technical signal. Gasoline futures also plummeted 6% to trade at $2.22 a gallon after data revealed that demand for the fuel dropped to the lowest seasonal level in 25 years, signaling slower economic growth. Meanwhile, inventories at the largest US storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, increased for the first time in eight weeks. Still, stockpiles nationwide continued to drain to the lowest since December 2022, and a key North American pipeline has also seen lower flows this week. Earlier, OPEC+ leaders Saudi Arabia and Russia committed to sticking with production curbs of more than 1 million barrels a day until the end of the year. Those supply cuts had spurred the recent rally by tightening the market, shrinking inventories and increasing competition for prompt barrels. But recent sessions have seen investors fretting that the Federal Reserve may not be done raising interest rates, strengthening the dollar, which makes commodities more expensive for most buyers. Major gains in US Treasury yields have also hurt raw materials. WTI for November delivery shed $5.01 to settle at $84.22 a barrel in New York. Brent for December settlement fell $5.11 to $85.81 a barrel.

Oil Posts Largest Weekly Loss Since March | Rigzone -- Oil set its biggest weekly drop since March as the possibility of higher interest rates roils financial markets, overshadowing the tight physical setup for crude that caused prices to skyrocket in the third quarter. Growing angst about further rate increases and a longer period of hawkish monetary policy has provided the backdrop for oil’s recent selloff. At the same time, technical selling and algorithmic trading have pushed the decline into a full-blown rout. West Texas Intermediate settled around $83 a barrel, tumbling $8 this week alone. The commodity is now at the lowest since August, having erased gains from the extension of production cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia. Prices had rallied more than 30% amid the monthslong OPEC+ campaign to reduce supplies. Oil lost ground this week after US government figures showed declining gasoline consumption and increasing inventories of the motor fuel. The report ignited a debate about whether an earlier run-up in prices was destroying product demand, though banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Barclays Plc say the concerns are overdone. “The recent correction in oil prices has been too rapid and was largely unwarranted in our view,” Barclays analyst Amarpreet Singh said. “The narrative of price-driven demand destruction does not stand in the face of the fact that very little of the recent run-up in oil prices has been passed on to the consumers.” Brent and WTI have slumped toward oversold territory on a relative strength index basis, just a week after being overbought. The benchmarks also have rapidly tumbled beneath their lower Bollinger Bands, another sign the slump may be overdone. Still, sliding margins for refined products cloud the outlook. At one point this week, gasoline was trading less than $8 above crude, halving from two weeks prior. Diesel’s premium over crude also fell to the lowest since July, in part as Russia lifted an export ban for its oil producers. WTI for November delivery rose 48 cents to settle at $82.79 a barrel in New York. It’s fell 9% for the week. Brent for December settlement was rose 51 cents to settle at $84.58 a barrel.

Report: Saudis Determined to Get Defense Pact With US for Israel Normalization - Saudi Arabia is determined to secure a defense pact with the US in exchange for normalizing with Israel regardless of whether or not concessions are made to the Palestinians, Reuters reported Friday, citing regional sources. Riyadh is looking for a commitment from the US that it would defend Saudi Arabia if it comes under attack, similar to NATO’s Article 5, which outlines that an attack on one alliance member is treated as an attack on all. The US is not looking to go as far as an Article 5-style guarantee, but the Reuters report said Saudi Arabia “would not settle for less than binding assurances of US protection if it faced attack.” A formal US mutual defense guarantee for Saudi Arabia would risk reigniting the war in Yemen, where a ceasefire between the Saudis and the Houthis has held relatively well since April 2022. Such a commitment from the US also risks sparking another war as it would embolden Riyadh in the region. Saudi officials previously said normalizing with Israel hinges on the Palestinians being granted statehood, but they have backed down on that demand. The Saudis are still paying lip service to Palestinian concerns, but the Reuters report said it’s not a priority for Riyadh.\ “The normalization will be between Israel and Saudi Arabia. If the Palestinians oppose it the kingdom will continue in its path,” one of the regional sources told Reuters. “Saudi Arabia supports a peace plan for the Palestinians, but this time it wanted something for Saudi Arabia, not just for the Palestinians.” It’s unlikely the Saudis would be able to leverage concessions for the Palestinians toward a state under the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since his coalition includes extremist settlers who want to annex the West Bank.

US shoots down Turkish drone that approached American troops in Syria - The U.S. military on Thursday shot down an armed drone belonging to NATO ally Turkey after it came too close for comfort to American troops in Syria, according to the Pentagon’s top spokesperson. Press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, who called the event a “regrettable incident,” said the drone came within less than half a mile of U.S. troops as the Turkish aircraft was bombing targets nearby in northeastern Syria. As American forces were forced to go to bunkers for safety, the drone was deemed a potential threat and was shot down by F-16 aircraft around 11:40 a.m. local time. No U.S. forces were injured during the incident, he said. Ryder added that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Turkish counterpart by phone afterward to reaffirm “our commitment to continue to closely coordinate,” adding that the talk was “fruitful.” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. CQ Brown also spoke with his counterpart by phone on “the need to follow common deconfliction protocols to ensure the safety of our personnel in Syria following today’s incident,” according to Joint Staff spokesperson Col. Dave Butler. This marks the first time Washington has brought down an aircraft of the NATO ally.

Turkish Warplanes Strike US-Allied Kurds in Syria - The conflict between US allies continued to escalate when a Turkish warplane bombed sites used by Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria. Ankara and Washington are members of the North Atlantic alliance, and the Syrian Kurds have acted as America’s proxy force for several years. The strikes followed the US shooting down a Turkish drone in Syria that Washington says threatened American troops.On Friday, the Turkish military reported hitting 30 targets in Syria. The statement said the sites were used by the PKK, a militia of Kurds from Turkey. Ankara labels the PKK as a terrorist group. Two members of the group targeted the Turkish Interior Ministry this week. Only the attackers were killed, one died after detonating a suicide bomb.The strikes followed the US shooting down a Turkish drone in Syria. The Department of Defense said that some American soldiers were forced to take cover. On Thursday, Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon Press Secretary, said the decision to shoot down the drone “was made out of due diligence and the inherent right of self-defense to take appropriate action to protect US forces.”Ankara downplayed the incident and said it was due to a miscommunication in the “deconflicting mechanism.” Ryder explained the Pentagon does not believe Turkey was targeting American soldiers.Within Syria, the PKK is closely aligned with the YPG. The YPG is a Kurdish militia backed by the US. Under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the YPG rules the portion of Syria that is occupied by US troops. Ankara has launched several protests against Washington’s support for the YPG, which Turkey labels as a terror group that aids the PKK. American troops have armed and trained the Kurdish militia to fight against the Islamic State. However, since IS has lost its territory in Syria, the YPG has started to clash with Arabs who live in the Kurdish-controlled territory.

At Least 80 Killed in Drone Attack on Syria Military College Ceremony - At least 80 people have been killed in a drone attack that targeted a graduation ceremony at a military college in Syria’s central Homs province on Thursday, the country’s health minister has said.The Syrian government said members of the armed forces and civilians were among the casualties. Health Minister Hasan Ghabbagh said the 80 killed included six women and six children, and 240 were wounded.The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll higher, saying over 100 people were killed, but the number isn’t confirmed. Ghabbagh said his casualty figures were based on “initial data,” suggesting the official death toll could rise.Syrian Defense Minister Ali Abbas was present at the graduating ceremony, but reports say he left about 20 minutes before the drone bombardment. In a statement, Syria’s military said the attack was conducted by “armed terrorist organizations supported by well-known international parties.”The Syrian government did not blame a specific group. After the attack, Syrian strikes were reported in the northwestern Idlib province, which is mainly controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an al-Qaeda offshoot.According to The Cradle, the Syrian army targeted the headquarters of the Turkic Islamic Party, an extremist Uyghur group based in Idlib that wants to establish an Islamic State in China’s Xinjiang region.

Hundreds Dead: Israel PM Says ‘We Are at War’ After Hamas Attacks By 'Land, Air, and Sea' - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, “We are at war, this is not an operation,” after Hamas launched thousands of missiles and seized villages near Gaza. The political leader of Hamas said that the ongoing attacks are a response to the Israeli treatment of Palestinians at the al-Aqsa Mosque.On Saturday morning, fighters from Hamas invaded villages near Gaza. The group says its fighters used paratroops, ships, and cut through the border fence to conduct the operations. Hamas claims it have captured several Israeli soldiers and villages.Human rights groups consider Gaza an “open-air prison.” Most Palestinians living in the region are refugees. Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas on the planet, with 2 million people living in 140 sq. miles. Israel severely restricts the amount of food, fuel, and water the people of Gaza can access.Hamas used para-sails to fly over the border and destroyed parts of the Israeli fence to break out of Gaza. In addition to the ground operations, the Palestinian militia launched thousands of rockets into Israel, with cities such as Tel Aviv reporting damage. Reports say Hamas has fired between 2,000 and 5,000 munitions. Israeli officials say at least 230 have been killed and hundreds wounded. The Palestinian Health Ministry reports 200 Palestinians have been killed and an estimated 1,000 wounded. Reports say between 13 and 21 Israeli villages were ‘infiltrated’ by Hamas.An Israeli official said the Palestinian forces were able to capture the headquarters of an Israeli military unit near Gaza. “The headquarters of the Gaza division in camp Ra’im is under the control of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam brigades,” the official explained.Photos and videos on Twitter show Hamas returning to Gaza with captured Israeli military equipment. Additional images show Israeli Brigadier General Nimrod Aloni was captured by Hamas, although this has not been confirmed by either side.Hours after the attack began, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu announced the start of Operation Iron Swords. “We are at war, not an operation. Hamas has launched a murderous surprise attack against the State of Israel and its citizens,” he posted on Twitter. “I ordered first of all to cleanse the settlements of the terrorists who had infiltrated and ordered a large-scale mobilization of reserves. The enemy will pay a price he has never known.”

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran say Israel has only itself to blame for Hamas attacks  - The governments of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran appeared to blame Israel for its escalating conflict with Hamas on Saturday.The Palestinian militant group launched a mass attack on Israeli forces and settlements, killing at least 250 people in Israel and 232 in Gaza early Saturday, according to Israeli local media and the Palestinian government. While leaders in the U.S. and Europe quickly denounced the attack and gave support for Israel, the three Middle Eastern nations criticized the country over its treatment of Palestinians.“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is closely following the developments of the unprecedented situation between a number of Palestinian factions and the Israeli occupation forces, which has resulted in a high level of violence on several fronts there,” the country’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “The Kingdom recalls its repeated warnings of the dangers of the explosion of the situation as a result of the continued occupation, and deprivation of the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights, and the repetition of systematic provocations against its sanctities,” the statement continues.The condemnation comes as both the Israeli and Saudi governments have attempted to normalize relations in recent years, at the encouragement of the U.S.A senior Iranian government advisor explicitly endorsed Hamas in the conflict, the most direct support for the militant group from any government official globally.“We congratulate the Palestinian fighters,” advisor Yahya Rahim Safavi said, according to state media via Reuters. “We will stand by the Palestinian fighters until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem.”Iran state media showed video of parliament members chanting in support of Hamas on Saturday, saying “Death to Israel” and “Palestine is victorious, Israel will be destroyed”.Iran has funded and supplied Hamas for years as part of its decades-long conflict with Israel.The Qatari Foreign Ministry also blamed Israel for the violence.“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs holds Israel alone responsible for the current escalation due to this ongoing violations of the rights of the Palestinian people, the latest of which is the repeated raids on the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque under of the protection of Israeli police,” the ministry said in a statement.

Israel Defense spokesperson says Israel hasn’t regained full control -A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said his country hasn’t regained full control in the wake of attacks from militant group Hamas Saturday.“There are still active battles between Israeli security forces and terrorists inside Gaza,” Lt. Col.Jonathan Conricus told CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer. “And unfortunately, we have not yet been able to re-establish full control over all of our communities and all of our bases.”“This is the top priority,” he added.Hamas’ attack involved its militants infiltrating Israeli towns and the launching of missiles into Israel. Fighting in the region has resulted in the deaths of at least 250 people in Israel and 232 in Gaza, according to Israeli local media and the Palestinian government. Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu called the attack “murderous” in a televised address Saturday.“We are at war — not in an operation or at rounds, but in a war,” Netanyahu said. “The enemy will pay an unprecedented price…We are at war and we will win it.”President Joe Biden released a statement Saturday condemning the attacks. “The United States unequivocally condemns this appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, and I made clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that we stand ready to offer all appropriate means of support to the Government and people of Israel,” Biden said in a statement.