bp has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) to evaluate redevelopment opportunities in the mature giant Sarir and Messla oilfields in Libya’s Sirte basin, including the exploration potential of adjacent areas, and to understand the wider unconventional oil and gas potential within the country.... Read more →

Chevron USA, a subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, and Halliburton jointly developed a new process that enables closed-loop, feedback-driven completions in Colorado. This intelligent fracturing process combines automated stage execution with subsurface feedback to optimize delivery of energy into the wellbore without relying on human intervention. The capability enhances the previous... Read more →

Onshore crude oil production in the US Lower 48 states (L48) has more than tripled since January 2010, driven by tight oil production growth in the Permian region, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Onshore crude oil production is made up of both legacy oil production, primarily from... Read more →

Separating crude oil into products such as gasoline, diesel, and heating oil is an energy-intensive process that accounts for about 6% of the world’s CO2 emissions. Most of that energy goes into the heat needed to separate the components by their boiling point. In an advance that could significantly reduce... Read more →

bp announced an oil discovery at the Far South prospect in the deepwater US Gulf of America (Gulf of Mexico). bp drilled the exploration well in Green Canyon Block 584, located in western Green Canyon approximately 120 miles off the coast of Louisiana in 4,092 feet of water. The Far... Read more →

The US Geological Survey released its assessment of potential for undiscovered oil and gas in formations under the Los Angeles Basin, assessing that there are technically recoverable resources of 61 million barrels of oil and 240 billion cubic feet of gas. Since exploration began in the area in the 1880s,... Read more →

CNOOC Limited announced a major oilfield discovery in the deep and ultra-deep plays of the South China Sea, which adds over one hundred million tons of oil equivalent in-place. The Huizhou 19-6 oilfield is located in the eastern South China Sea, with an average water depth of approximately 100 meters.... Read more →

Namibia’s offshore oil and gas industry is set for significant growth in 2025, driven by new licensing opportunities and an uptick in drilling activities, Petroleum Commissioner Maggy Shino announced during a webinar hosted by the African Energy Chamber, Wood Mackenzie and Namibia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy. The move is... Read more →

In the March 2025 Short-Term Energy Outlook, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts crude oil production in Alaska will increase by 16,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2026 to 438,000 b/d after remaining relatively flat in 2025. Two new oil developments in Alaska—the Nuna and Pikka projects—are expected to... Read more →

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) and bp have signed a contract under which bp will serve as the Technical Services Provider (TSP) for the Mumbai High field, India’s largest and most prolific offshore oil field. Mumbai High is located about 160 km west of the Mumbai coast, in... Read more →

The Meng Xiang, China’s first domestically designed and built deep-ocean drilling vessel with a maximum drilling depth of 11 kilometers, was officially commissioned in the southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou in November 2024, according to a Xinhua report. China’s largest scientific research vessel, the Meng Xiang measures 179.8 meters in... Read more →

Cummins and Liberty Energy announced that the industry’s first natural-gas variable-speed, large-displacement engine to power Liberty’s digiPrime hydraulic fracturing platform will be deployed in the first half of 2025. The companies entered into a strategic partnership in June 2024 to develop the technology jointly for the completions services market. In... Read more →

Chevron Corporation announced today that its 50%-owned affiliate Tengizchevroil LLP (TCO) has started oil production at its Future Growth Project (FGP) located at the Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan.FGP is the third processing plant in operation at the Tengiz oil field, which expands sour gas injection capability and is expected... Read more →

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts benchmark Brent crude oil prices will fall from an average of $81 per barrel (b) in 2024 to $74/b in 2025 and $66/b in 2026, as strong global growth in production of petroleum and other liquids and slower demand growth put downward pressure... Read more →

In 2023, the top waterborne exports from the United States for both weight and value were crude petroleum and natural gas, according to the US Department of Energy (DOE). By value, motorized vehicles were the third highest product category exported through the seaports. Motorized vehicles, gasoline, and transport equipment combined... Read more →

Shell Offshore, a subsidiary of Shell plc, has started oil production at the Shell-operated Whale floating production facility in the Gulf of Mexico. Whale replicates the simplified, cost-efficient host design of the Vito platform, which began production in early 2023. The Whale development is owned by Shell Offshore Inc. (60%,... Read more →

Chevron USA, Inc. (CUSA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, has completed a retrofit of its refinery in Pasadena, Texas, which is expected to increase product flexibility and expand the processing capacity of lighter crudes by nearly 15% to 125,000 barrels per day. Chevron acquired the Pasadena Refinery in... Read more →

A new National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper by Ryan Kellogg, a professor and deputy dean for academic programs at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy finds that when oil producers anticipate a long-run decline in demand for oil, they begin investing less into exploration... Read more →

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects US refinery capacity to be 17.9 million barrels per day at the end of 2025, about 3% less than at the beginning of this year. LyondellBasel Industries plans to close its Houston Refinery in the first quarter of 2025, removing nearly 264,000 barrels... Read more →

Global oil demand is projected to reach 120.1 million barrels per day (mb/d) by 2050, while energy demand will rise 24% during the same period, said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais at the African Energy Week: Invest in African Energies 2024 conference last... Read more →

Phillips 66 plans to cease operations at its Los Angeles-area refinery in the fourth quarter of 2025 and will work with the state of California to supply fuel markets and meet ongoing consumer demand. The Los Angeles Refinery consists of two facilities linked by pipeline located five miles apart in... Read more →

Refinery margins for petroleum refiners across the world are shrinking, indicating reduced profitability from refining crude oil and selling petroleum products, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Declining margins are the result of relatively weak demand for petroleum products even as global refining capacity increases. Global refinery margins,... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the federal government has settled its final Clean Air Act (CAA) claim against Philadelphia Energy Solutions Refining and Marketing, LLC (PES) pertaining to the 21 June 2019 fire and explosion at its former South Philadelphia refinery. EPA alleged that the company violated... Read more →

TotalEnergies made the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the GranMorgu development located on offshore Block 58 Suriname in northern South America. “GranMorgu” means both “new dawn” and “Goliath grouper” in Sranan Tongo, the local language. The GranMorgu project will develop the Sapakara and Krabdagu oil discoveries, on which a successful... Read more →

Plug Power has secured an order for 25 megawatts (MW) of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer systems from bp and Iberdrola’s joint venture, Castellón Green Hydrogen. The project will employ five of Plug’s 5 MW containerized PEM electrolyzers with a 25 MW capacity to decarbonize the operations at bp’s Castellón... Read more →

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects that Brent crude oil prices will return to above $80 per barrel this month, after dipping to $73 per barrel on 6 September. In its September Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), EIA forecasts that the Brent crude oil spot price will average $82 per... Read more →

Chevron Corporation started water injection operations at two projects to boost oil and natural gas recovery at the company’s existing Jack/St. Malo and Tahiti facilities in the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico, where Chevron operations produce some of the world’s lowest carbon intensity oil and gas. Delivery of these two... Read more →

The Department of the Interior announced the availability of $775 million for 21 states to clean up legacy pollution. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Department is delivering the largest investment in tackling legacy pollution in American history, including $4.7 billion to plug orphaned wells—of which more than $1 billion has already... Read more →

Chevron Corporation has started oil and natural gas production from the Anchor project in the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico. Anchor production marks the successful delivery of high-pressure technology that is rated to safely operate at up to 20,000 psi, with reservoir depths reaching 34,000 feet below sea level. (Earlier... Read more →

bp has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of the Republic of Iraq to negotiate a material integrated redevelopment program for the Kirkuk region, spanning oil and gas investment, power generation and solar, together with wider exploration activities. The non-binding MoU was signed in a meeting between... Read more →

bp has taken a final investment decision on the Kaskida project in the US Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Kaskida will be bp’s sixth hub in the Gulf of Mexico, featuring a new floating production platform with the capacity to produce 80,000 barrels of crude oil per day from six wells... Read more →

Natura Resources, LLC (Natura) is partnering with the Texas Produced Water Consortium (TxPWC) at Texas Tech University to look at the deployment of Natura’s liquid-fueled molten salt reactor (LF-MSR) technology to power the Permian Basin. Dubbed “Fortifying the Future,” this partnership provides an opportunity to deploy Natura’s LF-MSR technology to... Read more →

Strathcona Resources announced a strategic partnership with Canada Growth Fund (CGF), a $15-billion arm’s-length public investment vehicle, for the development of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) infrastructure on Strathcona’s steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) oil sands facilities across Saskatchewan and Alberta. Under the terms of the arrangement, CGF will invest up... Read more →

MOL Group, a leading player in the energy sector in Central and Eastern Europe, has created a “Low Carbon and New Energies” branch within its Exploration and Production division. This new organization is based in Zagreb and marks a step forward in MOL Group’s commitment to deliver low carbon solutions... Read more →

MOGAS Industries has been awarded a multimillion-dollar contract for the South Korean S-Oil Shaheen Project for the first-ever commercialization of TC2C (Thermal Crude to Chemicals) technology. The TC2C technology licensed by Lummus Technology converts whole crude and other refinery orphan streams into high value olefin and aromatic products, and includes... Read more →

The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) has published the 2024 Alberta Energy Outlook report (formerly ST98), an annual publication featuring independent, comprehensive information on the state of Alberta’s energy industry. The report shows that Alberta remains the largest producer of natural gas and oil in Canada, producing more than 60% of... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced that applications are open for $850 million in federal funding for projects that will help monitor, measure, quantify and reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sectors. (DE-FOA-0003256) Oil and natural gas facilities are the... Read more →

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects crude oil production in the Permian Basin to average about 6.3 million barrels per day in 2024, an increase of nearly 8% from 2023. The Permian Basin accounts for nearly half of US crude oil production, and EIA expects increased production in the... Read more →

TotalEnergies has announced that it will invest $600 million to strengthen exploration and production activities in the Republic of Congo in 2024. The investment will be used to finance exploration and maintain production in the country’s deep offshore Moho Nord field, which accounts for approximately half of all Congolese oil... Read more →

TotalEnergies (40%), along with its Block 20/11 partners, Petronas (40%) and Sonangol (20%), announced the Final Investment Decision (FID) of the $6-billion Kaminho project to develop the Cameia and Golfinho fields, located 100 km off the coast of Angola, in 1,700 m water-depth. This FID has been made possible thanks... Read more →

The US Department of the Interior is awarding $35.2 million to continue reclaiming and restoring orphaned oil and gas wells in California. With this new funding, the state of California expects to plug and remediate 206 high-risk orphaned oil and gas wells and decommission 47 attendant production facilities with approximately... Read more →

US West Coast refiners are using more hydrogen purchased from merchant suppliers than from their own production, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). From 2012 to 2022, hydrogen purchased by refiners in the region increased 29% to about 550 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d). Over the same... Read more →

Recent analysis by Wood Mackenzie finds that, based on forecasted 2030 net cash margins, 121 out of 465 screened refineries are at some risk of closure. This represents a cumulative 20.2 million b/d of refining capacity, or 21.6% of global 2023 capacity. The future viability of refinery facilities will be... Read more →

Since early January 2024, US refinery utilization has decreased 11%, falling as low as 81% during the two weeks ending 9 February and 16 February, and briefly dropped below the five-year (2019–23) low. Although US retail average prices for gasoline and diesel are below 2023 prices for this time of... Read more →

Crude oil processing, or refinery runs, in China averaged 14.8 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2023, an all-time high, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). The record processing came as the economy and refinery capacity grew in China following the country’s COVID-19 pandemic responses in 2022. China... Read more →

Aramco announced that it has received a directive from the Saudi Ministry of Energy to maintain Maximum Sustainable Capacity (MSC) at 12 million barrels per day (MMBD), and not to continue increasing MSC to 13 MMBD. This is a reversal from April 2020, when the Ministry of Energy directed Aramco... Read more →

Crude oil production in the United States reached a record high in August 2023, led primarily by more production in Texas, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). In 2023, most of the crude oil produced in Texas was relatively dense for the state. Data source: U.S.... Read more →

Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Nigeria (earlier post) has begun production of diesel and aviation fuel. The refinery can load 2,900 trucks a day at its truck-loading gantries. Gas flare stack at the refinery. The products from the refinery will conform to Euro V specifications. The refinery design complies with the... Read more →

Equinor and its operating co-owner, Shell Offshore Inc., a subsidiary of Shell plc, reached the final investment decision for the Sparta development in the US Gulf of Mexico. Owned by Shell Offshore Inc. (51% operator) and Equinor Gulf of Mexico LLC (49%), Sparta is expected to reach a peak production... Read more →

ConocoPhillips will move forward with development of the Willow project in Alaska. This Final Investment Decision approves the project and funds construction needed to reach first oil. The decision follows the Department of the Interior March 2023 Record of Decision and recent positive court orders, including this week’s Ninth Circuit... Read more →