Sunday, November 2, 2025

Foreign Oil News

Sources say US Gulf producer LLOG Exploration is interested in selling at a $3 billion valuation.

People familiar with the matter have said that LLOG Exploration Offshore has been exploring the possibility of a sale. This could value one the largest privately owned oil and gas producers on the U.S. Gulf Coast at more than 3 billion dollars, including debt. Sources said that the Covington, Louisiana based company has been working with investment banks at Guggenheim Securities to assess buyer interest. A limited number of parties have been contacted over the past few weeks in order to gauge the level of interest. Gerald Boelte founded LLOG in 1976. His family still controls the company.

Iraq, Kurdish Government to Restart Oil Exports to Turkey

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Iraq's federal and Kurdish regional governments reached a deal with oil firms to resume crude exports via Turkey on Monday, two oil officials told Reuters.The breakthrough will allow for the resumption of exports of about 230,000 barrels per day (bpd) from Iraqi Kurdistan which have been suspended since March 2023."We will on Tuesday start technical procedures to prepare pipeline operations, with oil flows expected to restart within 48 hours, an oil official with knowledge of the…

Russell: ADNOC must offer more than just money to make the Santos deal work.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's (ADNOC) $18.7billion bid for Australian liquefied gas producer Santos faces a much higher hurdle than the money offered. The politics surrounding the deal, which would represent Australia's biggest-ever cash takeover in history, are becoming increasingly difficult to overcome. ADNOC, Australia's second largest oil and gas company launched its bid in June, and a preliminary due diligence was to be completed no later than August. The deal was delayed from August 19 to September 19, despite the fact that no major problems were found with the transaction.

Russell: ADNOC must offer more than just money to make the Santos deal work.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's (ADNOC) $18,7 billion bid for Australian liquefied gas producer Santos faces a much higher hurdle than the money offered. The politics surrounding the deal, which would represent Australia's biggest-ever cash takeover in history, are becoming increasingly difficult to overcome. ADNOC began its bid in June for Santos, Australia’s second largest oil and gas company. A due diligence initial was to be completed before August. The deal was postponed from August to September 19, despite the fact that no major problems were found.

Amazon rainforest is threatened by the axing of ministries, say indigenous Ecuadorians

Noboa announced that in July, more than a half dozen ministries would be combined. The number of ministries will drop from 20 to 14. This is an effort to reduce public spending. The Ministry of Women and Human Rights has also been folded into the Ministry of Government. Approximately 5,000 employees were laid off. Carolina Jaramillo, spokesperson for the government, stated that efficiency was the goal. She said that the national government had set itself a goal to have an efficient state which provides citizens with quality public services.

Halliburton: Mexico's oil production decline rates will force a reactivation business

Halliburton, a U.S. oilfield services provider, said Tuesday that Mexico's declining oil production rates create pressure for a return to business amid the long delays by state-run Pemex in paying its suppliers. Official figures show that the output of crude oil and condensate from Pemex, which is the largest producer, dropped 8.4% to 1.64 millions barrels per day in May. Pemex is the most indebted oil company in the world. This has led to a significant decrease of activity by oilfield service companies. Halliburton stated that issues related to Pemex payments have yet to be resolved.

Trump Administration moves to expand oil leasing in Alaska reserve

The Trump administration proposed opening 82% of Alaska's 23-million-acre (9.3-million-hectare) National Petroleum Reserve for oil and gas leasing, a move that would reverse Biden-era efforts to limit drilling in the area, the Interior Department said on Tuesday. The move is in line with President Donald Trump’s energy dominance plan, which aims to increase domestic oil and natural gas production to stimulate economic growth and create jobs. The former administration of Joe Biden…

ADNOC consortium targets Australia's Santos

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's (ADNOC) is looking to expand its global gas business and has proposed a $18,7 billion takeover bid of Australia's Santos, the second largest independent gas producer. Santos has supported the plan. Here are some key details about Santos, including its production and reserves (measured in millions of barrels of oil-equivalent (mmboe)), its domestic and foreign oil and gas assets and its long-term LNG deals. 2024 Production (mmboe). Santos is the operator of Darwin LNG, Gladstone LNG and PNG LNG in Australia.

BP to invest upto $25 billion in Iraqi Kirkuk oil and Gas

A senior Iraqi official said that BP will spend up to 25 billion dollars over the life of a project redeveloping four Kirkuk oil fields and gas. Baghdad is trying to win foreign investment back. If the deal is finalized, which could happen in the next few weeks, this would be a major breakthrough for Iraq. The country's production has been severely constrained over the years by war, corruption, and sectarian tensions. It is the second largest oil producer within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Egypt reduces renewable energy targets to 40% by 2040, but keeps natural gas as the main focus

The Egyptian government has revised the renewable energy goal for 2040 from 58% to 40%, said Petroleum Minister Karim Badayi on Sunday. He also stressed that natural gas would remain an important part of Egypt's energy mix in years to come. Egypt committed to increasing renewable energy production by 42% to its energy mix before hosting the COP27 summit in 2022. Later, this target was advanced to 2030. Then-Electricity minister Mohamed Shaker announced in June 2024 an ambitious plan for this to reach 58% by the year 2040. This target has now been abandoned.

Egypt plans to restore gas production at its gas fields to normal by the summer of 2025

Mostafa Madbouly, the Prime Minister, said that Egypt hopes to resume normal production in its natural gas fields before next summer. He also indicated that the government was moving to settle arrears it owes to production companies. Madbouly said at a press conference that the government's arrears had caused a drop in production, but he did not specify how much it owed or when the money might be paid back. In March, sources said that the government set aside $1.5 billion to pay foreign oil and gas companies in the country.

Sources say that the incoming Mexican government wants to open Pemex up to oil partnerships.

According to four sources with knowledge of the situation, the incoming Mexican government will encourage the state oil company Pemex, to form equity partnerships with private oil firms, a model that is not popular with the president. This move is to increase reserves in the face of a massive debt. These partnerships will be similar to previous Pemex joint-ventures with private oil companies, known as "farm-outs", that Mexico pursued via an energy reform implemented a decade earlier.

Chevron Pulls Staff from Northern Iraq

Chevron Corp removed its expatriate staff operating in northern Iraq as a security precaution, a spokeswoman said on Monday, joining other oil companies pulling staff following the U.S. killing of an Iranian general in the country.U.S. officials last week called for American citizens to leave Iraq hours after a drone strike killed Iranian Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.Chevron said a small contingent of expatriate employees and contractors temporarily left its Kurdistan region operations as a precautionary measure. Other U.S.

Oil Jumps After US Kills Iran's Soleimani

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Oil prices jumped more than $3 on Friday after a U.S. air strike in Baghdad ordered by President Donald Trump killed the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, sparking concerns for an escalation of regional tensions and disruption to crude supplies.Brent crude rose to a peak of $69.50 a barrel, its highest since mid-September when Saudi oil facilities were attacked, and was up 3.7% or $2.43 a barrel by 1445 GMT at $68.68.West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up $2.17 or 3.5% at $63.35 a barrel…

US Oil Workers Leaving Iraq After Air Strike

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Dozens of U.S. citizens working for foreign oil companies in the southern Iraqi oil city of Basra were leaving the country on Friday, the Oil Ministry said, after a U.S. air strike killed a top Iranian commander in Iraq.The U.S. embassy in Baghdad urged all its citizens to leave Iraq immediately, hours after the U.S. killed Iranian Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.Iraqi officials said the evacuation would not affect operations, production…

Majors Press Mexico to Resume Oil Auctions

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Big oil companies operating in Mexico have launched a drive to convince leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to resume auctions of oil and gas contracts he has branded a failure in reviving the industry.Chevron Corp, Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, among other firms in Mexico's Association of Hydrocarbon Companies (Amexhi), say they have met output targets and investment pledges worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the initial phases of their contracts."We've been complying (with contractual obligations)…

Chevron Seeks to Shrink Nigerian Presence

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Chevron is seeking to sell several Nigerian oilfields as part of a global drive to reshape its portfolio as it focuses on growing its U.S.

Shell Aims to Operate Egypt Concessions in 2020

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Royal Dutch Shell is aiming to start operating in its concession areas in Egypt in the second half of 2020, a senior executive said.Shell won three oil and two gas concessions in Egypt in February.Eni, BP and ExxonMobil also won some of a total of 12 tenders as Egypt looks to sustain an investment upswing spurred by major discoveries.Shell has also applied to take part in a bidding round in Egypt for oil and gas drilling in the Red Sea, Gerald Schotman, executive vice president upstream JVs at Shell…

US DOJ Closes Eni Investigations

Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi (Photo: Eni)

The U.S. Justice Department has closed its investigations into alleged corruption by oil major Eni in Nigeria and Algeria without taking any action, the Italian energy group said on Tuesday.Eni, the biggest foreign oil and gas producer in Africa, is currently on trial in Milan on graft allegations revolving round the acquisition of a giant Nigerian oilfield in 2011.In that case Eni and peer Royal Dutch Shell are accused of buying the OPL 245 offshore field for about $1.3 billion in…

Foreign Oil Workers Kidnapped in Nigeria

Gunman kidnapped two foreign workers from an oil rig in Nigeria's Delta region on Saturday, the military said - the second abduction there in less than a week.The attackers raided the rig owned by Niger Delta Petroleum Resources at around 8 a.m. (0700 GMT), the spokesman for the area's military operations, Major Ibrahim Abubakar, said.Troops were searching surrounding swamps, he added.The Niger Delta produces the bulk of Nigeria's crude.