Original reporting on global oil and gas markets: WTI and Brent crude price moves, OPEC+ policy, rig counts, pipeline approvals, LNG offtake deals, upstream M&A, refining margins, offshore developments, and the regulatory landscape from Alberta to the North Sea. Edited by Oil Authority, refreshed throughout the trading day.
WTI topped $90 per barrel Tuesday as US strikes on Larak Island reversed a three-session slide, lifting WCS to $76 for Canadian oil sands producers.
Brent settled at $90.69 on Monday's ICE close. Goldman Sachs caps Q4 at $80, threatening a $15 CAD/bbl revenue drop for Alberta crude producers.
Brent crude fell more than 5% to $89.31 per barrel Friday as Persian Gulf oil exports tripled from March lows, stripping out the Iran conflict premium.
Equinor bought a 17.4% stake in Namibia's PEL 90 from Chevron unit Harmattan, completing three farm-outs that cut Chevron's interest from 90% to 35%.
US rig count held flat at 588 on August 28 as gas rigs surged 5 to 132 while oil rigs fell 5 to 447; Texas climbed to 282 rigs, an 18-month high.
TotalEnergies handed Arctic LNG 2's 10% stake to NordLine, a Novatek unit, keeping $1.3B in loan claims locked until sanctions lift as TTF hits 68.82 EUR/MWh.
IEA projects 2026 oil demand falling 1.6 mb/d while OPEC sees growth of 580,000 bpd; the 2.18 mb/d gap reflects diverging assumptions on Hormuz.
Iran's IRGC claims a Hormuz revenue-sharing deal with Oman, but US sanctions compliance remains the threshold for restoring the 20 mb/d waterway.
US crude output climbed to 13.843 million bbl/d as Hormuz disruptions opened a $6.19 Brent-WTI spread; the SPR drew 3.7 million barrels in a week.
A trilateral MOU among Ottawa, Alberta, and Canada's five largest oil sands companies could unlock $8.25 billion in new Canadian Natural expansion.
Permian rigs hit 267, highest since June 2025, as ExxonMobil posts record 1.8 MMboepd from its Pioneer acquisition and EIA projects Brent at $69/bbl by 2027.
OPEC+ adds 188,000 bpd for September as Chevron's $46.7B Tengiz expansion keeps Kazakhstan 500,000 barrels per day short of monthly OPEC+ compliance targets.
Goldman Sachs cut Q4 2026 Brent to $80/bbl while Wood Mackenzie holds at $90, a $10 gap driven by Hormuz recovery timing as WCS settles at $70.01.
Henry Hub rose 3.3% to $2.86 per MMBtu on Wednesday as European TTF's 103% surge since the QatarEnergy force majeure lifts US LNG export economics.
Equinor and Uniper signed a 15-year deal to supply 2.8 bcm of gas annually to Germany from 2027, as European TTF prices climb on supply disruptions.
QatarEnergy declared force majeure as Hormuz restrictions cut Ras Laffan's cargo count by 96%, sending European TTF gas prices up 103% in a year.
EIA's official crude tally shows a 95,000-barrel build for the week ending August 21, far below API's 4.2 million-barrel figure and the 0.6 million consensus.
Aker BP brought three Norwegian Sea fields online one year early, adding 120 MMboe to its Skarv production hub, with Equinor, ORLEN and JAPEX as co-investors.
Brent fell to $87.20 per barrel Wednesday as Iran-Oman Hormuz corridor talks extended oil losses to a third straight session, down from $93 at peak tensions.
US crude inventories rose 4.2M barrels last week, double analyst forecasts, dragging WTI to settle at $82.36 as the SPR holds at 293 million barrels.
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