TotalEnergies and OQ Exploration and Production have broken ground on the Marsa LNG plant in Oman, one year after reaching final investment decision on the project.
The 1 million ton per annum (MMtpa) liquefaction plant is being built by Marsa LNG LLC, a joint company between TotalEnergies (80%) and OQEP (20%). The LNG production, which is expected to start in the first quarter of 2028, is primarily intended to serve the marine fuel market (LNG bunkering) in the Gulf.
Exxon has recently doubled down on oil and gas, acquiring Pioneer Natural Resources in a $60 billion deal to expand U.S. shale dominance. It’s also investing in carbon capture and lithium—signaling a long-term bet on both hydrocarbons and emerging energy markets. This hybrid strategy shows that future resilience may depend on scale and adjacent technologies.
Earlier this week, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) climbed 1 million barrels to 398.5 million barrels in the week ending April 25. Inventory levels in the SPR are hundreds of millions shy of the levels in inventory prior to the SPR withdrawal that took place under the Biden Administration.
The conglomerate began to shrink its presence in oil several years ago, when it sold oil sands operations to Canadian Cavalier Energy. The company was following in the footsteps of international energy majors, which staged an exodus from the oil sands industry amid tightening regulations that put a burden on costs and ease of doing business in the area.
“The sharp drop in the PMIs likely overstates the impact of tariffs due to negative sentiment effects, but it still suggests that China’s economy is coming under pressure as external demand cools,” Capital Economics analyst Zichun Huang told Reuters. “Although the government is stepping up fiscal support, this is unlikely to fully offset the drag, and we expect the economy to expand just 3.5% this year,” she added.
Petrobras attributed the overall quarterly increase in oil and gas production to lower losses resulting from maintenance-related suspensions of operations, improved efficiency at fields in the Santos Basin, the addition of a new floating production, storage, and offloading vessel at the Buzios field, and the ramp up at another FPSO at the Mero field.
“The May contract rolled off the board at $3.170 yesterday as natural gas buyers awakened from a month-long slumber,” Rubin noted in the report, which highlighted that the June natural gas contract closed at $3.343 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) on Monday. That close was up 22.9 cents, the report pointed out.
The go-ahead from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) applies to Golden Pass LNG’s boil-off gas compression system, LNG storage, liquefaction system, LNG pumps, and end flash gas compression system. The permit was requested December 2023.
Total petroleum stocks – including crude oil, total motor gasoline, fuel ethanol, kerosene type jet fuel, distillate fuel oil, residual fuel oil, propane/propylene, and other oils – stood at 1.605 billion barrels on April 18, the report highlighted. Total petroleum stocks were down 0.3 million barrels week on week and up 5.9 million barrels year on year, the report outlined.
In contrast to Vitol, which trades with Venezuela and doesn’t operate any assets there, those other companies produce oil and gas in the country and are winding down operations ahead of the expiry of licenses issued by the US Treasury. The deadline for all the companies, including Vitol, to cease operating is May 27.