Enverus, a firm that provides analytics, reported on Wednesday that the amount of deals in the U.S. oil and gas sector upstream jumped to $38 billion during the first quarter this year. This was the highest quarterly figure in two years. Last week, Devon Shale Producers and Coterra, a smaller competitor to Devon, closed their merger after first announcing the plans in February. This deal, valued at $25 billion, took up the majority of Q1’s dealmaking.
The Trump administration announced Monday it would loan out 53.3 million barrels of oil from the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to energy companies – an attempt to bring down skyrocketing oil prices as a result of the U.S. war with Iran.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will begin publishing new quarterly energy security datasets on May 13 covering global strategic petroleum reserves and shipping flows through key oil and LNG chokepoints, as ongoing disruption in the Strait of Hormuz continues to reshape global energy markets.
Commercial shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained severely restricted Tuesday as an Iraqi crude supertanker reversed course near the U.S. naval blockade line, underscoring mounting risks for oil and LNG flows through one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints.
Seadrill added more than $860 million to its offshore drilling contract backlog during first-quarter 2026, supported by new deepwater rig awards and extensions across Brazil, the U.S. Gulf and Angola as the company pointed to strengthening demand for offshore drilling services.
Brent crude oil fell 4.3% to $96.96 per barrel on May 7, 2026, during volatile trading, as renewed hopes of a U.S.-Iran peace deal emerged, according to market analysts. The benchmark slipped $4.31 from its May 6 close, with intraday fluctuations of up to 4.6%, exchange data showed. Shipping giant Maersk warned that even if a peace agreement were reached soon, high energy costs would persist due to structural supply constraints.
The United States Department of Defense said its ceasefire with Iran remains in place despite renewed clashes in and around the Strait of Hormuz, where vessel attacks and missile strikes have heightened risks to global oil shipping.
The U.S. continues to seek to pile pressure on Iran with the naval blockade outside the Strait of Hormuz as the Trump Administration signals the blockade is yielding results and will not be lifted anytime soon.
The UAE’s ADNOC plans to invest billions of dollars in building a presence in the U.S. natural gas industry, the Financial Times reported today, citing the chief executive of ADNOC’s international investment division, XRG.
U.S. Department of the Interior has reached agreements with two offshore wind developers to terminate lease positions and redirect capital into conventional energy projects, marking a notable shift in U.S. energy policy and investment flows.