Newsroom
Short, verified market news summaries; every item names its source and publication date.
BP's Egyptian Gas Assets Near a One Billion Dollar Sale to Energean
According to Oilprice.com's Tom Kool, in a report published Thursday, 5 Shahrivar 1405 (August 27, 2026), Reuters reported exclusively, citing two people familiar with the talks, that Energean is in exclusive negotiations to buy a package of BP's oil and gas assets in Egypt, a deal that could raise about one billion dollars for the British energy major. BP and Energean declined to comment. The proposed package includes BP's interest in the West Nile Delta gas assets, held jointly with Harbour Energy, and its 50 percent contractor stake in the Temsah concession in the eastern Mediterranean. The report said Temsah's value has risen significantly following this year's Denise West discovery, which Italy's Eni estimates holds about two trillion cubic feet of gas and 130 million barrels of condensate. BP, Eni and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation aim to reach a final investment decision within the next few months. Reuters reported in July that Energean was competing with Dragon Oil, Carlyle Group and Artemis Energy for the assets.
اویلپرایس (Oilprice.com, citing رویترز)
Equinor Hopes for a Major Oil Discovery Offshore Namibia
Philippe Mathieu, Equinor's Executive Vice President for International Exploration and Production, said on Tuesday, Shahrivar 3, 1405 (August 25, 2026), on the sidelines of an energy conference in Stavanger, Norway, that the Norwegian company hopes to make a "pretty big" oil discovery within its Petroleum Exploration License 90 (PEL 90) offshore Namibia, similar to discoveries TotalEnergies and Galp have made in recent years in the same Orange Basin. According to Oilprice.com, Equinor entered Namibia's exploration rush a week earlier by buying a 17.4 percent participating interest in PEL 90 from Harmattan Energy, a Chevron subsidiary in Namibia. The license provides access to a drill ready prospect scheduled for testing in 2026. The report said Namibia has hosted major discoveries by TotalEnergies, Galp and Shell in recent years, and BP has also increased its stakes in three exploration blocks there this year, though the country still lacks the infrastructure to fast track development of these finds.
Oilprice.com
Hormuz Crisis Boosts Appeal of Equinor's $42 Billion Tanzania LNG Project
Philippe Mathieu, Equinor's Executive Vice President for Exploration and Production International, told Reuters on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, on the sidelines of an energy conference in Stavanger, Norway, that the Strait of Hormuz crisis, which has crippled global LNG supply, has made the $42 billion Tanzania LNG project more attractive for the Norwegian company. He said now is a good time to advance the project so new LNG volumes are not delayed too long in reaching the market. Equinor and its partner Shell have faced years of difficult negotiations with Tanzania's government, and the project, which would connect offshore Tanzanian gas discoveries to an export terminal, has advanced little over the past decade. Shell has held stakes in two offshore blocks with 16 trillion cubic feet of discovered gas since 2016, while Equinor has made discoveries totaling more than 20 trillion cubic feet since starting exploration in 2011.
Oilprice.com, citing رویترز / citing Reuters
Nigeria Eyes $50 Billion in Offshore Oil and Gas Investment With New Incentives
Nigeria's Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) said new incentives for offshore oil and gas projects have the potential to attract 50 billion dollars in new investment. According to OilPrice.com, NUPRC chief executive Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan said this week at a human resources conference that Nigeria needs more skilled workers, including in digital industries, to capture the new offshore opportunities. According to Eyesan, annual investment in Nigeria's oil and gas industry has fallen from 26 billion dollars in 2014 to just 2 billion dollars now. The commission also said Nigeria pumped 1.505 million barrels of crude oil per day last month, exceeding its OPEC+ quota of 1.5 million barrels per day for a third straight month, as the country targets raising output to 3 million barrels per day by 2030.
OilPrice.com
Libya Needs Up to $40 Billion in Foreign Investment to Reach 2 Million Bpd Oil Output by Early 2030s
According to the Financial Times, cited by Oilprice.com on Sunday, 24 Mordad 1405 (August 16, 2026), Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) chairman Masoud Suleman said the country needs 36 to 40 billion dollars in foreign investment to expand its oil industry and raise output to 2 million barrels per day by the early 2030s. Under a unified budget recently passed by Libya's parliament, 2 billion dollars has been earmarked for NOC to support its production growth plans. Oilprice.com reported that NOC resumed oil tenders last year after nearly two decades of inactivity, and in June finalized exploration and production sharing agreements with Repsol, Turkish Petroleum, Eni, QatarEnergy and MOL. BP, Shell, Exxon and Chevron are also returning to Libya as the security situation improves somewhat, though oil facilities remain a target of drone attacks by various groups.
Oilprice.com, citing Financial Times
Chevron Announces Major Oil and Gas Discovery Offshore Angola
US company Chevron said on Monday, 25 Mordad 1405 (August 17, 2026), it made a new oil and gas condensate discovery in Block 0 waters offshore Angola. The 105-4X exploration well encountered more than 610 meters (2,000 feet) of hydrocarbon bearing section and over 91 meters (300 feet) of net pay in the Pinda reservoir in the Lower Congo Basin, which Chevron described as having excellent reservoir quality. According to Oilprice.com, Chevron has not yet disclosed an estimate of recoverable resources or potential production, and is evaluating whether the field can be tied into existing Block 0 facilities rather than developed as a standalone project. Angola's Sonangol holds 41% of the block, Chevron 39.2%, TotalEnergies 10% and Azule Energy, the BP Eni joint venture, 9.8%. Angola's oil output, which once neared 2 million barrels per day, has stabilized at around 1.1 million barrels per day.
Oilprice.com
Drone Hits Power Station Near Libya's Largest Oil Refinery as Tripoli Weighs a Shutdown
Al Jazeera reported that on Wednesday, August 12, 2026 (21 Mordad 1405), a drone struck a power station near the Zawiya refinery, Libya's largest operating refinery, in the country's west. The refinery has been repeatedly targeted by drone attacks in recent days, and Libya's government is now considering halting its operations. According to Al Jazeera's report from Tuesday, August 11 (20 Mordad), an earlier drone attack on the same complex sparked a huge fire, and Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) warned it may halt operations at the country's largest operating refinery and declare force majeure. Oilprice.com reported that the Zawiya export terminal, with daily capacity of 120,000 barrels, is supplied from the Sharara field, Libya's largest oil field, and that a potential halt to its exports could affect global oil supply.
Al Jazeera
Zambia Heads to the Polls as Economic Reforms and Copper Revenue Face Voter Test
Zambia holds a presidential election on Thursday, August 13, 2026 (22 Mordad 1405), which Al Jazeera reports is widely seen as a test of the country's economic reforms over the past four years. According to the Electoral Commission of Zambia, about 8.79 million voters are registered, with 14 candidates contesting the presidency, including incumbent Hakainde Hichilema, who is seeking a second term. According to the Zambia Statistics Agency, inflation fell to 6.8 percent in April, but high food, fuel and electricity costs continue to pressure households. Copper, which accounts for about 70 percent of Zambia's export earnings and more than 10 percent of GDP, is another central election issue; the government has set a target of raising annual copper production to 3 million tonnes, though local analysts cited by Al Jazeera say the key question for voters is how much of that revenue reaches the wider economy.
Al Jazeera
Egypt and Libya Near $1 Billion Deal for a Tobruk to Alexandria Oil Pipeline
According to Oilprice.com, citing Asharq Bloomberg in a report published Monday, August 10, 2026 (19 Mordad 1405), Egypt and Libya are nearing a deal to build an 800 kilometer oil pipeline between Tobruk and Alexandria, creating a direct route for growing Libyan crude production to reach Egyptian refineries as disruption from the Iran war in the Strait of Hormuz has cut off Egypt's traditional Gulf supplies. The report said the project is estimated to cost more than $1 billion, and the two countries are studying financing, implementation and the pipeline's final capacity. An Egyptian government official previously cited by Asharq Bloomberg said Cairo is seeking to import at least 1 million barrels of Libyan crude a month after Kuwaiti supplies were suspended. Libya currently produces about 1.43 million barrels a day of crude oil and 49,000 barrels a day of condensate, and National Oil Corporation chairman Masoud Suleman has said output is approaching 1.5 million barrels a day. The pipeline plan follows talks between Egypt's prime minister and the head of Libya's Government of National Unity on expanding cooperation in oil refining, natural gas and electricity.
Oilprice.com, citing Asharq Bloomberg
Libya's Zawiya refinery hit by drone attack and fire; National Oil Corp warns of possible shutdown
A drone attack on tank number 402-T at Libya's Zawiya refinery, the country's largest operating refinery with a capacity of 120,000 barrels per day, sparked a major fire on the evening of Monday, August 10, 2026 (19 Mordad 1405), Al Jazeera reported. Libya's National Oil Corporation said the tank, which held about 4.5 million litres of gasoline, was directly targeted and collapsed after a severe blaze. The NOC said the strike followed drone attacks on a desalination unit on Sunday and a naphtha tank on Saturday. Libya's Ambulance and Emergency Service said most casualties were treated for smoke inhalation and no serious injuries were reported. The NOC warned that if the attacks continue, it will have to declare force majeure and halt operations at the refinery, located about 40km west of Tripoli.
Al Jazeera
Libya's National Oil Corporation Sets Goal of 2 Million Bpd Output by Early 2030s
According to Oilprice.com citing Bloomberg, in a report published Friday, August 7, 2026 (16 Mordad 1405), Masoud Suleman, chairman of Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC), told Bloomberg in Tripoli that the country could raise oil production from about 1.4 million barrels a day currently to 2 million barrels a day by the early 2030s. He said Libya's unified 2026 budget, brokered with US help, has given the NOC an operating budget of more than $2 billion (13 billion Libyan dinars), after the company received no funding at all in the 2025 budget. Suleman said the end of delayed funding has boosted international partners' confidence to invest in Libya's oil and gas sector. Last month, the NOC and Austria's OMV declared the Essar oil discovery commercially viable. Libya, which has been politically fragmented since 2014, held its first oil and gas exploration bid round in 18 years last year and signed exploration and production sharing agreements with companies including Repsol, Turkish Petroleum, Eni, QatarEnergy and MOL.
Oilprice.com, citing Bloomberg
Angola confirms new offshore oil and gas find at the Katambi 2 appraisal well
Angola's state oil firm Sonangol and its partner in an offshore exploration block, the National Agency for Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG), said on Thursday, August 6, 2026 (15 Mordad 1405), according to OilPrice.com, that they had successfully completed drilling and testing of the Katambi 2 appraisal well in Block 24 of the Benguela Basin. The well crossed two productive reservoir intervals of better quality than the nearby Katambi 1 well, which BP drilled more than a decade ago before returning its stake to the Angolan state after judging the discovery not commercially viable. Initial tests at Katambi 2, drilled about 1.3 kilometers from the first well, showed a stabilized production rate of 1,160 barrels a day of condensate and 41 million standard cubic feet a day of gas, with no water or hydrogen sulfide detected. The report said it was Angola's first full flow test on a non associated gas reservoir, indicating potential output above 100 million standard cubic feet a day. Angola's crude output, which fell below 1 million barrels a day for the first time in two and a half years last year, has stabilized at about 1.1 million barrels a day in recent months.
OilPrice.com
Iraq condemns the drone attack on two vessels at Egypt's Damietta port
Iraq's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday, 2 August 2026 (11 Mordad 1405), that Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein condemned the drone strike on two vessels at Egypt's Damietta port during a phone call with his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty. According to Egypt's cabinet, an unidentified drone caused fires aboard two gas vessels at the port on 29 July 2026 (7 Mordad 1405). After the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Egyptian officials, that Cairo held Iran responsible, Egypt rejected that report and stressed that any findings would be announced solely by the competent state authorities. Iran has denied involvement in the incident, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned against Israeli plots and false flag operations aimed at undermining regional peace. Yemen's Ansar Allah movement also rejected reports linking it to the incident, saying its military operations target only Saudi Arabia. Damietta is one of Egypt's Mediterranean liquefied gas export terminals, and any disruption there affects shipping routes and marine insurance costs across the region.
Shafaq News, citing وزارت امور خارجه عراق
Libya's power cut protests halt production at the El Feel oilfield
Widespread power cuts in Libya, coinciding with a heatwave in which temperatures exceeded 48 degrees Celsius, have triggered a new wave of protests and civil disobedience in Tripoli and surrounding areas, according to a report published on Saturday 1 August 2026. Predominantly young protesters, frustrated by outages lasting around 10 hours a day, have shut down major roads and blockaded public buildings. The crisis escalated when a group of protesters stormed the Mellitah oil and gas complex on Tuesday, forcing the National Oil Corporation to halt operations at the El Feel oilfield and partially suspend the Wafa field. The disruption severely constrained the gas supplies needed for power generation and knocked out multiple electricity generation units. The Government of National Unity later secured the complex and resumed gas pumping. Libya has been politically fragmented since 2014 and, despite a 2020 ceasefire, the internationally recognised Government of National Unity in Tripoli and a rival administration in the east of the country remain opposed. Disruption to Libyan output matters for the oil market, because any loss of supply in current global conditions feeds through to prices.
Al Jazeera
Egypt denied the Wall Street Journal report attributing responsibility for the Damietta port explosion to Iran
Zia Rashwan, Egypt's Information Minister, denied a Wall Street Journal report that had cited anonymous sources in attributing responsibility for the explosion at Damietta port to Iran. He set out the position in a telephone interview with an Arab satellite channel, and the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram published it on Friday, 31 July 2026. Rashwan stressed that "there is no anonymous source in Egypt" and that information is released only through official channels. According to him, the Egyptian government is handling the incident with the utmost seriousness, adhering to transparency and respecting the investigative process, and responsibility will be determined only after official investigations are complete and their final results announced. On remarks by Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi that his country was not involved in the incident, Rashwan said the statement "deserves examination and reflection", adding that Egypt's official position will rest "exclusively" on the findings of investigations by the competent authorities in line with legal procedures. Egypt's oil ministry had earlier confirmed in a statement that a fire had occurred on a regasification vessel and a storage vessel berthed at Damietta port. Damietta is one of Egypt's key gas terminals, and any disruption there bears on the country's energy supply and on the regional LNG market, adding, alongside the disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, to the risk premium in world energy prices.
روزنامه دنیای اقتصاد (سایتخوان, citing ISNA and الاهرام)
Libya's power-cut protests reach the Mellitah oil complex, halting output at the El Feel field
A wave of protests and civil disobedience over prolonged electricity cuts escalated in Tripoli and surrounding areas in late July 2026. Mostly young protesters, worn down by outages lasting around 10 hours a day, shut major roads, burned tyres and blockaded public buildings, with the demonstrations unfolding in temperatures above 48 degrees Celsius. The crisis took a sharper turn on Tuesday, 28 July 2026 (6 Mordad 1405), when a group of protesters stormed the Mellitah oil and gas complex, forcing Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) to halt operations at the El Feel oilfield and partially suspend the Wafa field. The disruption sharply constrained the gas needed for power generation and knocked several generating units offline. The Government of National Unity later secured the complex and resumed gas pumping. Protesters demanded accountability for alleged corruption and the immediate dissolution of Libya's fractured political institutions. Libya has been split since 2014 between the internationally recognised Government of National Unity in Tripoli and a rival administration loyal to Khalifa Haftar in the east, a division that has persisted despite a 2020 ceasefire. Libya is an OPEC producer, and any interruption to output at its fields can affect global oil supply.
Al Jazeera
Maritime security firm Ambrey says a drone hit a gas storage tanker at Egypt's Damietta port
British maritime security firm Ambrey said on Wednesday 29 July 2026, in an initial assessment, that a drone hit the floating gas storage tanker Energos Winter at Egypt's Mediterranean port of Damietta, causing a fire that spread to another vessel, the Gaslog Salem. Three trading sources familiar with the incident gave the same account, and two separate security sources assessed the likely cause of the blast as a drone strike. British maritime risk management group Vanguard said the vessel was struck by an unidentified projectile on its starboard side. Egypt's petroleum ministry confirmed in a statement that a fire broke out on a gasification vessel and a storage vessel at Damietta port, but made no mention of a drone attack and gave no cause for the incident. No party has claimed responsibility. The Energos Winter is a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) with a storage capacity of 138,250 cubic metres, owned by US-based Energos Infrastructure. Reuters verified the location and date of video posted on social media against satellite imagery and ship-tracking data.
Arab News (Reuters)
Egypt's oil ministry says the Damietta port fire on two gas vessels caused no injuries, with operations resuming overnight
Egypt's oil ministry said on Wednesday 29 July 2026 (7 Mordad 1405) that two ships used for the processing and storage of gas caught fire at the country's Damietta port, and that the incident caused no injuries. The ministry said «the situation was handled immediately in accordance with emergency and rapid response plans», without identifying the cause of the blaze. Earlier, maritime shipping service Inchcape said a blast had occurred at the port's liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, adding that port operations were expected to resume overnight at other berths and terminals. Reuters, citing British maritime security company Ambrey, reported that a US-owned floating storage tanker at the port had been hit by a drone, that crew members were evacuated and that the fire was brought under control. No group had claimed responsibility for the incident as of the report. Damietta is one of Egypt's LNG export terminals, and any disruption there feeds through to regional gas supply flows.
Al Jazeera
Libya power-cut protests halt output at the El Feel oilfield and partly suspend Wafa
Protests over prolonged power cuts in Libya have reached the country's oil sector. According to Al Jazeera, a group of protesters entered the Mellitah oil and gas complex on Tuesday 28 July 2026, forcing Libya's National Oil Corporation to halt production at the El Feel oilfield and partially suspend the Wafa field. The disruption constrained the gas needed for power generation and knocked several generating units off the grid. The Government of National Unity later secured the complex and gas pumping resumed. Power cuts in the capital Tripoli and surrounding areas last around 10 hours a day, and with temperatures above 48 degrees Celsius the situation has triggered widespread protests and civil disobedience. Demonstrators shut major roads and gathered outside government buildings, including the foreign ministry, demanding accountability over corruption. A former official at the General Electricity Company of Libya told Al Jazeera that the crisis is rooted in major projects left unfinished from before 2011, including the Gulf steam power station near Sirte and the West Tripoli steam power station, each designed as four units with a combined capacity of 1,400 megawatts. Only two of Sirte's four 350 megawatt units have been connected to the grid. Libya is an OPEC member, so disruption to its output affects global oil supply.
Al Jazeera
Fire at Egypt's Damietta LNG terminal as maritime security firms report a drone strike on a US-linked vessel
A fire broke out at the liquefied natural gas terminal at Egypt's Damietta port on Wednesday, 29 July 2026 (7 Mordad 1405). The British maritime security firm Ambrey said at least one drone struck the Marshall Islands-flagged floating storage and regasification unit Energos Winter, a vessel chartered by the US company New Fortress Energy and operating at the Damietta gas terminal. According to published reports, the fire then spread to a second vessel, the Gaslog Salem. Those reports say emergency crews brought the blaze under control, no casualties were reported, and port operations were not significantly disrupted. No group has claimed responsibility for the incident. Accounts of the cause differ: some Egyptian security sources have rejected the drone-strike reports and attributed the fire to a technical fault in the engine room of an older vessel, while international maritime security assessments support the attack account. The significance for energy markets is that the apparent target is LNG infrastructure in the Mediterranean, outside the Strait of Hormuz.
Al-Monitor
Egypt's petroleum product exports hit $2.3bn in H1, matching all of last year
Egypt exported more than 2.3 million tonnes of petroleum products worth about $2.3 billion in the first half of 2026. According to official data from the Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ministry reported on Sunday 26 July 2026, that volume matched the country's total exports for all of last year in just six months. The exported products included jet fuel, naphtha, waxes and vacuum distillate. The ministry expects exports to rise to 2.5 million tonnes in the second half of the year. Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Karim Badawi said Egypt's crude oil production had reached its highest level in about two years. The ministry attributed the rise in domestic output to settling the dues of investment partners, which encouraged them to inject new capital into exploration, development and production. Cairo has accelerated refinery upgrades in recent years to reduce reliance on imported fuels and export higher-value refined products.
Arab News
Suez Canal traffic rises as ships divert away from the Strait of Hormuz
The Suez Canal Authority projected that about 15,500 ships will transit the waterway this fiscal year, roughly 20 percent more than the 13,000 of a year earlier. The increase is largely a result of the Strait of Hormuz crisis; with traffic through Hormuz severely curtailed, part of the flow of energy cargoes and jet fuel has shifted to the Red Sea and Suez Canal route. The gradual return of ships to the Suez route, after a period in which insecurity around Bab al-Mandab had pushed many to sail around the Cape of Good Hope, shows global trade flows shifting away from the Persian Gulf. This rerouting raises the cost and time of moving goods to the region and is one of the crisis's indirect consequences for the economies of Iran and its neighbours.
Al Manassa
Egypt raised Suez Canal transit surcharges from 15 July as ships reroute away from Hormuz
Egypt's Suez Canal Authority raised transit surcharges from 15 July 2026 for most vessel types, including tankers, gas carriers, bulk carriers and container ships. The decision comes as canal traffic rises, with the Strait of Hormuz crisis steering some ships toward Egyptian-controlled waters. According to official data, Egypt's Suez Canal revenue reached about $419 million in April, roughly 27 percent higher than a year earlier and the highest monthly level since the start of 2024. The number of oil tankers transiting the canal in the early months of the year rose about 28 percent from the same period last year. The trend shows how the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz is reshaping global energy routes and the revenues of countries on alternative paths.
Maritime News