U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), decreased by 2.3 million barrels from the week ending January 16 to the week ending January 23. That’s what the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlighted in its latest weekly petroleum status report, which was released on January 28 and included data for the week ending January 23. According to the report, crude oil stocks, not including the SPR, stood at 423.8 million barrels on January 23, 426.0 million barrels on January 16, and 415.1 million barrels on January 24, 2025. The report highlighted that data may not add up to totals due to independent rounding. Crude oil in the SPR stood at 415.0 million barrels on January 23, 414.5 million barrels on January 16, and 394.8 million barrels on January 24, 2025, the report revealed. 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 1.715 billion barrels on January 23, the report highlighted. Total petroleum stocks were down 6.3 million barrels week on week and up 107.7 million barrels year on year, the report pointed out. “At 423.8 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about three percent below the five year average for this time of year,” the EIA said in its latest weekly petroleum status report. “Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 0.2 million barrels from last week and are about five percent above the five year average for this time of year. Finished gasoline inventories increased, while blending components inventories decreased last week,” it added. “Distillate fuel inventories increased by 0.3 million barrels last week and are about one percent above the five year average for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories decreased 4.7 million

In a market update sent to Rigzone by the Rystad Energy team recently, Rystad noted that global upstream merger and acquisition (M&A) activity is expected to be lower in 2026 than in 2025. Rystad highlighted in the update that, according to its analysis, “nearly $152 billion worth of opportunities [are] on the market as of January this year”. The company added that “timing and execution will determine whether several mega deals will go through, with numerous high value assets still on the market waiting for the right buyers”. According to a chart included in the update, which showed annual upstream M&A activity by continent and deal count, global upstream M&A deal value came in at $170 billion in 2025, $204 billion in 2024, $255 billion in 2023, $152 billion in 2022, $184 billion in 2021, $103 billion in 2020, and $154 billion in 2019. This chart highlighted that it excluded “government mandated deals and production sharing contract awards/expiry”. Rystad noted in its update that global upstream M&A activity “dipped 17 percent year on year to approximately $170 billion in 2025, with deal count decreasing 12 percent to 466”. “Consolidation within North American shale plays, LNG investments across U.S. and Argentina, and majors’ spinning off assets in Asia and the UK to form new regional joint ventures emerged as key themes last year,” Rystad said. “A few key deals across these themes include SM Energy and Civitas’ merger, Cenovus Energy’s acquisition of MEG Energy, a Blackstone-led consortium’s acquisition of a 49.9 percent stake in the Port Arthur LNG phase 2 project from Sempra Infrastructure Partners (SIP), Eni and Petronas merging certain assets in Indonesia and Malaysia, and TotalEnergies merging its UK operations with NeoNext Energy to form NeoNext+,” it added. In the update, Rystad highlighted that North America led activity in

OKEA ASA and its partners have discovered more hydrocarbon deposits in the producing Brage field on Norway’s side of the North Sea. “Preliminary estimates indicate additional resources for Brage of between 0.5 and 1.5 million standard cubic meters (Sm3) of recoverable oil equivalent (o.e.) if the discovery is oil”, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) reported Wednesday. “If it is gas, the preliminary volume estimate is between 0.4 and 0.9 million Sm3 of o.e.” The discovery was made in development well 31/4-A-15 D, which targeted the Knockando Fensfjord prospect, the upstream regulator said. The well was drilled from the Brage installation, it said. “The licensees are now considering opportunities for developing ‘Knockando Fensfjord’”, the NOD added. “Development well 31/4-A-15 D was drilled into the reservoir section in the lower Fensfjord Formation of Late Jurassic age on its way to the ‘Talisker’ production target in the Brent Group of Middle Jurassic age”, the NOD said. “A 38.5-meter [126.31 feet] column of hydrocarbons was proven in an interval of multiple sandstone layers with moderate to good reservoir quality. The petroleum/water contact was not encountered”. Drilling reached a measured depth of 10,009 meters (32,837.93 feet) and a vertical depth of 2,309 meters below sea level. It was terminated in the Oseberg Formation in the Middle Jurassic, according to the NOD. The well is part of production license 055, awarded 1979 and valid through 2040. OKEA is license operator with a 35.2 percent stake. Lime Petroleum AS owns 33.84 percent, DNO Norge AS 14.26 percent, Petrolia NOCO AS 12.26 percent and M Vest Energy AS 4.44 percent. Brage, which sits in the northern part of the North Sea 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) east of the Oseberg field, started producing 1993 with an integrated production, drilling and accommodation facility, according to field information on government website Norskpetroleum.no. It produced 0.81

ORLEN SA has signed agreements with ABO Energy Suomi, Nordic Ren-Gas and VolagHy Kuopio SPV for the supply of renewable hydrogen to Poland. “The Finnish companies with which ORLEN has signed the agreements are implementing key projects in the area of production of renewable hydrogen and its derivatives: ABO Energy Suomi is developing installations with a total capacity of up to 100,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year, Nordic Ren-Gas is constructing integrated facilities producing e-methane using renewable hydrogen and biogenic CO2 and VolagHy Kuopio SPV is developing a synthetic fuel production project with a capacity of approximately 50,000 tonnes per year, with plans for further expansion across the Nordic region”, said a joint statement online. The companies did not disclose agreed volumes or contract durations. The statement disclosed that ORLEN had already signed an agreement last year with Finland’s leading producer of green hydrogen, P2X Solutions Oy. P2X Solutions “operates Finland’s first industrial-scale facility for the production of renewable hydrogen and e-methane in Harjavalta and is pursuing further investments aimed at achieving one GW [gigawatts] of installed production capacity within the next decade”, the statement said. “The agreements also provide for cooperation on developing a model for future supplies of hydrogen and its derivatives to Poland”, the companies added. “The partners will also work together to define the logistical conditions enabling the transport of hydrogen and its derivatives from Finland to the ORLEN Group’s refining and chemical facilities in Poland”. Marcin Wasilewski, a member of ORLEN’s Management Board for Transition, said, “The agreements we have signed represent to us a key building block in the development of a European hydrogen ecosystem. They enable us to tap into the expertise, experience and capabilities of the Finnish companies, ensuring access to competitively priced hydrogen that can be safely stored in Poland and supplied across Central Europe”. ORLEN, which has seven active

The governments of Germany and Denmark said they have paved a new regulatory ground with the signing of an agreement for a cross-border project that will connect several wind farms via a single hub on the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. The project, called the Bornholm Energy Island, is designed to deliver three gigawatts of electricity onshore to be distributed to around three million homes and businesses in Denmark and Germany. The project is owned by Danish state-owned power and gas transmission systems operator Energinet and German electricity transmission system operator 50Hertz. “Denmark and Germany have agreed on sharing the costs to finance the support need for the offshore wind”, said a joint statement by the countries’ energy ministries. “The project entails the first example of two countries sharing the support needed for an offshore wind farm and proves a landmark in the development of European cross-border offshore cooperation”, the statement added. Energinet said separately “the agreement provides greater clarity on the political and economic framework for planning and coordination across the border”. 50Hertz said in its own statement the government agreement is the project’s “decisive building block”. 50 Hertz chief executive Stefan Kapferer highlighted, “The agreement between Germany and Denmark has an impact on the offshore industry across Europe, extending far beyond the Baltic Sea project Bornholm Energy Island. It is furthermore a strong European signal in geopolitically difficult times”. A statement from the European Commission, which last year signed a grant agreement worth EUR 645.2 million ($770.68 million) for the Bornholm Energy Island, said the agreement between Berlin and Copenhagen “marks a first key delivery of the Energy Highways initiative set out as part of the European Grids Package published in December 2025”. The project “will transform offshore wind energy from a national resource into a shared European resource

In a market comment sent to Rigzone on Thursday, Mazen Salhab, Head of Market Research at MH Markets, highlighted that oil prices “remain elevated and volatile … as the market prices supply risk and demand uncertainty at the same time”. “Geopolitical tension around Iran continues to underpin prices by lifting the risk premium, even without actual disruptions, while producer discipline and recent weather related outages are limiting downside,” Salhab said in the comment. “At the same time, economic data points to slowing but resilient demand, keeping oil supported as both a growth-sensitive asset and a hedge,” he added. Looking at the near term in his comment, Salhab said labor market data “is the key trigger”. “Weaker jobs data would support oil via a softer dollar but raise demand concerns, while stronger data may pressure prices initially yet reinforce demand expectations,” he warned. “Until either geopolitics or macro data clearly dominates, oil is likely to remain range-bound but firm, with sharp reactions to headlines and data surprises,” Salhab projected. In a report sent to Rigzone by the Standard Chartered team on Wednesday, Standard Chartered Bank Energy Research Head Emily Ashford noted that a U.S. winter storm “disrupted crude oil output and refining operations, prompting localized supply tightness”. “The NYMEX heating oil-WTI spread has stabilized between $36-38 per barrel over the week, while the ICE gasoil-Brent spread pushed above $25 per barrel on 21 January and is currently trading around $23 per barrel,” Ashford added. “We expect these cracks to remain sensitive to refining throughput-recovery timelines,” Ashford continued. The Standard Chartered report projected that the ICE Brent nearby future crude oil price will average $63.50 per barrel in 2026 and $67.00 per barrel in 2027. This commodity averaged $68.50 per barrel in 2025, the report showed. A quarterly breakdown included in the Standard Chartered