WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity (OE) today announced its intention to help fund 31 grid-improvement projects across 26 states as part of the Department’s Speed to Power through Accelerated Reconductoring and other Key Advanced Transmission Technology Upgrades (SPARK) initiative. The projects will receive $5.25 billion in total, $1.9 billion in federal funding from DOE and $3.35 billion in recipient cost-share funding, to improve grid reliability and lower electricity costs for approximately 100 million Americans. Project recipients are expected to reconductor or rebuild more than 1,500 miles of transmission lines and deploy Grid-Enhancing Technologies (GETs) across nearly 21,000 miles. Together, these efforts will make over 23 gigawatts of additional electricity capacity available. “Today’s announcement reinforces the Trump Administration’s commitment to commonsense energy addition policies that lower electricity prices and strengthen our grid,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. “These investments will get more out of the infrastructure we already have, move more electricity across the grid, and help deliver affordable, reliable, and secure power that will fuel American prosperity for decades to come.”  “These selected SPARK projects put advanced transmission technologies to work, modernizing critical infrastructure, maximizing the capacity of existing lines, and unlocking more than 20 gigawatts of additional grid capacity,” said OE Assistant Secretary Catherine Jereza. “DOE is moving with urgency to strengthen our grid, lower costs, and ensure America has the energy infrastructure needed to power the next generation of economic growth.” In accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order, Unleashing American Energy, projects selected demonstrate how reconductoring—replacing existing power lines with higher capacity conductors—paired with other Advanced Transmission Technologies (ATTs), can expand grid capacity, increase operational efficiency, lower prices for American families and businesses, and improve overall system reliability and security of the nation’s electric grid.  By maximizing existing rights-of-way, the selected projects will eliminate congestion bottlenecks and avoid expensive greenfield construction—lowering operating costs to help reduce consumer

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US LNG exports are on track to exceed 120 million tonnes in 2026, setting another record as new Gulf Coast capacity ramps up and the US strengthens its position as the world’s largest LNG supplier, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Sept. 22. “Last year, for the first time in history, a country exported more than 100 million tonnes of LNG—and that country was the United States. And this year, we are on track to surpass 120 million tonnes,” Wright said in a post on X, crediting companies such as Caturus, which recently announced a major expansion of its Gulf Coast export plant.  The growth in US LNG exports this year is primarily driven by the commissioning of new projects along the Gulf Coast and the expansion of existing plants. Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG in Louisiana has continued to ramp up since starting operations, and in March the Department of Energy (DOE) authorized an immediate 13% increase in its exports, bringing its total authorized capacity to 3.85 bcfd. In February, DOE approved a further expansion at Cheniere Energy’s Corpus Christi LNG project in Texas; the additional authorization of up to 0.47 bcfd brought the project’s total authorized export capacity to 4.45 bcfd. Outside the Gulf Coast, DOE in April approved a 22% increase in export capacity for the Elba Island LNG terminal in Georgia. Meanwhile, additional US LNG projects remain in the development or construction phase. Largest LNG exporter Over the past few years, the US has emerged as the world’s largest LNG exporter and a key supplier to the European gas market following the decline in Russian pipeline gas supplies. A distinctive feature of US LNG is that the majority of its production capacity is located along the Gulf Coast. With access to European and Asian markets via the

US crude oil inventories for the week ended Sept. 18, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, increased by 3.0 million bbl from the previous week, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). At 426.4 million bbl, US crude oil inventories are about 2% above the 5-year average for this time of year, the EIA report indicated. Gasoline inventories decreased 1.7 million bbl, 6% below the 5-year average. Distillate inventories decreased 400,000 million bbl, 12% below the 5-year average. Propane-propylene inventories decreased 1.2 million bbl, 20% above the 5-year average. Total commercial petroleum inventories increased by 0.1 million bbl for the week. US crude oil refinery inputs averaged 16.8 million b/d for the week ended Sept. 18, which was 519,000 b/d less than the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 94% of capacity. Gasoline output averaged 9.6 million b/d, and distillate production decreased to 5.2 million b/d. Crude oil imports decreased 1.2 million b/d to 5.9 million b/d. The 4-week average of 6.6 million b/d is 5.3% above the year-ago level. Gasoline imports averaged 401,000 b/d; distillate imports averaged 85,000 b/d. Over the past four weeks, total product supplied averaged 20.6 million b/d, up 0.5% year over year. The 4-week average for gasoline product supplied decreased 0.8% year over year to 8.8 million b/d, while the 4-week average for distillate product supplied increased 0.3% to 3.6 million b/d. The 4-week average for jet fuel product supplied increased 6.2% year over year.

TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Ltd. has taken final investment decision (FID) to develop Ima gas field, which straddles the OML 112 and OML 117 offshore licenses in Nigeria, with partner Amni International Petroleum Development Co. Ltd. (Amni), targeting gas resources discovered alongside the original Ima oil accumulation. The project has an estimated development cost of US$1.108 billion and independently confirmed gross reserves of about 1.28 tcf of non-associated gas. At plateau, it is designed to produce about 350 MMscfd (more than 60,000 boe/d) for at least 8 years, Amni said Sept. 23. The shallow-water Ima gas field near Bonny Island will be developed through a single platform tied to Nigeria LNG (TotalEnergies, 15%) by a 22-km pipeline, with power supplied from shore, no flaring, and permanent methane detection and monitoring. First gas is targeted for October 2028. Once on stream, the field is expected to supply about one-third of the gas required for the Nigeria LNG Train 7 expansion, which is expected to increase liquefaction capacity to 30 million tonnes/year (tpy) from 22 million tpy, TotalEnergies said in a separate release. The FID follows a 2024 heads of terms agreement and completion of technical, commercial, and contractual work, including front-end engineering design (FEED) and execution of project agreements, AMNI said. The project will now move into engineering, procurement, and construction. The decision marks another step in TotalEnergies’ gas strategy in Nigeria. “After the Ubeta project sanctioned in 2024 and expected to start-up next year, Ima demonstrates again our ability to unlock new low-cost and low-emissions gas resources, following the incentives introduced by the Nigerian Government for non-associated gas developments,” said Nicolas Terraz, president of exploration and production at TotalEnergies. TotalEnergies operates the project with a 40% interest. Amni holds 60%. Amni’s Nigerian portfolio contains more than 60 million bbl of oil

QatarEnergy expects the 8-million tonne/year (tpy) first train of its 32-million tpy North Field East (NFE) LNG expansion project to begin operations in first-half 2027, Reuters reported, noting that the timing of additional trains would depend on ​the Strait of Hormuz crisis. Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum Special Edition in New York, QatarEnergy chief executive officer (CEO) and Qatari minister of energy affairs, Saad al-Kaabi, attributed the uncertainty to delays in delivering equipment needed for the expansion caused by the Strait of Hormuz disruption. Regarding damage to Qatar’s natural gas infrastructure sustained during the Iran war and its possible return, al-Kaabi said that repairs to the two LNG trains damaged at Ras Laffan (17% of its production capacity) would take 3 years. A damaged gas-to-liquids (GTL) train is expected to return to service first-quarter 2027. Al-Kaabi expects “a few” NFE trains to start production as 2027 progresses, and output from the 16-million tpy North Field South (NFS) expansion to begin in 2028, according to Reuters. The NFE and NFS projects are part of the overall North Field expansion program that also includes the North Field West project, which together will raise Qatar’s LNG production capacity to 142 million tpy from the current 77 million tpy. Al-Kaabi also thanked Qatar’s neighbors for being willing to allow construction of a gas pipeline across their territories to bypass Hormuz, while noting that doing so would be “redundant” and made “no economic sense” in light of the already underway North Field expansion project. “As for resuming operations,” he added, “Qatar is ready to resume normal operations within a few weeks of the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.” More generally, al-Kaabi rejected the notion that the Strait of Hormuz was obsolete, saying that it “carries trade in all products, not only oil and