The European Council and Parliament have reached a provisional agreement on a proposal by the European Commission to extend a regulation requiring that natural gas storage facilities be at least 90 percent full before the winter season. The Gas Storage Regulation was adopted June 2022 at the height of the energy crisis as a cushion against shortages. It will expire at the end of 2025. The proposal seeks to extend it to 2027. “The agreement keeps the existing binding target of 90 percent of gas storage but provides flexibility to reach it anytime between 1 October and 1 December instead of the current 1 November deadline”, a Council statement said. “Council and Parliament agreed that intermediary storage targets are indicative, to give predictability of storage levels while leaving sufficient flexibility for market participants to purchase gas throughout the year when it is more convenient”. “The agreement reached today would help member states to react swiftly to constantly changing conditions and to take advantage of the best purchasing conditions, while ensuring security of gas supply and the correct functioning of the internal market”, the Council added. Both institutions now need to endorse the provisional deal. “The prolongation of gas storage obligations for the next two years will significantly contribute to maintaining the EU’s security of energy supply and gas market stability by incentivizing preparations for the upcoming winter seasons in a coordinated manner across the Union”, the Commission said separately. “The European Commission will work closely with the Member States to ensure an optimal gas storage refilling and the achievement of the target, including by exploring the full potential of the demand aggregation and joint purchasing”, the Commission added. AggregateEU, a mechanism in which gas suppliers compete to book demand placed by companies in the EU and its Energy Community partner countries, had also been initially only meant

Glenfarne Alaska LNG LLC said that Thailand’s PTT Public Company Limited has signed a cooperation agreement for strategic participation in the Alaska LNG project. The cooperation agreement defines the process for Alaska LNG and PTT to move toward definitive agreements for partnership on Alaska LNG, including long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) offtake. The agreement includes the potential procurement of 2 million metric tons per annum (mtpa) of LNG from Alaska LNG over a 20-year term, Glenfarne said in a statement. “Glenfarne and Alaska LNG are pleased that PTT and the Thai government have realized the strategic security, cost, and stability advantages offered by the Alaska LNG project,” Glenfarne Alaska LNG President Adam Prestidge said. “With today’s and previously announced agreements, Alaska LNG has now reserved 50 percent of its available third-party LNG offtake capacity to investment grade counterparties, and the project has overwhelming interest from additional counterparties globally,” Prestidge added. “Recent events in the Middle East once again underscore the significant need for Alaska LNG that comes from a secure, stable, and abundant source without traversing through potentially contested waters,” Glenfarne CEO Brendan Duval said. “This agreement with PTT further symbolizes Alaska LNG’s tremendous momentum, well on its way to becoming a reality that will solve Alaska’s natural gas shortage while providing jobs, business opportunities, and increased economic development for Alaska residents, businesses, and military facilities,” Duval added. The Alaska LNG project consists of an 807-mile, 42-inch pipeline capable of transporting enough natural gas to meet both Alaska’s domestic needs and supply the full 20-mtpa Alaska LNG export facility, the Glenfarne Group LLC subsidiary said. The pipeline will be built in two independent, financially viable phases. Phase one will deliver natural gas approximately 765 miles from the North Slope to the Anchorage region. Phase two adds compression equipment and approximately

In its latest gasoline fuel update, which was released this week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed an increasing price trend for U.S. regular gasoline. The update highlighted that the U.S. regular gasoline price averaged $3.108 per gallon on June 9, $3.139 per gallon on June 16, and $3.213 per gallon on June 23. The June 23 price was $0.225 less than the year ago price, the update outlined. Of the five Petroleum Administration for Defense District (PADD) regions highlighted in the EIA’s latest fuel update, the West Coast was shown to have the highest regular gasoline price as of June 23, at $4.162 per gallon. The Gulf Coast was shown in the update to have the lowest regular gasoline price as of June 23, at $2.844 per gallon. A glossary section of the EIA site notes that the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia are divided into five districts, with PADD 1 further split into three subdistricts. PADDs 6 and 7 encompass U.S. territories, the site adds. Current Price According to the AAA Fuel Prices website, the average price of regular gasoline in the U.S. is $3.207 per gallon, as of June 27. Yesterday’s average was $3.220 per gallon, the week ago average was $3.217 per gallon, the month ago average was $3.174 per gallon, and the year ago average was $3.503 per gallon, the site showed. The highest recorded average price for regular gasoline was seen on June 14, 2022, at $5.016 per gallon, the AAA Fuel Prices site outlined. GasBuddy’s live ticking average for regular gasoline in the U.S. was $3.199 per gallon as of 7.25am EST on June 27. The figure was 0.9 cents lower than yesterday’s average, 1.7 cents lower than last week’s average, 5.2 cents higher than last month’s average, and 31.0

Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam) and its joint venture partners have signed a product sharing contract (PSC) for Block 15-1 on the southern continental shelf of Vietnam. When completed, the project will supply 125 billion standard cubic feet (Bcf) per day of natural gas to the domestic market, Petrovietnam said in a news release. Under the PSC, Petrovietnam subsidiary Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Corporation (PVEP) holds 59 percent in the asset, Perenco holds 19.8 percent, Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) holds 11.4 percent, SK Group holds 7.2 percent, and Geopetrol holds 2.6 percent. The project will be operated by the joint venture Cuu Long Joint Operating Company (Cuu Long JOC), which is the second largest oil exporter in the country. The contract signing officially kicks off phase 2B of the $1.3 billion White Lion Project, Petrovietnam said, citing a Perenco representative. Block 15-1, an oil and gas block with one of the country’s largest reserves and one of the earliest to be developed, is located in the Cuu Long basin in the southern mainland of Vietnam and includes the Black Lion, Golden Lion, Brown Lion and White Lion oil and gas fields, according to the release. The asset is one of the few blocks in Viernam that contains large-scale commercial oil and gas fields. The Black Lion, Golden Lion, and Brown Lion fields operate in parallel with the White Lion gas field, “creating an integrated exploitation ecosystem, optimizing both technical infrastructure and operational efficiency,” Petrovietnam said. The entire cluster forms an integrated system in Vietnam covering production, processing, and transportation, with a central processing platform, floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) platforms, wellhead platforms, and a pipeline system, the company said. Block 15-1 provides stable crude oil to the domestic market through the Dung Quat Oil Refinery,

Israeli authorities have allowed the Chevron Corp.-operated Leviathan natural gas and condensate field to restart production, after ordering a pause about two weeks ago amid Israel’s exchange of attacks with Iran. The Leviathan consortium had invoked a force majeure after the Energy and Infrastructures Ministry, acting on a “security recommendation”, asked that production at the field be temporarily halted, according to NewMed Energy LP, one of the consortium partners. NewMed Energy has now said that order had been lifted. It said it intends to seek state compensation for losses. “According to the Partnership’s [NewMed Energy] initial estimate, based, inter alia, on the forecasted production from the Leviathan reservoir and from the Karish lease, the halting of production for the said period resulted in a loss of income from the sale of natural gas and condensate (gross, before royalties) and income from overriding royalties from the Karish lease in the sum total of approx. $38.8 million”, NewMed Energy, a gas and condensate exploration and production company owned by Israel’s Delek Group, told the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. “The Partnership intends to explore the possibility of receiving compensation from the State in connection with the halting of the gas production, although at this stage there is no certainty as to receipt of such compensation and the amount thereof”, it added. The Israel-Hamas war has also delayed the construction of a third pipeline for the field. A regulatory disclosure by NewMed Energy October 6, 2024, said the suspension of the project could last about six months. The new conduit is expected to grow the maximum delivery to Israel Natural Gas Lines Ltd. from about 1.2 billion cubic feet a day (Bcfd) to around 1.4 Bcfd from mid-2025, according to a NewMed Energy filing July 2, 2023, that announced an investment of approximately $568

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), decreased by 5.8 million barrels from the week ending June 13 to the week ending June 20, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlighted in its latest weekly petroleum status report. This report, which was released on June 25 and included data for the week ending June 20, showed that crude oil stocks, not including the SPR, stood at 415.1 million barrels on June 20, 420.9 million barrels on June 13, and 460.7 million barrels on June 21, 2024. Crude oil in the SPR stood at 402.5 million barrels on June 20, 402.3 million barrels on June 13, and 372.2 million barrels on June 21, 2024, 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 1.633 billion barrels on June 20, the report highlighted. Total petroleum stocks were down 3.9 million barrels week on week and down 35.0 million barrels year on year, the report showed. “At 415.1 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 11 percent below the five year average for this time of year,” the EIA noted in its latest weekly petroleum status report. “Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 2.1 million barrels from last week and are about three percent below the five year average for this time of year. Both Finished gasoline inventories and blending components inventories decreased last week,” it added. “Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 4.1 million barrels last week and are about 20 percent below the five year average for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories increased by 5.1 million barrels from last week and are nine percent above the five year average for this