The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s acting leader used a hearing on Wednesday to defend the Trump administration’s mass layoffs at CISA and reassure lawmakers that the agency was still prepared to defend government and critical infrastructure networks from hackers. “A disciplined mission requires the right workforce — not a larger one, but a more capable and skilled one,” Madhu Gottumukkala said during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing that featured him and two other Department of Homeland Security officials. In the coming year, Gottumukkala added, “CISA will continue targeted hiring in mission critical roles while remaining aligned with [DHS’s] broader efforts to control costs and maximize return.” For now, though, he said, “we have the staff that we need.” CISA turmoil over layoffs, transfers CISA has lost more than one-third of its workforce since President Donald Trump took office almost exactly one year ago. The Trump administration has forced out key experts, eliminated a major collaboration framework, withdrawn funding from a state and local cybersecurity group and shuttered offices that managed important partnerships with states, businesses and foreign allies. At least 998 CISA employees have quit or been laid off or transferred since the start of the Trump administration, with 65 receiving forced reassignments to other agencies, according to an internal agency report that House Homeland Security Committee ranking member Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., entered into the record at the end of the hearing. Thompson’s office later provided the report to Cybersecurity Dive. Lawmakers of both parties expressed concern about the turmoil at CISA, with committee chairman Andrew Gabarino, R-N.Y., saying that “workforce continuity, clear leadership, and mission readiness are essential to effective cyber defenses.” Democrats were more critical. Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., said the cuts at CISA “have weakened our defenses and left our critical systems and infrastructure more exposed

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected, in its latest short term energy outlook (STEO), that the U.S. regular gasoline retail price will average under $3 per gallon both this year and next year. According to the STEO, which was released on January 13, the EIA sees the U.S. regular gasoline retail price averaging $2.92 per gallon in 2026 and $2.95 per gallon in 2027. In 2025, the U.S. regular gasoline retail price averaged $3.10 per gallon, the STEO showed. A quarterly breakdown included in the EIA’s latest STEO projected that the U.S. regular gasoline retail price will come in at $2.85 per gallon in the first quarter of 2026, $3.02 per gallon in the second quarter, $3.03 per gallon in the third quarter, $2.78 per gallon across the fourth quarter of this year and the first quarter of next year, $3.05 per gallon in the second quarter of 2027, $3.07 per gallon in the third quarter, and $2.89 per gallon in the fourth quarter of 2027. “U.S. retail gasoline prices in our forecast are mostly lower in 2026 and 2027 than they were in 2025,” the EIA said in its January STEO. “We forecast U.S. gasoline prices in 2026 will average $2.92 per gallon, a decrease of 18 cents per gallon, or about six percent, compared with 2025. In 2027, we forecast retail gasoline prices will average $2.95 per gallon. Even with the slight increase in 2027, prices remain below 2025 levels in most regions,” it added. “On both a nominal and percentage basis, we estimate the price decrease in 2026 will be similar in scale to the decreases in 2024 and 2025, in which prices declined by about six percent annually,” the EIA went on to state. “After reaching record highs in 2022, gasoline price decreases reflect both

Glenfarne Group LLC has signed a 20-year deal to supply one million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to RWE Supply & Trading GmbH from the Texas LNG project. The latest offtake completes the marketing process for the project on the Port of Brownsville, according to a joint statement online by the New York City-based developer and Essen-based power developer and energy trader RWE. RWE’s purchase “corresponds to approximately 13 cargos of LNG and 1.4 billion cubic meters [49.44 billion cubic feet] per year of natural gas respectively”, the statement said. “Deliveries can be shipped by RWE to locations in Europe and worldwide”. “Texas LNG features the use of electric drive motors for LNG production, making this project one of the lowest-emitting LNG terminals in the world”, the statement claimed. “The RWE agreement provides a framework to monitor, report and verify greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from the well head to LNG loading to document how LNG cargoes produced from the Texas LNG terminal support the reduction of GHG emissions across the LNG value chain”. “With the completion of offtake negotiations, Glenfarne is now focusing on finalizing the financing process as we advance toward a final investment decision in early 2026”, said Vlad Bluzer, partner at Glenfarne and co-president of Texas LNG. Last year Macquarie Energy LLC, part of Sydney-based trading and financial services firm Macquarie Group Ltd, signed up for 0.5 MMtpa of LNG for 20 years from Texas LNG, as announced with Glenfarne December 3, 2025. Earlier in 2025 Glenfarne secured a 20-year contract to supply 0.5 MMtpa of LNG from Texas LNG to Gunvor Group Ltd. Supply under the agreement would be delivered to the commodities trader’s Singapore subsidiary on a free-on-board basis, said a joint statement September 10, 2025. On July 23, 2024 Glenfarne announced

Henry Hub has surged sharply over the past week, driven by a classic winter squeeze rather than a change in long-term fundamentals. That’s what Ole R. Hvalbye, a commodities analyst at Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (SEB), said in a SEB report sent to Rigzone on Thursday, which highlighted the “massive rally in U.S. natural gas”. “Forecasts now point to well below-normal temperatures across large parts of the Lower-48 from around 23 January into early February, particularly in the eastern half of the United States,” Hvalbye stated in the report. “We see temperatures at 5-10 degrees below the 30-year normal! This is naturally lifting heating demand expectations at a sensitive time of year,” he added. “As a result, Henry Hub has seen a launch from … [around] $3 per MMBtu [million British thermal units] on the 16th of January to the current $5.3 per MMBtu, an increase of … [around] 80 percent in only five trading days. Abnormal? Yes, indeed,” he continued. In the report, Hvalbye noted that U.S. supply has tightened at the margin. “Lower-48 dry gas production has dipped toward ~110.5 Bcfpd [billion cubic feet per day], down from above 112 Bcfpd earlier in the week, partly reflecting cold-weather disruptions,” he said. “LNG feedgas demand remains elevated at just over 18 Bcfpd, even though flows at Sabine Pass eased slightly, partly offset by higher intake at Elba Island,” he added. Hvalbye also outlined in the report that positioning has amplified the move higher in Henry Hub. “Futures trading volumes hit record highs, and hedge funds have been forced to cover short positions built during the recent sell-off,” he said. In a media advisory sent to Rigzone late Tuesday by the AccuWeather team, AccuWeather warned that “a major winter storm is expected to bring dangerous ice and snow impacts to more than 150

Seplat Energy PLC and Nigerian Gas Infrastructure Co’s (NGIC) ANOH Gas Project, designed to produce up to 300 million standard cubic feet a day (MMscfd), has begun supplying the Indorama Petrochemical Plant. The Niger Delta project’s four wells had been on standby since November. Flows to Indorama have now begun following the completion of an 11-kilometer (6.84 miles) pipeline and clearance by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the Lagos-based company said in a statement on its website. “Since first gas, wet gas production has been stabilizing, delivering 40-52 MMscfd of processed gas directly from the ANOH gas plant to the Indorama Petrochemical Plant”, Seplat said. “Condensate production has reached 2.0-2.5 kboepd and is expected to increase with gas production as the plant ramps up to design capacity. “In addition, preparations are underway to initiate sales of processed gas to the Nigeria LNG with an offtake agreement structured on an interruptible basis and will support the gas plant to further scale production towards full design capacity of 300 MMscfd. “Meanwhile, the construction of the OB3 pipeline export route by NGIC, originally designated as the primary channel for ANOH gas supply to the domestic market, has resumed and a revised completion date will be communicated in due course”. ANOH was developed by ANOH Gas Processing Co (AGPC), a joint venture equally owned by Seplat and NGIC. The integrated plant consists of two 150-MMscfd gas processing units, liquefied petroleum gas recovery units, condensate stabilization units, a 16-megawatt power plant and other supporting facilities, according to Seplat. It has been designed to operate with zero routine flares, the company said. “Across the unitized field of OML [Oil Mining Lease] 53 and OML 21, the ANOH gas plant unlocks an estimated 4.6 Tcf [trillion cubic feet] condensate-rich gas resource base”, Seplat said. “Seplat’s working interest 2P [proven and probable]

The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) has signed an agreement to acquire a 10 percent stake in the producing Baleine field offshore Côte d’Ivoire from operator Eni SpA, the companies said Thursday. “This transaction represents SOCAR’s entry to Africa’s vast oil and gas resources and aligns strategically with SOCAR’s global expansion vision”, SOCAR said in a statement on its website. Currently Italy’s state-controlled energy major Eni owns 47.2 percent stake in Baleine, to be reduced to 37.2 percent after the completion of the sale to SOCAR. Global energy trader Vitol Group owns 30 percent, acquired from Eni last year. Société Nationale d’Opérations Pétrolières de la Côte d’Ivoire has 22.75 percent. “The transaction aligns with Eni’s strategy of optimizing its upstream portfolio by accelerating the monetization of exploration discoveries through the divestment of equity stakes, a model known as the dual exploration model”, Eni said separately. SOCAR noted, “Baleine is considered one of the largest oil and gas discoveries made in West Africa in recent years”. Baleine, developed in two phases, produces over 62,000 barrels a day of oil and more than 75 million cubic feet per day of natural gas, Eni said. It plans to raise the field’s daily capacity to 150,000 barrels of oil and 200 million cubic feet of gas under phase 3. Baleine in 2021 became the Ivory Coast’s first commercial hydrocarbon discovery since 2001 and is now the country’s “main offshore development”, according to Eni. The agreement with SOCAR, executed on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions, the companies said. They did not disclose the price of the transaction. The agreement is part of a broader collaboration between the two that involves pursuing hydrocarbon exploration and production to secure fuel for Europe,