NextDecade Corp on Thursday announced a final investment decision (FID) and financial close for the $6.7-billion fifth train of Rio Grande LNG in Brownsville, Texas, as well as a full notice to proceed to contractor Bechtel Energy Inc. “Train 5 has expected LNG production capacity of approximately six million tonnes per annum (MTPA), bringing the total expected LNG production capacity under construction at Rio Grande LNG to approximately 30 MTPA”, the Houston, Texas-based developer said in a statement on its website. Train 5 has 20-year purchase commitments totaling 4.5 MTPA from EQT Corp, ConocoPhillips and JERA Co Inc. “The guaranteed substantial completion date for train 5, as well as the date of first commercial delivery under the train 5 LNG SPAs [sale and purchase agreements], is anticipated in the first half of 2031”, NextDecade said. NextDecade has secured financing to cover the full expected cost of train 5 and supporting infrastructure. The commitments comprise a $3.59-billion term loan facility signed by Rio Grande LNG Train 5 LLC; $1.29 billion in equity commitments from NextDecade; $1.29 billion in equity commitments from Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), GIC and Mubadala Investment Co; and a $500-million private notes placement by Rio Grande LNG Train 5 LLC. “NextDecade used $233 million of cash on hand and entered into a total of $1.33 billion in term loans to finance its portion of train 5 equity funding commitments without a material impact to NextDecade common shares outstanding”, the statement said. “The FinCo Loan is a $729-million delayed draw bank facility that bears interest at SOFR plus 350 basis points”, NextDecade said. “The SuperFinCo Loan is a $600-million term loan, with net proceeds disbursed at financial close”, it added. “NextDecade has an initial economic interest of 50 percent in train 5, which will increase to 70 percent after the financial investors [GIP, GIC and Mubadala] achieve certain returns on their

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), increased by 3.5 million barrels from the week ending October 3 to the week ending October 10, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlighted in its latest weekly petroleum status report. That report was released on October 16 and included data for the week ending October 10. It showed that crude oil stocks, not including the SPR, stood at 423.8 million barrels on October 10, 420.3 million barrels on October 3, and 420.6 million barrels on October 11, 2024. Crude oil in the SPR stood at 407.7 million barrels on October 10, 407.0 million barrels on October 3, and 383.9 million barrels on October 11, 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 1.696 billion barrels on October 10, the report highlighted. Total petroleum stocks were up 2.4 million barrels week on week and up 60.7 million barrels year on year, the report showed. “At 423.8 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about four percent below the five year average for this time of year,” the EIA said in its weekly petroleum status report. “Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 0.3 million barrels from last week and are slightly below the five year average for this time of year. Both finished gasoline and blending components inventories decreased last week,” it added. “Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 4.5 million barrels last week and are about seven percent below the five year average for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories increased by 1.9 million barrels from last week and are 11 percent above the five year average for this time of year,” it

A BofA Global Research report sent to Rigzone by the BofA team recently noted that BofA sees “a[n] [oil price] floor likely forming at $55 per barrel”. That report also revealed that the company is maintaining its Brent forecast of $61 per barrel in the fourth quarter of 2025 and $64 per barrel in the first half of 2026. The report went on to warn, however, that “if U.S.-China trade tensions escalate in the midst of the OPEC+ production ramp up, Brent could drop below $50 per barrel”. In the report, BofA said market participants have been “sick worried about a crude oil glut for almost a year now” and pointed out that front month Brent and WTI crude oil prices have come down by about 50 percent from their respective peaks of $128 per barrel and $124 per barrel in 2022. “Of course, weaker oil prices this year have a lot to do with OPEC+ agreeing to increase quotas within the Group of 8 by about four million barrels per day over 18 months starting in April 2025,” the report noted. “Oil markets have already been on a surplus for some time, although inventories across the OECD remain low because most excess barrels have gone into Chinese strategic storage,” it added. “Rapid strategic oil stockpiling in China and a looming surplus in 1H26 have resulted in an odd term structure in Brent: tight in the front, loose in the back,” it continued. “Yet, oil prices have come down quickly in recent days as China reimposed some limits on rare earth elements (REE), the U.S. threatened China with fresh tariffs, and Iran threw down the gauntlet by turning on transponders to show the world where its oil is going,” the report went on to state. BofA noted in its report

A shipment of Russian liquefied natural gas arrived at a Chinese terminal for the first time since the UK sanctioned the port facility, underscoring Beijing’s appetite for Moscow’s energy supplies despite Western efforts to curb such trade. The Arctic Mulan vessel, carrying fuel from the already blacklisted Arctic LNG 2 plant in Russia, landed at the Beihai LNG station on Friday, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The UK sanctioned the terminal because it has been receiving the restricted Russian cargoes since late August. The move comes as Washington is in the midst of an escalating trade war with Beijing, while President Donald Trump is trying to broker a peace deal with Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. Trump and other Western nations have been looking to tighten Russia’s oil and gas exports in a bid to reduce its revenues. While the sanctions include a wind-down period that runs until Nov. 13, at least one shipment that appears to be en route to southern China from the Arctic region could arrive after that date – a sign Beijing likely won’t slow its trade with Russia. Two additional cargoes in East Asia are also heading to southern China, ship data show. Russia and China had anticipated possible Western retaliation against Beihai. The Asian nation designated the terminal as the sole entry point for cargoes from Arctic LNG 2 – a Russian project already sanctioned by the US and UK. Other Chinese importers have since stopped using the terminal. Arctic Mulan loaded an LNG shipment from a floating storage unit in eastern Russia in early October, according to ship-tracking data. The fuel in storage was sourced from the Arctic LNG 2 project. The storage facility and Arctic Mulan have been previously sanctioned by western nations. What do you think? We’d love to hear

Equinor ASA and its partners have launched production in Bacalhau in Brazil’s offshore Santos basin, which the Norwegian majority state-owned energy major said is the biggest field it has developed overseas. Discovered 2012 in Santos’ pre-salt region by primarily state-owned Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the ultra-deepwater Bacalhau holds recoverable reserves exceeding one billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe), according to Equinor, which took over as operator 2016. “Phase 1 development consists of 19 wells, producers and injectors, which will be brought online in sequence as we ramp up and sustain production”, Equinor said in a press release Thursday. “Equinor will be positioned to provide an update in 2026 during the ramp-up phase”. Bacalhau has one of the biggest floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels deployed in Brazil, designed to produce up to 220,000 barrels of crude a day and store at least two million barrels, according to contractor MODEC Inc. Philippe Mathieu, Equinor executive vice president for international exploration and production, said, “Brazil is a core area for us and Bacalhau will be a major contributor to Equinor’s goal of generating more than $5 billion of free cashflow by 2030 from our international portfolio”. “Bacalhau will also deliver positive ripple effects and long-term benefits to Brazil’s economy, creating approximately 50,000 jobs over its 30-year lifetime”, Mathieu added. Equinor president and chief executive Anders Opedal said, “Bacalhau represents a new generation of projects that bring together scale, cost-efficiency and lower carbon intensity”. “With this development, we are strengthening the longevity of our oil and gas production and securing value creation for decades to come”, Opedal added. The FPSO uses combined-cycle gas turbines to curb emissions. “With an expected CO2 intensity of around nine kilograms per boe, and advanced abatement across flaring, processing, power generation and storage, the field sets a new

Santos Ltd on Thursday reported a four percent quarter-on-quarter decrease in output to 21.3 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) as a decline in Western Australia offset increases across the rest of Santos’ portfolio. Sales volumes fell 10 percent sequentially to 21.5 MMboe in the third quarter “mainly due to maintenance activities in Western Australia, lower crude oil volumes due to timing of liftings and lower third-party gas purchases”, Adelaide-based Santos said in a statement on its website. Santos narrowed its 2025 production forecast from 90-95 MMboe to 89-91 MMboe and sales guidance from 92-99 MMboe to 93-95 MMboe. The projection downgrade “is primarily due to the slower-than-anticipated start-up of the BW Opal FPSO, and the impact of floods on Cooper Basin production with recovery efforts extending into the fourth quarter, where 155 wells are still offline due to flood water levels receding slower than expected”, it said. “On 12 October 2025 first gas into the export pipeline was achieved and first production at Darwin LNG is expected in the coming weeks. The delay was driven by the later-than-planned departure of the BW Opal from the Singapore shipyard and the resolution of software issues affecting the safety systems identified during commissioning”. Santos said September 22 Darwin LNG’s new source field, Barossa, had started producing natural gas through floating production, storage and offloading vessel BW Opal and that the liquefaction facility had received reauthorization from Australia’s Northern Territory. The Darwin LNG life extension project can produce up to about 3.7 million metric tons a year of liquefied natural gas (LNG), according to Santos. Darwin LNG’s previous source field, Timor-Leste’s Bayu-Undan, stopped exporting gas to the liquefaction facility late 2023 due to depletion, though Santos said 2024 Bayu-Undan would continue sending gas to the Northern Territory until the end of that year.