Why is the U.S. natural gas price dropping today? That was the question Rigzone asked Art Hogan, Chief Market Strategist at B. Riley Wealth, in an exclusive interview on Tuesday. In response, Hogan told Rigzone that, “technically, natural gas found some resistance up at the $3.57 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) level and is now testing support at $3.27 per MMBtu”. Hogan added that, fundamentally, three things seem to be in play. “Steady production, comfortable storage levels, and normalized weather predictions through November,” he told Rigzone.  “Output has stayed near a three-week high of around 108 billion cubic feet per day (bcfpd) over the past few days, while record production earlier this year allowed energy firms to build inventories well above seasonal levels,” he added. “Weather forecasts show mostly normal temperature forecasts across the U.S. through mid-November,” Hogan went on to state. When he was asked why the U.S. natural gas price is dropping today in a separate exclusive interview on Tuesday, Phil Flynn, a senior market analyst at the PRICE Futures Group, told Rigzone that “natural gas is struggling as cold weather forecasts are easing and [because of] record Canadian natural gas supplies”. “We also have a bit of commodity risk-off as metals and oil plunge,” he added. “Still, record-breaking LNG exports should keep us from falling too hard,” Flynn went on to state. In an EBW Analytics Group report sent to Rigzone by the EBW team on Tuesday, Eli Rubin, an energy analyst at the company, warned that the November natural gas contract is “volatile” entering options expiration. “While the November natural gas contract surged 13.8 cents in a volatile session yesterday, December added 0.2 cents and January slipped 0.2 cents as the front-month disconnected from the rest of the curve,” Rubin said in the report. “Although

$73 billion Capital investment plan, unchanged from Q2. PG&E Corp., which owns Pacific Gas & Electric Co., has adopted a “no big bets” philosophy to avoid issuing equity while the company stock price is low.  9.6 GW Datacenter pipeline, down 400 MW from June. But the number of projects entering final engineering has increased slightly. $1.1 billion Core earnings, up 44% from Q3 2024, partly driven by reduced operations and maintenance expenses. 9% Annual core EPS growth guidance for 2027-2030. Steady course Figures on early-stage data center projects remain “very fluid” and the company has seen “modest attrition” since June, PG&E Corp. CEO Patti Poppe said during a third-quarter earnings call Thursday. But of the 9.6 GW in the company’s data center queue, 18 projects totaling 1.6 GW have entered final engineering — up from 1.5 GW at the end of the second quarter, according to PG&E. The company expects 95% of projects that reach final engineering to enter service by 2030; several may begin service as early as 2026. PG&E holds that it can cut customer bills by 1% to 2% per gigawatt of new load by using revenue from new large load customers to offset its five-year, $73 billion capital investment plan. But CFO Carolyn Burke said it was unlikely that PG&E would expand its capital plan to try to attract additional large load customers given the company’s low stock valuation. Instead, she said, the company would stick to a “no big bets plan” and focus on upgrading existing assets and investing in safety and reliability while working to improve PG&E’s credit rating. Burke said the company’s financial metrics meet the credit rating agencies’ criteria for investment-grade ratings, but that the agencies are watching regulatory developments in California for signs that it is time to upgrade the utility. Wildfire

North America added three rigs week on week, according to Baker Hughes’ latest North America rotary rig count, which was published on October 24. The total U.S. rig count increased by two week on week and the total Canada rig count rose by one during the same period, taking the total North America rig count up to 749, comprising 550 rigs from the U.S. and 199 rigs from Canada, the count outlined. Of the total U.S. rig count of 550, 527 rigs are categorized as land rigs, 21 are categorized as offshore rigs, and two are categorized as inland water rigs. The total U.S. rig count is made up of 420 oil rigs, 121 gas rigs, and nine miscellaneous rigs, according to Baker Hughes’ count, which revealed that the U.S. total comprises 485 horizontal rigs, 53 directional rigs, and 12 vertical rigs. Week on week, the U.S. offshore rig count rose by four, and its land and inland water rig counts each dropped by one, Baker Hughes highlighted. The U.S. oil rig count rose by two week on week, and its gas and miscellaneous rig counts remained unchanged during the period, the count showed. The U.S. directional rig count rose by two week on week, while its vertical rig count increased by one and its horizontal rig count dropped by one, the count revealed. A major state variances subcategory included in the rig count showed that, week on week, Louisiana added three rigs, Wyoming added two rigs, and Colorado and Texas each dropped one rig. A major state variances subcategory included in the rig count showed that, week on week, the Eagle Ford and Permian basins each dropped one rig. Canada’s total rig count of 199 is made up of 138 oil rigs and 61 gas rigs, Baker Hughes pointed

(Update) October 28, 2025, 10:00 AM GMT+1: Article updated with details throughout. Lukoil PJSC, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, announced plans to sell international assets after being hit by US sanctions last week.  The company is has started considering bids from potential buyers, according to a statement posted on its website late on Monday. The divestment process is being conducted under a wind-down license from the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which Lukoil said it could ask to be extended “to ensure uninterrupted operations of its international assets.” Last week, President Donald Trump’s administration slapped sanctions on Russia’s two biggest oil producers – Lukoil and state-controlled Rosneft PJSC – to pressure the Kremlin to end the war in Ukraine. The oil and gas industry is a key source of tax revenues for the nation’s budget, and two producers account for just under a half of the country’s crude exports. The goal of the White House is to make Russia’s oil trade harder, costlier and riskier, rather than stopping the flows altogether in a way that could spike global crude prices. The UK also blacklisted the two companies earlier this month. Lukoil is the most internationally diverse of Russia’s oil giants, with upstream businesses in former Soviet countries such as Kazakstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, as well as in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and West African nations of Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Congo.  In all these projects, the Russian producer holds minority stakes, and their share in Lukoil’s total crude production last year was only 5 percent, according to the company’s annual report. International assets jointly account for around a quarter of Lukoil’s current capitalization, according to estimates from Kirill Bakhtin, senior analyst at Moscow-based BCS. One notable exception is Iraq, where Lukoil holds 75 percent of the giant West Qurna 2 oil

QatarEnergy said Monday it had completed the purchase of a 40 percent stake in the North Rafah exploration block offshore Egypt from Eni SpA. The Italian state-backed energy major retains 60 percent as operator, state-owned QatarEnergy said in a press release. North Rafah spans nearly 3,000 square kilometers (1,158.31 square miles) in the Mediterranean Sea off the northeastern coast of Egypt, QatarEnergy noted. The block has a water depth of up to 450 meters (1,476.38 feet), it said. The acquisition “strengthens our presence in Egypt and marks another important step in advancing our ambitious international exploration strategy”, said QatarEnergy president and chief executive Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, who is also Qatar’s energy minister. Earlier this month QatarEnergy said it has entered into an agreement to buy a 27 percent ownership in the North Cleopatra exploration block on Egypt’s side of the Mediterranean Sea from operator Shell PLC. Shell will retain 36 percent. The other partners are Chevron Corp with a 27 percent interest and Egypt’s state-owned Tharwa Petroleum Co with 10 percent, according to a QatarEnergy statement October 5. North Cleopatra spans 3,400 square kilometers with waters up to 2,600 meters (8,530.18 feet) deep, QatarEnergy noted. The license area is in the frontier Herodotus basin and adjacent to the northern portion of the North El-Dabaa block, where QatarEnergy holds 23 percent, QatarEnergy said. QatarEnergy obtained its North El-Dabaa stake from United States oil and gas heavyweight Chevron, in an agreement announced November 11, 2024. North El-Dabaa lies about 10 kilometers off Egypt’s Mediterranean shore. The block has a water depth of 100-3,000 meters, according to QatarEnergy. On May 12, 2024, QatarEnergy announced a deal to acquire 40 percent each in the Cairo and Masry exploration blocks offshore Egypt from sole owner Exxon Mobil Corp. The blocks cover around 11,400 square kilometers

Baker Hughes Co has signed an agreement with Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco) expanding its integrated underbalanced coiled tubing drilling (UBCTD) operations across Saudi Arabia’s natural gas fields. “Under the multi-year agreement, Baker Hughes will expand its current UBCTD fleet from four to 10 units for re-entry and greenfield drilling projects across fields in the kingdom”, the Houston, Texas-based company said in a press release. “The company will provide integrated solutions to manage all aspects of the UBCTD operations, including coiled tubing drilling units, underbalanced drilling services, operational management, well construction and geosciences to scale and accelerate their access to gas from new and established fields”. Work under the expanded contract is scheduled to start next year. “Baker Hughes’ integrated approach to UBCTD includes the industry-leading CoilTrak™ bottomhole assembly system and enhanced reservoir analysis driven by GaffneyCline™ energy advisory”, Baker Hughes said. “This unique pairing of technology and insight allows operators to more effectively navigate the subsurface environment during horizontal drilling and re-entry operations. “By combining these solutions with holistic project management services, Baker Hughes will enhance production efficiency, speed and safety while mitigating reservoir damage when compared to traditional development methods”. Amerino Gatti, Baker Hughes executive vice president for oilfield services and equipment, said, “This project is the result of nearly two decades of successful collaboration between Baker Hughes and Aramco, which have set the standard for UBCTD. By combining advanced technologies with a holistic, integrated approach, we can support Aramco to more efficiently access bypassed and hard-to-reach hydrocarbons and produce the resources that help the kingdom thrive”. “This expansion sets the stage for further innovation in UBCTD, which has the potential to shape how oil and gas are produced around the world”, Gatti added. Baker Hughes entered the Saudi UBCTD market in 2008, according to the company. In a separate contract, Baker Hughes said Monday it has been tapped