The OPEC and its allies have agreed to gradually increase oil production in the coming months, moving cautiously in pace with the recovery of the global economy from the COVID-19 pandemic, reports stated on Thursday. The oil cartel and its allied nations agreed to add back some 2 million barrels …

Qatar Petroleum said on March 30 it would take full ownership of its Qatargas 1 LNG plant when its 25-year contract with international investors including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Total SE expires next year. The decision not to extend the contracts for the country’s first-ever LNG processing plan came as …

French energy major Total has signed an agreement with Iraq’s Ministry of Oil to develop a host of energy projects in the country, including 1GW of solar PV. The agreement, which builds on discussions between Total and the Iraqi government that began in October last year, has seen the two …

China’s build-up of oil refining capacity is threatening the viability of other Asian refiners as the country is about to become the world’s largest refiner this year amid still depressed demand for fuels. Bloomberg reports that the refining capacity of the country has increased threefold over the last 20 years …

A second Russian pipelaying vessel is now headed for Danish waters to join the operation to lay the almost-complete Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, the pipeline development company said March 31. The Adakemik Cherskiy — which has dynamic positioning capabilities allowing for accelerated pipelaying — will …

Saudi Aramco rose the most in 10 months in Riyadh trading after the government allowed it to cut dividends and redirect the cash into new investments to fulfill the crown prince’s economic plans. It would relieve some of the pressure on the world’s biggest oil company, which had to cut …

Fires raging Pertamina’s Balongan Oil Refinery have been successfully extinguished at 14:35 local time today, March 31. Agus Suprijanto, the state-owned oil firm’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Relations, confirmed in a written statement. Agus said that it was due to the offensive firefighting method applied intensively by …

Kuwait’s Oil Minister Oil Mohammad Abdulatif Al-Fares expressed “cautious optimism” on Wednesday that the global oil demand will improve as COVID-19 vaccination programs gather pace and industrial output recovers. Speaking ahead of a joint meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major oil producers, he said the …

Schlumberger and Microsoft announced an expanded strategic partnership on March 29 to accelerate new technologies for the energy industry. The first offering, the Schlumberger Enterprise Data Management Solution for the OSDU Data Platform—a new industry standard for energy data—is available today. Energy companies will now benefit from an OSDU-compliant solution, …

Ahmed al-Ebadi, a spokesman for Iraqi Ministry of Energy, said on Tuesday that his country is looking forward to receiving more gas from Iran. Al-Ebadi told Iraq’s NAS News that Iraq’s debt to Iran is ready to be delivered to Iran. Iran claims that Iraq’s debt to the country for …