The conflict in the Middle East, combined with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, severed Europe’s historical energy lifelines. Now, the continent “has practically no major alternative besides the US” for fuel imports, according to Adam Sikorski, co-owner and chief executive officer of Unimot. 

As in the rest of the world, European fuel prices have climbed this year, forcing several nations, though not Poland, to tap into their reserves to meet demand.

For Sikorski, whose firm also makes money on electricity and gas sales, the structural deficit in European refining capacity makes rapid electrification an economic imperative. 

“There is an ongoing debate in Europe about slowing down the energy transition, but I believe we should accelerate it in light of global risks,” Sikorski said in an interview. “This time, the worst-case scenario didn’t materialize and we didn’t run out of fuel, but Europe is paying a high price for its dependence on external energy sources.”

The European Union saw a push among some of its members to put less emphasis on climate goals and more on rebuilding the bloc’s industrial capacity. Still, the European Commission has doubled down, proposing higher electrification targets to reduce dependence on foreign oil and gas. 

Rising Profile

Unimot has aggressively expanded its footprint in Poland’s fuel market, snapping up assets spun off during the state-orchestrated merger of Grupa Lotos SA and Orlen SA earlier this decade. The Warsaw-listed company has also diversified into natural gas, renewables and asphalt, driving a revenue surge to 14.8 billion zloty ($4 billion) last year from 4.77 billion zloty in 2020. 

Unimot shares have jumped 39% so far this year, while Warsaw’s WIG20 gauge has risen 25% in the same period. The stock added 0.2% on Monday, giving the firm a market value of 1.42 billion zloty.

In a milestone move this year, Unimot delivered crude to Germany’s PCK Raffinerie GmbH in Schwedt and booked capacity at a planned floating liquefied natural gas terminal on the Polish Baltic coast.

The Schwedt deal is highly strategic. Germany is a “very important” supplier to Poland, which relies on imports for about 40% of its fuel needs. When the German facility lost Kazakh oil deliveries in May, Berlin held talks with Warsaw to help replace the transit via the Polish port of Gdansk to sustain output.

“We are the largest, but not the only, buyer of fuel from Schwedt in Poland, which is why we have a vital interest in ensuring that this refinery is utilized to the fullest extent possible,” Sikorski said. “Today, Poland has the same amount of fuel as it did before the crisis, and this refinery is operational—which is truly important for the Polish market today.”

Poland, currently the EU’s most coal-dependent economy, is adding two new LNG terminals to ensure more diversified supplies for its growing gas-fired power plant fleet and position itself as a hub for central and eastern Europe. Unimot is one of four companies to book capacity at one of the terminals as it is gearing up to challenge Orlen’s market dominance.

“The gas market remains highly concentrated and if Poland is to become a regional gas hub, we need more competition, easier market entry for private suppliers, and open infrastructure,” Sikorski said. 

However, he noted that the company will wait for global markets to “return to normal” before signing LNG import contracts.

Still, despite his vocal support for a shift toward electrification, Sikorski is holding off on building an electric-vehicle charging network at Unimot’s Avia gas stations. While Poland’s EV market is growing, it trails far behind the rest of the continent. For the time being, the CEO sees better returns in heat and power generation.

“If electromobility becomes a profitable business in the future, we might buy a charging station operator,” Sikorski said. “For now, we don’t have such plans.”

(Updates with market reaction in 8th paragraph.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Among the potential bidders to have expressed interest are ExxonMobil Holdings Corp., LyondellBasell Industries NV, Apollo Global Management Inc. and the chemicals arm of Kuwait Petroleum Corp., according to the FT report, which cited unnamed people familiar with the matter.

The portfolio includes major facilities in Louisiana, Texas and Pennsylvania, including the Monaca petrochemicals complex capable of producing as much as 1.6 million tons of polymers annually, the FT said.

The interested parties submitted non-binding indicative offers for the assets last month, including proposed acquisitions of both the whole business and parts of it, according to the report. Cumulatively, the assets could fetch as much as $8 billion, a steep discount to what Shell has invested, the FT said.

Shell declined to comment. The potential bidders listed in the FT report did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Brent fell to around $93 a barrel, after adding around 13% over the past two weeks, while West Texas Intermediate was near $86. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is set to unveil details of the plan in a press conference, and sought to ratchet up pressure on US allies to join the effort in an interview with CNBC. 

Oil has rallied more than 50% this year, with the US-Iran war — now in its sixth month — choking global supplies of crude and refined products. It’s not clear exactly how the US could meaningfully ramp up economic pressure on Tehran, other than going after China — the main buyer of the OPEC producer’s crude — and risking blowback.

“Iran’s enablers purchase and transport its petroleum,” Bessent said in an opinion piece in the Financial Times. “They would do well to consider the consequences of sustaining it.”

The article has laid out the contours of the plan to target Iran’s economy, said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone Group Ltd.

“Calling his op-ed piece ‘D-Day is coming for Iran’ hardly suggests he is there to make friends, and we should expect a defiant message,” he said. “Any defiant plan to materially disrupt the import of Iranian crude comes with significant execution and reaction risk.”

In an indication of how higher prices may be reducing fuel demand, China’s top refiner Sinopec said gasoline consumption fell almost 8% and diesel use 12% in the first half of the year because of high prices and increased use of electric vehicles.

While visible maritime shipping through Hormuz remains curbed, the Islamic Republic permitted a number of Iraqi oil tankers to transit the critical waterway following a request from Baghdad, Iranian media reported. Washington and Tehran have both repeatedly said that they control the strait.

Still, flows in the Middle East remain disrupted. Saudi Arabia has been forced to shuttle oil loaded in the Red Sea via a safer but longer northern route after Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen targeted shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb chokepoint in the south.

Elsewhere, Russia rejected a truce Ukraine offered on attacks against ships carrying agricultural commodities through the Black Sea because Moscow wanted guarantees against strikes on its energy infrastructure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday. While some refineries have recently completed maintenance, Russia hasn’t yet decided whether to lift its diesel export ban in force through Sept. 1, Interfax reported.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Following the 2 July announcement of a trilateral memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Government of Canada, the Government of Alberta, and the Pathways Alliance on the Pathways carbon capture project, the sector has moved beyond years of open-ended policy uncertainty toward a period focused on execution, commercial structuring, and investment decisions. Definitive agreements on the Pathways project are expected this fall, placing Carbon Capture Canada directly between the July MOU and the next stage of decision-making.

“The timing of this year's convention could not be better,” said Nick Samain, Senior Vice President, dmg events. “We're meeting in September, directly between July's Pathways MOU and the definitive decisions expected this fall — and against the backdrop of a real resurgence in new projects across Canada's energy sector. That's why Carbon Capture Canada is drawing policymakers, and companies from across the country and around the world to Edmonton: to work together, commit capital, and move projects forward.”

Advancing CCUS at scale

Now in its fifth year, Canada's only national convention dedicated exclusively to CCUS will bring together leaders from across industry, government, investment, and technology to explore the opportunities shaping the sector's next chapter. More than 5,000 attendees, over 100 exhibiting companies and representatives from more than 50 countries are expected to participate in this year's event. The convention will showcase emerging technologies while fostering collaboration, investment, and knowledge sharing across the CCUS value chain.

The strategic conference will feature more than 150 speakers from across government, industry, and academia, offering insights into the policy, investment, and commercial realities shaping the future of CCUS. Featured speakers include:

• Honourable Danielle Smith, Premier, Government of Alberta
• Frank Des Rosiers, Assistant Deputy Minister, Energy Efficiency and Technology Sector, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)
• Purnomo Yusgiantoro, Special Advisor to the President for Energy, Government of Indonesia
• Kendall Dilling, President, Oil Sands Alliance
• Alex Petre, Chief Executive Officer, Deep Sky
• Chana Martineau, Chief Executive Officer, Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation

Charting the next generation of CCUS projects

The conference programme reflects the industry's rapidly evolving landscape, with sessions exploring the policy, investment and commercial realities shaping the next generation of CCUS projects, spanning carbon markets, infrastructure development, financing, technology commercialisation, direct air capture, industrial decarbonisation, and Canada's competitiveness in the global energy transition.

“The conditions for investment are lining up, but nothing is predetermined,” said Samain. “That's what makes this year's convention matter — the industry is gathering to work through the commercial, policy and partnership questions that decide what happens next.”

Beyond the conference programme, attendees can explore a trade exhibition showcasing the latest technologies, products and services from across the CCUS value chain, alongside technical conference sessions, networking opportunities, and programming connecting project developers, policymakers, investors, and technology providers. Additional events throughout the convention include the Carbon Capture Canada Awards Gala and industry networking opportunities designed to strengthen collaboration across the sector.

As governments and industry continue advancing major carbon management projects, Carbon Capture Canada provides a national forum for the conversations, partnerships and innovations helping shape the future of Canada's CCUS sector. With policy frameworks becoming more established and commercial decisions increasingly taking centre stage, the convention offers attendees an opportunity to engage directly with the leaders driving the next generation of carbon capture projects.

For more information or to register, visit Carbon Capture Canada.

Two of the three nuclear reactors that had been shut down in the past month were turned on over the weekend, raising electricity output to more than half of capacity from one-tenth at its low point. The Paks plant will be running at its full output of 2,000 megawatts by Wednesday, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said on Sunday at a briefing from the facility.

Rolling heat waves over the summer dried up waterways across Europe, severely impacting Danube river flows and hindering the cooling systems at nuclear reactors. That strained power grids, forcing Hungary to boost electricity imports and to ask both households and factories to voluntarily cut back on energy use.

The crisis triggered emergency steps, including the sinking of two barges as well as the construction of an underwater barrier at Paks to raise the level of the Danube. While they helped avert a full nuclear shutdown, they also shone a light on the urgent need for long-term solutions as a warming planet risks making such drought conditions the new normal.

Paks generates around 40% of Hungary’s electricity output.

The government needs to pivot quickly to modernize water management, Magyar said, adding it was essential to “save” agriculture and prevent the country’s rivers and lakes from drying up. He said the cabinet planned a comprehensive climate law.

“If we do nothing then we’re headed for annihilation,” Magyar said.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The top exporter is sending tankers thousands of miles all the way around Africa. Millions of barrels of the kingdom’s crude are being shuttled north across the Red Sea, avoiding a narrow strait near Yemen at the southern end of the Red Sea. China, meanwhile, is being offered Middle East shipments for collection just outside the Arabian Gulf.

Saudi Arabia’s ability to switch crude exports to its west-coast facilities has been critical in blunting an oil price surge and shielded economies from an inflation spike as Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz. Now, with Yanbu also under threat from the Iran-backed Houthis, the kingdom and its customers are having to make new arrangements.

The sprawling and costly workarounds are another illustration of the ongoing trade friction imposed by a war that’s expanded more widely, and dragged on far longer, than initially envisioned. 

Double distance

The key issue has been the threat that the Houthis pose to tankers in the Bab el-Mandeb, the narrow waterway at the southern exit of the Red Sea.

After the militants announced a blockade of Saudi ports in July, many tankers collecting barrels at the country’s Yanbu installations on the Red Sea began avoiding the waterway, choosing instead to sail north through the Suez Canal to Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir. 

For those then sailing onward to Asia, it’s meant going all the way around Africa — more than doubling voyages to roughly 17,000 miles. 

That’s still a popular option among many Asian buyers. Over the past week, several of the continent’s refiners pushed back against a Saudi Aramco request that they collect cargoes from Yanbu, citing the difficulty of finding ships willing to go there, and asked to pick them up at Sidi Kerir instead.

To facilitate that, Saudi Arabia needs to get its crude across the Red Sea and through Egypt — either via the Suez Canal or a pipeline that crosses the country. However, the waterway is too shallow to take fully laden supertankers, while the pipeline can’t handle all the Saudi oil that Asia would normally buy, compounding the logistics headache.

Over the past month, vessels controlled by South Korea’s Sinokor Group, Greece’s Dynacom Tankers Management Ltd., and Norway’s DHT Management AS have been seen shuttling cargoes from Yanbu to Ain Sukhna at the southern end of the pipe. 

Empty oil supertankers are also avoiding the Bab el-Mandeb. Six Saudi ones that diverted away from the strait at the end of last month have taken the long way around Africa, and are now skirting the continent’s western coast as they head for western entrance of the Mediterranean. 

New strategies

While many Asian refiners have been prepared to collect from Sidi Kerir, Saudi Arabia has started offering to sell to its Chinese customers from the Gulf of Oman, just outside Hormuz. 

Satellite images and ship tracking show a large cluster of Saudi oil tankers waiting in the Gulf of Oman and, simultaneously, a pickup in activity at the kingdom’s side of the Gulf. The country’s state tanker company has a longstanding reputation in the shipping market for being a careful, risk-averse operator.

That points to the possibility the country might arrange for oil to be shuttled from the Gulf and through the strait near Oman or the United Arab Emirates. 

Such a tactic has already emerged as a lifeline for the UAE and some other gulf producers. It has been synonymous with one player in particular: Sinokor, and the intensely private Korean shipping tycoon at its heart, Ga-Hyun Chung. 

The firm is once again involved as Saudi Gulf flows pick up. Three of four supertankers that have carried approximately 8 million barrels of crude from Saudi’s gulf ports since Aug. 11 have been owned by Sinokor, according to shipping data compiled by Bloomberg. 

Sinokor didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.

Allocations 

The logistics revamp is adding to the strain on Saudi Arabia as it attempts to keep the global market supplied. 

The kingdom notifies countries’ weeks in advance about how much crude they’ll get under so-called term-allocation contracts. 

For the key Asian market, those overall volumes remain well below what customers would normally receive before the Iran war began, according to traders. Saudi Arabia’s overall exports remain below pre-war levels.

The logistics challenges increase the cost of delivering barrels, an expense that has to be borne somewhere in the supply chain. At least one East Asian refiner is considering dropping its loading of Saudi oil for next month due to the added expense.

Still, Japanese and South Korean refiners are largely set to collect their oil next month that’s loaded from the Sidi Kerir, traders said, as concerns about energy security trump the higher costs.

Despite the Gulf of Oman sales, China’s contractual oil-buying is likely to remain solidly below pre-war levels as shipping disruptions around Middle Eastern routes add to transport costs.

By contrast, European oil refineries may benefit from the extra expense that Asia is incurring. Over the past week, several of them received their full allocations of Saudi Arabian crude for September, allaying concerns when the supply-nominations process was delayed by about a week. 

Saudi Aramco declined to comment. The country’s energy ministry didn’t respond to a request to do so. 

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Several Russian refineries have recently completed maintenance and started supplying additional fuel, Novak said. 

Russia imposed bans on most exports of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to protect domestic supplies as Ukrainian drone attacks against the country’s energy infrastructure continue on an almost daily basis. 

The government in Moscow hasn’t yet decided whether to lift its ban on diesel exports by producers currently in force through Sept. 1, Interfax said, citing Novak. “We will monitor the situation and make prompt decisions as needed,” he said. 

Novak chaired a meeting on the domestic fuel market situation on Friday, according to a government statement reported by Interfax. Among other things, he requested optimizing the schedule for planned refinery maintenance to ensure continued domestic fuel supplies.   

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Authorities in the Black Sea country will continue emergency dredging near the power plant after its two nuclear reactors were shut down in late July and earlier in August, respectively, because of low water intake for cooling. They’ll also try to build a structure to redirect more water toward the canal that serves the Cernavoda plant. 

The country’s emergency department is also preparing high-capacity pumps to maintain the water level required at the plant. 

Decades-low water levels across Europe’s major rivers, including the Danube, have caused traffic disruptions and forced countries to shut down nuclear plants and reduce power output, boosting energy prices. Romania’s neighbor, Bulgaria, was the latest to announce plans for the first-ever reduction of output at its Kozloduy nuclear plant. 

In Romania, Hidroelectrica, the country’s largest hydro-power producer, will release an additional average of 50 cubic meters of water per second from reservoirs on the Olt River for five days to help bolster the Danube’s flow. The extra water will also be used to generate electricity, the government said in the statement.   

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The Houston-based engineering firm had net income of $35.4 million on revenue of $308.3 million in the six months ended June 30, compared with net income of $43.2 million on revenue of $451.4 million in the same period in 2025, according to its filing Friday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Signal Energy, the company’s solar and battery energy storage unit, was founded in 2005, the filing shows. The business and Applied High Voltage, a high-voltage electrical contractor, were together rebranded in May as CoVolt Power, with the two units becoming the main subsidiaries of the combined business.

The company had a $3.6 billion backlog of utility-scale solar, battery energy storage and high-voltage transmission and distribution projects as of June 30, up 410% from a year earlier, according to the filing. It counts independent power producers, utilities, industrial facilities and data center operators among its customers.  

The filing named competitors including Solv Energy Inc., which raised $589.4 million from its IPO in February and closed 13% above its IPO price on Friday.

The company’s backers include investment firms Davidson Kempner Capital Management, Man Group Plc, Eyre Street Capital and Marc Lasry’s Avenue Capital Group.

CoVolt’s offering is being led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Jefferies Financial Group Inc. The company expects its shares to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol KVLT.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Projects that are not equipped with battery storage are unlikely to find buyers, with almost 42 gigawatts of planned capacity yet to sign offtake contracts, Renewables Secretary Santosh Kumar Sarangisaid on Friday.

Among the most at risk are about 18 gigawatts of solar-only projects and another 14 to 15 gigawatts of capacity awarded at high prices, he said at the BNEF Summit in New Delhi. 

In India, renewables additions have been led by photovoltaic, causing a day-time supply glut, particularly during summers when radiation is stronger. About 11% of solar power generated in India during the hottest months this year was lost to grid curtailments, even as demand hit a record. 

Grids around the globe are struggling to keep pace with the rapid expansion of solar and wind fleets, creating periods of excess electricity that force operators to shut down a portion of generation capacity to protect equipment and prevent blackouts. 

India’s transmission system failed to absorb more than 8 billion kilowatt-hours of power in April to June, when 63 billion actually reached the system. Peak curtailment was seen in May, when scorching heat sent electricity use to all-time high.  

Solar developers are now adding battery storage to attract buyers that need supplies throughout the day, Sarangi said.

Almost 21 gigawatts of the country’s renewable energy projects have only part-time access to the grid, putting them at a greater risk of curtailments, which is hampering expansion and threatening to slow energy transition.

States in the northern and western regions have struggled to build grid networks that match the expansion in solar energy.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Global crude benchmark Brent traded near $94 a barrel, on pace for a weekly advance of around 6%. West Texas Intermediate for October was steady below $87 a barrel following a five-session run of gains.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration would give details of the initiative next Monday after President Donald Trump described the push as an “economic D-day”. The measures will target Tehran, and could also ensnare countries that deal with the Islamic Republic, possibly including China.

Oil has rallied more than 50% this year as the US-Iran war threw the Middle East into turmoil, with the two sides battling over the Strait of Hormuz. Bessent said Washington controlled the waterway, and ships could exit via a southern lane, according to an interview on CNBC. Still, Tehran has repeatedly insisted it retains authority over the conduit, which saw more vessel attacks this week.

“The prospect of adding sanctions on Iran to cripple its economy does carry a degree of risk,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone Group Ltd. “It certainly doesn’t seem like a straightforward exercise.”

Beijing — which is by far the largest importer of Iranian oil — said that sanctions and pressure wouldn’t work, and called for a diplomatic resolution. In his remarks, Bessent noted that China got much of its energy from the region, while adding that “it would do them a big service to get with the program.” 

“It is unclear to me how we are going to choke off Iran more than we have financially without triggering immense blowback from China,” Josh Lipsky, vice president of international economics at the Atlantic Council, told Bloomberg TV.

The intensified wave of economic pressure comes as Washington has imposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports in a bid to choke off Tehran’s crude exports. The cordon appears to have been effective, with Iranian Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati saying this week that flows “have virtually stopped”.

Beyond the Middle East, dozens of Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries and ports have disrupted the country’s energy industry, triggering fuel shortages in some regions. That’s contributed to tightness in the global diesel market, with price gains far outpacing the rises seen in crude oil.

In the US, average nationwide retail diesel prices surged to almost $5.55 a gallon this week, the highest since late May, according to figures from the American Automobile Association. Meanwhile, the margin for making diesel from crude oil in the country recently topped $100 a barrel to hit a record.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The busy Gulf Coast-to-Asia LPG trade typically relies on wider Neopanamax vessels, but these ships are facing increasingly punitive costs to get through the canal. The rates for narrower Panamax tankers, which go through a separate set of locks, haven’t risen as much, traders said. 

Two Neopanamax tankers chartered by Chevron, the Fritzi N and the Pacific Yantai, are slated to receive cargoes of LPG off the port of Balboa, located on the Panama’s Pacific coast, according to shipping fixtures seen by Bloomberg. That is likely to come from Panamax vessels that have passed through the waterway. 

The Neopanamax vessels will then take the fuel — used as cooking gas and in some types of manufacturing — across the Pacific. 

The move underscores how the market is turning to workarounds to cope with maritime congestion due to the Iran war and an intensifying El Niño, which prompted the Panama Canal Authority on Thursday to limit daily slots for September transits. The weather pattern is bringing drought to Central America, which is lowering water levels in the canal, while the conflict in the Middle East has led to an increase in US-to-Asia energy flows.

Around 60% of US LPG exports have gone to Asia so far this year, according to Kpler, up from 55% for the whole of 2025. 

Ships seeking to sail through the Panama Canal typically pay a flat rate via a reservation process. But lengthening waiting times for larger vessels are spurring some shippers to swap reservations, effectively paying more to bypass the regular queue. 

The fee for a Neopanamax tanker that arrives at the canal without booking a slot and wants to transit immediately spiked to an all-time high of $4.6 million last week.

Chevron declined to comment. Anglo-Eastern Ship Management, which is the ISM ship manager for the Fritzi N, didn’t respond to calls and emails seeking comment. SPDBFL No Two Hundred & Twenty-Two (Tianjin) Ship Leasing, which is the owner of the Pacific Yantai, didn’t respond to calls seeking comment. Pacific Gas, the vessel’s ship manager, declined to comment on the matter. 

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The energy industry has always operated in cycles. Demand rises. Demand slows. Investment accelerates, then pauses. Supply chains tighten and recover. Priorities shift as markets evolve and technologies mature.

What feels different today is the sheer number of forces moving at once. Electricity demand continues to grow across much of the world. Data centres and artificial intelligence are creating new requirements for reliable power. Geopolitical tensions are reshaping energy security priorities while economic growth and industrial development remain powerful drivers across the board.

Together, these trends are creating one of the most dynamic periods the energy sector has experienced in decades. Too often, energy companies are portrayed as passive observers to these market developments as they unfold, and resilience is viewed as the ability to respond to disruption after it occurs. But the reality is far more nuanced than that. Preparation must start long before demand materialises, and resilience has to be built into the system from the start. 

Building resilience before demand arrives

This requires a shift in mindset. Instead of asking how we react to uncertainty, we should ask how we prepare for it. The answer lies in creating flexibility across the entire energy value chain.

For technology providers, that means maintaining broad portfolios capable of supporting different customer needs, market conditions, and regional requirements. It means investing in manufacturing capacity, strengthening supply chains, developing skilled workforces, and helping customers maximise the value of existing assets through modernisation and long-term service solutions.

These decisions often happen years before market conditions change. Yet they determine how effectively companies can respond when they do. In that sense, resilience is built through choices. A broad technology portfolio creates options. A strong service business creates options. A diversified manufacturing footprint creates options. Long-term customer partnerships create options. Those options become particularly valuable during periods of rapid change.

A broader demand story beyond AI

Much of the public discussion today focuses on artificial intelligence and data centres. Their impact is real and significant. Yet they represent only part of the story.

At Siemens Energy, data centres account for roughly a quarter of our gas turbine demand. The majority still comes from utilities, industrial customers, and countries investing in economic growth, electrification, and energy security. What we are seeing is not a single trend driving the market.

Demand is emerging across sectors, regions, and customer groups simultaneously. That diversity matters. It provides confidence that extends beyond the next project cycle. Today, demand for gas turbines remains visible well into the next decade, extending toward 2035 and beyond. For the gas industry, this has important implications.

Gas-fired power generation continues to play a critical role in modern energy systems. In many regions, it remains one of the fastest pathways to add dependable power at scale, rapidly reduce CO₂ emissions by replacing coal, and maintain security of supply as renewable energy continues to expand. At the same time, flexibility is becoming just as important as capacity.

Some customers require new-generation assets. Others are looking to improve efficiency, modernise existing fleets, extend operating lifetimes, or strengthen performance through long-term service agreements. Supporting these different needs requires more than a single solution. It requires the ability to adapt. This is where scale becomes an advantage.

Companies with diversified capabilities across technologies, manufacturing, service, and regional markets are better positioned to navigate changing conditions than those dependent on a single product, geography, or demand trend. They have more ways to respond when markets shift and more opportunities to support customers through periods of growth, constraint, and transformation.

The lesson for our industry is clear

Uncertainty is unlikely to disappear. Demand patterns will continue to evolve, and technologies will continue to advance. Success will not depend on predicting every market shift correctly. It will depend on building the flexibility, capability, and capacity to respond when those shifts occur. That is resilience by design. And it is becoming one of the defining requirements of the energy future.

The Spring, Texas-based supermajor is seeking to invest billions of dollars in a new oil project at the nation’s Kashagan development, a step that would help to cushion a slide in production at Tengiz, its top deposit.

Tengiz output is set to plateau next year before sliding to about 500,000 barrels a day by 2035 — a slump of about 40% from its high, according to part of a company presentation made to authorities in Astana that was seen by Bloomberg.

Exxon has told Kazakhstan a potential $80 billion joint investment to expand the Kashagan field is contingent on resolving a long-running $150 billion dispute between the government and international companies and a $5 billion environmental fine, Bloomberg reported previously.

The proposed investment, in an equal joint venture with state-owned KazMunayGas National Co., would tap the undeveloped western part of the vast Kashagan reservoir, potentially producing as much as 600,000 barrels a day, Bloomberg reported. KazMunayGas contests Bloomberg’s reporting.

Exxon’s production estimates for Tengiz were based on no large investments being made to boost output — something that may not be the case in reality, people with knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be identified because the presentation was private.

Exxon declined to comment on the presentation. Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry and Kashagan operator North Caspian Operating Co. didn’t comment.

Chevron Corp., the biggest shareholder in Tengiz, and Tengizchevroil LLC, the development’s operating company, said they are focused on maintaining “safe and reliable operations.” Both Chevron and TCO declined to comment on future production plans. 

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The top boss at Diamondback Energy Inc., one of the Permian Basin’s largest producers, predicts his company’s need for power will double over the next decade, even if it keeps production flat. Citigroup Inc. analysts warned Thursday that the region could even face outages next summer.

“Electricity consumption for the Permian has just gone through the roof,” Diamondback Chief Executive Officer Kaes Van’t Hof said in an interview published Wednesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. “It’s only gone up every year.”

That explosive jump in demand makes the Permian an extreme example of the growing need for electricity in much of the US. Consumption has been building in the West Texas oil fields for years as companies swap out legacy diesel-powered drilling rigs and frack pumps for more efficient electrified gear. Now the trend is being supercharged by development of data centers.

Executives from Texas’s electric grid operator and state utility regulator spoke this week before the Texas House State Affairs committee about the need for more transmission lines in the region.

They “argued the Permian buildout is needed for existing oil and gas demand and reliability regardless of data centers,” Citigroup analysts Ryan Levine and Amber Zhao wrote Thursday in a note to investors after monitoring the legislative meeting. “Far West Texas could face rotating outages as early as next summer.”

Pipeline owners and oilfield service providers are also racing to expand their offerings to serve data centers. Meantime, producers such as Diamondback have looked to build microgrids to help power their frack gear, Van’t Hof told the Dallas Fed. The rapid pace of drilling expansion in the Permian over the past decade has led to an average wait time of 950 days to get connected to the grid, he said.

Fortunately for producers and data centers in need of electricity, they have prime access to seemingly bottomless reserves of natural gas, which is produced as a byproduct of oil. Even if oil production levels off in the Permian, rising gas-to-oil ratios from drilling activity mean the basin will continue to be the fastest-growing major gas-producing basin for years to come, without operators even intending to produce gas.

Peak power demand on Texas’s primary power grid, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, may challenge all-time records this week as a blistering heat wave pushes homes and businesses to ramp up their air-conditioning needs. With wind generation expected to weaken as power demand ramps up, Ercot will turn to gas generators and batteries to fill in the gap.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Under the new law, the energy ministry will have the power to set new rules about who gets priority access to the grid, replacing the current first-come, first-serve system. The changes could serve as an example elsewhere in Europe as ambitions to increase electricity demand and renewable power generation are coming up against aging grids unaccustomed to rapid change.

“Our electricity grid is under pressure, and it threatens to bring our green transition and development to a standstill,” Denmark’s Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities Samira Nawa said in a statement. In late June, the energy ministry said there was broad political support to enact such an emergency plan. 

The bill proposes four categories of power consumers. The first covers increased demand from current customers, new households and small businesses. The second is for projects that support electrification and the green transition. Those two categories would have the highest priority for grid access. 

The next two categories include one that targets batteries, including those located within existing solar or wind farms, and another that targets very large power customers, such as data centers. These types of consumers will have lower priority, depending on their “grid-friendliness,” a term that refers to how willing the projects are to fluctuate their demand to accommodate grid constraints. Applications from data centers could be refused if there isn’t enough energy capacity.

Denmark’s law follows a similar effort in the UK, where the government ditched a first-come, first-serve system that led to a massive queue. Project developers waited years for grid access. Unlike Denmark, however, the UK sought to prioritize data centers, aiming to capture the potential economic benefits of surging investment in computing power for artificial intelligence.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Global benchmark Brent rose toward $92 a barrel, after adding more than 5% over the prior four sessions, while West Texas Intermediate for October was near $84. The moves “will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,” Trump said in a social-media post. “This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our Allies to stand with the United States.”

Any country that allowed financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to aid Iran would face tremendous economic consequences, he wrote, without giving details. Activities such as smuggling, cash transfers, exchange houses, and ship registries needed to be halted, he added.

Crude has rallied steeply this year following the outbreak of the conflict between Washington and Tehran, with the two sides locked in confrontation over the Strait of Hormuz. The US administration’s latest push to defeat Iran — which was trailed last week by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — risks inflaming tensions with takers of Iranian crude, including its main market, China.

Asia’s leading economy is the top importer of Iranian oil, although official customs data shows no inflows since 2022. The bulk of the barrels are taken by private refiners, known as teapots, which are attracted to the trade by the discounts typically on offer because of earlier rounds of US sanctions.

The Trump administration has in recent weeks shifted from military options against Iran to a strategy of greater economic pressure. The apparent goal is to drive Tehran into fresh talks meant to end the war for good, force an end the nation’s nuclear program and release its chokehold over Hormuz.

At present, US forces are sustaining a blockade of the Islamic Republic’s ports, with signs that some crude from other Gulf producers is being covertly ferried out through Hormuz despite threats to shipping. Earlier Wednesday, Trump said that there was “a lot of oil” passing through the waterway.

‘Barely Moved’

While prices rose Thursday, they remained below peaks seen earlier in the week. “The fact that oil barely moved may be the story,” said Haris Khurshid, chief investment officer for Karobaar Capital LP. “Six months into this, the market has learned not to reprice crude on every headline.”

He added: “Trump’s comments matter, but ultimately barrels moving through Hormuz matter more. Until physical flows start confirming the rhetoric I think the market discounts a lot of the noise.”

The announcement of the economic package came a day after the United Arab Emirates cut all economic ties with Tehran after accusing Iran of firing missiles at its territory. The UAE acts as a major financial and business hub for Iranians, and its move is set to increase the Islamic Republic’s isolation.

Brent’s prompt spread — the difference between its two nearest contracts — remains almost $2 a barrel in backwardation. That’s a bullish pattern marked by front-month futures trading at a premium to the next in sequence.

US data offered some support to prices midweek. Refinery runs climbed to the highest since 2019, and nationwide distillate inventories — a key area of concern given tightness in the diesel market — fell to the lowest level in more than a month, according to the Energy Information Administration. That helped to offset a 4.4 million-barrel increase in crude stockpiles last week.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

A region that includes the Midcontinent Independent System Operator — which BNEF defines as the operator’s territory in addition to Associated Electric Cooperative Inc., Electric Energy Inc., Louisville Gas and Electric Co. and Kentucky Utilities Co. — overtook a system that extends from the Mid-Atlantic to Illinois, the research firm found. Much of the MISO region is dominated by Republican leadership.

That region that includes MISO added 7.45 gigawatts of solar power between April 2024 and this past March, according to BNEF analyst David Mohammadi. Illinois, a Blue state, accounted for the largest share. GOP-led Indiana, Arkansas and Missouri were next, he said.

That compares with 3 gigawatts in a region that extends from the Mid-Atlantic to the Midwest, according to BNEF. It defines that region that’s home to grid PJM Interconnection LLC as also including Ohio Valley Electric Corp.

Officials at PJM and MISO didn’t provide a comment by late Wednesday.

The solar expansion has continued despite President Donald Trump’s opposition to solar and other renewable energy. His administration has ended federal tax credits for solar installations and imposed permitting delays.

In February, the US Energy Information Administration said it projected solar power to make up about half of planned US capacity additions.

Rising electricity prices and fears of a power crunch, driven largely by surging demand from AI data centers and extreme heat, have made expanding grid capacity a top priority for both utilities and politicians.

MISO and PJM have experienced high demand this summer. Power demand on PJM’s system likely broke a 20-year-old record in early July, the operator said.

Solar units built in the region that extends from the northern Midwest to Louisiana since early 2024 had nearly twice the average size of those added in the Mid-Atlantic, according to BNEF’s report.

In total, generation capacity in the region that includes MISO was 230 gigawatts at the end of the first quarter, compared with the 227 gigawatts in the region that includes PJM, BNEF said.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

How is Kent positioning itself to help operators move from ambition to execution?

Delivering projects successfully comes down to combining technical expertise with reliable execution. Kent is well positioned to do that because we bringing together integrated engineering services, from early concept through to EPC, commissioning, late-life management and decommissioning, with strong procurement, construction, and on-site execution capability. We combine that technical capability with a very collaborative culture and a strong focus on innovation. Delivering more than 40 million work hours every year, we have the scale and geographic reach to support major programmes globally, while retaining the agility to move quickly.

Could you share with us Kent’s recent milestones in delivering large-scale EPC projects?

We’ve continued to grow our EPC and EPCM business through a number of significant project awards and deliveries. Some recent examples are the Maharajalela Jamalulalam Inlet Compression Project in Brunei, the Future Fuels FCC Naphtha Treating Unit in Australia, and the MorGen Energy Green Hydrogen Project in the UK. We’ve also secured a second major contract with ADNOC on its P5 Long-Term Facilities Project in the UAE. For me, the fact that clients want to work with us time and time again reflects the strength of the relationships we build and the quality of delivery our teams provide every day.

What engineering innovations is Kent bringing to the table for gas and LNG facilities?

Much of our work in gas and LNG is focused on reducing emissions, improving reliability, and increasing operational efficiency. That includes compression solutions that increase throughput, boil-off gas recovery systems that reduce product losses, and electrification strategies that support lower-carbon operations, among others. We also have an in-house software development team focused on creating tools that solve real engineering and operational challenges.

A good example is MeasCap, which helps operators model facility capacity, identify bottlenecks, and make better decisions around asset performance and future development. Having supported major LNG developments across the globe, including seven of Australia’s nine major LNG projects, we understand what it takes to deliver these solutions from end to end. 

With supply chain pressures impacting global timelines, how is Kent keeping complex energy projects on schedule and on budget?

Supply chain challenges aren’t going away, so we’ve invested in the people, processes and supplier relationships needed to manage them proactively. Due to the scale of our business and with around US$2 billion in procurement spend every year, we have visibility into supplier markets, manufacturing capacity, and potential bottlenecks globally. Combined with robust pre-qualification, due diligence, and supplier quality oversight, it means we can move quickly without compromising quality or assurance. This has allowed us to support clients with strategic procurement services as a standalone offering, giving them access to the same market insight, supplier networks, and execution capability that underpin our EPC projects.

Where do you see the intersection of AI and data analytics having the biggest impact on engineering design?

The biggest impact will be helping engineers make better decisions faster. By reducing repetitive tasks, improving access to project knowledge, and identifying risks much earlier in the design process, AI and data analytics give engineers more time to focus on the bigger challenge facing our industry: delivering the energy the world needs in a more responsible way. Technology matters, but the real value comes from combining human expertise, experience and judgement with better data and better insights to deliver better outcomes.

What are you looking forward to at Gastech this year?

I think this year’s event comes at an important time for the industry. Operators are being asked to do more than ever: improve performance, reduce emissions, deliver new infrastructure, meet growing energy demand, and extend asset life and plan for safe decommissioning. I’m looking forward to the conversations around how we make that happen in the most practical and responsible way. I’m also looking forward to seeing our Kent team contribute to those discussions, sharing insights on topics including autonomous engineering, workforce safety, and emerging technologies such as chemical looping for blue hydrogen production, as well as through our sponsorship of the Supply Chain and Procurement Hub.

Wholesale prices fell in 2025 from a year earlier, indicating easing pressure, but remained higher than in 2022 — when the nation suffered an unprecedented failure of its main power market, the Australian Energy Regulator said in an annual report on Thursday. A 177% jump in grid-scale battery capacity last year contributed to lower prices in the second half.

Australia has become a global bellwether for the energy transition, as the nation rushes to replace a fleet of aging coal-fired power plants, with unplanned outages at the generators causing extreme volatility. Meanwhile, its households are world leaders in installing solar panels and home batteries, while the government has an ambitious target to get 82% of electricity from renewables by 2030, almost double the level at the end of last quarter.

“Price outcomes increasingly depend on whether enough flexible capacity is available when it is needed,” the AER said. “If flexible supply, storage, transmission and demand response do not scale to provide necessary capacity in the right places and at the right times, consumers may face higher prices and greater reliability risks, because the market will be more vulnerable to supply and demand shocks.”

High revenue and falling prices in the National Electricity Market have given batteries the strongest standalone investment signal, beating out wind and solar, according to the report. Turbine shortages and increased costs have “materially worsened” the outlook for new natural gas plants, while additional black-coal generation isn’t economically viable, the AER said.

“Batteries are still a small share of total generation but are increasingly influential during the evening peak, when they are beginning to displace gas and hydro as the generators that most often determine price,” the AER said. “These changes show that new flexible capacity is improving some outcomes, but not yet enough to remove price pressure when renewable output is lower and demand is higher.”

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Refineries processed 17.4 million barrels of crude oil on a daily basis last week, according to the Energy Information Administration. That topped the previous wartime high-water mark set in late July, and surpassed any point since September 2019.

A fuel crisis is ripping through markets worldwide, owing to the disruption of shipping in and around the Arabian Gulf, as well as damage wrought on Russian refineries by Ukrainian drones. 

The tightness is particularly acute in diesel markets, where the margins captured by producers have swelled to more than $100 a barrel.

The appeal of outsized profits has pushed US refiners to run as hard as possible, making the country an global supplier of last resort. 

Meanwhile, jet-fuel production exceeded 2 million barrels a day for the 18th consecutive week. Gasoline output, while still below the seasonal average, ticked higher, as did production of residual fuel oil, propane and propylene.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The agreements are with oilfield-services giant SLB Ltd. and independent producer Hunt Oil Co., Oil Minister Paula Henao said in an interview on state television on Tuesday from Houston.

The signings come as Caracas and Washington push to accelerate investment in Venezuela’s vast but underdeveloped oil reserves. Politico reported earlier that several independent US producers were expected to sign production contracts with state oil company PDVSA in the coming days, starting at an event in Houston on Tuesday evening.

Venezuela signed a hydrocarbons production participation agreement tied to the development and production enhancement of two oil fields, Henao said. She didn’t provide details on the expected investment or additional output.

The government also signed a framework agreement with SLB, formerly known as Schlumberger, for services related to integrated reservoir studies throughout the country, Henao said.

The deals mark another step in efforts by Venezuela and the Trump administration to revive the country’s oil industry by attracting private capital and expertise following the US’s capture of strongman Nicolas Maduro in January.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Lorenzo Simonelli, Chairman and CEO of Baker Hughes, shares his perspective about enhancing natural gas and LNG infrastructure, AI integration, and asset optimisation.

With the evolving geopolitics and fractured trade routes, where do you see the most critical infrastructure gaps for natural gas and LNG? 

Shapiro’s executive order requires local approval to receive state permits for data center projects, establishing a significant hurdle for new development. The governor, a Democrat and one-time proponent of data centers, also requires projects to abide by water conservation standards and pay the costs of higher electricity use, in addition to supplying their own generation. 

“We’ve seen an unacceptable number of speculative proposals for data centers swamp our Commonwealth – many of them led by developers who have no regard for local communities,” Shapiro said in a statement Tuesday.

Growing local opposition to data centers is threatening the ambitions of the nation’s biggest tech companies as the US races China to develop artificial intelligence. New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently announced a pause of as much as a year on environmental permits for more data centers. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican and longtime champion of data centers, has also ordered a pause while the state audits new projects.

Shapiro — who is running for reelection in November and is widely seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2028 — had initially championed data center projects to attract tech companies to Pennsylvania. 

He backed a $20 billion Amazon.com Inc. project that encompasses campuses in Luzerne County and Bucks County. Those projects, which are still in the planning and permitting stages, face heavy opposition. Shapiro’s opponent in the governor’s race, Republican State Treasurer Stacey Garrity, has called for a pause in data center development. 

Shapiro hasn’t called for a moratorium. Before this week, he had favored voluntary measures to guide responsible development, and used his executive powers to push through his Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development standards, a set of accountability measures that Pennsylvania’s divided General Assembly failed to codify. 

His new order, besides addressing increased demand on water and electricity infrastructure, prohibits state agencies from signing non-disclosure agreements for data center projects. It also establishes that Pennsylvania will no longer fast-track permitting for data centers.

Pennsylvania currently has 71 active data centers and 66 proposed projects, according to the Data Center Proposal Tracker. A July poll by Quinnipiac University found that 74% of the state’s voters would oppose building AI data centers in their communities. 

The new rules will require projects to find local sources of clean energy, favoring existing power providers, including nuclear plants, Evercore ISI analysts led by Nicholas Amicucci said in a report. 

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Energy Transfer LP, which would construct and operate the pipeline, is now seeking to build part of the 17.8-mile conduit on land administered by the US Bureau of Land Management. 

The alternative route avoids land administered by the New Mexico State Land Office, which has twice rejected the pipeline’s right-of-way application, Energy Transfer subsidiary Transwestern said in an Aug. 17 letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The data center, known as Project Jupiter and which would serve OpenAI from a campus in Doña Ana County near the US-Mexico border, has become a symbol of the growing pushback faced by hyperscalers across several states as they race to build huge infrastructure.

The Oracle data center is among the largest projects of its kind and envisages 2.5 gigawatts of natural gas powered fuel cells and a total investment of up to $165 billion. It has attracted protests largely focused on its potential environmental impact.

In its most recent rejection, the New Mexico State Land Office said last month that the lease sought by Energy Transfer would not be “in the best interests” of the state. Transwestern has now pushed its original in-service date for the pipeline — known as Green Chile — out to Feb. 1 from Aug. 15 previously. Oracle said last week that Project Jupiter remains on schedule.

Energy Transfer didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The S&P 500 Energy Sector Index climbed as much as 1.8% on Tuesday. If the gains hold through the close of trading, the gauge would close at an all-time high, the first since March 27.

Energy stocks fell 16% from that peak by early July, after a short-lived end to hostilities and news of US-Iran negotiations. But as a ceasefire remained elusive, the stocks have been climbing back steadily toward those highs, and are now up 20% from the low touched on July 1. 

“I think a lot of investors missed the rise of energy stocks the first time,” Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital, said in an interview. “They didn’t want to miss it the second time and recognize that we still have a lot of geopolitical risk in the world and oil prices maybe they’ll go lower, maybe they won’t, but regardless, energy stocks are really important.”

Energy stocks have risen as Brent crude futures climbed around 50% this year amid Middle East supply constraints caused by the war. The higher prices have also translated into stronger earnings and cash flow for major US producers.

Chevron Corp. saw second-quarter earnings per share grow by more than 240% year over year, while ExxonMobil Holdings Corp. saw earnings increase 115% when the companies reported quarterly results in July. Chevron is also expected to generate around $12.5 billion in additional free cash flow by 2026.

“There’s a lot of free cash flow coming out of these companies, and it’s not just because the oil price is high, it’s because, they’re performing on all levels. In some cases, they’ve bought back stock, which helps improve their free cash flow per share, in a lot of cases, they’ve maintained their operations or improved their business operations,” Thummel said.

Producers aren’t the only companies benefiting from the supply shortage. Valero Energy Corp. reported its most profitable quarter on record in July as measured by earnings per share, while PBF Energy Inc. and HF Sinclair Corp. reported their best profits in years.

With earnings rising and supply constraints for products such as diesel and jet fuel potentially lasting for years, Melius Research analyst James West sees energy stocks as attractively valued.

“The market is pricing in a somewhat structurally higher oil price environment going forward and a product environment that’s going to be higher going forward,” West said in an interview. “I think these stocks can all trade much higher from here from a market perspective.”

Energy companies could see slower earnings growth if commodity prices pull back, but investors aren’t expecting their shares to suffer declines as steep as the last selloff if a ceasefire is reached.

“I don’t think we’ll see the same type of selloff,” West said. “I think the market now understands that an MOU or a ceasefire and the chances of that holding are pretty limited.”

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The LNG industry often looks to the next big project for the next big answer to rising demand, energy security, and economic growth. But in Asia-Pacific, a different reality is emerging, one where ageing LNG assets are becoming central to supply resilience. Many LNG assets are ageing across the Asia-Pacific region. In another context, that might be treated mainly as a maintenance or late-life challenge, but between now and 2030, the opportunity is much bigger.

The region faces growing gas demand, ongoing uncertainty around project timing, skilled workforce shortages, rising maintenance backlogs, and increasing pressure to improve both reliability and emissions performance. At the same time, natural gas consumption in Asia-Pacific has already increased by 35% in recent years, with LNG demand set to rise further.

An ageing asset base meets rising demand

That matters because the market reality is hard to ignore. Global LNG trade now stands at over 410 million tonnes a year, and Asia remains central to demand growth and import dependence. Japan and South Korea continue to rank among the world’s largest LNG importers, while China’s growth in import volumes has been more recent but significant.

And although LNG supply continues to increase, market conditions remain exposed to volatility, geopolitical uncertainty, and the reality that new capacity could still take years to reach the market. So, the question is: how much more can be delivered from existing assets and infrastructure?

Why existing infrastructure matters more than ever

According to the International Energy Agency, a typical greenfield LNG development has a lead time of just over four years. Even with stronger LNG supply growth expected in 2026, this underlines the need for operators to ensure greater reliability, efficiency, and resilience from assets already in service.

In that environment, existing LNG infrastructure takes on greater strategic importance, underpinning resilience, affordability, and market stability across the region.

This does not mean that extending the life of every asset at any cost is what’s needed. In a market where new capacity can take years to materialise, targeted intervention in existing infrastructure can often deliver faster, lower-risk value than waiting for entirely new supply. That is why the most pragmatic operators are taking a more disciplined approach to debottlenecking, phased upgrades, reliability-led maintenance, and late-life optimisation.

Increasingly, they are using operational data and digital tools to identify where performance can be improved, downtime reduced, and capacity better protected. In some cases, these same interventions can also support emissions reduction and efficiency gains.

Turning asset performance into a strategic advantage

These decisions are no longer purely operational. They are strategic investment choices that directly influence supply reliability and competitive positioning.

We are seeing this first-hand across the LNG assets Wood supports in Asia-Pacific. Operators are increasingly prioritising targeted interventions that improve reliability, protect capacity, and defer major capital expenditure.

In our experience, the greatest gains often come from a series of well-judged decisions that extend asset life, improve performance, and strengthen resilience when it matters most. The LNG conversation should place equal weight on future capacity and the untapped value of existing infrastructure.

The centre of gravity of the global energy system has definitively shifted eastward, driven by rapid industrialisation, expanding urban populations, and rising living standards. Over the past decade, global primary energy demand in Asia-Pacific countries grew at twice the global rate, and the region now accounts for 46% of global energy consumption and more than half of the world’s electricity demand. However, over a third of that energy demand growth has relied on unmitigated coal consumption, more than the combined contribution of gas and renewables in the entire region. Meanwhile, two-thirds of this incremental energy demand originated from China alone, which is pursuing a massive electrification strategy largely built on coal and renewables.

Focus on Asia

This shift towards Asia Pacific is expected to continue over the coming decades. In the IEA’s Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS), the region contributes to around half of the increase in global energy demand to 2050, dwarfing the contribution of any other region. However, this apparent continuity masks two major changes. First, primary energy demand growth to 2050 is expected to be solely concentrated in India and Southeast Asia. In contrast, China’s energy demand will ultimately decline after a modest increase over the coming decade; yet, this does not mean the country will remain idle, as it doubles down on its renewable-based electrification strategy. 

Additionally, the region is expected to shift from its previous coal-based growth to increasingly rely upon a combination of renewable energy and gas. It is also projected to capture around 60% of incremental power demand, driven by a combination of rapid electrification and increasing economic activity — especially in South and Southeast Asia — as well as the build-out of data centres to support artificial intelligence and digital economies.

A complementary role to renewables

Natural gas is expected to help meet this soaring electricity demand and growing industrial demand, although it is fair to acknowledge that the contribution of incremental gas-fired generation to the overall electricity mix remains marginal compared to that of renewables and even nuclear. Rather than displacing coal on its own, natural gas plays a complementary role to renewables. 

The Asia Pacific region already includes the world’s four largest LNG-importing countries (China, Japan, South Korea, and India); together, they account for half of current global LNG demand. Looking forward, Asia Pacific will remain the primary anchor for LNG imports.

However, most of the incremental growth will be outside of these existing key markets: the latest Shell LNG Outlook 2026 underlines that the bulk of global LNG demand growth to around 700 mtpa by 2050 is projected to come from the “rest of Asia”, meaning Asian countries aside from Japan, South Korea, China, and India. This incremental demand will also be driven by declining gas production in Southeast Asia. However, LNG import growth will also be conditional upon the timely deployment of regasification terminals.

The ultimate path of Asia Pacific’s energy trajectory and fuel mix will be determined as much by the financial viability and deployment speed of clean tech as by policy choices. The question is whether South and Southeast Asian countries will indeed opt massively for LNG given the two gas crises that have occurred in less than five years, or whether they will turn slightly more to renewables coupled with coal, a fuel valued as a secure, domestic resource by many Asian nations. 

LNG exporters in the US and the Middle East will have to demonstrate that their LNG supply is both secure and affordable to convince these new importers. Asia Pacific is not only the indispensable LNG demand sink, but a market where emerging LNG importers are expected to play a major role compared to current heavyweights such as China and Japan.

The Suezmax-class Skiros, able to hold about 1 million barrels of oil, was attacked after loading at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s terminal near Novorossiysk, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. 

While CPC mostly loads Kazakh barrels, the consignment in question was Russian-originated, the people said. The attack happened on Sunday close to the terminal, they said.

That’s the first strike on a vessel calling at the CPC terminal  — the critical conduit for Kazakh crude exports — after almost a three-week lull in attacks. Last month, repeated drone strikes disrupted loading of CPC cargoes, that recently accounted for almost 2% of global oil supplies, and forced Kazakh oil fields to reduce production. 

CPC declined to comment on its operations or matters related to oil shipments from producers. A spokesman for Ukraine’s General Staff said he “has no data to comment on the issue.” 

Earlier this month, Ukraine agreed to refrain from targeting the CPC infrastructure and non-Russian vessels bound for the sea terminal as long as those ships are not otherwise subject to Ukrainian sanctions and aren’t carrying Russian cargo, according to a US official. Russian-origin crude typically accounts for 5% to 10% of CPC exports. 

The latest attack raises risks for sustainable operations at the CPC, whose ownership includes oil majors Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil, as well as Russia’s state pipeline company and Kazakhstan’s state oil and gas company. 

At the end of last month, following multiple attacks on tankers, CPC even considered an option to halt operations to avoid environmental and safety risks, but decided to continue operations. 

The Athens-based company listed on Equasis as the manager of the Skiros said that there were no injuries or pollution as a result of the incident and that the vessel’s owners were aware of it. The company declined to comment further. 

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.