Kuwait expects to launch tenders this year for the long-delayed development of the Durra oil and gas field, a major offshore project to be developed in cooperation with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait’s Oil Minister Tariq Al-Roumi said.
Eight OPEC+ member nations agreed to maintain their pause on planned oil production increases during a virtual meeting held on February 1. The group cited seasonal demand factors and ongoing market uncertainty as the primary reasons for extending the output freeze.
The participating countries, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman, reaffirmed their decision to halt production increments originally scheduled for March 2026. This move follows an earlier agreement in November 2025 to delay the restoration of voluntary output reductions.
ExxonMobil reported full-year 2025 earnings of $28.8 billion, according to the company’s latest financial results. This figure represents a decline from the $33.7 billion recorded in the previous year. For the fourth quarter of 2025 (Q4), the energy major announced earnings of $6.5 billion. This quarterly result followed a stronger performance in Q3 2025, when earnings reached $7.5 billion.
US energy majors ExxonMobil and Chevron have expressed tentative interest in re-engaging with Venezuela’s petroleum sector following the easing of US sanctions, provided that the country establishes robust legal and political stability, according to Reuters. The shift in tone follows the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issuance of General License 46 on January 29, 2026. The license authorizes established US entities to engage in a broad range of activities involving Venezuelan-origin oil.
Carlyle, the US private equity firm, has entered exploratory discussions with investors in the UAE about potentially bringing in partners if it moves ahead with its planned acquisition of Russian oil producer Lukoil’s international assets, according to sources familiar with the matter.
U.S. oil major Chevron is pressing Iraq to improve returns on the giant West Qurna 2 oilfield as a condition for acquiring the project from Russia’s Lukoil. Earlier this month, Iraq nationalized the field after U.S. sanctions imposed on Lukoil over Russia’s war in Ukraine made it difficult for the company to operate its international assets, including West Qurna 2.
ADNOC and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) have signed a 27-year Utilities Purchase Agreement (UPA) to provide critical infrastructure and services to the TA’ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone in Ruwais Industrial City in Abu Dhabi. Under the long-term commercial contract, ADNOC and TAQA will jointly develop a central utilities project to support TA’ZIZ’s chemicals and transition-fuels facilities.
Venezuela expects to attract around $1.4 billion in investment this year for projects operating under oil production-sharing contracts promoted by the government, up from about $900 million last year, Interim President Delcy Rodríguez said.
India’s state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) is seeking to import Venezuelan crude oil for the first time as it plans to increase its processing of heavier grades in the new fiscal year (FY) beginning in April, Chairman Vikas Kaushal said.
XRG, ADNOC’s global investment subsidiary, has announced an agreement to acquire a 7.6% equity interest in Trains 4 and 5 of the Rio Grande LNG project in Texas from an acquisition vehicle owned by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), according to a statement by XRG.
