16 Jun Energy news, commentary and analysis | WTI for July delivery slid 4.9% to settle at $80.75 a barrel in New York., Brent for August settlement fell 4.8% to $83.17 a barrel.
(Oilandgaspress) Repeated signals that the US and Iran are close to an agreement has helped push oil prices lower.
| Oil and Gas Blends | Units | Oil Price | Notes |
| Crude Oil (WTI) Oilprice | US$/bbl | $78.67 | Down |
| Crude Oil (Brent) | US$/bbl | $81.15 | Down |
| Bonny Light 11/06/26 CBN | US$/bbl | $96.75 | Delayed |
| Dubai | US$/bbl | $86.93 | Down |
| Natural Gas | US$/MMBtu | $3.17 | Up |
| Murban | US$/bbl | $73.07 | Down |
| OPEC basket 15/06/26 OPEC | US$/bbl | $87.90 | Down |
| At press time June 16, 2026 |
Ukrainian drones breached newly-strengthened air defences in Moscow and seriously damaged the Kapotnya Oil Refinery in Russia. The strike was another blow to the Kremlin, just as a Ukrainian campaign of attacks on oil installations was starting to seriously hurt the Russian economy.
Flights were suspended at all four major Moscow airports – Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, and Zhukovsky – triggering travel chaos. The Kapotnya refinery supplies up to 40% of the capital’s overall fuel market and 70% of Moscow and the surrounding region’s petrol needs. Related News
The Council of the EU on June 15 adopted a new round of sanctions against Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, targeting energy revenues, the military-industrial complex, and propagandists, EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said.
The package comes in response to Russia’s recent attacks on Ukraine, including a latest large-scale strike, which was primarily directed at Kyiv and targeted residential buildings and the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, an iconic 11th-century Ukrainian monastery, leaving dozens of casualties.
The unveiled sanctions target Russian shadow fleet, human rights violations, and “networks that fuel Moscow’s hybrid attacks against Europe.”
“Every measure further restricts Russia’s room for manoeuvre,” Kallas said.
The new sanctions lists include 34 Russian individuals and 47 entities, according to the statement. Related News
Saab and the French General Directorate of Armaments, Direction générale de l’Armement, have signed a contract regarding Saab’s NLAW (Next Generation Light Anti-tank Weapon). Deliveries are scheduled 2026-2030. The order includes NLAW weapons as well as indoor and outdoor trainers. The contract also includes options for France to order additional NLAW weapons.
“NLAW will bring a new level of anti-tank capability that changes the dynamic on the battlefield for the French Army. NLAW provides unmatched effectiveness by giving the individual soldier the ability to stop even the most heavily armoured threat in a few seconds. With a history of delivering both our AT4 and Carl-Gustaf M4 to the French Armed Forces, we look forward to bringing the capabilities of NLAW as well,” says Görgen Johansson, head of Saab’s business area Dynamics.
NLAW is Saab’s combat proven anti-tank weapon used by nations including Sweden, the United Kingdom and Finland. It provides forces with an exceptional anti-tank capability based on innovative technology, without requiring complex set-up. Its smart guidance system means one soldier can take out any modern main battle tank with a single shot, from inside a building, around a corner, or behind cover. Related News
BW Offshore announced the successful completion of the Interim Performance Test (IPT) for the BW Opal FPSO, as part of the commissioning programme for the Santos-operated Barossa LNG project offshore northern Australia.
The completion of IPT constitutes an important operational milestone for BW Opal. The test confirms that key production, processing and utility systems on the FPSO are operating in an integrated manner and are capable of delivering stable performance under production conditions.
Following the restart of production in early May, BW Opal has continued gas production and export. Production is being managed in close coordination with Santos during this phase of the ramp-up and commissioning programme.
BW Offshore remains focused on safe and stable operations, the completion of remaining commissioning activities, and progress toward Practical Completion. Practical Completion will mark the commencement of the long-term firm contract period for BW Opal. Related News
VAALCO Energy, Inc. announced positive operational updates offshore Gabon regarding the ongoing drilling program, including impressive initial well results on the Ebouri-5H well and mobilization of the rig to the SEENT platform. Additionally, the Company provided a positive update on the first well completed in the 2026 onshore Egypt drilling program.
Operational Highlights:
- Successfully drilled, completed and placed on production the Ebouri-5H development well at the top of the structure with a lateral of 300 meters of net pay in high-quality Gamba sands;
- Achieved excellent initial flow rate exceeding 8,000 gross barrels of oil per day (“BOPD”), 4,700 BOPD net to Vaalco, with very low water cut;
- Continued the drilling campaign in offshore Gabon, with the rig mobilization to the SEENT platform to drill the ETBNM-3 development well;
- Planned as a directionally drilled slant well, adjacent to GMF-1X discovery well;
- Targeting gas and condensate resources in the Dentale D15 reservoir from the crest of the North Tchibala structure;
- Natural gas produced from a successful well will be utilized for operational purposes in the field to significantly reduce the costs of higher priced diesel that is currently transported to the field by vessel;
- In Egypt, successfully drilled, completed and placed on production the HE-9 development well;
- Encountered 26 meters of net pay in the Asl B reservoir; and
- Achieved excellent initial flow rate of 529 gross BOPD, above Vaalco’s predrill expectations.
- Related News
VAALCO Energy, Inc. announced that the Baobab field on CI-40 block, offshore Côte d’Ivoire is back online following the successful Baobab Ivoirien Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel (“FPSO”) refurbishment.
Operational Highlights:
- Successfully restarted production at the Baobab field on CI-40 block;
- In line with the project timeline, the FPSO at Baobab ceased hydrocarbon operations in January 2025;
- Following a nine-month refurbishment in Dubai, the FPSO returned to Côte d’Ivoire in early Q2 2026, was moored into position and re-connected to the field infrastructure;
- Production has resumed from four producing wells with the remaining three producers expected to come online shortly; the field is performing in line with Vaalco’s expectations;
- FPSO refurbishment was undertaken to extend the life of the vessel and to ensure its long-term operational capacity as a significant development drilling program at Baobab is planned to begin in the second half of 2026; and
- Phase 5 drilling program is expected to include four producers, two to three injectors and two workovers providing potential meaningful additions to production from the main Baobab field…Related News
AXP has secured an early mover advantage in the re-emerging petroleum industry in Syria through a right to earn a 25% participating interest in the 10,039 km² Block 9 onshore Production Sharing Contract (‘PSC’) located in the prolific Palmyride Basin;
- Block 9 has a defined historical prospective resource of best-estimate prospective resources of
338 Million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) (‘Itheria-1 well’ or ‘Itheria’) and 102 MMboe(‘Bashaer-1 well’ or ‘Bashaer’) on a 100% Block 9 basis1 (high estimates: 765 MMboe (Itheria) and 178 MMboe (Bashaer)), (RPS Energy report, effective date 31 December 2010), across two drillready prospects (the Itheria & Bashaer prospects) in the southeast corner of Block 9 – representing a fraction of the total acreage.
These prospective resource estimates were reported by the former Block 9 interest holders (the
Block 9 consortium), not by AXP; they were prepared by RPS Energy (effective date 31 December
2010), under the 2007 SPE-PRMS and Canadian NI 51-101 and may not conform to the requirements of Chapter 5 of the ASX Listing Rules or the 2018 SPE-PRMS. A later RPS Energy evaluation (effective 31 December 2011), publicly reported in the former operator’s Annual Information Form2 on a 45% net interest basis, estimated low / best / high prospective resources of 23 / 101 / 275 MMboe (Itheria) and 24 / 46 / 80 MMboe (Bashaer) (total 57 / 152 / 340 MMboe).
The estimated quantities of petroleum that may potentially be recovered by the application of a future development project(s) relate to undiscovered accumulations. These estimates have both an associated risk of discovery and a risk of development. Further exploration appraisal and evaluation is required to determine the existence of a significant quantity of potentially recoverable hydrocarbons. . Related News
SLB has signed a long-term framework agreement with Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) to support the revitalization and modernization of Venezuela’s oil and gas sector. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) establishes a basis for cooperation across exploration, field development, production, digital enablement and workforce training and development.
The collaboration is intended to strengthen operational execution and promote sustainable development of Venezuela’s hydrocarbon resources. It builds on SLB’s 97 years of uninterrupted presence in the country and reflects a shared focus on combining technology, local capability and continued sector development. Related News
SLB announced the launch of the SLB Digital Marketplace, a curated digital destination designed to help energy companies rapidly discover and deploy specialized AI agents, domain models, skills, tools, data connectors and digital applications within their existing digital environments.
The SLB Digital Marketplace extends the company’s open platform strategy to its Tela™ agentic AI assistant by enabling SLB, partners, independent software vendors (ISVs), developers and customers to bring purpose-built digital capabilities to the energy industry through a single, governed channel. All marketplace offerings are certified against SLB standards for security, interoperability and compatibility before listing.
The launch comes as the industry moves toward agentic AI — where software can reason, act and automate across complex technical workflows. As these capabilities proliferate, energy companies will need access to a broader ecosystem of specialized tools that work together across planning, operations, data and AI. Related News
The Ravenna environmental hub, a center dedicated to the circular economy and industrial waste management, is now a reality. The project by Eni and Hera, and in particular their subsidiaries Eni Rewind and Herambiente, represents a model based on industrial regeneration and ecological transition: thanks to the environmental remediation activities carried out by Eni Rewind, which owns the area, and to a total investment of €100 million, a 26-hectare decommissioned site located within the Ravenna district has been restored and repurposed for a new industrial development initiative.
The Ravenna Environmental Hub’s facilities will help reduce the structural shortage of plants for managing special waste in Italy, maximizing material recovery and reducing reliance on landfills. In particular, the HEA platform – a joint venture between HASI (Herambiente Servizi Industriali) and Eni Rewind – is one of the most significant integrated industrial waste management projects in Italy. The HEA platform is a multifunctional facility for the pretreatment of special waste, both solid and liquid, from industrial and remediation activities. It will replace the historic HASI storage platform in Ravenna, introducing more advanced technologies, greater capacity, and increased operational flexibility to meet the needs of Eni Group operations and the wider industrial market. Related News
Baker Hughes Rig Count: International +10 to 1,046, U.S. -1 to 562 Canada +11 to 180
U.S. Rig Count is down 1 from last week to 562 with oil rigs up 2 to 433, gas rigs down 3 to 121 and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 8.
Canada Rig Count is up 11 from last week to 180 with oil rigs up 6 to 121, gas rigs up 4 to 58 and miscellaneous rigs up 1 to 1.
International Rig Count is up 10 from last month to 1,046 with land rigs up 8 to 815, offshore up 2 to 231
| Region | Period | Rig Count | Change |
| U.S.A | 12 June 2026 | 562 | -1 |
| Canada | 12 June 2026 | 180 | +11 |
| International | May 2026 | 1,046 | +10 |
| Baker Hughes |
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OilandGasPress Energy Newsbites and Analysis Roundup | Compiled by: OGP Staff, Submit your Releases or contact us now!, victor@oilandgaspress.com
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