ONGC’s overseas division, ONGC Videsh Ltd has made major oil discoveries in Brazil and Colombia. In a statement released on Wednesday, the E&P major informed about encountering the oil bearing sands of 8 meters at a depth of 2852m in Block CPO-5. ONGC Videsh operates the block where PDSA is the partner. In Brazil, ONGC Videsh drilled with its consortium partner, Petrobras in block BM-SEAL-4, encountering oil and gas bearing sands.

Oil prices tumbled in the international market on Thursday, pushed down by API data showing unexpectedly large build up in the US crude stockpiles. Brent crude were priced 1% lower, at $58.85 a barrel. US WTI crude also dipped 1%, to $52.80 a barrel. API data released yesterday showed a rise of 10.5 million barrels in U.S. crude inventories, to 432.5 million barrels in the week to Oct. 11.

Woodside will delay the final approval date for its mega Browse gas project. Also, the company has decided to bring in the plans to sign off on its smaller Scarborough project. Woodside is focusing on the final investment decision on the $20.5 billion Browse project in the first half of 2021. In early 2020, it will sign off on the $11 billion Scarborough gas project and Pluto LNG expansion.

Oil major ADNOC is planning to partner with Eni and OMV to diversify its refining capacity. The company wants to take the refining capacity to 1.5 million barrels per day. The energy company has decided to double its refining capacity and triple petrochemicals output potential by 2025. In January, OMV and Eni decided to pay a combined $5.8 billion in order to buy stakes in refining business of ADNOC.

Oil prices increased on Wednesday with the rise of equities. Investors are hoping for a potential Brexit deal between Britain and the European Union which had an impact on the market. Brent rose and was traded at $58.95 a barrel. WTI gained 0.3% and was traded at $52.97 a barrel. According to the analysts, any deal which will avoid "hard" Brexit might boost economic growth and oil prices.

Sources have said that oil supermajor, Exxon Mobil and ONGC have inked an expertise-sharing agreement to enable the Indian state-owned to develop its resources in offshore blocks. Sources also said that the two firms have already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for now, and will be later inked as a definitive deal after the US oil major studies ONGC’s block.

Saudi Aramco-owned SASREF yesterday informed about the death of two contractors in “an incident” during maintenance work on Sunday. A statement released by the refiner said that the incident also left two others injured. Maintenance work will continue as planned at the facility. SASREF existed as a joint venture between Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell until September when Aramco bought it Shell’s stake in the JV.

If sources were to be believed, oil supermajor Saudi Aramco is interested in acquiring stakes in Indian downstream major, BPCL. In the biggest privatization bid in the Indian history, the Government of India is aiming to farm out its stakes in BPCL to private investors. Sources revealed that the Saudi state-run behemoth is in the process of evaluating its Indian investments and viewing BPCL buy out as a good opportunity.

In protest against Shell’s plan to abandon parts of the giant structures in place in the British North Sea, Greenpeace activists, yesterday, boarded two Royal Dutch Shell oil platforms in the region. Photographs show two people climbing one of the giant, rusty structures and unfurling a banner which read “Clean up your mess, Shell!”. The British supermajor is currently looking for Governmental approval to abandon the steel legs of the platforms.

British E&P firm, Neptune Energy has inked a conditional SPA with Energean Oil and Gas to acquire the production, development and exploration assets of Edison E&P in UK and Norwegian North Sea. The agreement is conditioned on the proposed acquisition of Edison E&P by Energean. If successful, the deal will provide Neptune with an estimated 30 MMboe of 2P reserves, apart from material growth in contingent resources, and near-term production.

Oil prices dropped today, stressed by weak Chinese economic data for September, contributing to the concerns about the U.S.-China trade deal feasibility. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were priced 0.5% lower, at $59.067 barrel. US WTI crude futures CLc1 dipped 0.4%, to $53.38 a barrel. “China’s exports and imports shrunk more than expected in September, as ongoing tariffs and a slowdown in global trade undercut demand,” analysts at ANZ bank said.

Total and Reliance Industries might not bid for acquiring India's BPCL. Further, BP wants to explore the offerings before making a decision to decide for bidding. The Indian government has decided to sell 53.29% stakes of oil refining and marketing company BPCL. The firm accounts for 15% of the total installed refining capacity of the nation. Saudi Aramco might alone bid for the stakes or may have another partner, ADNOC.

Energy giant ExxonMobil has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Indian downstream major Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). The companies have decided to collaborate in order to expand liquefied natural gas (LNG) initiatives in India. “This initiative focuses on exploring new models of delivering cost-effective natural gas in India where it is most needed to complement traditional pipelines”, said ExxonMobil.

ConocoPhillips has farmed out its northern Australian business to Santos Ltd in a $1.39 billion deal. The acquisition, which will boost Santos’ output by 25%, is second in the line of major acquisitions made by the Australian firm this year. While ConocoPhillips will let go of the Darwin LNG plant and gas fields off northern Australia, it will hold onto its stakes in the Australia Pacific LNG plant in Queensland.

India’s downstream giant, IOCL is developing indigenous metals-based batteries in an attempt to prevent the dependence on lithium imports. Chairman of the state-run behemoth, Sanjiv Singh said that the metal-air batteries will generate energy by the oxidation of metals such as iron, zinc and aluminium. While the batteries are not rechargeable, motorists can swap plates to power them instantaneously, thereby eliminating the requirement for a charging infrastructure

Oil prices rose today, over attacks on Iranian oil tanker, and easing tensions between the US and China. While Brent crude was traded at $60.60 a barrel, the US WTI crude futures were priced at $54.79 a barrel. Investigations are currently underway over the attack on an Iranian oil tanker, off Saudi Arabia’s coast. Markets were also lifted by Washington’s goodwill move to hold threatened tariffs on Chinese products.

Brazil's Petrobras and Equinor have signed a memorandum of understanding on the joint development of natural gas business projects. Both the companies want to focus on enhancing the downstream value through thermoelectric generation. Petrobras informed that "The companies intend to combine efforts in investment in the natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and power generation segments".

Oil cartel OPEC has dropped hints on deeper supply cuts in future. International market extended gains over this news and showed optimism over talks between US and China to end trade war. Brent increased by 0.4% and was traded at $59.34 a barrel. WTI went up by 0.37% and was traded at $53.74 per barrel.