BP, which saw its earnings more than double to $3.2 billion in Q1 2026 due in large part to a spike in crude oil prices as a result of the war in Iran, said April 28 that the full effect of those higher prices on earnings and refinery margins won’t be felt until the second quarter.
Nashville is known for its music, but it’s also a fast-growing gasoline and diesel market, uniquely positioned between the Gulf Coast and Midwest. With major development projects planned, such as the new Tennessee Titans stadium, it’s getting to be a tight squeeze for the area’s fuel terminals.
There are about 8 billion boe in place in BP’s Bumerangue discovery offshore Brazil (see graphic below), the company said in its earnings report for Q4 2025. There is a wide range of uncertainty about the estimate and plans are being made for an appraisal program that will start around the end of the year, executive said. At the time the discovery was announced in August 2025, BP said it was its biggest in 25 years and that it expected well activities to begin in 2027.
Crude oil production in the U.S.’s portion of the Gulf of Mexico is poised to top 2 MMb/d for the first time in six years — and only the third time ever. New projects keep coming online. And a newcomer to the U.S. GOM, U.K.-based Harbour Energy, just announced a deal to acquire LLOG Exploration.
BP has seen significant increases in drilling productivity in 2025 and could consider adding a rig in 2026, the company said during its quarterly earnings call November 4.
Crude oil production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is poised for a growth spurt through 2030 even as producers brace for a host of challenges, not least from forecasts that global oil demand will subside in the long term. But while the GOM’s supply accounts for a relatively small portion of total U.S. production, exploration and production companies (E&Ps) haven’t lost interest, in part because the Gulf offers key crude grades in high demand. In today’s RBN blog, we examine what is stoking the renewed interest in developing the GOM.
It’s been a rough few weeks for the offshore wind industry, highlighted by Ørsted’s decision to cancel two high-profile projects in the Northeast: Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2. The industry continues to be plagued by a host of problems around inflation, the supply chain and permitting, leading some developers to write-down losses and question whether their projects remain economically viable. But it hasn’t all been bad news, as other projects have been able to move forward and hit major milestones. In today’s RBN blog, we look at the recent cancellations, some key projects that have been approved or are advancing, and what we’ll be watching for over the next several months.
The price discount for Western Canada’s benchmark heavy crude oil has seen yet another widening in the past few months. Increased pipeline access to the U.S. was believed to be the key to solving this problem in the long term, but more recent fundamental developments surrounding pipeline egress, refinery demand and increasing heavy oil supplies demonstrate that larger discounts can — and do — still happen. This problem could persist for several more months until a better balance is achieved in downstream markets. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the latest drivers of the wider price discounts for Western Canada’s heavy oil.
For several months there’s been a scramble on to consolidate the U.S. landfill gas collection systems, dairy- and hog-farm digesters, and other assets that produce renewable natural gas (RNG) — a drop-in replacement for conventional natural gas that can qualify for federal and state financial incentives. But what really caught everyone’s attention was BP’s announcement a few weeks ago that it would acquire Archaea Energy, a Houston-based company with more than a dozen RNG projects in operation and many more under development, in a deal valued at $4.1 billion. That’s big bucks in the biogas space. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the BP/Archaea deal and other recent acquisitions of RNG assets, as well as what’s driving the surging interest in RNG.
Motor gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel need to be delivered in large volumes to every major metropolis in the U.S. While most big cities are well-served, some by multiple pipelines or a combination of pipelines and barges, others are more isolated and susceptible to supply interruption. Nashville, the home of country music, is one such place; so are Chattanooga and Knoxville to its east. All three Tennessee cities depend heavily on stub lines off the Colonial and Plantation refined-products pipeline systems as they work their way from the Gulf Coast to the Mid-Atlantic states. When supplies on these pipes are interrupted — and they have been from time to time — these cities can experience shortages and price spikes, and be forced to turn to trucked-in volumes from Memphis and elsewhere. Today, we discuss a supply alternative now under development that will pipe motor fuels south from BP’s Whiting refinery in northwestern Indiana to a proposed Buckeye Partners storage and distribution terminal just west of Nashville.
