Beacon brief: Tuesday, September 29, 2026

Russia's ban on diesel exports by producers expires on September 30, and an extension to the end of October was still going through the approval procedure on Monday, per TASS citing a source; exports by non-producers stay banned to January 31, 2027. Overnight into September 28, Ukraine's SBU said its drones hit four fuel depots in Krasnodar Krai, including Edelweiss-95 and Din-Yug-Oil at Novotitarovskaya and Lukoil-Yugnefteprodukt at Pavlovskaya, and Zelensky confirmed SBU strikes on oil facilities in the region; Russian outlet Astra separately identified the burning Edelweiss-95 depot, a 4,500 cubic meter wholesale diesel and gasoline site, per Kyiv Post. In Washington, Trump told Fox News on September 27 that the administration is looking very seriously at a US diesel export ban, per Bloomberg via Business Standard, and Reuters reports the Brent premium over WTI reached its highest since May for the third time in four sessions as traders price lower US refinery runs.¹

TC Energy's Columbia Gas Transmission lifted the force majeure on the Mountaineer XPress on Sunday, September 27, three days after crews found a leak on Line 100 at the Saunders Creek Regulator Station in West Virginia, per Reuters via Oil & Gas 360. Reuters puts the outage at 1.4 to 1.8 Bcf/d and says flows are still rebuilding; LSEG estimated Lower 48 output would fall to a near seven-month low of 107.5 Bcf/d on Monday, partly on the pipeline work. October NYMEX gas expired at $3.00, down 19.6 cents or 6.1 percent on its last day, per Reuters and NGI, and next-day gas in New York fell below $1, the lowest since 2020, over a stormy weekend. Reuters describes the trigger only as a mechanical issue; no failed component has been disclosed in the sources Beacon read.²

Libya's NOC said on September 27 that the first refining units at the Zawiya refinery had restarted after Valve No. 7 was reopened and pumping resumed on the main Sharara to Zawiya pipeline, with technical teams working to stabilize flows to the refinery and export terminals, per Reuters via TradingView and CGTN. NOC's chairman said on September 28 that Sharara is producing more than 300,000 barrels a day, per Newsquawk; Beacon found no second source for that figure. No settlement of the Petroleum Facilities Guard grievances behind the week-long closure has been reported.³

Saudi Aramco has hired Evercore to advise on a restructuring that would create a standalone gas division and could lead to new investment, an IPO or a minority listing valuing the business above $100 billion, people familiar told Bloomberg; Aramco and Evercore declined to comment and the plans could change. Boston Consulting Group advised the split under the name Project Gamma. Growth in the unit centers on Jafurah, where Aramco is investing more than $100 billion in unconventional gas, and Aramco expects gas output to rise about 80 percent over the decade to 2030, adding up to $15 billion of operating cash flow, per Bloomberg. Aramco is separately working to sell as much as $35 billion of assets, including a stake in its oil export and storage terminals.⁴

Comstock Resources and Azerbaijan's SOCAR signed a framework agreement on September 28 advancing SOCAR's planned $1.65 billion investment in Comstock's Haynesville shale assets, with a definitive purchase and sale agreement expected by October 31 and closing targeted by year-end, per World Oil. The companies will also explore SOCAR marketing gas attributable to Comstock's Haynesville interest as LNG outside the US, evaluating offtake counterparties, pricing structures and regulatory requirements.⁵

TotalEnergies told investors on September 28 it plans net investments of $14 billion to $17 billion a year over 2027 to 2032, confirmed energy production growth of about 4 percent a year to 2030, and said its oil and gas portfolio, with a proven reserve life above 12 years and projects in Namibia, Nigeria, Libya, Malaysia, Mozambique and Papua New Guinea, supports a production plateau around 3 million barrels of oil equivalent a day until 2035. The board adopted a policy to raise the dividend by more than 5 percent a year for 2026 to 2030, per TotalEnergies.⁶

The European Commission plans to propose postponing the entry into force of the EU methane regulation, a Commission spokesperson told Reuters on September 28, without giving the length; Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen has said Brussels is exploring a one-year delay of the rules for imported fuels, which are due to apply from January 1, 2027. The move follows calls from governments including France, and from the United States, to pause or roll back the policy, per Reuters via KFGO. EU energy ministers are meeting informally in Dublin this week, and the next formal Energy Council is on October 29 in Luxembourg, per Agence Europe.⁷

PHMSA's Liquid Pipeline Advisory Committee will meet virtually on October 21 to review three proposed rules, per a Federal Register notice published September 22: incorporating the 5th edition of API Std 653 for breakout tanks and allowing risk-based inspection intervals (PHMSA-2025-1271); clarifying that required electrical checks of rectifiers and other cathodic protection equipment on hazardous liquid and CO2 lines may be performed remotely (PHMSA-2026-1550); and a valve rule setting inspection at least once a year, not exceeding 15 months (PHMSA-2026-1554). Written statements for the committee are due October 7, and post-meeting comments by November 20.⁸