Beacon brief: Monday, October 12, 2026

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General License 135 on October 9, authorizing the sale, delivery, offloading or importation of Russian-origin diesel, including into the United States, until April 7, 2027, after President Trump said Russia would supply 300,000 tonnes immediately and up to about 4.8 million tonnes in stages, per Ship & Bunker. UK and EU sanctions remain in force. Russia partially lifted its July diesel export ban on October 10, allowing 500,000 tons abroad at this stage, per TASS via the Kyiv Independent; Russian diesel and gasoil exports had fallen to 190,000 b/d in the third quarter from 850,000 b/d in the first, per Windward citing Vortexa via Al Jazeera. On October 11 a White House official told Axios that the 'energy ceasefire' Trump announced covers only refinery strikes, and that Russia was still considering it.^1,2,3,4

Shell agreed on October 9 to acquire a 30 percent non-operated interest in Equinor's Bay du Nord project in the Flemish Pass basin, about 500 km off Newfoundland and Labrador, leaving Equinor as operator with 70 percent, per Shell and Reuters. The project is planned as a phased subsea development tied back to an FPSO with 160,000 to 175,000 boe/d of gross capacity and first oil expected in 2031, per Shell. Terms were not disclosed. Shell said the project remains pre-FID and must compete for capital in its portfolio; Equinor said the deal supports an investment decision targeted for early 2027.^11,12

Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, at about 8:30 p.m. Central time on October 9 as a Category 2 hurricane with 105 mph winds and was a post-tropical cyclone by 1 a.m., per The New York Times. In its October 10 report the Marine Minerals Administration said operators still had 68.76 percent of Gulf of Mexico oil and 57.44 percent of gas production shut in, down from 71.51 and 58.84 percent a day earlier, with crews off 113 of 371 staffed platforms, from 129, and eight of 11 non-dynamically positioned rigs, per Reuters. The same day the Energy Department authorized an emergency exchange of up to 4 million barrels of Strategic Petroleum Reserve crude, up to 2 million each to ExxonMobil and BP America, to be repaid with premium barrels in 2027; it said ExxonMobil's exchange speeds deliveries of SPR crude it had already been awarded.^6,5,7

The fully laden Panama-flagged crude supertanker GEM NO.2 caught fire after an unknown projectile struck it at anchor about 13 nautical miles west of Al Jazeera on the UAE coast on October 9, outside the Hormuz area, per UKMTO and maritime security sources cited by Reuters; the fire was put out, and damage and crew status were unknown. On October 10 Iran's Revolutionary Guards said an unnamed crude supertanker exploded and caught fire after hitting a naval mine while leaving the Strait of Hormuz by an 'unauthorized route' with its navigation systems switched off, per Iranian state media via Reuters and Shafaq News. No vessel name, flag or independent confirmation had been published. Kpler data cited by Reuters and relayed by Shafaq News showed seven commodity vessels crossed the strait on October 6, the lowest daily total since July 23.^8,9,10

The American Petroleum Institute published the 17th edition of Spec 5B, the standard for threading, gauging and thread inspection of casing, tubing and line pipe connections, per World Oil on October 7. It adds requirements to validate optical, laser and other contactless thread measurement systems, revises buttress tooth thickness gauges and their tolerances, expands guidance on thread ovality and standoff, clarifies calibration and recordkeeping, and removes obsolete line pipe ring and plug gauge provisions. Mechanical gauging remains the governing method when alternative measurements are disputed. World Oil did not report an effective date.¹³