Velesto to provide drilling rig for Chevron Malaysia's North Malay Basin project. 22 Jul 2026, 07:13 pm The contract will see Velesto provide its Naga 8 drilling rig for Chevron Malaysia's 2026-2028 North Malay Basin full field development campaign. KUALA LUMPUR (July 22): Velesto Energy Bhd (KL:VELESTO) said it has secured a contact worth US$51 million (RM208.4 million) to provide integrated rig, drilling and completion (i-RDC) services for Chevron Malaysia's 2026-2028 North Malay Basin development campaign. The contract was awarded to its wholly-owned subsidiary Velesto Drilling Sdn Bhd by Chevron Malaysia's wholly-owned unit Hess Exploration and Production Malaysia BV, said Velesto in a bourse filing on Wednesday. The contract will see Velesto provide its Naga 8 drilling rig for Chevron Malaysia's 2026-2028 North Malay Basin full field development campaign. The project is expected to begin in August. Chevron Malaysia is a production arrangement contractor of national oil and gas company PETRONAS. This makes Velesto's second i-RDC contract under the North Malay Basin development programme, the company said. "This award reflects the strength of our integrated service offering and our commitment to delivering safe operations and service quality," said Velesto president Megat Zariman Abdul Rahim. Velesto's shares closed 2% higher at 26 sen on Wednesday, with a market capitalisation of RM 2.1 billion. Year to date, the counter is down 5.45%. Edited By S Kanagaraju Why Malaysia's AI Future Depends on Building Capability Artificial intelligence's evolution into a strategic capability hinges on countries building their own AI infrastructure. A recent US export control order suspending access to Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 highlights the risks of depending on foreign technology. Sovereign AI involves controlling core components like energy, data centers, cloud services, foundation models, and applications. Malaysia is uniquely positioned with assets across all these layers, positioning it as a leader in AI innovation and capability.

VTX back in sale talks as Magnolia expands in Giddings. A reported $2.3 billion Delaware Basin process, a completed Haynesville transaction, and a weekend repricing of crude risk. Jul 20, 2026 Quick Update: If you haven't been aware, AFE Leaks has been testing out spending the summer abroad by heading out to one of its favorite locale's, Southeast Asia. Most of the time has been spent in Vietnam with family, but the last couple of days pivoted over to Thailand as AFE Leaks look to wrap things up and visit one of my buddies who's over here at NOW Geoconsultants (they do great geo-steering work so if you need someone let me know). Gotta say, this is my 4th time to Vietnam and 1st to Thailand, and they are far more different than I thought they'd be. Bangkok is some weird combo of NYC and Vegas, with some slight Saigon mixed in. Hot, packed, up all night, and road signs openly soliciting prostitution. The food is great, and it's far more developed than Ho Chi Minh, but TBH enjoy the Vietnam vibe quite a bit more. AFE Leaks'll be hopping over to Tokyo to break up the last part of the trip and reconvening with broader fam, and then back to real Houston life. Summer has been pretty slow on the upstream front, which was the same a year ago, but if the last few days are any indication, AFE Leaks got some things heating up. So hopefully more fodder for articles. On the data side, AFE Leaks has Canada coming in the next few weeks, at least from the well data side. Still looking at options on the cost side. Bloomberg reported Thursday that Vitol is in late-stage talks to sell VTX Energy to a consortium of Carnelian Energy Capital and EnCap Investments at a valuation of about $2.3 billion. An agreement could be signed as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the talks. VTX produces nearly 46,000 boe/d in the Texas Delaware Basin. No signing was announced over the weekend, so this remains an active negotiation rather than a completed transaction. AFE Leaks examined the VTX position in March 2025, when the asset was being marketed around $3 billion. The article reviewed the acreage, production history, drilling program, target mix, water infrastructure and AFE assumptions. The $2.3 billion reported valuation is about 23% below the earlier $3 billion marketing reference. When AFE Leaks reviewed VTX in March 2025, AFE Leaks concluded that the $3 billion price appeared high: modeled pre-tax half-cycle IRRs were only 30-40% under its assumptions, organic production appeared flat to lower after excluding acquired volumes, and a $1/Bbl increase in water-disposal costs could reduce IRR by roughly 8%. The new reported number is directionally closer to that cautious assessment, but it is not a clean validation: the earlier figure was an asking reference, the current talks have not been signed, and the transaction basis, debt, asset mix, production and inventory may differ. Mitsubishi completes Aethon acquisition. Mitsubishi completed its acquisition of Aethon's Haynesville upstream and midstream assets on July 15. The transaction has an enterprise value of about $7.5 billion, consisting of $5.2 billion of equity and approximately $2.33 billion of net interest-bearing debt. The Texas and Louisiana position produces approximately 2.1 Bcf/d and represents the second-largest production position in the Haynesville, according to Mitsubishi. The company has identified LNG exports, U.S. power generation and data-center development among the potential outlets and adjacent businesses for the supply. Magnolia signs $4.06 billion WildFire acquisition. Magnolia Oil & Gas announced Monday that it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire WildFire Energy for approximately $4.06 billion, including debt. The consideration consists of $2.65 billion in cash, 32.2 million Magnolia Class A shares and the assumption of $600 million of WildFire's 7.5% senior notes due 2029. Closing is expected late in the third quarter, subject to customary conditions including antitrust clearance. WildFire adds approximately 810,000 net acres in the Giddings field and second-quarter production of about 53,000 boe/d, including 37,000 Bbl/d of oil. Magnolia's presentation shows pro forma production of 159,000 boe/d, including 79,000 Bbl/d of oil. Management estimates more than $100 million of annual run-rate synergies by year-end 2027 and increased the quarterly dividend 9% to $0.18 per share. AFE Leaks wrote on June 29 that the rumored transaction would test Magnolia's low-leverage, drill-within-cash-flow identity and change the investment case. The signed financing is more balanced than the all-debt sensitivity discussed then: WildFire's owners receive 32.2 million Magnolia shares, while the remaining amount is expected to be funded with cash on hand and a mix of debt and new common equity. The structure reduces - but does not eliminate - the financing question; the longer-term debate remains the value and repeatability of the East Texas Eagle Ford and Austin Chalk inventory. Why this changes Magnolia. The strategic fit and the identity change can both be true. If the acquisition closes, Magnolia's production increases by roughly 50%, and WildFire contributes about one-third of the combined production base. The acquired 810,000 net acres are also larger than Magnolia's pre-deal 562,000-net-acre Giddings position. This is not a bolt-on: the acquired business becomes a major part of the company on day one. Magnolia's appeal was built on low leverage, living within cash flow, moderate organic growth and steadily retiring shares. WildFire moves it toward a larger, acquisition-driven Giddings consolidator and exchanges some of that balance-sheet simplicity for debt and equity issuance. Investors will now be underwriting the quality and repeatability of acquired inventory, integration and whether Magnolia can extend its Giddings operating playbook across WildFire's footprint. The dividend increase supports management's confidence, but it does not erase the thesis shift. That changes who Magnolia is. Elsewhere in the Lower 48. * Federal leasing: The Bureau of Land Management reported $4.1 billion of receipts from second-quarter lease sales covering 389 parcels and 355,456 acres. More than $4 billion came from a May New Mexico and Texas sale covering 74 parcels and 33,530 acres. * Rig count: Baker Hughes counted 588 active U.S. rigs in the week ended July 17, up seven for a fifth consecutive weekly increase and the highest total since April 2025. Oil-directed rigs accounted for the entire increase, rising seven to 452, while gas rigs held at 126. The Permian added three rigs to 259, and the total U.S. count stood 44 rigs above the year-earlier level. * SM Energy pricing: SM reported second-quarter realized prices before derivative settlements of $96.85/Bbl for oil, $0.17/Mcf for natural gas and $24.69/Bbl for NGLs. Including derivative settlements, the reported prices were $80.62/Bbl, $1.54/Mcf and $24.83/Bbl, respectively. * Chevron workover fleet: Ranger Energy Services signed a contract with Chevron subsidiary Hess for three additional ECHO hybrid double-electric workover rigs. Deliveries are expected in 2027. * Permian gas takeaway: Energy Transfer petitioned FERC to set rates and terms of service for the first 1.5 Bcf/d phase of its Hugh Brinson Pipeline, as Waha prices continued to respond to new takeaway capacity. * Chaco leasing review: BLM opened a public comment period, closing July 29, on whether to retain the 10-mile federal leasing buffer around Chaco Culture National Historical Park, reduce it to five miles or revoke it entirely - a decision covering approximately 336,404 withdrawn acres. Weekend market check. Corporate news out of the Lower 48 was light over the weekend, but Magnolia's Monday announcement added a signed $4.06 billion transaction to the tape. The other material change was in the commodity backdrop. The United States and Iran exchanged another round of strikes over the weekend, while attacks and restrictions continued to disrupt traffic around the Strait of Hormuz. Reuters reported that four vessels crossed the strait on Sunday, down from eight on Saturday, and that no visible LNG tankers had transited since Thursday. Brent traded above $90/Bbl and WTI reached $84.68/Bbl in early Monday trading before easing. In the later Bloomberg snapshot supplied for this update, WTI was $82.08/Bbl, Brent was $88.16/Bbl and Henry Hub was $2.85/MMBtu. The $6.08/Bbl Brent-WTI spread captures the split: global crude retained a geopolitical premium while U.S. gas remained below $3. That does not change the transaction thesis. It sharpens the contrast between the oil-weighted Delaware process and Mitsubishi's gas-heavy Haynesville purchase, where the strategic case rests on LNG, power demand and data-center load rather than the current Henry Hub strip alone. Sources. Hundreds of paid subscribers Cost intelligence for upstream oil and gas. Well costs, operator benchmarks, development economics, public-company disclosures, API access, and AI-native research workflows.

Chevron's (CVX) production growth remains strong despite market headwinds. Published on may 31, 2026 at 11:15 pm by vardah gill in news. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) ranks among the world's largest energy companies, with operations that span the full energy value chain. The company produces oil and natural gas, operates pipeline networks, and runs refining and chemical businesses across multiple markets. Managing a business of that scale involves many moving parts, including hedging activities designed to reduce exposure to swings in commodity prices. Those strategies can help over the long term, but their impact does not always line up neatly with quarterly earnings results. That was the case in the first quarter, when Chevron's hedging activities reduced earnings by $2.9 billion. While the company expects that impact to reverse in future periods, the short-term effect was that first-quarter results may have appeared weaker than the underlying business performance suggested. Beneath the earnings figures, production trends painted a more encouraging picture. Chevron increased output during the quarter, supported in part by its acquisition of Hess. Another notable highlight came from the Permian Basin, where production exceeded one million barrels per day for the fifth consecutive quarter. Management's primary focus in the region remains generating strong cash flow, though the company has indicated it could increase production if needed. With the Hess integration still underway and already contributing to higher output, expanding Permian production was not a major priority. Even so, Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) delivered strong growth. Global production rose 15% from a year earlier, while U.S. production climbed 24%. The gains came despite ongoing conflict in the Middle East, demonstrating the resilience of the company's operations. As Hess becomes fully integrated into Chevron's portfolio, the company could still have additional opportunities to grow production in the years ahead. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of CVX as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than CVX and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.