Sharp Drop in U.S. Crude Oil Inventories, Eskom Power Plant Rejected: Your Daily Energy News

News highlights gathered by Industrial Info and IIR Energy (Sugar Land, Texas) dealing with the energy markets.

TERMINALS
U.S. Crude Oil Inventories Fall Sharply - U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell sharply last week as net imports dropped to a record low amid a jump in exports to a near two-year high, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday. U.S. crude oil stocks fell by 9.3 million barrels last week to 415.4 million barrels, the EIA said. U.S. crude exports rose by 2.53 million barrels per day (BBL/d) to 5.28 million BBL/d, the highest level since December 2023. Net U.S. crude oil imports fell by 3.11 million BBL/d, hitting their lowest level on record going back to 2021. Gasoline stocks fell by 2.3 million barrels in the week to 217.6 million barrels, the EIA said, while distillate stockpiles, rose by 4 million barrels in the week to 124.7 million barrels. (Reuters)

POWER
South African Court Annuls Permit for Large Eskom Gas-Fired Power Plant - One of South Africa's top courts on Wednesday annulled a government permit allowing state utility Eskom (Sandton) to build a large power plant burning natural gas, saying there had not been proper public consultation. The 3,000-megawatt plant in the east coast port city of Richards Bay is part of government plans to bolster the country's generation capacity after years of electricity blackouts and pivot away from coal. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can learn more by viewing the project report. (Reuters)

PRODUCTION
Trinidad and Tobago Receives Bids on Four of 26 Deepwater Blocks - An auction of deepwater oil and gas exploration and production blocks in Trinidad and Tobago has failed to attract significant interest from foreign investors, with bids submitted for just four of the 26 areas on offer. The bidding round closed on Wednesday with bids from China's CNOOC (Beijing) for three areas and a consortium of smaller energy firms for another block, Trinidad's Ministry of Energy said. (Reuters)

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Energy asset information on power plants, oil refineries and natural gas infrastructure is now more important than ever. A unit of Industrial Info Resources, IIR Energy provides infrastructure information on these assets, as well as real-time tracking of planned and unplanned interruptions affecting the commodity-trading community. We are the number one source for information about power plant outages, refinery turnarounds and midstream natural gas disruptions.

About Industrial Info
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).