Economy

This Week in Energy — October 15, 2026

The Tip Desk · This Week in Energy · October 15, 2026 · 2 min read

U.S. distillate inventories fell as refinery utilization increased. Occidental reported partial restoration of curtailed Gulf production, while Gran Tierra’s planned sale awaited regulatory approvals in Colombia and Ecuador.

U.S. distillate fuel oil inventories fell 2.5 million barrels to 102.6 million barrels in the week ended October 9, according to the Energy Information Administration. Refineries operated at 93.5% of operable capacity, up 0.8 percentage points from the preceding week. The inventory draw thus accompanied an increase in refinery utilization; those figures alone do not establish what drove the stock decline.

Natural gas in Lower 48 underground storage increased by 67 billion cubic feet over the same week, reaching 3,567 billion cubic feet on October 9, the EIA reported.

WTI crude at Cushing averaged $100.06 a barrel across the four available trading-day observations from October 9 through October 14, $3.35 above the prior week's average. Brent Europe spot crude averaged $128.08 a barrel over the same available days, $0.45 below the prior week's average. Each preceding-week average covered five observations, so the comparisons reflect different numbers of trading days rather than two complete weeks.

Occidental Petroleum said in an October 13 preliminary earnings update that a third-party gas pipeline constraint and maintenance activities had temporarily curtailed production at certain Gulf facilities in September. Production had been partially restored, and the company expected the remaining affected output to return as the pipeline constraint was resolved. Occidental said total third-quarter production remained within its guidance range, including the downtime. The update contained preliminary estimates subject to completion of its financial reporting process.

Gran Tierra Energy said on October 9 that its planned sale had obtained stockholder approval and the requisite noteholder consents. Regulatory approvals in Colombia and Ecuador and other customary closing conditions remained outstanding. The company continued to target completion around December 31 and said its operations would then focus on Canada and Azerbaijan. Gran Tierra expects to use part of the net cash proceeds for a share repurchase, conditional on completion of the sale; its board will determine the repurchase’s structure, size and terms separately.