• BUSINESS INSIGHTS •
Whether Big Oil will invest in Venezuela is a debate best left for the history books. The massive oil reserves may sound attractive, but the necessary infrastructure dollars, questions about the country’ s stability, plus the quality of the crude will be concerns for potential investors. Elsewhere, oil & gas forecasters paint a mixed picture for 2026, pointing to an oversupply of oil coupled with extra demand for LNG due to declining prices. In the shortterm, the ongoing multitude of project announcements brings opportunities for valve and actuator OEMs.
Oil and Gas – Good News
• By David Sear, Technical English Services
Louisiana LNG, Corpus Christi Train 8 & 9, CP2 phase 1, Rio Grande LNG Train 4 & 5, and Port Arthur phase 2 are just some of the many LNG projects currently under development in the U. S., which attained final investment decision status in 2025. According to the IEA 1, these projects reflect confidence that demand for LNG will expand strongly and further establish the U. S. as the world’ s largest LNG exporter.
In other project news from the U. S., Enterprise and ExxonMobil plan to increase the capacity of the new Bahia pipeline( for natural gas liquids) from 0.6 to 1 million BPD by adding incremental pumping capacity. A 92-mile extension to ExxonMobil’ s Cowboy natural gas processing plant in Eddy County, New Mexico, is also envisaged, as is an additional connection to multiple Enterpriseowned processing facilities in the Delaware Basin.
Moving on to the Arabian Peninsula, where Qatar too continues to invest in its gas and LNG infrastructure, QaterEnergy LNG has awarded an offshore EPCI contract to Saipem and Offshore Oil Engineering Co. Ltd.
With an overall value around USD $ 4 billion, Saipem’ s share amounts to approximately USD $ 3.1 billion. The award is intended to maintain and increase the production capacity of the North Field, the world ' s largest“ non-associated” natural gas field. The contract calls for two compression complexes.
Close by, MEIL Group has secured a USD $ 225.5 million project from the Kuwait Oil Company for the design, construction, and operation of a new gas sweetening and sulphur recovery facility. This advanced facility will process 120 million scfd of gas. Sulphur recovery is set to reach 99.9 % efficiency.
Gas-related activity can also be found in Southeast Asia where PTTEP has awarded two sizable EPC contracts to SLB as part of plans to expand two offshore fields in Malaysia. SLB OneSubsea will deliver comprehensive subsea production systems for several deepwater gas fields plus Malaysia’ s first deepwater oil development.
Meanwhile, PETRONAS Carigali Brunei Ltd. has contracted McDermott for what is described as one of the country ' s most significant conventional gas projects. Contract scope includes a subsea production system and associated infrastructure, including umbilicals, risers, and flowlines.
32 Valve World Americas | May 2026 | www. valve-world-americas. com