US crude stocks and emergency reserves were in focus this week. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell to 283 million barrels, while the IEA announced a further 100 million barrel release (OilPrice.com, OilPrice.com). Hurricane Isaias took about 1.46 million barrels per day of US Gulf oil production offline (OilPrice.com). In metals, the European Commission named 46 critical raw material projects and copper prices rose on a Chilean mine strike (Mining Technology, The Northern Miner).
Oil & Gas
- Stocks and emergency releases: The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve held 283 million barrels at the end of September, the lowest since October 1982, according to Reuters (OilPrice.com). The IEA said it would release another 100 million barrels of diesel, gasoline and crude oil (OilPrice.com), and Executive Director Fatih Birol said member governments supported accelerating the releases announced in March 2026 (Rigzone). The EIA reported commercial crude stocks excluding the SPR at 424.134 million barrels on 2 October, down more than 3 million barrels week on week (Rigzone).
- US production: The EIA said US crude output is on track to average a record 13.8 million barrels per day (OilPrice.com), and Baker Hughes data showed the US rig count rising (OilPrice.com).
- Hurricane Isaias: Shut-ins reached nearly 1.46 million barrels per day, or 71% of US Gulf oil production, up from 185,120 bpd three days earlier (OilPrice.com). The Marine Minerals Administration reported 129 platforms evacuated, or 34.77% of 371 manned platforms (Rigzone).
- Deals and projects: Crescent is buying Devon's Eagle Ford business for $4.2 billion (Rigzone). Eni completed the installation of what it called the world's first purpose-built offshore carbon capture and storage platform for Liverpool Bay (Rigzone). Petronas will raise its dividend to the Malaysian government for 2027 by 19% to $7.8 billion (OilPrice.com).
Metals
- EU critical raw materials: The European Commission selected 46 new Strategic Projects in 16 Member States to improve access to critical raw materials (Mining Technology), including two KGHM copper projects worth more than 9.5 billion zlotys ($3.46 billion) (The Northern Miner).
- Copper: Prices climbed on Thursday as a strike by more than 700 workers at Antofagasta's Centinela mine in Chile raised concerns about production (The Northern Miner). Ivanhoe reported a 19% jump in copper output as Kamoa-Kakula rebounded (The Northern Miner), and FLSmidth received an order worth about DKr360m ($54m) for crushing and grinding equipment for a copper mine expansion in northern Chile (Mining Technology).
- Other projects: Magna Mining approved a C$70 million (US$49 million) restart of its Levack nickel-copper mine near Sudbury, Ontario, targeting commercial production by mid-2028 (The Northern Miner). Elevra Lithium signed a binding agreement to supply spodumene concentrate to LG Energy Solution (Mining Technology).
Data centers: AI & mining
- Leasing and capacity: Cipher extended its Barber Lake data center lease commitments to 20 years (DatacenterDynamics). Bitdeer AI signed a 10-year, 67MW AI cloud agreement in Malaysia (DatacenterDynamics), and Bitdeer expanded its Soluna mining agreement to 35MW (DatacenterDynamics). Digital Realty began work on the 24MW KIX15 data center in Osaka (DatacenterDynamics).
- New US projects: An Anthropic-linked $366m data center project was filed in Cedar Creek, Texas (DatacenterDynamics), and ThisWay Global plans a 73MW AI and HPC facility in Bryan, Texas (DatacenterDynamics).
- Headwinds: Firmus and PLDT pulled data center IPOs, and development was paused in parts of Asia-Pacific (Data Center Knowledge). A council in northern Italy rejected an 80MW data center, citing its environmental policy (DatacenterDynamics).
Economy: CIS
- Inflation: Kazakhstan's annual inflation slowed to 9.3% in September (Trend). Rosstat reported Russia's annual inflation at 6.35% in September, up from 6.33% in August (Kommersant).
- Budgets and trade: Russia's Finance Ministry recorded a monthly budget surplus for the second consecutive month (Kommersant). Kyrgyzstan's budget revenues exceeded target by $260 million in nine months (Trend). Kazakhstan's imports rose 5.5% as purchases of consumer goods declined (Trend), and Azerbaijan raised oil exports to Greece by 22% (Trend).