2025 was a challenging year for the oil and gas industry, with sustained low oil prices, and saw thousands of layoffs. Here is the list of top ten industry news events from the past year, selected using three criteria:
1. Whether the event is trendsetting
2. Whether it impacts the industry in a major way
3. For mergers and acquisitions, whether the deal is of significant size
No 1. Libya Began Publicly Tendering 22 Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Blocks in March.
This event is the largest oil and gas resource auction in the past decade, and the bidding process is ongoing. It is estimated that these blocks contain nearly 30 billion barrels of oil. According to the Libyan National Oil Corporation, 29 global oil and gas companies have pre-qualified, including six Chinese companies and two Russian companies. European and American giants, including ExxonMobil, Shell, and BP, have already signed investment agreements with the Libyan National Oil Corporation for non-tendered blocks in 2025, attempting to strengthen their bidding position. The industry is watching closely to see how the persistently low oil prices will affect the outcome of this bid round.
No. 2 Diamondback Energy’s CEO Says U.S. Oil Production May Have Peaked.
In May, Travis Stice, Diamondback Energy CEO, stated that US oil production may have peaked. The company subsequently issued a letter to shareholders expressing the same view. Since the U.S. shale revolution in 2008, U.S. crude oil production has been steadily increasing, reaching 14 million barrels per day in Q3 2025.
Including condensate associated with shale gas, U.S. oil production not only surpasses that of Saudi Arabia and Russia but is also close to the combined total of the two countries. Although there are slightly different opinions within the industry regarding when U.S. crude oil production will peak, it is generally believed that Tier 1 drilling inventory is running out. There are indications that U.S. shale oil companies are leveraging their technological and financial strength to seek growth opportunities in the Middle East, Argentina, Turkey, and other parts of the world, in anticipation of a long-term decline in U.S. crude oil production. More importantly, once U.S. shale oil production drops significantly, countries in OPEC+ will regain a dominant position in the global crude oil supply market.
No. 3: Chevron Wins arbitration against ExxonMobil in Hess Acquisition
This 16-month legal dispute was essentially a power struggle between the world’s two largest international oil companies. ExxonMobil tried to prevent Chevron from entering the Stabroek Block in Guyana. Guyana’s daily production exceeds 900,000 barrels, making it a significant force for the global oil market.
Chevron argued that the asset-level “pre-emption rights” were invalid during an acquisition, while ExxonMobil maintained that they remained valid. In July, the ICC ruled in favor of Chevron. Chevron immediately completed its merger with Hess, entering Guyana and partnering with ExxonMobil and CNOOC. Chevron’s market capitalization rose to $300 billion upon entering Guyana, narrowing the gap with the largest company, ExxonMobil ($500 billion), and widening the gap with the third-largest, Shell ($200 billion).
No. 4: TotalEnergies Wins the bid to Join Portuguese Galp Energia in Leading Oil Development and Production in Namibia.
In early 2022, France’s TotalEnergies and Shell made significant breakthroughs in Namibia, discovering several deep-sea oil fields with reserves exceeding one billion barrels. Two years later, Portugal’s Galp announced the discovery of the Mopane Field with more than a billion barrels of reserves. Due to a lack of deepwater field development capabilities, Galp subsequently announced it would sell half of its 80-percent stake and transfer its operator rights.
In December, TotalEnergies became Galp’s partner. A key factor in TotalEnergies’ success was its use of assets as swap currency. After the transaction, Galp will become a minority shareholder in two of TotalEnergies’ blocks in Namibia, and TotalEnergies will pay half of Galp’s exploration and development costs.
TotalEnergies announced that it is actively advancing the development of the Venus field, with a Final Investment Decision expected in 2026. Namibia is expected to become a latest African oil producer between 2029 and 2030. Notably, in early December, a small local company claimed to have found oil in an onshore basin near the Angolan border. Who might become that company’s partner to develop Namibia’s onshore oil and gas resources?
No. 5: Canada Became the Latest LNG Exporter, as Shell starts Production at LNG Canada
In June, Shell and its partners, Petronas, PetroChina, Mitsubishi, and Korea Gas Corporation, launched the LNG Canada project on Canada’s west coast. This made Canada the newest exporter of LNG. Canada can utilize its facilities to ship LNG to Asian countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea.
Previously, due to strong opposition from indigenous communities, Canada had been unable to advance its own LNG export projects. Instead, it has been primarily shipping oil and gas to the U.S. market at significantly discounted prices. With ongoing trade disputes between Canada and the United States, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has been actively promoting transporting oil and gas to the country’s west Pacific coast to reach Asian markets directly. The Canadian government has also announced that it has designated the second phase of the LNG Canada project as a national priority project, aiming to double its LNG production capacity to 28 million tons per year as quickly as possible.
No. 6: Denmark’s Orsted Faces Significant Challenges in Offshore Wind
Leading global offshore wind energy company Orsted is facing numerous challenges, including soaring costs and executive orders to stop work from the Trump administration.
Formerly known as DONG Energy, Orsted rebranded in 2017 and was once considered a model for the global energy transition. Leveraging its expertise in offshore engineering and the advantages of North Sea wind resources, Orsted rose to prominence. By 2021, its market capitalization had surpassed 230 billion Danish kroner ($36 billion USD).
Orsted and other European energy companies invested heavily in offshore wind energy on the U.S. East Coast during the Biden administration, anticipating favorable prospects; however, circumstances changed quickly.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to supply chain disruptions, soaring production costs, and high interest rates. Orsted’s market value plummeted by 75 percent from early 2021 to the end of 2024, even before Trump returned to the White House. On his first day back in the White House, Trump declared war on offshore wind energy, deeming it the most expensive energy source. In 2025, the Trump administration issued “stop work orders” for several offshore wind projects under construction. Orsted was able to resume its wind farm in September with local court intervention. On 24 December, the Trump administration again halted five wind energy projects, including Orsted’s. Besides Europe and China, where else in the world can offshore wind energy survive?
No. 7: The U.S. Government Held its First Offshore Oil and Gas Lease Auction Since 2023.
In December 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held an auction of offshore oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico—its first in two years. Thirty companies participated in the bidding. Ultimately, BP, Chevron, and Australia’s Woodside Energy secured the most high-bid blocks. Through this auction, the U.S. government received $280 million in bidding fees.
The last time the U.S. held an offshore lease auction was in December 2023, which generated $380 million in revenue. The 2025 auction was somewhat subdued in comparison, largely due to persistently low oil prices.
During the three months preceding this auction, the average Brent crude oil price was $65 per barrel. In contrast, during the three months before the previous auction, the average Brent crude oil price was $89 per barrel. Notably, in November 2025, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced a plan to conduct 34 offshore lease sales by 2028, including areas off the coasts of Alaska, California, and the Gulf of Mexico (America), including the west coast of Florida. Environmental, tourism, and fishing organizations have strongly opposed the use of Florida’s waters for oil and gas exploration. The industry is watching closely to see whether the Trump administration will open offshore Florida for oil exploration.
No. 8: Venture Global LNG Won a Major Lawsuit but Lost another.
In August, emerging LNG developer Venture Global LNG unexpectedly defeated LNG giant Shell in an arbitration hearing. Two months later, however, the company lost a similar lawsuit filed by BP.
VG went public in New York in January, hoping to capitalize on Republican support for the oil and gas industry. The IPO not go well, and after losing the lawsuit against BP, VG’s stock price continued to fall, dropping nearly 70 percent by the end of 2025.
Worrisome for shareholders, VG still has several pending lawsuits with European and Asian customers. Like BP and Shell, these long-term LNG contract holders accuse VG of selling LNG on the spot market for an extended period before fulfilling their contracts, infringing on their rights.
No. 9: Chevron Bids for Greek Offshore Blocks
Chevron reportedly submitted bids for two offshore blocks in Greece in September, aiming to enter the Greek market. Since acquiring Noble Energy in 2020, Chevron has focused on natural gas development in the Mediterranean, and this bid is a continuation of its regional strategy.
More importantly, Chevron sought international exploration blocks and investment opportunities worldwide in 2025, including in South America (Brazil, Peru) and the Middle East. The world’s second-largest IOC has also recruited Kevin McLachlan, formerly of Murphy Energy and TotalEnergies, to help turn around its years of underperformance in exploration.
No. 10: BP Makes its Largest Oil Field Discovery in 25 years in Brazil.
BP announced on 4 August that it had made its largest oil and gas discovery in 25 years in the Santos Basin off the coast of Brazil. While the exact size of the field is uncertain, BP stated that the exploration well encountered more than 300 meters of oil-bearing reservoir, with a potential trap area of up to 300 square kilometers. This well is probably the largest exploration discovery globally in 2025. This is very timely good news for BP, as it tries to re-focus on its core strength of oil and gas upstream.