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Now, let’s look at two pieces of energy news from the past week.
Shangyou Nie
Editor, Well Read
Brent Shoots Above $80 per Barrel, Despite OPEC+ Agreement to Increase Production
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The Brent oil price increased above $80 per barrel on Monday, following the United States and Israel’s bombing of Iran last Saturday. On Sunday, OPEC+ held a previously scheduled meeting and agreed to increase oil production by 206,000 barrels per day. That did not calm the oil market as shipping is disrupted across the Strait of Hormuz.
Oil price hike:
The current Brent price is at its highest level in the past four years.
On Monday alone, the Brent price rose by 8 percent, according to the Financial Times. It had already risen more than 30 percent since the start of 2026.
Banks raised their Q2 2026 oil price from $62/barrel to $80/barrel.
After the attack, the amount of oil shipments across the strait went to virtually zero.
According to an estimate by Rystad, as much as 15 million barrels per day, or about 15 percent of global demand, could be prevented from reaching the global oil market because of these supply chain issues.
According to the IEA, only about 4 million barrels per day from the Persian Gulf could be redirected through oil pipelines to ports in the Red Sea or Oman to reach the global market.
Some oil and LNG tankers from the Persian Gulf turned back from trying to sail across the strait, according to Kpler.
Iran has retaliated at targets in multiple major oil-producing countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait.
Oil production has been shut in for some fields in Iraq, Kurdistan, and other countries in the Middle East.
Many countries could be forced to open their strategic reserves.
OPEC+ decides to increase production:
On Sunday, 1 March, eight leading OPEC+ countries held a previously scheduled virtual meeting.
According to an OPEC+ official press release, they agreed to increase crude production by 206,000 barrels per day—much more than the 137,000 barrels per day previously expected.
OPEC+ said it made the decision “In view of a steady global economic outlook and current healthy market fundamentals.”
The biggest production increase will come from Saudi Arabia and Russia, at 62,000 barrels per day each, followed by Iraq (26,000), the United Arab Emirates (18,000), Kuwait (16,000), Kazakhstan (10,000), Algeria (6,000), and Oman (5,000).
This new increase will help unwind the 1.65 million barrels per day voluntary decrease installed in April 2023.
What to watch:
How long will the fighting continue in Iran and the Middle East? And how many countries could be pulled into the war?
OPEC+ will hold its next meeting on 5 April 2026.
How will LNG prices and trade volumes be affected as Qatar-sourced LNG has to travel through the Strait of Hormuz?
Join The Career Series webinar on 5 March at 12 PM CST to hear Jamie Villarreal of BPX Energy share insider insight into how interview decisions are really made — and how you can stand out.
TotalEnergies Teams Up with Google to Build Data Centers
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French major TotalEnergies signed two 15-year Power Purchase Agreements to deliver 1 gigawatt of solar capacity to power Google’s data centers in Texas. TotalEnergies also has power supply agreements in California and on the Atlantic coast, expanding its energy footprint beyond traditional oil and gas in the United States.
About the latest PPA:
The PPAs are for 15 years.
Power will be generated by two solar sites located to the north and west of Dallas—805 million megawatts in Wichita and 195 million megawatts in Mustang Creek.
Construction for these sites will start in Q2.
Total’s other U.S. PPAs:
According to TotalEnergies, these PPAs add to the company’s global power supply agreements with 14 other big customers, including Amazon, Airbus, Microsoft, Merck, Orange, and Sasol.
As of October 2025, TotalEnergies has 32 gigawatts of installed gross renewable electricity generation capacity around the world.
Of this, 10 gigawatts are from onshore wind, solar, and battery storage in the United States. These include:
1.2 gigawatts signed with Clearway in California
5 gigawatts in the ERCOT market in Texas
400 megawatts in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) market
Total aims to reach 100 terrawatt hours of net electricity production by 2030.
What they’re saying:
“We are pleased to sign these agreements to supply renewable electricity to Google in Texas, representing the largest renewable PPA volume ever signed by TotalEnergies in the United States,” said Marc-Antoine Pignon, vice president of renewables U.S. for TotalEnergies.
“This highlights TotalEnergies’ strategy to deliver tailored renewable energy solutions that support the decarbonization goals of digital players, particularly data centers,” Pignon added.
Market watch:
TotalEnergies has a market cap of $171 billion.
Its share has been one of the best-performing for the majors, up 28 percent YTD in 2026.
However, during its Q4 2025 analyst call, TotalEnergies announced that it would scale back its stock buyback program, in view of low oil prices at the time and cost challenges, according to the WSJ.
Fellow European major BP decided to suspend its stock buyback program during its Q4 results call, but Shell opted to maintain its share buyback program.
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