THE NUMBER

13x

What GE Vernova is paying for Trench’s forecast 2028 adjusted EBITDA, before synergies.

TODAY’S MENU

LEAD STORY

$9B — GE Vernova buys Trench Group, one of its own suppliers

•   Triton sells Trench, which makes bushings, instrument transformers and coils for 800-plus utilities and hyperscalers at 11 sites. GE Vernova pays half in cash, half in debt.

•   The price is 13x Trench’s forecast 2028 EBITDA on $1.9 billion of revenue at ~36% margins. Backlog and frameworks total ~$5 billion. Close is due late 2027, after regulatory approvals.

THE HEADLINES

OIL

550,000 b/d — The Houthis claim a missile hit on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura

•   Saudi forces say they intercepted three missiles and four drones Tuesday and haven’t confirmed damage. Satellites picked up a fire at the export terminal; a source told Bloomberg it’s out.

•   December WTI settled up 2.9% Wednesday at $102.78. The Houthis also went after Riyadh’s airport and the East-West Pipeline this week. We ran Aramco clearing its Dhahran HQ Oct. 22.

LNG

3 mtpa / 20 years — QatarEnergy buys LNG from Woodside’s Louisiana project

•   Woodside sells FOB from its own share, starting with Train 2 and reaching 3 mtpa when Train 3 starts. The 16.5 mtpa, three-train project is under construction and targets first LNG in 2029.

•   No price was given. Woodside says it builds on its Uniper deal. It’s QatarEnergy’s second U.S. supply deal this month. We ran its 4 mtpa Cheniere purchase Oct. 22.

POWER

$5.1B — DOE closes Alliant’s loans at Treasuries plus 37.5 bp

•   Interstate Power and Light can draw up to $3.5 billion and Wisconsin Power and Light $1.63 billion. Draws cover up to 80% of eligible project costs; all of it matures in May 2056.

•   DOE says the loans back 2.6 GW-plus of new or upgraded capacity, including gas plants and storage, and save customers $1 billion-plus. Draws still need DOE’s environmental review.

POWER

~$4B — EIG and Acwa form Plenum Power to buy and build U.S. plants

•   The agreements are signed. The ~$4 billion of initial equity is a target, and none has been raised yet. Acwa builds and runs the gas, renewable and storage plants; EIG brings capital.

•   EIG’s Blair Thomas says AI demand and a renewables slump from rules, costs and rates make this the time to get in. No first deal, portfolio or ownership split was disclosed.

OIL

$16.3B — Shell’s free cash flow funds a bigger $5 billion buyback

•   Adjusted earnings doubled from a year ago to $10.8 billion. Operating cash flow of $21 billion included $3.4 billion of derivative inflows. Selling Jiffy Lube and Na Kika added $2.7 billion.

•   Net debt fell to $39.7 billion from $41.8 billion despite $6.6 billion of new leases and ARC’s debt. The buyback is up from $4.2 billion and runs to fourth-quarter results.

QUICK HITS

LNG

$8.75–9.25B — Cheniere raises its 2026 EBITDA guide by $850 million

3Q adjusted EBITDA rose 18% to $1.90 billion on 188 cargoes. The dividend rises 12.6% to $0.625, and it bought back $731 million of stock. Corpus Christi Midscale Trains 8 and 9 are 58.6% complete.

DATA CENTERS

$14.65B — Vertiv adds $650 million to its 2026 sales guide

3Q sales rose 61% to $4.31 billion, 55 points of it organic, and organic orders more than doubled. Adjusted operating margin hit 25.2%. We ran its UtilityInnovation close Oct. 27.

MIDSTREAM

300 MMcf/d — DT Midstream sanctions a 20% expansion of Midwestern Gas Transmission

It also sanctioned a lateral to an Indiana power plant and phase two of Guardian’s rebuild. Committed growth projects total $2.4 billion; the 2026 EBITDA guide rises to $1.185–1.225 billion.

UPSTREAM

4.2 Bcfe/d — Antero sets an output record, then curtails for weak local prices

Output rose 23% and adjusted free cash flow hit $215 million. It expects 15–20 Bcfe of 4Q curtailments on weak in-basin prices, and it signed 265 MMcf/d of premium supply deals at Clarington, Ohio.

ALMOST HEADLINES

UPSTREAM  26 leases — TotalEnergies takes 25% of Chevron-operated Gulf exploration blocks; Chevron gets 75% of two Total leases

UPSTREAM  77–180 MMboe — Equinor’s Afrodite appraisal more than doubles the 2008 North Sea find; it is studying a Kvitebjørn tieback

GAS  $1.5B — Trafigura signs a German-guaranteed loan backing a five-year deal to supply SEFE 150 TWh-plus of gas from Nov. 1

LNG  4 x 2.1 mtpa — MARAD approves the deepwater-port license application for ST LNG’s $8.2 billion export project off Texas

MIDSTREAM  1.1 MMbbl/d — Enterprise’s Houston LPG dock expansion and 300 MMcf/d Athena plant both finish this quarter

DATA CENTERS  $64M — New Era sells stock at $2.75 a share; $36 million goes to repay Macquarie’s term loan

THE READING LIST

FINANCIAL TIMES

Microsoft blames data centre delays for lower capital expenditure

LATITUDE MEDIA

The cracks in the AI race for onsite gas power

FINANCIAL TIMES

Venezuela’s oil revival threatened by worker shortage

Sunya stories

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