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Algeria & Morocco: Uneasy Neighbors
...fore GME crosses into Morocco) to the Medgaz jump-off point at Beni Saf (MEES, 22 November 2019). Morocco and Algeria also exchange electricity through three interconnection points. In 2018, Morocco exported 3.9GWh to its neighbor after importing 149.1GWh in 2017. But these numbers pale in co...
Volume: 63Issue: 05Published at Fri, 31 Jan 2020 -
Dow Impairs $1.73bn At Sadara, Eyes Debt Rejig
...odwill impairment and asset-related charges” of $1.733bn in 4Q19 associated with Sadara. The 3.22mn t/y Sadara petchems project was developed at a cost of $20bn. Sadara started up its central cracker in August 2016 and the last of its finished chemicals units a year later (MEES, 18 August 2017)....
Volume: 63Issue: 05Published at Fri, 31 Jan 2020 -
IMF Highlights Kuwait’s Economic Troubles
...ve turned to borrowing in order to fill the budget blackholes, Kuwait’s fractious politics have made this impossible. Unable to get a new debt law through parliament, Kuwait has instead resorted to drawing from its General Reserves Fund since 2017 – a clearly unsustainable strategy. The IMF says th...
Volume: 63Issue: 05Published at Fri, 31 Jan 2020 -
Qatar Trade: Surplus Dips In 2019 As LNG Pricing Pressure Augurs Worse To Come
...Lower energy prices caused Qatar’s trade surplus to dip in 2019. An increasingly well-supplied LNG market points towards a further slide in 2020. Qatar’s economy has proven resilient ever since the onset of the regional blockade in June 2017 (MEES, 9 June 2017) as its hydrocarbon-driven ex...
Volume: 63Issue: 05Published at Fri, 31 Jan 2020 -
Saudi City Of The Future Signs Up For Solar Desal
...Arguably the most ambitious, and certainly the most headline grabbing, element of Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s plans to shakeup Saudi Arabia’s economy is Neom. The futuristic “robot city” on the kingdom’s Red Sea coast comes with a $500bn price tag and was first announced in 2017 (MEES, 27 Oc...
Volume: 63Issue: 05Published at Fri, 31 Jan 2020 -
SEC: Sales Down, Profits Down
...2016 (MEES, 8 January 2016). The utility’s net profits peaked at SR6.91bn ($1.84bn) in 2017, but have since fallen due to changing consumer behavior (see chart). SEC NET PROFITS ($BN) ...
Volume: 63Issue: 05Published at Fri, 31 Jan 2020 -
Saudi PIF Eyes Premier League
...gnate Mike Ashley. The UAE’s Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed al Nahyan failed last year in a bid to purchase the club from Mr Ashley, who put the club up for sale in 2017 (MEES, 31 May 2019). Riyadh has been accused of trying to ‘sportswash’ its human rights record. In December Riyadh hosted the heavyweight bo...
Volume: 63Issue: 05Published at Fri, 31 Jan 2020 -
Tunisia’s Net Energy Imports Hit Record In 2018
...nual price for Brent crude (see chart 4). Net oil import volumes were actually down a touch thanks to a dip in demand from 2017’s record levels. Whilst in gross terms, Tunisia’s spending on energy imports remains well below the $4bn-plus import bills seen in 2012-14 when crude was largely over $10...
Volume: 62Issue: 05Published at Fri, 01 Feb 2019 -
Adnoc Brings Eni, OMV Into Refining Arm Ahead Of Expansion
...e remaining 85,000 b/d is at the Abu Dhabi refinery. Products output in 2017 was 725,000 b/d, of which 512,000 b/d (70%) was exported. Abu Dhabi plans to boost refining capacity by 60% to around 1.5mn b/d by 2025 under its $45bn strategy to turn Ruwais into “the world’s largest integrated re...
Volume: 62Issue: 05Published at Fri, 01 Feb 2019 -
LNG: A Record Year As Qatar & Oman Both Hike Sales
...*Global LNG trade surged to record levels in 2018. The top five global importers alone, all in Asia, collectively took 220.4mn tons, up 13% on 2017’s previous record. Global number two China alone took a whopping 41% more on the back of 46% 2017 gains, pulling further ahead of number three So...
Volume: 62Issue: 05Published at Fri, 01 Feb 2019 -
Qatar 2018 Revenue Surge Finances Renewed Checkbook Diplomacy
...bargo. The Saudi-led embargo was imposed in June 2017 (MEES, 9 June 2017) and so 2018 was its first full calendar-year in force. Economic data shows that Qatar is comfortably weathering the storm, having rejigged a few trade routes to adjust to the new situation. Critical exports of LNG and oil have co...
Volume: 62Issue: 05Published at Fri, 01 Feb 2019 -
Qatar’s Emir On Asian Tour
...pplier to Korea, which imported a record 14.3mn tons from the emirate in 2018. Korea is also Qatar’s largest buyer of the fuel (see p5). The potential downsides of Qatar supplying clients with its own LNG fleet was exposed in June 2017 when its neighbors (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE) imposed an ec...
Volume: 62Issue: 05Published at Fri, 01 Feb 2019 -
Lebanon’s ‘New’ Government Set For Uphill Battle
...d a consortium of Total (40%op), Eni (40%) and Russia’s Novatek (20%) was awarded two exploration blocks (MEES, 15 December 2017). One well, in Block 4, is expected to be drilled this year (MEES, 16 February 2018). The most recent stalemate has already pushed back a planned second bid round in...
Volume: 62Issue: 05Published at Fri, 01 Feb 2019 -
Saudi Arabia Launches Latest Investment Drive
...0bn to the kingdom’s GDP by 2030. That amounts to 41% of 2018 GDP, which data for the first nine months of the year implies will be nearly $775bn. Certainly Saudi Arabia could do with an injection of economic growth. After the economy contracted 0.9% in 2017, it edged up by around 1.7% over the first ni...
Volume: 62Issue: 05Published at Fri, 01 Feb 2019 -
Sabic Reports Higher Profits As It Prepares For Aramco Buy-In
...3mn). Part of Sabic’s internal transformation includes bundling together assets in some of its less strategic businesses. Q4 2018 saw Sabic’s fertilizers businesses transferred to the standalone Sabic Agri-Nutrients Investments subsidiary. The unit, which in 2017 accounted for around 10.5% of total Sa...
Volume: 62Issue: 05Published at Fri, 01 Feb 2019 -
Saudi Eyes Options For Slashing Oil Burning In Power Plants
...The Saudi energy minister’s ambitious plan to vastly reduce the burning of liquids fuels in power plants is a big ask. Can it be done? Saudi Arabia burned just over 900,000 b/d of liquid fuels in its power plants last year, down 7% from the 2017 record (see chart). The volumes involved in...
Volume: 62Issue: 05Published at Fri, 01 Feb 2019 -
Repdo Tenders 1.5gw Of Solar
...Sakaka. The Qurayyat project in the current offering will be built further northeast, near the border with Jordan. The Rafha project in the new tender was previously offered in a tender that was canceled in March 2017 (MEES, 18 January). NEW SAUDI SOLAR TENDER SOURCE: REPDO....
Volume: 62Issue: 05Published at Fri, 01 Feb 2019 -
IMF To Kuwait: Cut Public Wage Bill, Boost Private Sector, Lessen Oil Dependence
...lf monarchies, Kuwait has talked a good game on the need to diversify its economy and increase the role of the private sector. But, as the IMF makes clear, achieving this necessitates reducing the relative attractiveness of public sector employment. Kuwait’s finances improved considerably in 2017 and 20...
Volume: 62Issue: 05Published at Fri, 01 Feb 2019 -
Jordan Plans Tax Hike To Cover Planned 2019 Deficit
...ministration made a big deal of its increased assistance to Jordan, but Mr Trump himself is a wild card and King Abdullah’s opposition to the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in late 2017 increased bilateral tensions. Meanwhile, in the Gulf, Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman has also pl...
Volume: 62Issue: 05Published at Fri, 01 Feb 2019 -
Genel: Kurdish Gas Reprieve
...adline for the Miran GLA is now 31 May. Both were set to expire in February, having already been extended from the initial February 2018 deadline (MEES, 17 February 2017). Genel claims combined “gross mean” gas reserves of 11.4tcf. Conditions included “execution of final agreements on the midstream ga...
Volume: 62Issue: 05Published at Fri, 01 Feb 2019