1. Saudi Opens Iraqi Consulate

    ...Saudi Arabia has reopened a consulate in Iraq for the first time since 1990 as Riyadh advanced efforts to warm ties with Baghdad. Indications that Saudi Arabia was adopting a more conciliatory approach towards Iraq emerged in 2017 as the kingdom sought to woo its neighbor away from regional ri...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 14
    Published at Fri, 05 Apr 2019
  2. Aramco: Riyadh Refinery Deasphalter Award

    ...ut down in early 2017 for the tie-in of units including a new naphtha splitter and diesel hydrotreater and the debottlenecking of a hydrocracker as part of a clean fuels project to reduce the sulfur content of produced fuels to less than 10ppm (MEES, 3 March 2017). Refiners across the GCC are in...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 14
    Published at Fri, 05 Apr 2019
  3. Iraq Exports Slump In March

    ...Iraqi crude exports plummeted 244,000 b/d in March to their lowest levels since October due to Opec+ compliance cuts (see p9) as well as weather-related issues. Southern exports slumped to 3.255mn b/d – the lowest since September 2017 – after reported flooding hampered output from the 24...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 14
    Published at Fri, 05 Apr 2019
  4. Brazil Output Down

    ...Key non-Opec producer Brazil saw output fall to 2.40mn b/d in February, the lowest level in almost three years, a combination of delayed start-ups at key offshore fields and declining output at mature onshore acreage. 2018 output averaged 2.58mn b/d, down from 2017’s record 2.62mn b/d (ME...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 14
    Published at Fri, 05 Apr 2019
  5. Egypt Gas Market Liberalization: Set For Take-Off?

    ...Cairo in 2017 passed a law enabling the liberalization of Egypt’s gas transmission and distribution grid. Private firms would, for a fee, be able to make use of infrastructure that will remain under the ownership of state firm Gasco. With 18 firms recently awarded licenses, and supposedly-im...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 14
    Published at Fri, 05 Apr 2019
  6. Opec Output Slumps To 4-Year Low

    ...location. The two exceptions are the UAE and Nigeria. UAE output fell 30,000 b/d in March to 3.01mn b/d, putting it 60,000 b/d below its allocated figure – a notable reversal from the 2017-18 round of cuts when the UAE was a laggard. Meanwhile Nigerian output rose further to an 11-month high of 1....

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 14
    Published at Fri, 05 Apr 2019
  7. Aramco Bond Prospectus Sheds Light On Downstream Operations

    ...en lower than prices at which the company would otherwise have sold such refined products.” Because of subsidies, Aramco’s downstream business made a loss before 2017. But from 1 January 2017 Riyadh “implemented an equalization mechanism” to compensate Aramco for losses on sales of crude, ke...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 14
    Published at Fri, 05 Apr 2019
  8. Saudi Aramco’s Inner Workings: Bond Prospectus Lifts The Lid

    ...erations. Upstream is Saudi Aramco’s bread and butter. And the prospectus states that “As at 31 December 2017, the Company’s proved liquids reserves were more than five times the combined proved liquids reserves of the Five Major IOCs.” The firm is also increasingly focused on expanding its downstream fo...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 14
    Published at Fri, 05 Apr 2019
  9. Lebanon Kicks Off Bidding

    ...dders. Whilst some Arab countries have tentatively reached out to Israel in recent months (MEES, 29 March), and Jordan and Egypt have full diplomatic relations with Israel, Lebanon-Israel ties remain in the deep freeze. Lebanon’s first bid round took several years to close (MEES, 20 October 2017), an...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 14
    Published at Fri, 05 Apr 2019
  10. Soco Plans Egypt Expansion After $207mn Merlon Purchase

    ...s been on the slide. Production from the concession’s 10 fields averaged 5,692 b/d in Q1 down from 7,900 b/d for 2017. But Soco has ambitious plans to hike output to 15,000 b/d by 2023. The initial focus will be on “offsetting the recent decline and then growing producing through additional drilling an...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 14
    Published at Fri, 05 Apr 2019
  11. Egypt Cuts Receivables Bill Amid Arbitration Threat

    ...art-up of its 2017 South Disouq discovery in the onshore Nile Delta. SDX says by June it “will complete construction of the central processing facility, the 10km export pipeline” and tie-ins for the four wells drilled at the field. It’s targeting first gas by the middle of this year, plateauing at 50...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 14
    Published at Fri, 05 Apr 2019
  12. Libya: Key BP/Eni And Total Deals Yet To Materialize

    ...the time, saying it was eying output of around 400,000 b/d by end-2020, while Waha boss Ahmed Ammar in late-2017 talked of eventually reaching 600,000 b/d (MEES, 1 December 2017). But the other partners to the JV (Hess: 8.16%, ConocoPhillips: 16.33%) have shied away from making any investment co...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 14
    Published at Fri, 05 Apr 2019
  13. Bahrain Brings Chevron Aboard Its Unconventional Revolution

    ...evron, Total, Exxon.” Speaking about development of the KAB basin in January, the minister said that “we are drilling a few test wells. It’s onshore, with a chunk offshore, and we are drilling onshore now into this formation. We flowed oil in 2017… from the first test well. Now we are drilling wells to...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 14
    Published at Fri, 05 Apr 2019