Israel Strikes Cripple Yemen’s Fragmented Power System

...d refined products to the refinery’s storage tanks to supply the domestic market. SOLAR: A RAY OF HOPE  Having suffered through a decade of civil war, many Yemenis have turned to solar PV power for a more stable supply of electricity. Back in 2017 the World Bank estimated around 50-75% of ho...

Algeria Adds Power Capacity

...rea had previously indicated 2025 completion for the project (MEES, 7 January 2021). When awarded in 2014 the target for completion was 2017....

Iran’s New President Pezeshkian: Economy Top Of The Agenda

...at of neighboring countries.   2015’s JCPOA re-kindled foreign interest in Iran’s upstream (MEES, 6 January 2017). But reaching a new deal rests on the outcome of US presidential elections in November. The outlook is more favorable if President Joe Biden, or his replacement on the De...

Egypt Gas Woes Continue As Output Slumps At BP’s Raven

...Egypt gas output is below 5bn cfd for the first time since early 2017. It’s not only top producer Zohr which is in decline, output at BP’s Raven, the country’s number two, has halved over the past 18 months. Egypt’s gas output figures go from bad to worse. Latest oil ministry data has pr...

Egypt Gas Output Continues Decline As Minister Eyes Exploration Surge

...ought online in mid-2024 although MEES understands this will only offset natural declines from the project’s remaining gas fields, with output expected to remain at around 200mn cfd. BP’s WND has also been beset with issues since its Phase-1 Libra and Taurus fields started up in 2017, with both th...

Global LNG: Does The Current Boom Risk Seeding Its Own Downfall?

...tright contraction in demand to 2025 and beyond according to IEA projections.   For China, the IEA predicts that gas demand growth will fall from an average of 11%/year for 2017-21 to somewhat below 5%/year for 2021-25 as, amid high gas prices, “gas-fired generation remains under pressure in the Ch...

Offshore Declines Prevent Qatar From Capitalizing On Opec Exit

...tar’s biggest field is the offshore Al Shaheen field off the north coast, which forms the emirate’s Al Shaheen export grade (28° API, 2.4% Sulfur). The field was previously operated by Denmark’s Maersk under a production sharing agreement (PSA) which expired in 2017. Upon expiry, France’s TotalEnergies re...

Shamaran Expands Kurdistan Presence With Transformative Sarsang Entry

...turned to the region in 2017 when it acquired the minority Sarsang stake as part of its takeover of Denmark’s Maersk Oil. Shamaran says that “the Acquisition is highly accretive and transformative to Shamaran as it grows from a single asset company to a multi-field producer and paves the way for fu...

Iraqi Parliament Seeks To Block NOC Appointments

...iticized the 2017 creation of Dhi Qar Oil Company (DQOC) . CAN INOC DELIVER? With Exxon heading to the exit, Baghdad may sooner or later have to step in and operate the 470,000 b/d WQ-1 field. But whether it has the capacity to manage this on top of the other fields, such as 250,000 b/d Majnoon, is an...

Qatar Crude Exports Remain Firm As Neighbors Make Deep Cuts

...ws. That Qatar has been under an embargo from Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain since June 2017 is an added dimension that won’t be lost on any of its neighbors (MEES, 9 June 2017). The friction between Qatar and Opec’s dominant forces undoubtedly played a key role in Qatar’s 2018 decision to quit Opec (ME...

Tethys Oil Expands In Oman With Extra Southern Block

...opted a similar strategy with blocks 49 and 56. Tethys acquired a 100% interest EPSA for Block 49 as part of Oman’s 2017 bid round, launching a 3D seismic campaign a year later (MEES, 14 December 2018). Per its Q1 report, Tethys says there have been no changes to 2020 plans to commence drilling – the 4,...

Israel Gas Market: Competition Heats Up, Litigation Abounds

...21 to sell the remainder of its current 22% stake (MEES, 30 June 2017). At Leviathan they have 39.66% and 45.34% respectively (see charts). This gives Noble, and especially Delek, a strong incentive to favor sales of gas from Leviathan over Tamar. Noble and Delek collectively have 47% of Tamar, ri...

Taiwan Crude Imports: Total & Mideast Volumes Stay Low

...cluded 236,000 b/d from Saudi Arabia, just above the quarterly low set in 2017. Saudi 1H 2020 volumes of 266,000 b/d were down 10% year-on-year despite record monthly arrivals of 475,000 b/d in February. Given the size of the overall fall in volumes, supplier countries chalking up sizable gains this ye...

Saudi Plans World-Beating $5bn ‘Green Hydrogen’ Project For Neom Future City

...abia’s now-Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman to great fanfare in 2017 with a $500bn price tag (MEES, 27 October 2017). Whether it ever comes close to achieving its grandiose aims is unclear, but there is at least now movement towards developing innovative industries at the site. No-one can accuse Neom of...

Iran Exports: Gas & Petchems Become Key Revenue Streams As Crude Falters

...Since 2018, Iran’s economy has suffered as US sanctions caused Iranian crude and condensate exports to collapse. Oil and gas revenues brought in just $8.9bn for the last Iranian calendar year (March 2019-2020), versus $27.8bn in 2017-2018 – the last year before the renewed sanctions took ef...

Iraq’s Tight Margins Take Toll On Foreign Majors

...Iraq gives some of the tightest margins of any Mena oil producer, and it shows. The largest majors operating in Iraq netted barely 250,000 b/d of crude in 2018 (see table). And that was down from around 350,000 b/d in 2017.  This is largely due to Baghdad’s technical service contracts (TS...

South Korea 2Q19 Crude & Condensate Imports ('000 B/D): Middle East Share Up Quarter-On-Quarter But Still Down On 2017 Levels

Qatar Investments Win Trump Approval

...Qatari Emir Tamim Al Thani can be pleased with the results of this week’s trip to the US, where he received glowing praise from President Donald Trump. The emirate has been assiduously courting support from potential allies since its neighbors imposed an embargo in June 2017 and appears to ha...

Algeria Adding Powergen Capacity, But Big CCGT Progress Piecemeal

...kely a long way down the line: 1.44GW Bellara and 1.38GW Oumache are not mentioned in the new 2018 annual report of lead contractor Korea’s Hyundai E&C, but former Sonelgaz head Muhammad Arkab – now energy minister –said Oumache would be operational by 2020 (MEES, 24 November 2017). Korean contractor Sa...

Egypt Refining Projects Inching Forward As Subsidy Cuts Curb Consumption

...rformance of the refinery, to produce light products including almost 50,000 b/d of low sulfur diesel and 12,000 b/d of reformate, which is a key gasoline blending component. The $4.3bn ERC plant was originally scheduled to start up in first quarter 2017, but construction was delayed and at times halted be...