Opec Revenue: Sour Crude Shortfall Mitigates Price Crunch

...own no sign of halting so far, with the differential narrowing for the past five consecutive months to $1.21/B in June. This is not just the smallest differential since August 2014, but also the most consistent narrowing since early 2010 (see chart). Although Brent crude prices have weakened to be...

Saudi Crude Exports Lowest Since 2014 As Oil Burning Ramps Up

...Saudi crude oil exports averaged 6.924mn b/d in May, their lowest level since October 2014 and down 82,000 b/d from April. This comes as crude burning rose by 180,000 b/d to 604,000 b/d in line with seasonal trends (see below for full data). With burning set to have risen further in June an...

Gulf Bond Issues To Set New Highs As Cash Crunch Continues

...ound $60bn annually in 2013 and 2014, $70bn in 2015 and $78bn last year. If the current trends continue, bonds could overtake loans this year. This would be significant for a region traditionally dominated by relationship-driven bank lending. Diversifying funding sources would also help to si...

Iran’s Budget Deficit Soars In 2016-17

...VENUE FIGURES (IR TRN)   2016-17 vs 2015-16  2015-16 vs 2014-16  2014...

Iraq: Record Products Imports Eat Into Crude Export Earnings

...maximize the proportion of their crude output refined domestically in order to maximize revenue, Iraq saw a mere 8% of its crude output refined domestically in April and May, the lowest figure on record. Refinery output nosedived in June 2014 when Islamic State (IS) captured the 310,000 b/d Ba...

Moroccan Refiner Samir Fails To Clinch Crude Deal

...mains in doubt. Although an expansion of the plant’s capacity from 120,000 b/d was completed in 2012, it has reached a peak throughput of only 167,000 b/d in March 2014, before stuttering to a halt in August 2015. The last recorded Mohammedia throughput on the Jodi database is 113,000 b/d for July 2015....

Oman To Add 4.8GW To Grid By 2022 As Electricity Demand Forecast To Rise 74%

...ports – although trading is possible by 2022. OPWP joined the GCCIA in December 2014 and envisages “tangible benefits to Oman both for planning and operations.” The company hopes to pilot electricity trading with other GCC states this year and to begin spot market trading in the MIS system in 20...

Iraqi Political Deadlock Exacerbated Following Ministerial Resignations

...vel by Kurds both for cutting off the region’s budget payments in January 2014 and his repeated claims that Kurdistan sponsors Sunni Arab terrorist groups. The fact that the Kurdish parties closest to Baghdad are willing to reach out to him reflects poorly on their view of Mr ‘Abadi’s prospects. Ku...

Apicorp And Bahri Plan $1.5bn Saudi VLCC Shipping Fund

...versified and investment-led economy. “This fund will not only reduce Saudi Arabia’s dependence on external crude carriers, but also its earnings will be reinvested in the local economy,” says Mr Mufadhi. BAHRI/ARAMCO DEAL Bahri took over Saudi Aramco’s Vela shipping unit in 2014, in an ag...

GCC Bonds’ Bumper Year: 1H16 Surpasses All Previous Full-Year Historic Highs

...Saudi Arabia’s SAMA for whom net foreign reserves dropped from a peak of $732bn in August 2014 to $581bn at end-April 2016, where it remained in May (see p20). The kingdom’s budget deficit soared from around $14.4bn in 2014 to a record $98bn last year (MEES, 8 January), and it has budgeted fo...

Algeria’s Economy: Sinking Fast Despite ‘Titanic Efforts’

...Algeria has been rapidly drawing down its foreign currency reserves: from $194bn at the start of July 2014, just before oil prices started to slide, to $143bn at the end of 2015 and $137bn at the end of May (see chart). Speaking on 15 June, Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said that he ex...

Saudi Monetary Authority Reserves Rise For First Time Since 2014 In May (Net Foreign Assets, $Bn End Period)

Genel Ramps Up KRG Output As Exports Rise

...liver in excess of 100,000 b/d net to Genel on peak days in the January-June period from its working interest in the Taq Taq and Tawke fields. The figure compares with average net output from the Kurdish fields of 69,000 b/d in 2014. The recent production boost, Genel says, helped the Kurdistan Re...

Iraq: Key Oil Production & Export Data, 2q 2015 (‘000 B/D)

...IRAQ: KEY OIL PRODUCTION & EXPORT DATA, 2Q 2015 (‘000 B/D)   2Q15 vs1Q15 vs2Q14 1Q15 2014 2013 2012 Ju...

Iran Boosts Salman Output

...e field has 46 oil wells, and 10 water injection wells. This boost in Salman oil output comes as part of a $2bn Iranian Oil Ministry plan announced in 2014 aimed at boosting offshore production. The ministry has long made expediting the development of the fields Iran shares with its ne...

Partex Sees Adco Opportunity As BP, Shell Shun Terms

...s a partnership of Adnoc with 60%, Total, BP, Shell and ExxonMobil each with 9.5% and Partex with 2%. When the concession expired in January 2014, Adnoc qualified its four oil Major ex-partners but excluded Partex, as it tried to expand participation to bring in more Asian companies and other European an...

Kuwait Energy Gets Iraq Reserve Boost, Output Up

...oil equivalent (boe) at end-2014. Block 9 alone accounts for 507.5mn boe. KEC posted record annual working interest production of 25,252 b/d for 2014, up 8% on 2013. Output rose further to 26,820 b/d in Q1 this year (see table) but likely dipped in Q2 with production at the firm’s Block 5 license in...

Israel: New Gas Law

...w of 1952 has few requirements of the operator: several only have a 5% stake, the minimum under current rules (see table, MEES, 5 December 2014). A common pattern of recent years has been for firms with little-to-no oil experience to snap up the rights to offshore licences in the hope that the 2009 an...

India’s Key Crude Suppliers 2009-15*: Iran Slides From Second To Seventh Spot (‘000 B/D)

...INDIA’S KEY CRUDE SUPPLIERS 2009-15*: IRAN SLIDES FROM SECOND TO SEVENTH SPOT (‘000 B/D)   2014-15 rank vs13-14 vs09-10 2013-14 20...

Egypt Petchems Plans Continue To Expand As Tahrir Gets Styrene Plant

...ocess units, while Italy’s Tecnimont and Holland’s Archirodon are building offsites and utilities (MEES, 4 April 2014). ECHEM PROJECTS State firm Echem is currently building three petchems plants. Its Ethydco ethylene derivatives unit has awarded contracts to Japan’s Toyo Engineering and the En...