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)