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Kuwait’s Ailing Emir
...gional level, Emir Sabah’s rule has been characterized by his active role as a mediator in local disputes. Perhaps the most pertinent recent example is his – so far unsuccessful – efforts to broker an agreement between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain since the start of the June 2017 embargo (ME...
Volume: 63Issue: 30Published at Fri, 24 Jul 2020 -
Iran Hikes Capacity At Persian Gulf Star Condensate Splitters
...0,000 b/d and increase gasoline output capacity to 309,000 b/d. With US sanctions choking crude oil exports, gasoline exports represent a critical revenue generator for Tehran. Iranian oil and gas earnings dropped to $8.9bn for the 2019-20 Iranian year (to March 2020), less than a third of 2017-18’s $27...
Volume: 63Issue: 30Published at Fri, 24 Jul 2020 -
Iran Plans Northern Propylene Plant
...at delivers ethylene from crackers near Assaluyeh to a number of polyethylene plants in underdeveloped areas of western Iran (MEES, 21 April 2017). Mr Mohammadi says Iran’s propylene capacity is currently 900,000 t/y and “we are trying to increase this to 3mn t/y.” He told the petroleum mi...
Volume: 63Issue: 30Published at Fri, 24 Jul 2020 -
Adnoc Investment Boost For Petchems-Fuelled Ruwais Plans
...fining and petrochemicals complex” (MEES, 18 May 2018). Under the 2030 strategy, Adnoc will boost refining capacity by 60% to 1.44mn b/d and more than triple petchems capacity to 14.4mn t/y by 2025 (MEES, 1 December 2017). The derivatives park is intended to be “a key enabler of Adnoc Downstream’s 20...
Volume: 63Issue: 30Published at Fri, 24 Jul 2020 -
Saudi Solar: Key 2GW Plant Faces Covid-19 Delays
...VELOPMENT Saudi Arabia’s ambitious plans for 27.3GW of renewable energy capacity by 2024 and 58.7GW by 2030 rest on a two-track system of development. The first track is overseen by the Ministry of Energy’s Renewable Energy Project Development Office (Repdo), which was established in 2017 (MEES, 10 Fe...
Volume: 63Issue: 30Published at Fri, 24 Jul 2020 -
Egypt’s Midor Refinery: Force Majeure Sets Back Expansion
...5,000 b/d in early 2017 with the addition of a pre-flash tower. These gains appear to be included in the 60,000 b/d increase to primary distillation capacity claimed for the ongoing work given that Midor equates the 60,000 b/d increase to a 60% hike, whilst key contractor Technip gives 100,000 b/d and 16...
Volume: 63Issue: 30Published at Fri, 24 Jul 2020 -
Thailand LNG Imports: Qatar Threatened By Malaysia, USA
...-year. But Qatar has rapidly been losing market share. From 60% in 2017, Qatar’s share fell to 46% in 2018, 38% in 2019 and 31% in 1H 2020. And it was just 23.4% for Q2, the second lowest quarterly figure since 2013. *Also for only the second time in seven years, Qatar lost top supplier sp...
Volume: 63Issue: 30Published at Fri, 24 Jul 2020 -
Israel Bidding: Geopolitical Handicap Stymies Major Interest
...s five more Israel exploration blocks from the 2017 bid round. Whilst no-one can doubt the firm’s ambitions – it recently agreed to pay up to $850mn for the upstream assets of Italy’s Edison (MEES, 5 July) – it is unlikely to have spare cash for major exploration efforts anytime soon. So no ma...
Volume: 62Issue: 30Published at Fri, 26 Jul 2019 -
Hormuz Escalation Spooks Major Asian Economies
...y of 420,000 b/d this year. The US has been making huge inroads into the Korean market, with volumes breaking records for the past five consecutive quarters. Having averaged just 36,000 b/d over the course of 2017, 2Q 2019 volumes averaged a massive 325,000 b/d. This was sufficient to place the US...
Volume: 62Issue: 30Published at Fri, 26 Jul 2019 -
Hormuz Upheaval Spells Uncertainty For Fujairah Expansion Plans
...jairah (MEES, 19 July), and sales had already slipped since July 2017 when Qatar-vessels were banned. ADNOC PLANS FUJAIRAH TRADE BOOM Fujairah is central to Abu Dhabi state firm Adnoc’s plans to develop into a trading powerhouse. The firm is developing a massive 42mn barrel (6.8mn m³) un...
Volume: 62Issue: 30Published at Fri, 26 Jul 2019 -
Oman Cuts Deficit, But Oil Dependence Remains
...llowing several years of troubling fiscal developments, Oman looks to have finally caught a break. Preliminary figures from the government’s National Center for Statistics and Information (NCSI) indicate that the sultanate ran a $6.9bn (OR 2.65bn) deficit in 2018, down from $9.8bn in 2017 and co...
Volume: 62Issue: 30Published at Fri, 26 Jul 2019 -
Oman Increases Power Subsidies
...artups of the Ibri IPP and Sohar-3 gas-fired powerplants (see MEES, 7 July) will increase the need for subsidy spending, presumably due to higher generation costs being passed onto the consumer. Oman has made a concerted effort to cut its electricity subsidies in recent years following the 2017 Cost Re...
Volume: 62Issue: 30Published at Fri, 26 Jul 2019 -
Eni: New Egypt Output
...ypt oil output is also up, from 72,000 b/d net for 2017 to 77,000 b/d in 2018. Egypt’s overall oil output averaged 640,000 b/d in the first five months of 2019, flat with 2018 levels. The Western Desert accounts for 55% of the total. But output here fell to 353,000 b/d in the first five months of 2019 fr...
Volume: 62Issue: 30Published at Fri, 26 Jul 2019 -
CNPC Hot Favorite In Abu Dhabi Opening As Adnoc Eyes Chinese Downstream
...Haseer field in March, and output is slated to double to 16,000 b/d by 2020. Clearly this is a relatively small producer, but CNPC scored big in February 2014 when it landed an 8% stake in the 1.65mn b/d Adnoc Onshore concession (then-Adco) for $1.77bn (MEES, 24 February 2017). CPECC su...
Volume: 61Issue: 30Published at Fri, 27 Jul 2018 -
Oman Deficit Halved As Export Revenues Soar
...art this year despite increasingly alarmist projections from ratings agencies and the IMF citing the country’s tepid fiscal outlook (MEES, 24 November 2017). Through the first five months of 2018, the country’s budget deficit has nearly halved to RO1.095bn ($2.84bn) from RO2.035bn ($5.28bn) over the sa...
Volume: 61Issue: 30Published at Fri, 27 Jul 2018 -
Upstream Capex Edges Up But Recovery Remains US-Focused
...be seen. Global upstream spending is slated by the IEA to rise by 5% to $472bn this year on the back of 2017’s modest 4% increase – though this followed a cumulative fall of near 50% for 2015 and 2016. The projected 2018 upstream spend of $472bn in the IEA’s freshly-released World Energy In...
Volume: 61Issue: 30Published at Fri, 27 Jul 2018 -
Shell Enters Mauritania
...e maritime border with Senegal as well as four Mauritanian deepwater exploration blocks. Total took two deepwater blocks last year, whilst Exxon in December signed PSCs for three deepwater blocks (MEES, 8 December 2017). Chevron (with QP) and Eni have deepwater blocks off Morocco to the north. Bl...
Volume: 61Issue: 30Published at Fri, 27 Jul 2018 -
LNG Start-Ups To Peak, Then Slump
...ertaking Qatar (77mn t/y) as the world’s top LNG exporter. Actual Australian 2017 exports were 56.2mn tons, with the country set to add a further 21.4mn t of capacity this year (and of course the 9.7mn t/y of capacity added during 2017 was not operating for the whole of the year). • With in...
Volume: 61Issue: 30Published at Fri, 27 Jul 2018 -
Iraq Water Crisis Highlights Baghdad’s Impotence
...facing desertification in varying degrees.” That neighboring Turkey—the source of both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers—experienced its driest year in four decades in 2017, has merely exacerbated the already dire situation. POLITICAL CRISIS Baghdad is well aware of the investment ne...
Volume: 61Issue: 30Published at Fri, 27 Jul 2018 -
Libya Election Timetable To Slip Further Amid Factional Divisions
...ppen by December,” says a former ambassador to Tripoli, “but they are the least bad option as long as they are properly prepared. The challenge is for them to be genuine without being divisive.” The aim for elections to be held this year was first set at a Paris meeting on 25 July 2017 hosted by Fr...
Volume: 61Issue: 30Published at Fri, 27 Jul 2018