War-Torn Yemen Maintains Steady Crude Exports; China, Thailand The Key Buyers

...men is currently tendering and exporting 2mn barrels of Masila crude every two months, figures that imply exports of about 33,000 b/d – actually somewhat less than the 48,000 b/d since the start of 2017 as implied by the Chinese and Thailand import stats. The two countries have also historically been Ye...

Oman Looks To Bid Round For Exploration Boost

...Oman hopes its stability will attract investors for its 2017 bid round. Last year’s effort was a flop. Oman’s Ministry of Oil and Gas (MOG) is offering four exploration blocks in north-central Oman in a tender slated for 20 September launch. Blocks 47, 51, and 65 are considered pr...

Oman Ties Up Ammonia Cash

...corporate anhydrous liquid ammonia technology licensed from Germany’s Linde. Construction will begin in fourth quarter 2017 with a view to plant start-up in 2020. While this size of ammonia plant would normally require 30mn cfd of gas feedstock, SMC says it can reduce the methane need by utilizing hy...

LNG Prices Edge Up, No Sign Of Hit To Qatar Revenues

...nsuming partners.” Korea has this year overtaken Japan as Qatar’s top customer: Japan took 12.12mn tons for 2016, versus 11.88mn t for Korea. For the first seven months of 2017 Korea took 7.12mn t versus 6.25mn t for Japan. Number three India took 10.64mn t for 2016 and 4.83mn t for the first half of 2017...

Egypt Starts Work On Assiut Refinery Upgrade To Boost Gasoline Output

...ise light products output and reduce Egypt’s dependence on imports – Egypt has been a net importer of gasoline since 2010 and has long imported diesel – to meet domestic demand. Gasoline demand averaged 170,000 b/d in the first half of 2017, suggesting that consumption is on track to surpass last ye...

Algeria Plots Unlikely Power Capacity Boost Whilst Rejecting Foreign Funding

...pacity delays (see p13). The first was awarded under a $1.06bn contract (MEES, 30 November 2012), while six more were awarded together under contracts valued at $4.05bn (MEES, 7 March 2014). The Ain Arnat plant was scheduled to reach full capacity in 2016 and the other six were expected to follow in 2017...

Oil Market Surplus To 2019 Despite Strong Growth Projections

...erproduction, if the group’s output stays flat for the remainder of 2017, demand ought to slightly outstrip supply over the course of the year. The IEA pegs demand for Opec crude at 32.70mn b/d for 2017 as a whole, while Opec puts it slightly lower at 32.67mn b/d. MEES calculates this would result in supply sh...

US Cuts Output Growth Forecasts On Harvey, Lower Prices

...mainder of 2017 is less than might have been expected as the organization had already factored in an expected hurricane-season-related dip to August and September output. The latest STEO has US crude output rebounding to 9.29mn b/d in September, the highest figure since October 2015, though Gulf of Me...

Algeria To Step On The Gas: Max Revenue For Minimal Spend Amid Opec Constraints

...ficials in Algeria said that in theory cuts to production could be shared between all the country’s oil producers (MEES, 17 February). But operational reports for the first two quarters of 2017 from Algeria’s foreign partners make no mention of official requests to limit output. Rather, the in...

Iraq: Minister Luaibi Tightens Grip On Oil Sector

...rchasing the June 2017 cargo at a $0.31/B premium to the official selling price (OSP). It then established the Lima joint venture with Litasco – trading arm of Russia’s Lukoil – in May to trade 2mn barrels per month of Basra Light (MEES, 26 May). The possibility of a new Basra Medium grade was also floated by...

Algerian Oil Bolstered By Berkine Basin Prospects

...sponsible for the only new-field crude production scheduled for 2017 (MEES, 3 February), but it is taking longer than expected to ramp up. Production start-up was completed at the end of 2016, with development activities to be completed “during 2017,” according to Eni’s 2016 Factbook, published in April (ME...

Petronas Quits Algeria As Cepsa Expands

...Whilst foreign investors in Algeria’s upstream include an unlikely assortment of Asian NOCs, one firm heading for the exits is Malaysia’s Petronas. Petronas has decided to divest its oil and gas assets in Algeria, it said in the press release accompanying its H1 2017 results, published on 25...

Algeria Shuns Foreign Debt… By Printing Money?

...endments to the Money and Credit Law intended to allow the country’s central bank, Banque d’Algerie, to provide funds to the state treasury to cover a budget deficit which ballooned to a record $33bn last year. This followed the collapse in hydrocarbons revenue, the source of some 40% of budget revenue in 2017...

Latest Oil* Output Forecasts From The EIA’s International Energy Outlook 2017 (Mn B/D)