1. Saudi Arabia Chases Ambitious Downstream Strategy

    ...come depends on crude oil prices. Aramco’s rising revenues during 2016-18 coincided with rising crude prices. Arab Light averaged $40.96/B in 2016, $52.59/B in 2017 and $70.34/B in 2018. A downturn in Aramco’s revenues for 2019 is likely given that the Arab Light price averaged $66.33/B in first ha...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 37
    Published at Fri, 13 Sep 2019
  2. Saudi Arabia Pushes For Enhanced Gas Role In Energy Transition

    ...x, with state regulator ECRA’s latest statistics showing that in 2017, gas fueled a record 53.7% of all electricity generation (MEES, 19 April). There is a clear geographic disparity in the kingdom, where liquids have been virtually eliminated from power generation from the eastern and central ar...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 37
    Published at Fri, 13 Sep 2019
  3. Saudi To Push On With ‘Full Cycle’ Nuclear, Probably

    ...nsions, Saudi Arabia’s desire to control the whole nuclear enrichment process is sure to raise eyebrows. LEADING PLAYER        The leading Mena nuclear player is Russian state firm Rosatom, which is set to follow up its plants in Iran with four units totalling 4.8GW in Egypt (MEES, 15 December 2017...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 37
    Published at Fri, 13 Sep 2019
  4. New Saudi Energy Minister Faces Princely Task

    ...ngdom’s ministry of energy. For much of that time he has been intimately involved in Saudi Arabia’s work at Opec, forging relationships with counterparts across the globe. Most recently he has been Minister of State for Energy Affairs since 2017. EXPERIENCED HAND From that perspective this is an op...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 37
    Published at Fri, 13 Sep 2019
  5. Egypt Eyes More Borrowing Despite Falling Deficit

    ...ar ending 30 June. Some $4bn came from a dollar denominated bond in February 2019, with a euro-denominated bond in April chipping in €2bn ($2.5bn). For 2017-18, Egypt raised $6.5bn: $4bn in February 2018 and €2bn ($2.5bn) in April 2018 (MEES, 20 April 2018). Both 2016-17 bonds were in dollars for a to...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 37
    Published at Fri, 13 Sep 2019
  6. SOCO Hikes Egypt Output

    ...co’s first quarter in charge. Soco blames “underinvestment… in previous years” for a sustained slump from 7,900 b/d for 2017. It sees a “clear near-term opportunity to reverse the decline and then steadily improve the production level,” targeting 15,000 b/d by 2023. On 16 July Soco added a second dr...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 37
    Published at Fri, 13 Sep 2019
  7. Tunisia Field Hit By Strikes

    ...plement a set of demands agreed on 20 August. El Borma, the country’s oldest and largest producing oil field, has now been shut-in at least three times by strikes this year. And this came on the back of summer 2017’s wide-ranging strikes that crippled output at Tunisia’s southern fields (MEES, 2 June 2017...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 37
    Published at Fri, 13 Sep 2019