1. Algeria Facing Fiscal Vulnerabilities Despite Recovery, IMF Warns

    ...y risks that include “global trade disruptions, conflicts including in the Middle East, and related commodity price volatility,” among others.   1: ALGERIA’S OIL OUTPUT IS DOWN 300,000 B/D SINCE THE LAST BID ROUND IN 2014, WITH THE FALL ONLY PARTLY DUE TO OPEC+ OUTPUT RESTRICTIONS* (‘00...

    Volume: 68
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 26 Sep 2025
  2. Oman’s OQEP Eyes New Gas Discovery In Upstream Reshuffle

    ...40%, OQEP 30%, PTTEP 20%, Petronas 10%) home to the massive 1.5bn cfd Khazzan & Ghazeer tight gas development. In 2014 it acquired a 40% interest in the gas giant before divesting 10% to Malaysian state firm Petronas in 2018 (MEES, 26 October 2018). BOOSTING BLOCK 60           Despite its ga...

    Volume: 67
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 27 Sep 2024
  3. Eni & BP Set To Kick Off Libya Exploration Drilling Campaign

    ...relative stability (MEES, 4 June 2012), these never came to fruition. BP declared force majeure in 2014 and in 2015 wrote off the $598mn it had spent up till then on its sole Libya assets (MEES, 31 July 2015). However, Eni, unlike BP which has no production in the country, retained Libya as a co...

    Volume: 67
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 27 Sep 2024
  4. Iraq Touts Gas Export Ambitions Despite Severe Shortages

    ...rectly supply IOC-operated power plants. This is especially the case at the Eni-operated 500,000 b/d Zubair field, where a 2014-built 700MW gas-fired plant is “using gas that is rich in LPG and condensates for power” according to a source. As per article 10 of Eni’s Technical Services Contract for Zu...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 29 Sep 2023
  5. Iraq’s Karbala Refinery Hits Full Capacity Despite Unresolved Technical Issues

    ...nancial delays that have afflicted other capital projects in Iraq, not least the Karbala refinery itself which was awarded almost a decade ago (MEES, 10 January 2014). A much-delayed 2015 project to add a new 70,000 b/d CDU at the 350,000 b/d Basrah Refinery is now slated for end-year completion, af...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 29 Sep 2023
  6. Oman Wields Oil Profits To Slash Debt In Fiscal Reform Push

    ...in shocks of the 2014-15 oil price crash and then the Covid-19 pandemic, the recently enthroned Sultan Haitham bin Tarik Al Said at the end of 2020 moved ahead with a series of reform packages to reorient the national economy (MEES, 17 September 2021). Oman is now more than halfway through the Medium Te...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 29 Sep 2023
  7. Egypt Presidential Elections

    ...untry’s current financial turmoil that has seen it turn to the IMF, World Bank and its Gulf allies for financial assistance (MEES, 24 March). President Sisi was first elected in 2014 following the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood-backed President Mohammed Morsi, and was re-elected with 97% of the vote in 20...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 29 Sep 2023
  8. Egypt Refining Runs Rise To Record High

    ...22 were the lowest since 2014, whilst Egypt’s overall oil products imports of 144,000 b/d were also less than half 2016-17 levels (see chart 2). Egypt’s overall oil products demand has been edging up to its highest levels since around 2018 – even when excluding this year’s sharp uptick in fuel oi...

    Volume: 65
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 30 Sep 2022
  9. Asian LNG Demand Up This Year Despite Covid

    ...ers (MEES, 11 September). The slump in prices is now being felt in Qatar, and Taiwan paid an average of just $4.78/mn BTU for Qatar volumes in August (the latest data): as with its overall import price this is the lowest figure since 2014.   *Other bargain-basement recent buying by Taiwan saw su...

    Volume: 63
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 25 Sep 2020
  10. Turkey Unites Rival East Med Players As Regional ‘Gas Forum’ Expands Ambitions

    ...peline plans for the photo-opportunity this affords them. Plans for an Israel-Cyprus-Greece-Italy gas pipeline have been included on a list of the EU’s ‘projects of common interest’ since 2014 (MEES, 12 December 2014), with EU energy commissioners a regular fixture at related meet-ups. Never mind the gl...

    Volume: 63
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 25 Sep 2020
  11. Saudi Petchems Firms: Consolidation Ahead?

    ...ead in December 2018. Sipchem and Sahara had revived a merger plan that was shelved in 2014 as a massive collapse in crude prices slashed petchems earnings (MEES, 7 December 2018). Many of the other listed Saudi petchems firms – the Aramco/Dow Sadara joint venture is not traded on Tadawul – are su...

    Volume: 63
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 25 Sep 2020
  12. Kuwait Burns Record Crude To Meet Power Surge

    ...quid used in the utilities sector this summer, with a record 184,000 b/d burned in July. This is the highest figure in at least 18-years. Even in the unlikely event that no crude oil is burned in the final five months of the year, the annual average would still be the highest since 2014. Diesel co...

    Volume: 63
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 25 Sep 2020
  13. Riyadh’s SWCC Privatization: Desalination And Powergen Assets On The Block

    ...1 Ras al-Khair RO 2014 311 308 Ras al-Khair  2015 74...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 27 Sep 2019
  14. Aramco: Impressive Output Rebound, But Effects Will Linger

    ...mn b/d (not including the Neutral Zone whose production, shut in since 2014, is shared with Kuwait), so a claimed 11mn b/d figure implies that 1mn b/d is still shut in. And the 12mn b/d figure has never been tested. Many observers, including MEES, are skeptical that the country could produce at this level fo...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 27 Sep 2019
  15. Abu Dhabi Field Startup Paves Way For New Crude Grade Launch

    ...me since 2014. The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) of the Opec+ agreement met in Algiers on 23 September and opted against increasing production limits. But apart from marginalized Iran, any UAE production increases are unlikely to prompt complaints. Umm Lulu output had been ex...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 28 Sep 2018
  16. Iraq’s 200,000 b/d Halfaya Boost: Is There An Outlet?

    ...July 2014 from 535,000 b/d to 400,000 b/d alongside similar adjustments to Iraq’s other major foreign-operated fields (MEES, 5 September 2014). Once Halfaya production hits full capacity – likely by early 2019 – it will become the first of Iraq’s main foreign-operated fields to do so, although it...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 28 Sep 2018
  17. Qayara Production Resumes

    ...eld was captured in 2014 and subsequently operated by IS (MEES, 17 October 2014). It suffered extensive damage to its wells and infrastructure as IS retreated following Iraq’s operations to retake the area in August 2016. Given the extent of the damage and the fact that Qayara previously peaked at 20...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 28 Sep 2018
  18. LNG Prices At Four-Year High Amid Soaring Demand

    ...port record of 88.45mn tons set in 2014 will ever be surpassed. Japan’s record years for LNG imports came in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. The continued, albeit extremely gradual, restart of the country’s nuclear fleet combined with overall stagnant-to-falling Japanese energy de...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 28 Sep 2018
  19. Libya Drilling: Schlumberger Boost

    ...eld, where Phase-2 output started up in July (MEES, 6 July). LIBYA: NUMBER OF ACTIVE ONSHORE RIGS HITS 7 IN AUGUST-HIGHEST SINCE 2014 SOURCE: BAKER HUGHES....

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 28 Sep 2018
  20. SEC Closes $2bn Sukuk

    ...nk. SEC chief executive Ziyad al-Shiha says the sukuk is “part of the company’s strategy to diversify its sources of funding and to attract investors from international markets.” It takes the amount SEC has raised to finance capital projects to $40.8bn, including a $13.3bn government ‘soft loan’ in 2014...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 28 Sep 2018