Russia Ready To Talk… But Opec, Shell Issue Oil Price Warning

...heduled to meet for their next ordinary meeting in Vienna in early December, where they will ultimately review the outcome of their Saudi-led policy of non-intervention adopted two meetings ago in November 2014, and rubber stamped at the latest meeting in June. MOSCOW’S U-TURN?            To ma...

US Year-On-Year Oil Output Growth To Turn Negative As Of January 2016

...96mn b/d in September 2014.  But, the decline could be more dramatic than some expect, Mr Papa warns. “It is happening literally as we speak,” he said. Production growth year-on-year has fallen to around 600,000 b/d very recently, he said, compared to a constant growth of about 1.1mn b/d since June 20...

Iraq Attempts Fiscal Correction Amid Political Vacuum

...d “$15bn in payments owed to oil companies” due to “waste of the country’s wealth as a result of flawed policies of the former government through gifts from the necessary leader, especially during campaign seasons.” For context, Iraq had about $3bn in hand when Mr ‘Abadi took office in September 2014, al...

Oil Services Sector To Cut More Jobs Amid Oil Price Squeeze

...added he expects smaller firms to merge as a direct response to the “industry downturn”. Oil prices are down by more than 50% from their mid-2014 peak of around $110/B (for Brent), with the steepest fall taking place in the last two months of 2014. IOCs took some time to slash their capital sp...

Egypt: New Ganope Bid Round

...l production. On 3 August the firm awarded five of the 10 blocks on offer in its 2014 bid round with total commitments for $100mn to drill 16 wells. Three of the awarded blocks were for well-worked acreage in the southern Gulf of Suez, while Houston-based IPR took both Western Desert blocks (ME...

IMF: Reforms Key If Iran To Benefit From Nuclear Deal

...facing the problem of high non-performing assets” which have resulted in unsustainably high real interest rates and stagnant credit in the economy. Unemployment has remained at 10.5%, level with December 2014. OIL: THE DRIVER The IMF says the Iranian economy may have contracted during the fi...

Oman: Debut Sukuk

...gher growth trend of 4.9% on average between 2005 and 2014. Offsetting this strength is the likely sharp fall in nominal GDP in 2015, as a result of the collapse in oil prices. Moody’s base case scenario for oil market trends is a Brent crude oil price of $55/B on average in 2015, rising gradually to...

Iran: The Subsidies Dilemma

...fore. Pressured by various forces, the Rohani team finally came up with a new plan.  The subsidies “second phase” promised to start from the third month of Iran’s New Year (May 2014).  Monthly cash payments were now to be given to the head of each family after (1) he or she answered a questionnaire re...

Benchmark Crude Prices ($/B)

...15 2014 2013 2012 WTI 49.43 45.01 45.63 45.44 42.90 46.62 58...

Egypt Awards Four Offshore Gas Blocks Following August 30tcf Discovery

...ock 12), which is adjacent to the North Thekah and North Port Fouad blocks, awarded to Edison in 2014 following an earlier EGAS bid round. These blocks border Israel’s Neta and Royee blocks which Edison also operates, and hold an estimated 3.2 tcf of gas. BP will take the North El Tabya block (Block 14...

Iraq Running Out Of Time To Implement Gas Strategy

...vernment but that are now in limbo along with the 2014 state budget. Iraq*: Gas Output Rises With Oil But Infrastructure Fails To Keep Pace   ISIS Impedes Gas Projects While Iraq estimates its natural gas reserves at 112 tcf, much of the country is still unexplored, particularly in the we...

Lebanon Bid Round Stuck In Neutral

...LEBANON Lebanon’s first offshore oil and gas bid round will eventually proceed, though the country’s deadlocked politics will force further delays – likely deep into 2015. Lebanon’s Ministry of Energy and Water has postponed its flagship event of 2014, the Lebanon International Pe...

MENA Active Drilling Rigs, September 2014.*

Egypt Bags More Aid Amid Gaping Budget Deficit

...just over $39bn (see table). As a percentage of GDP the figure is also down from a sky-high 13.7% for 2012-13. For the current July 2014-June 2015 financial year Egypt is budgeting for a further fall in the deficit to E£240bn ($33.7bn), down around 14% in real terms. The Finance Ministry sa...

Algeria Stares Deficit In The Face

...ALGERIA Algeria’s trade surplus in the first eight months of 2014 has fallen by 20.4% to $4.67bn from $5.87bn in the corresponding period of 2013, official customs statistics show. In 2013 the trade surplus fell to $11.1bn from $21.49bn in 2012. As recently as February the IMF pr...

Benchmark Crude Prices ($/B)

...OIL PRICES     9-Oct 29 Sep - 3 Oct 22 - 26 Sep Sep-14 Aug-14 Q3 2014 Q2 2014 20...

New Lebanon Bid Round Delay

...LEBANON   New Lebanon Bid Round Delay   Lebanon’s caretaker Minister of Energy and Water Gebran Bassil says international oil companies (IOCs) have an additional month to submit their bids for rights to explore Lebanon’s offshore. The new deadline  of 10 January 2014 follows an...

Jordan Receives 51 Applications For ‘Amman Products Terminal

...JORDAN   Jordan Receives 51 Applications For ‘Amman Products Terminal   Jordan’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has announced that 51 companies and consortia have applied for prequalification to build a strategic products reserves terminal near ‘Amman during 2014-15. Mo...

QEWC Secures $450Mn Funding For Desalination

...owth by 0.13 percentage points in 2014, and raises other risks.   The third scenario, given the present difficulties for the global economy, envisages the same $150/B spike, accompanied by greater adverse effects on confidence, with capital retreating to safe havens and a persistent decline in eq...

Challenges To KRG Political Stability

...ections in the spring of 2014. A negative Kurdish response will mean an indefinite postponement of the federal elections.   A second matter requiring Mr Barzani’s attention is the question of relations with Kurds in the neighboring states of Syria, Turkey and Iran and whether the time has come to ca...