Kuwait & Saudi Target Dorra Gas Start-Up By 2029

...ich all volumes would be piped onshore for processing is in line with the plan previously-favored by Saudi Arabia. Under these plans all gas was to be piped onshore to Ras al-Khafji, with Kuwait’s share then piped up the coast to its facilities (MEES, 4 July 2014). Failure to agree on a development pl...

Shell Discovery Offers Hope As Egypt Gas Output Slide Continues

...August) has yet to result in a substantial output hike. The region’s output was flat month on month at 285,000 b/d for August despite rig count figures showing that drilling in the Western Desert is at the highest level since December 2014 (see chart 2). In addition to Apache, which says its ou...

Iraq Picks Up The Pace On Exploration; Can It Snag Chevron?

...6tcf of 5.6tcf gas in place is estimated to be recoverable. Akkas was originally awarded to Korean state firm Kogas (100%) in 2010, with the firm targeting 400mn cfd for a remuneration fee of $5.50/boe (MEES, 25 October 2010). Kogas declared force majeure on the field in 2014 as Islamic State ov...

Algeria’s Sonatrach Greenlights Key Gas Project

...tput will be far lower than the headline 5bcm/y figure. Sonatrach last published a production figure for Alrar way back in 2014 when output was 5.5bcm. UK engineering firm Petrofac is currently carrying out an EPC contract for Tinhert Phase 1, which  sees another group of Illizi basin fields tied ba...

Qatar Petroleum Finalizes Idd al-Sharghi Takeover

...nce Saad al-Kaabi took over as CEO in 2014 (MEES, 14 September 2014). Under his leadership, the role of IOCs at Qatar’s oil fields has been greatly reduced, either through tighter terms or with QP taking over entirely. This week saw QP finalize its takeover of two fields, replacing US firm Occidental (Ox...

Iraq: Aging Infrastructure To Hinder Basra Gains?

...nistry to improve the terms of its technical services contract (TSC) at the supergiant field. BP’s initial plateau production target (PPT) was 2.85mn b/d but the British firm negotiated it down to 2.1mn b/d in 2014 (MEES, 12 September 2014). BP was rumored to be in talks to lower the PPT to 1.8mn b/d ea...

Omani Oil Output Nears 1mn B/D Mark, Revenues Soar

...lumes coupled with rising prices. MEES estimates that crude and condensate export revenues brought in $1.98bn in September – the highest figure since December 2014. 3Q’s sum of $5.63bn is up $2.09bn year-on-year - nearly 60%. Year-to-date revenues are up 35% on the same period in 2017, which will he...

Kufpec Hit From Bongkot Sale Collapse Overshadows LNG Start-Up

...ploratory drilling in 2008, initially with a 7% share that was expanded to 13.4%, when Kufpec purchased Shell’s 6.4% share for $1.14bn in 2014 (MEES, 25 April 2014). Operator Chevron maintains 64.14%; Woodside has 13%, Japan’s Jera 8% and Kyushu Electric 1.46%. Chevron also holds an 80.2% interest in th...

Egypt Gas Output Set To Hit 5-Year High By Year-End

...ll in the North El Mahala Onshore (Nemo) block, one of its top seven global high-impact exportation wells for 2017-18 where “500mn boe+” is targeted. The block is situated in the onshore Nile Delta next to the North El Salhiya block of UAE-firm Dana Gas’ block, awarded in October 2014, where dr...

Libya Gives Up On Output Target Amid $126bn Losses But Hopeful On Exploration

...ES, 6 October). Mr Haftar’s victory in Benghazi has paved the way for the re-opening of the town’s port and airport. A fuel tanker docked at Benghazi port on 9 October for the first time since 2014, when it was shut in due to fighting between militias loosely affiliated to rival administrations in Tr...

GCC Countries Keep Middle East Drilling At Near-Record Levels

...th the rig count in September going above 500 for the first time since February, reaching 524 in the first week of October, according to weekly data. But this is still more than 70% down on October 2014 when it hit a record 1,929. •  Drilling in Egypt has yet to see an uptick from the recent mo...

Saudi Oil, Gas Spending To Continue Unabated Despite Oil Price Collapse

...ported Mr Naimi as saying, expressing a hope that the G20 could play a leading role in stabilizing the market. The Saudi minister also met separately with US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and the Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak. Since steering Opec toward its November 2014 decision to pursue ma...

Oman Expects New Block Award By December

...ock was pulled from Omani independent Petrogas E&P in December 2014, following the expiry of its 15-year contract at the concession. Though Petrogas was keen to renew its contract at the block, the MOG opted to offer it to another foreign oil company in the hopes that it will be able to reverse th...

UAE To Spend $35bn On Reducing Gas Imports For Powergen

...the investment total will be earmarked for gas field developments. Mr Mazru’i says current gas production can meet only 50% of UAE demand, with the shortfall being met through imports of gas and LNG. The UAE imported just over 6mn tons of LNG in 2014 (8.2bn m3 or 790mn cfd of gas ) and 2bn cfd of ga...

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.*

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...