Suez Canal Trade Hits Records But Trade War Threatens

...7bn for 2018 as a whole, comfortably ahead of the previous annual record of $5.465bn set in 2014. The Suez Canal is a key revenue stream for Egypt: the record $5.71bn takings for the 2017/18 financial year equated to 12.4% of $45.9bn in state revenue, up from 11.1% in the previous financial year. Ca...

Iraq Signs Up For 25GW Power Boost: What’s The Cost?

...urth monthly zero burn since September 2017 (see chart). There will likely be additional fuel oil available in the near term. While Baghdad has had little success in attracting outside investment in new refining capacity, a recent boost will have come from the start-up of the rehabilitated 70...

Falih Eyes Closer Russian Ties, In Opec+ As Well As Aramco Downstream

...tober 2017, saying that “we are confident that there are vast opportunities for expanding and diversifying economic cooperation…[to] push the trade exchange in accordance with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.” Russian delegates took on prominent roles at this week’s Future Investment Initiative (FII) su...

Saudi Investment Summit Falls Short As Vision 2030 Stutters

...bn year-on-year from $166bn in 2Q 2017 to $195bn for the same period this year. But non-oil’s share of this fell below 70% as its $10bn gains were half that of oil-GDP’s $20bn increase (see chart 1). The hold oil has on the economy is even clearer to see when turning to export revenues. Oil re...

Pakistan Bags Saudi Economic Assistance

...nt 73,000 b/d in the 2016-17 financial year (to June 2017). However, Pakistan is also in the tricky spot of relying on Saudi rival Qatar for its growing LNG supplies (MEES, 31 August). Qatar supplied 84% of Pakistan’s 4.6mn tons in 2017 and of the 8 cargoes Pakistan has received so far this mo...

Will Saudi Geopolitical Crisis Derail PIF Plans, 2030 Vision?

...ve only seen a marginal increase to $250bn. The PIF program’s four key objectives are “growing and maximizing PIF’s assets; launching new sectors; localizing advanced technologies and knowledge, and building strategic economic partnerships” (MEES, 27 October 2017). Therefore, the decision by a ho...

Iran Testing Star Project

...litter plants, the PGS units deliver naphtha into a reformer for processing further into reformate, a key blending component for gasoline. NIORDC is already operating two phases of PGS, the first being brought online in April 2017 and the second in February this year. The PGS project is central to Iran’s bi...

Kuwaiti MPs Prepare Grillings As ‘Summer’ Ends

...bah and Oil Minister Bakhit al-Rashidi. The return of parliament frequently marks the exit of government ministers, and indeed the previous government resigned en-masse in November 2017, leading to Mr Rashidi’s appointment that December (MEES, 15 December).    EGYPT’S FOREIGN RESERVES* HIT RECORD $44...

Saudi Arabia August 2018 Oil Data ('000 B/D): Saudi Arabia Draws On Stocks To Maximize Crude Exports And Refinery Runs In August

...CHANGES EXPRESSED IN PERCENTAGE POINT TERMS WHERE ORIGINAL FIGURES ARE PERCENTAGES. *EXCLUDES FIELD LPG (650-700,000 B/D). **NAPHTHA REFINERY OUTPUT PREVIOUSLY INCLUDED IN 'OTHER PRODUCTS (479,000 B/D FOR 2017). ^PRESUMES ALL FUEL OIL CONSUMPTION IS BURNT IN POWER PLANTS. SOURCE: JO...

Libya Oil Output Boosted By Sirte Basin Rebound

...oduction share of 8.16%. The firm did not break down production into oil and gas, but reported an increase in its share of output from Libya to an average 12,000 boe/d in Q3, up from 6,000 boe/d in Q2 2017. Hess reported average output for the first nine months of the year of 7,000 boe/d, which implies ov...

Medco Announces $180mn Impairment On Libya’s Area 47

...Indonesia’s Medco Energi Internasional suffered impairment losses of $180.2mn on its Area 47 acreage in the Ghadames basin in Libya in 2016, the firm announced in its H1 2017 results published in late September, but it doesn’t appear to have written off the asset. The firm also reported a 20...

Kuwait Urges Gulf Unity as Qatar Exports Rise Despite Embargo

...hrain and Egypt to isolate Qatar in order to force it to accede to their demands. Qatar’s export revenues totaled $16.5bn in Q3, the highest quarterly figure since Q4 2015. Full-year 2017 revenues are on track to hit $65bn, up 13% on 2016. However, this would still be more than $10bn less than in 20...

China 3Q17 LNG Imports (Mn Tons): Qatar On Course To Post 3-Year High In 2017 But Still Less Than Half Of Australia

Oman Eyes Crude, Condensate Revenue Boost As Refinery Undergoes Maintenance

...tober). Production of crude and condensate has averaged 969,000 b/d in the first nine months of 2017, down 3.4%, and bang in line with Oman’s obligations. Exports meanwhile have averaged 805,000 b/d, down a hefty 8.1% year-on-year. 1: OMAN OIL* OUTPUT & EXPORTS (‘000 B/D): EXPORT VOLUMES SINK IN 2017, BU...

Iraqi Crude Burn Levels Slump As Iranian Gas Imports Displace Liquids

...nsistently posting moderate year-on-year increases in crude burn volumes, indicating that full year volumes would be up on last year’s 169,000 b/d average. But absent a surge in the final four months of the year, they are on track to average 160,000 b/d in 2017. Iraq’s power plants have also been burning si...

Opec Members Maneuvering For Advantage In Key Asian Export Markets

...eas. Exports to the US initially held up in 2017, but the intense scrutiny afforded to US figures has seen Opec increasingly cut there, to boost oil prices. Saudi Arabia and Iraq are the two largest Opec suppliers of crude oil to the US. Provisional weekly figures from the US government’s EIA shows cr...

Middle East Remains Important Segment In Services Firms’ Portfolio

...art of the year, Schlumberger proclaimed the industry had “reached bottom of the cycle” (MEES, 28 April) but profits so far in 2017 for services firms have been slow in appearing. Schlumberger and Halliburton posted profits of $580mn and $360mn respectively in Q3, but that is a far cry from the multi-bi...

Saudi Calls For Dreamers To Radically Reshape Economy

...s funding is derived from external sources, would leave a big gap in the kingdom’s finances. The kingdom is on track for a $40.7bn deficit in 2017 alone. But perhaps the more serious challenge to Vision 2030 is the willingness of the average Saudi citizens to alter their way of life and culture in...

Bahrain’s Nogaholding Raises $1bn

...18. With the plunge on oil prices since mid-2014 Bahrain is increasingly facing financial pressure to balance its fiscal deficit which is projected to hit $7.1bn in its two-year budget for 2017-18. The oil price assumption for the two years is $55/B, which looks feasible. But the government says it ne...

Crude Official Selling Prices ($/B)

...*VS ICE BRENT FROM JULY 2017 PREVIOUSLY VS BWAVE....