Mauritania Gas: Torturous Timeframe, Exploration Optimism Despite Drilling Flop

...atus of at least four years as a hydrocarbon producer (longer if Tortue development fails to proceed like clockwork). The country’s sole production since 2006 has been from the Chinguetti offshore oil field. But output dwindled to just 4,000 b/d in 1H 2017, too low to make production (via the Berge He...

LNG Prices Leap On Record Chinese Buying

...•  Prices for Asian spot LNG imports have jumped to around $9/mn BTU for December arrival cargoes. December is the peak month for winter (and thus annual) buying. •  China is the key demand driver. Already for the first nine months of 2017, imports at 25.63mn tons, were up by a whopping 43...

Egypt: Last LNG Tender?

...ypt. Oil minister Tarek El Molla says that Egypt will reach natural gas self-sufficiency by mid-2018 once Italian firm Eni’s 24 tcf Zohr gas field ramps up after its December 2017 start-up (MEES, 3 November). Egypt began importing LNG in April 2015 when gas output was 4.40bn cfd and has imported ar...

Abu Dhabi Completes 1.6GW Gas-Fired Plant

...Al-Mirfa CCGT (Gas)** 1.24 End 2017 Capacity: 30.07 Projects Awarded: Enec (2018-20) Ba...

Egypt To Privatize Wind Management

...e Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and France’s Societe Generale. Japanese export credit agency Nexi will provide backing. Construction will start by the end of 2017 and take around 24 months, Engie says. This seems optimistic given Eg...

Opec Output Falls Ahead Of Key Meeting As US Shale Eyes Price Rally

...US E&P companies in October was the most of any month in 2017 and that the additional capital will facilitate increased investment and support US crude output growth. 1: OPEC BASKET AT $4/B PREMIUM TO WTI, 5-YEAR LOW DISCOUNT TO BRENT ($/B, MONTHLY AVERAGE PRICES*) SOURCE: ICE, OPEC. ME...

Adnoc Makes $9bn Splash In International Finance Markets

...onomies. Saudi Arabia is the biggest government lender, with a recent $12.5bn bond. The Abu Dhabi government last month issued a $10bn three-tranche international bond and the Adcop bonds take to $53.5bn the amount raised by GCC international bond issues so far 2017 (MEES, 6 October). Among state pe...

Abu Dhabi Oil Shake-Up: Hold On To Your Hats

...all Mubarraz, Umm al-Anbar and Neewat al-Ghalan fields. It also expects first oil from Adoc’s Hail field in the first half of 2017, with full production set to double output. Adoc has 1.4mn barrels storage capacity on Mubarraz Island, which is connected via a 16km pipeline to a Single Point Mooring (SP...

Egypt Oil Output Collapses As Firms Cut Investment

...wn from a mid-2014 peak of €1.2bn. Egypt’s 25 tcf 2015 Zohr discovery is the jewel in the crown of Eni’s strategy of focusing on relatively-low cost large near-field tie-ins. This remains on target to start in December 2017, Mr Mondazzi says. Phase 1 output will reach 1bn cfd during 2018, pl...

GE Takeover Of Baker Hughes To Create Services #2

...ergy, water, aviation and digital sectors. By 2017 GE and SAIIC plan to spend $1bn on projects with Saudi and international firms in support of the Saudi Vision 2030 economic diversification program (MEES, 27 May). GE/BAKER HUGHES TO LEAPFROG HALLIBURTON AS GLOBAL SERVICES #2 ($BN Q1-3 16 RE...

Sonatrach Taps China For Algiers Refinery Revamp

...mpany says –probably optimistically – it could likely finance the program from its own resources if oil prices return above $60/B from 2017, or could tap domestic banks if prices were lower. However, the recent appointment of Noureddine Boutarfa as Energy Minister means on official open-minded about ou...

Kuwait To Invest In Oman’s Duqm Refinery

...oduce light products for export and bunkers for the port. Adnoc has since announced vague plans for downstream expansion (see p2). OOC says the Duqm site has been levelled and a final investment decision is set for Q2 2017. DRPIC last year invited seven prequalified firms and consortia to bid for th...

Oman Power: Foot Off The Gas Despite Khazzan Progress

...source is subject to final approval of the Government of Oman and BP – both expected in 2017…Subject to final approval, Khazzan Phase 2…is expected to come onstream around 2020,” BP says. Khazzan Phase 1 “is on track to deliver first gas near the end of 2017,” Oil Minister Muhammad al-Rumhy says. As of...

Dubai Adds CSP, Hydro To Renewables Mix; Northern Emirates Eye Coal

...60 Dewa (2017) Solar Park 2 (PV) 0.20 Sewa (2017) Hamriyah Exp (Gas) 0.18 Enec (2017...

Opec Shows No Sign of Cutting Ahead of November Meeting

...vember highlights the extent of the problem. If Opec output continues at current levels then, according to IEA demand projections, the market will only balance in Q4 2017. According to Opec’s projections any rebalance will have to wait till 2018 (see table).  The IEA report raises expected 2017 non-Opec pr...

World Bank 2017 ‘Ease Of Doing Business’: UAE Climbs 5 To Cement Top Mena Ranking; Saudi Down Again

Lebanon: Can New President Get The Country Moving?

...is week. Mr Gobril says parliament’s first priority is to approve a budget for 2017 after failing to do so for almost a decade. He stresses the need to reduce the squandering of fiscal resources and to cut the budget deficit, which is expected in 2016 to reach 8.6% of GDP, with public debt at 144% of GD...

Streamlined Oxy Set to Bag UAE Gas Expansion Project

...5% to 8% in 2017.” Capex in the first nine months of 2016 was just $1.99bn, down more than 50% on the same period last year and barely a third of the first nine months of 2014.  OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM: MENA PRODUCTION *DOLPHIN PRODUCTION COMES FROM QATAR'S NORTH FIELD. **EXCLUDES iRAQ, BA...

Saudi Investment & Fundraising: What A Difference A Year Makes

...change reserves are unlikely to fall much beyond their current level in the coming years. “In terms of the fiscal position, we expect the kingdom’s budget deficit to narrow to around 7.5% of GDP in 2017. Meanwhile, the dollar revenues that the international bond sale brings will also help to finance th...

IMF Poised To Approve Egypt Loan

...valued pound and to a higher Brent oil price than that assumed in the original budget. Electricity tariff rates will not increase before the beginning of the next fiscal year which starts on 1 July 2017, a spokesman of the Electricity Ministry says. But after the devaluation, the ministry will incur ad...