Abu Dhabi Pledges Mammoth $132bn Investment With 5mn b/d Output Plan

...t it targets 6.5mn b/d by 2022 – while that may prove too optimistic, production will likely climb above Adnoc’s planned 5mn b/d (which accounts for the bulk of UAE output). Outside of Opec, Canadian output is also forecast to climb past 5mn b/d during the next decade (MEES, 24 November 2017). Ad...

Israel: Pipeline Bottleneck Blunder Adds to Exports Headache

...port Israeli gas. EXPORT DREAMS         Long hindered by commercial and political complications (MEES, 6 October 2017), Israel’s gas sector scored a “historic”  victory in February when Noble and its Israeli partners signed a controversial deal with Egypt’s Dolphinus Holdings to export up to 70...

Repsol, BP & Eni Eye Algeria/Libya Border Bonus

...ving the name of the block in Spanish. Repsol was awarded the block on the Libyan border in 2009 and drilled several successful wells between 2012 and 2015 (MEES, 24 April 2015). Erstwhile partners Enel of Italy and Engie of France pulled out in late 2017 – the result of a strategic decision by bo...

Oxy Leads Renewed Omani Exploration Push

...19. The firm this week announced that it has secured two exploration blocks – 65 & 51 – in Oman’s 2017 bid round, and also picked up the newly created Block 72. All are contiguous with its existing assets. Oxy already operates 90,000 b/d Block 9, as well as the 120,000 b/d Block 53 in the co...

Iran Launches JMMC Broadside Ahead Of Crunch Opec Meeting

...E surging 190,000 b/d to an all-time high of 3.18mn b/d, smashing the previous peak of 3.03mn b/d set in November 2016. While cutting output in 2017, albeit at a much slower pace than fellow members, the UAE continued investing in boosting production capacity and is now reaping the reward. Abu Dh...

KRG Tempts Baghdad With Pipeline Expansion

...ming to tempt Baghdad into resuming piped exports to Turkey via the KRG’s link for the first time since June 2017. Indeed, the MNR’s statement makes clear its intentions. “The extra capacity will accommodate future production growth from KRG producing fields, and can also be used by the federal go...

Bleak Picture For Iran As US Reimposes Oil Sanctions

...Iran’s oil exports fell by over 1mn b/d from 2017 levels even prior to this week’s re-imposition of US sanctions. Issuing waivers to eight Iranian clients, US President Trump says he is going “easy” on Tehran for fear of higher oil prices. While plenty of governments have talked tough against th...

Qatar Petroleum Chief Consolidates Energy Sector Grip With Cabinet Seat

...October) and last year ended the moratorium on development of the giant North Field from which Qatar derives its world-leading LNG position. He himself was a driving force behind the imposition of the moratorium in 2005 (MEES, 17 October 2005) which was only lifted last year (MEES, 7 April 2017), ea...

Bumper Nine Months For Saudi Petchems As Sabic Prepares For Aramco Buy-In

...cent weeks – small firm Alujain is again expected to report late – disclosed total net profits of $7.66bn for the first three quarters of 2018, up 33% on the $5.74bn for the same period in 2017 and up 2.7% on the $7.46bn previous periodic high in 2014. Yet quarterly earnings fell by 12% from $2.89bn in 2Q...

Egypt Awards Luxor Gas-Fired Plant As Aswan’s Lustre Fades

...red power plant at Assiut, which is currently being upgraded for combined cycle operation (MEES, 6 January 2017). Prior to the extension of the gas grid to Assiut, Egas has previously reached as far south as Beni Suef, where local contractor Elsewedy had built a 4.8GW CCGT plant, together with si...

Saudi 9M Stats Show Kingdom Almost In The Black: Too Good To Be True?

...Freshly-released official Saudi figures show the kingdom’s deficit falling to just $13.1bn for the first three quarters of 2018, and just $2bn for each of Q2 and Q3. The nine-month deficit is down a whopping 60% from the $32.4bn deficit over the corresponding period of 2017. Pro-rating th...

KRG’s Atrush Field Hits Record

...The 30,000 b/d capacity Atrush field (Taqa 39.9% op, Shamaran 20.1%, Marathon 15%, KRG 25%) hit a monthly high of 26,800 b/d in October. After starting up in July 2017, Atrush output slumped in early 2018 to just 12,500 b/d in April due to “unexpectedly high concentrations of salts flowed ba...

Oman: $4.6bn For Duqm Refinery

...e mid-2000s and finalized in 2012 for a 2017 completion, but financing issues have perennially plagued development (MEES, 25 August 2017). A large chunk of the financing has now been finalized and construction, which began in June (MEES, 31 August), can ramp up. A source close to the project to...

Kuwait Nears CFP Commissioning

...its 2016 annual results that work on its Mina Abdullah contract would not be complete until the very end of 2018 (MEES, 31 March 2017).    ...

Pakistan Crude Imports ('000 B/D): UAE Maintains Top Position And 57% Share For 2017-18* As Overall Volumes Jump 24% To 212,000 B/D

Oxy Gambles On Oman Replacing Qatar Volumes

...rection, volumes are set to increase in the coming years. Indeed, as with BP, Occidental has flagged up its renewed interest in Oman as being in part driven by a desire to roll out techniques honed in the Permian (MEES, 17 November 2017).  OCCIDENTAL MENA CRUDE OUTPUT (‘000 B/D)   OC...