UAE Eyes Early 2020 Nuclear Start-Up

...e Barakah-1 reactor is mechanically complete and being prepared for operation when the operating license is received from FANR. Enec intended to bring the four 1.4GW Barakah reactors online at yearly intervals during 2017-20, but FANR will not licence Nawah operating JV of Enec and Korean co...

Saudi Net Foreign Assets Slump Below $500bn In Wake Of Abqaiq Attack, Biggest Monthly Fall Since Jan 2017

Kuwait Oil Exports: China Dominant, While Vietnam Rises

...rea’s imports of Kuwaiti oil are already on track to fall to a four-year low of 411,000 b/d in 2019, while No.4 buyer India is heading for a three-year low of 209,000 b/d. Taiwan volumes are also in decline and are neck-and-neck with the 2017-level (see chart). Kuwaiti crude and condensate exports ha...

Saudi Arabia Must Look Overseas To Realize Gas Export Dream

...xt 10 years in its bid to boost raw gas production to 23bn cfd by 2026 (MEES, 15 December 2017). CEO Amin Nasser told the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) conference in Dubai this week that output currently stands at 14bn cfd. If accurate, this is a substantial increase on the 2017...

Wintershall Joins Eni In Abu Dhabi Sour Gas

...g (MEES, 1 December 2017). No surprise given that it will require “pipelines, islands, wells, you name it. It is a very complex project” according to upstream chief Abdulmunim al-Kindy. Adnoc is confident that its experience in developing the ultra-sour onshore Shah gas field alongside US firm Ox...

Libya Steps Up Drilling

...Zueitina Oil Co. Zueitina in turn groups NOC with OMV after the latter bought out Occidental (MEES, 10 February 2017). Current output is around 30,000 b/d. Occidental and OMV in 2007 had plans to boost production at Nafoora using improved oil recovery techniques. Years of war and political in...

China Imports: Aramco Claims Ring Hollow As Russia, Iraq Notch Up Record Volumes

...ades [with] Aramco’s Arab Medium crude oil a preferred choice for the plant’s baseload,” Aramco said in an August 2017 press release which commemorated Cnooc taking delivery of its first ever cargo of Saudi crude. This made Cnooc “the last of China’s three large national oil companies to join Saudi Ar...

Israel Bidding: Larger Blocks, More Interest?

...st two bids for six blocks, all located in the country’s northern offshore near existing discoveries (MEES, 24 November 2017). This time the Energy Ministry is grouping the 19 blocks on offer (eight of which were offered in the previous round) into five ‘zones’ – essentially meaning that five la...

OPEC Faces $200bn+ Question Next Week In Vienna

...rm or test new lows. After Brent settled below $60/B on 23 November for the first time since October 2017, prices have fluctuated either side of the line. The 2016 “Declaration of Cooperation” under which 24 countries (new Opec member Congo was not a signatory) agreed to cut some 1.8mn b/d ex...

SEC Plans Powergen Subsidiary As Step Towards Break-Up

...stern, central, western and southern regions. SEC was created in 2002 by combining GEC and the regional firms. However, the company has since continued to manage its operations through four regional units, whilst in recent years it has also reported sales revenues on a regional basis. Total 2017 SEC re...

Jordan Wind Awards EPC To Denmark’s Vestas

...velop the project in 2016, they aimed to begin construction in 2017 and to begin delivering electricity from the farm in 2019.  But like many of Jordan’s investment plans, financing proved the key holdup. Financial close was only reached  in September, with funding coming from the World Bank’s IFC in...

Jordan Energy Goals Remain Hostage To Geography

...xt to zero oil and gas resources, the Hashemite kingdom relies on costly imports for 95% of its energy consumption—a further burden on the country’s stagnant economy. Energy imports cost Jordan $3.42bn (JD 2.45bn) in 2017 up 26% from 2016, and with spending on oil imports alone up 43% for the fi...

Kuwait Launches Refining Expansion Plan, Readies For Clean Fuels Commissioning

...two 300,000 b/d refineries (MEES, 20 April). But it appears Kuwait is opting for one new plant and the expansion of existing ones. KUWAIT REFINING CAPACITY (MN B/D, END YEAR) *ASSUMES CLEAN FUELS PROJECT FULLY ONLINE IN 2019, Al-ZOUR FULLY ONLINE IN 2020. ^SHUT DOWN END-MAR 2017. SO...

Saudi Arabia Bags $118bn Trade Surplus In 9M 2018

...Falling oil prices since October augur Q4 reversal. Saudi Arabia’s export revenues over the first nine months of 2018 are already within touching distance of the full year 2017 figure. The kingdom’s latest trade data shows that export revenues over the period are up nearly 27% ($58.7bn) ye...

Iraq To Keep Up 2019 Asia Exports

...stomers, having also “reviewed purchasing orders from new companies that seem to be qualified to purchase Iraqi crude.” Allocations are nonetheless flexible and subject to change. Whilst Iraq exported only 56% of its crude to Asia in 2017, the portion has grown significantly in recent months. Based on sh...

Cyprus: Total, Eni Expand

...the south of Block 7, borders Egypt’s 21.5tcf Zohr discovery, though a dry well drilled here last September (MEES, 15 September 2017) may have dampened interest. The two firms’ next planned Cyprus well is an appraisal well at Calypso slated for 2H 2019. Currently drilling is ExxonMobil with it...

Adnoc Plans $109bn Spend, Prioritizes Gas & Downstream

...e UAE’s crude exports went to Asia-Pacific last year. Japan is perennial #1 customer taking 760,000 b/d for the first nine months of 2017. India is distant second with 360,000 b/d, followed by Thailand (290,000 b/d).  ADNOC LOOKS SET TO FALL SHORT OF 3.5MN B/D END-2018 capacity TARGET (MN...

Egypt: Gulf Of Suez Oil Output At 40-Year Low On Back Of Lower Prices, Capex

...% of the country’s total in 2010, to just 253,000 b/d for the first nine months of 2017 (see chart 1). Output has been below 40% of the Egyptian total – a level never before breached – in six of the last eight quarters. The region is where Egypt’s oil output began in the mid-1960s following th...

Payment Problems

...ming of those payments is not transparent,” he says. In an echo of earlier comments Dana says it is looking to “maintain a conservative cash strategy” in Egypt. Its Egypt capex for the first nine months of 2017 was just $28mn, down 74% year-on-year. Upcoming spending will be limited to “three on...

World’s #2 Lng Importer: With Another Record Month In Oct Will China Overtake Korea?

...KOREA HAS LONG BEEN THE WORLD’S #2 LNG IMPORTER. IT TOOK 33.5MN TONS IN 2016, SECOND ONLY TO JAPAN’S 83.3MN T. KOREA IMPORTS ARE UP 16% AT 30.2MN T FOR THE FIRST 10 MONTHS OF 2017… (MN T)   BUT THAT’S NOTHING COMPARED TO THE 48% LEAP IN CHINESE IMPORTS. THESE HAD NEVER TOPPED TH...