Iraq’s Unattractive Contracts Claim Fresh Victim As Shell Eyes The Exit

...newing its stake in Abu Dhabi’s onshore Adco concession following its 2014 expiry, this would leave it with just Oman, where it has a 34% ‘leading’ stake in dominant 600,000 b/d producer PDO, a source of currently producing Mena oil. On the gas front, Shell’s Mena gas exposure is also evolving. In Ja...

Leviathan Partners Line Up Funding But Still Short On Sales

...o most likely options – before sanctioning the project. This is clearly not now going to happen. The partners signed a letter of intent with BG (subsequently taken over by Shell) in June 2014 for the supply of 105bcm of gas over 15 years, an implied 685mn cfd, to the firm’s Egypt LNG liquefaction pl...

Traders Clean Up In Egypt LNG Import Tender

...lk of those with 25 (see table). Netherlands based Trafigura will supply 18 cargoes while BB Energy, Gunvor and Vitol will supply the rest. Egypt’s first LNG supply deal was signed with Algeria’s state gas firm Sonatrach in December 2014 (MEES, 27 February 2015) for the supply of six cargoes wh...

Oil-Poor Arab States Get Multilateral Finance Boost For Renewables

...ectricity from renewables. EBRD and IFC began investing in energy projects in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia as part of the IMF’s ‘Arab Countries in Transition Program’ which followed the 2011 ‘Arab Spring.’ This targeted these four countries plus Yemen and Libya (MEES, 24 October 2014). At the re...

Opec Agrees To Cut, But Questions Remain Over Implementation

...at Opec revenues are set to fall below $430bn this year, less than half of 2014 levels (see table). Oil prices reacted positively to the agreement and have risen around $7/B since the day before the meeting. As MEES went to press, Brent was just over $54/B, its highest level this year. Of course, fa...

The World’s Top Oil* Producer (Mn B/D): Saudi Output Recently Edged Past The US For The First Time Since Early 2014. But The US Is Set To Regain Top Spot Next Year And Keep It Until Shale Output Declines In The 2030s

Kuwaiti Opposition Gains Further Threaten Government Energy Policy

...afji field in the Saudi-Kuwait Partitioned Neutral Zone (PNZ) is being readied for restart. It has been offline since October 2014 as part of a dispute between the two over management of the PNZ, and the 200,000 b/d Wafra field since March 2015. With output split 50:50, this has denied Kuwait around 25...

The Political Implications Of Iraq’s Mosul Offensive

...sentment toward the KDP for abandoning them during the Islamic State’s 2014 offensive remains strong, and that when it comes to ethnic identity, views are diverse, heightening the complexity of this tinderbox of a region. Some Yazidis emphasize their Kurdish identity, others think of themselves as Ya...