1. New Kuwaiti Oil Minister Faces Critical Year; Will He Last Longer?

    ...Fs will contribute 312mn cfd non-associated sour gas to Kuwait next year. Kuwaiti gas output has averaged 1.65bn cfd over the first nine months of 2017, and the additional volumes ought to bring total output to 1.96bn cfd. OVERSEAS DOWNSTREAM EXPANSION With Kuwait planning crude output and ex...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 15 Dec 2017
  2. Saudi Targets Major Gas Gains, But LNG Imports Loom

    ...s the startup of the Wasit gas plant in mid-2016. Wasit has capacity to process 2bn cfd raw gas from the offshore Arabiyah and Hasbah fields, and produce 1.5bn cfd sales gas. 2017 will likewise secure gains as Saudi Arabia will benefit from a full year of the plant’s operations. SAUDI ARABIA GAS PR...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 15 Dec 2017
  3. Aramco: Sasref Upgrade At Home, 2019 Start-Up For Malay Plant

    ...0 180 Overseas Targets: Anning, China (2017)   260   Ratnagiri, India (20...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 15 Dec 2017
  4. Egypt, Russia Sign Deal To Start Work On Virgin Nuclear Plant

    ...rget): GW Fuel Beni Suef (Elsewedy, 2017-20) 4.80 Gas Burullus (Orascom, 2017-20) 4....

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 15 Dec 2017
  5. Can Opec Eliminate Stock Overhang In 2018?

    ...oup's estimated $570bn oil revenues in 2017. Opec and the IEA both raised their expectations for US output gains in 2017 and 2018, with both expecting more than 1mn b/d growth next year. But here the similarities end. While Opec expects continued momentum in the global economy to sustain strong oil de...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 15 Dec 2017
  6. EIA Hikes 2018 Us Output Growth Forecast To 1.24mn B/D

    ...rmation alone rose by 500,000 b/d between January and November. With September through December 2017 figures revised up from those in last month’s report, the EIA is now projecting 2017 average crude output of 9.24mn b/d, up 380,000 b/d on 2016, but some 170,000 b/d shy of the post-1970 annual high of 9....

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 15 Dec 2017
  7. World Bank Oil Funding Ban To Hit Egypt Hard

    ...t to be finalized, with a previous target date of June 2017 having come and gone. The project’s reliance on multilaterals and western state lenders could make it vulnerable to moves against funding oil and gas projects. Multilateral lending, including from MIGA, was instrumental in getting Eg...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 15 Dec 2017
  8. KRG: IOCs Nervously Eye Calendar As Payment Wait Drags On

    ...r the next round. As MEES went to press the next batch of payments had yet to be received, elevating concerns over the KRG’s ability to maintain a regular schedule. In 2017, the KRG has actually improved its record of paying companies. The interval for 2017 payments averaged 31.7 days whereas fo...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 15 Dec 2017
  9. Saudi Powers Ahead With Reform Plans

    ...halve its budget deficit to $42.5bn for 2017 – but this is due to higher oil prices rather than any new policies from Riyadh. Non-oil revenue, the ‘holy grail’ of Vision 2030, is expected to grow by only $1.2bn or 2.4% this year (MEES, 24 November). Riyadh’s ideas for broadening its economy ra...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 15 Dec 2017
  10. Iran Cuts Budget Sharply For 2018-19

    ...Iran unveiled its draft 2018-19 budget this week. On the surface it’s relatively unchanged from the current year (2017-18), with modest revenue and spending gains penciled in. But, with the IMF pegging inflation at 10%, the budget is in effect sharply reduced in real terms. The new budget co...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 15 Dec 2017
  11. Bahrain: Ambitious Gas Plans Boosted By LNG Import Go-Ahead

    ...A operates Bahrain’s largest power plant, the 1.54GW Al Dur plant, and plans to add a further 1.5GW in 2017 (MEES, 11 December 2015). MEES calculates that this will require an additional 170mn cfd of gas. But the biggest planned increase in gas demand in the next few years is set to come from wh...

    Volume: 59
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 16 Dec 2016
  12. Bapco: Bids In For Refinery Expansion

    ...e EPC contract in the first half of 2017 with a view to having the expanded plant fully operational by the end of 2020. The refinery expansion will take place at the same time as construction of a new 350,000 b/d pipeline – which will replace an aging 230,000 b/d pipeline – to bring some of the pl...

    Volume: 59
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 16 Dec 2016
  13. Kuwait: New Oil Minister Eyes Neutral Zone Restart

    ...cember). Many campaigned against the government’s recent fuel subsidy cuts and other measures designed to curb Kuwait’s budget deficit, set to reach KD9.7bn ($31.8bn) in the financial year to March 2017 (MEES, 11 November). Despite the gasoline price hikes (see table) Kuwaiti fuel is still the second ch...

    Volume: 59
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 16 Dec 2016
  14. Eni Bags $2.1bn From Zohr Sell-Off

    ...hr. Both firms have the option to buy a further 5% by the end of 2017 when Zohr is slated to come onstream. Though the option is “on the same terms” the deal is structured in such a way that the price paid will be higher. Rosneft’s $1.575bn payment and BP’s $525mn include pro-rata “reimbursement of pa...

    Volume: 59
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 16 Dec 2016
  15. Eni Forces Sonatrach Gas Sales Concessions

    ...eakeven on our Gas and Power business, as we promised in 2017,” he adds. The renegotiated agreement covers almost 20% of the gas imported into Italy and is another step in Eni’s adjustment of its long-term gas supply contracts and optimizing costs in its gas and power unit, the company says. The deal fo...

    Volume: 59
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 16 Dec 2016
  16. Coal: Dubai Starts Work On 2.4GW Plant, Part Of 21GW Mena Expansion

    ...rada Morocco Sepco III 0.32 1.45 Under construction, start-up 2017 Safi Mo...

    Volume: 59
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 16 Dec 2016
  17. Non-Opec Production Agreement Raises As Many Questions As Answers

    ...The 10 December finalization of an agreement between key non-Opec producers and Opec to cut production by almost 1.8mn b/d is set to hasten the market’s rebalancing, the IEA and Opec both agree. Both have also revised upwards their forecasts for global demand in 2017 in their monthly oil ma...

    Volume: 59
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 16 Dec 2016
  18. Should I Stay Or Should I Go? Majors In The KRG

    ...nada’s Western Zagros as operator of the Garmian block in southwestern Kurdistan in May. Both partners have 40%.   •  Production comes from the Sarqala field, which is producing around 5,500 b/d of light oil from one well. Spudding of a second well has been pushed back from H1 2017 to Q3 2017, bu...

    Volume: 59
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 16 Dec 2016
  19. Iraq Budgets For Higher Revenue In 2017 As Oil Prices Rise

    ...Iraq is on track to record a massive $21.5bn deficit in 2016, a modest improvement on last year’s $26bn. The recently-passed 2017 budget projects a deficit of ‘only’ $18.4bn, though a conservative oil price assumption means it may undershoot. Iraq is banking on higher oil revenues in 2017 to...

    Volume: 59
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 16 Dec 2016
  20. Oman Eyes Debt Market

    ...Oman is planning to issue $1.5-2bn of international bonds in 2017 to plug its budget deficit, senior central bank official Ali Hamdan al-Raisi says. Finance ministry official Muhammad Jawad bin Sleiman adds that Oman has yet to decide whether it will be a normal bond or loan, or sukuk. Om...

    Volume: 59
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 16 Dec 2016