Can Cyprus Reboot Offshore Drilling Plans?

...i announced its own 6-8tcf Calypso discovery (MEES, 16 February 2018), raising expectations that the island would finally be able to call itself a gas producer. Initial hopes following the 2011 discovery of Cyprus’ 4.1tcf Aphrodite had subsided in the six years between, with the mid-2014 oil price co...

Libya Dusts Off $60bn Of Projects: Could This Be Its Last Chance?

...bound in the last quarter of the year, Libya’s crude production in 2020 is still set for its lowest level since 1962 at just 341,000 b/d. That represents a 69% fall on 2019’s seven-year high of 1.11mn b/d, making this year the worst since the 2011 revolution in output terms. It is also two-thirds down on...

Petchems To Dominate MENA 2016 Downstream After 2013-14 CDU Boost

...PC to speed up plans to expand refining capacity and in particular upgrading. While Egypt is pushing a number of large and small-scale refining projects, investment momentum is still rebuilding after a lull from 2011 until last year. In 2016 only one Egyptian project is scheduled for co...

Iran Seeks To Reclaim Former Markets In 2016

...mpeting directly for buyers with their medium and heavy sour crude grades in Europe, which imported 595,000 b/d of Iranian crude on average in 2011, the last full year before the European embargo was implemented. In Asia, Iran’s largest market even before sanctions (see chart, p16), the impact of this ti...

The MENA Region’s Vulnerability: A Geo-Economic Outlook

...portunities of success for all participants. But that will require a decisive, collective political will on the part of the prevailing leadership, and moves towards the inclusion of Morocco and Jordan have largely stalled since mooted in 2011. Otherwise, the alternative is, quite simply, bleak.  UN 2015 HU...

Libya: No More Than A Glimmer Of Hope

...Foreign powers hope a nascent peace deal in Libya will be a prelude to concerted action against IS. But the omens for success do not look good. As Libya approaches five years since the uprising began that culminated in the removal of long-time leader Mu’ammar al Qadhafi in 2011, there has be...

Importers Of Iranian Crude 2011-2015 (MN B/D)

Indonesia’s Pertamina Pays $1.75bn For ConocoPhillips Algeria Assets

...rcumstances, production rarely if ever brought ‘home’, it is not always clear that this could even happen in an emergency situation.   Abu Dhabi’s state investment vehicle IPIC’s 2011 purchase of Ourhoud operator Cepsa is another example of state firms expanding in Algeria at the expense of in...

Libya Output Hit By Strikes

...pped to 1.54mn b/d from October’s post-revolution high of 1.56mn b/d as strikes shut Ras Lanuf for several days. Limited storage at the 220,000 b/d refinery and neighboring port – tanks destroyed during 2011’s fighting have yet to be replaced – means that problems at the refinery have a rapid impact on up...

Use Of Cypriot Gas Deposits As Collateral Premature Says Kassinis

...-20% of the combined reservoir, although MEES understands that Israeli estimates put it at as much as 30-35%.   Since 2011 Cyprus and Israel have been negotiating a unitization agreement on the joint exploitation of Aphrodite/Ishai. These talks are highly unlikely to be completed before the re...

Badri Urges Straight Course

...ssible emergency meeting ahead of May (MEES, 14 December).   Just why such high supply has not had a bigger impact on prices was somewhat of a mystery. OPEC basket prices have been above $100/B for all but three months since January 2011. OPEC output, according to the OPEC’s own Monthly Oil Ma...

MENA Active Drilling Rigs, November 2012

...12*                   November 2012 breakdown*   Nov-12 Oct-12 Nov/ Oct Sep-12 Nov-11 2012/ 2011...

Benchmark Crude Prices & Saudi Arabia - Economic Data

...12 Q2 2012 2011 2010 WTI 90.13 86.15 87.53 86.85 89.57 92...

Cyprus Ends Gas Block Talks With French-Russian Consortium

...alleviate its debt burden – it was heavily hit by the Greek sovereign debt crisis.   Block 9 is one on offer that adjoins Block 12, where Noble Energy discovered 7 tcf (198 bcm) of natural gas in December 2011. A second phase of drilling on Noble’s field, Aphrodite, is due to take pl...

Suez Canal Traffic

...nuary-November 2012 are both down 2% on year ago levels. Last year’s revenues were the second highest on record after 2008 despite Egypt’s massive political upheavals.   Southbound crude volumes, at 900,000 b/d for the first 11 months of 2012, are up almost 70% on the same period in 2011...

UAE Signs Nuclear Deal With Russia

...dertake the study failed to “submit its report on time.”   Worldwide uranium production was estimated at 54,610 tons in 2011, while proven global uranium resources amounted to 5.33mn tons at end-2011.   Meanwhile, Iran is the only country in the region to have built a commercial-sc...

Israeli-Turkish Normalization Talks May Include Energy Parameter

...rmara incident, when Israeli commandoes killed nine Turkish citizens while boarding a Turkish ship, which was attempting to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. Although both sides have been pressured by the US to reach some sort of accommodation since the autumn of 2011, the campaign has been st...

Lebanon’s $2Bn Issue Meets Limited Market Appetite

...GDP in 2011 allow the country to be relatively insulated from geopolitical developments. It adds that Lebanon has never defaulted on its debt servicing, despite serious political and economic shocks. Confidence in the Lebanese pound remains strong, as conservative bank regulations have enabled the Ce...

Why The Middle East Will Lead The World In Developing Sustainable Energy

...nkings*   Country 2012 Rank 2011 Rank 2010 Rank Qatar 41 48 38 UA...

Saudi Arabia Plans To Open Stocks To Foreign Investment

...vestment. There were reports late in 2010 that foreigners would be let in as early as the first half of 2011, but at the time analysts said that it would take much longer to complete the studies and develop a plan. “I think the timing will be influenced by market conditions. They won’t want to do it if th...