SK Inks Tabriz Refinery Deal As Korean Investment Hits $19bn

...re need of upgrade and modernization.” The upgrade is intended to reduce Tabriz’s fuel oil output to 2% of total production. One of the aims of Iran’s refinery upgrade program is to reduce the need for gasoline imports, which averaged 49,000 b/d in 2016 and 64,000 b/d in the first four months of 2017...

Iran’s Rohani Targets More Foreign Investment, Shadow Lenders

...eraged 3.8mn b/d compared to 2.85mn b/d in 2015 (MEES, 4 August). Latest Central Bank of Iran (CBI) statistics show that real GDP grew at 12.5% for the Iranian year ending 20 March 2017, driven by the rise in oil production. But the economy in general is still suffering from lack of liquidity, large de...

Italy Crude Imports ('000 B/D): Iran Overtakes Iraq & Saudi Arabia As Top Middle East Supplier In 2017

US Output: New Records, But Gains Slow

...1H 2018 – reflecting the delayed impact of the recent drilling slowdown (see p7) – before breaking 10mn b/d for the first time in November 2018, in line with previous projections. •  2017 output is now forecast at 9.345mn b/d, just below 2015’s 9.409mn b/d, before rising to 9.911mn b/d for 20...

Zohr Almost There As Egypt Plots Further Gas Gains

...ntracted by Eni to drill two wells offshore Cyprus at the end of 2017 and start of 2018. “Regarding our wells in Cyprus, we plan to restart a drilling campaign before the year end with new wells, two additional wells, to be drilled back-to-back,” Chief Exploration Officer Luca Bertelli says. Eni op...

Libya: Cautious Optimism With Output At 3-Year High

...C? Output from the key Sharara fields in the southwest of Libya averaged 189,000 b/d in Q2, and 251,000 b/d in June according to figures given in the H1 2017 interim report of Spain’s Repsol, leader of the Akakus JV which operates the fields. Repsol’s net figures were 23,000 b/d for Q2 and 29,800 b/d fo...

Genel Makes Profit in H1 2017, Clock Is Ticking On KRG Gas Plans

...Despite KRG-focused Genel Energy’s production collapsing, the firm swung to profit in H1 2017. Reduced oil output means gas development is more important than ever. The precipitous collapse in Taq Taq output has seen Genel’s only producing operated-field fall to barely 25% of the firm’s ne...

Oryx Experiences More Hawler Delays

...d-2016 (MEES, 12 May). With focus shifting from Hawler’s disappointing Demir Dagh field to Zey Gawra, Oryx said in a December 2016 presentation that it was targeting 12,000-15,000 b/d by end-2017, but this will be another missed target. Its planned capex for the second half of 2017 has been slashed from $29...

Iraq Eats Into Saudi Share Of Key Crude Markets; Stage Set For Tense Opec Meet

...d-2016 output before the Opec deal came into effect) have consistently fallen since. For June the same four buyers took just 3.68mn b/d of Saudi crude, the lowest volume since September 2015 (see charts). Looking at the collective shift between Q1 and June 2017 for the three key east Asian importers, th...

Kuwait Delivering First Crude Cargo To Vietnam Refinery, Eyes Global Expansion

...%) 248 248 124 Nghi Son, Vietnam (35.1%, 2017) n/a 200 70...

Benban Solar Plan: Egypt PV Gets $635mn World Bank Cash

...e not finalized. The EBRD was hoping to “start construction before the end of 2017” on the 16 projects it is financing. The IFC expects the projects it will support to sign power purchase agreements in the third quarter of 2017. A number of the larger projects aim to begin construction in the fourth qu...

Opec Seeks To Bolster Flagging Cohesion

...ssia – chair and alternating-chair of the JTC respectively – “in the presence of representatives from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is serving as President of Opec in 2017.” The remaining JTC members – Algeria, Venezuela and Oman – will not be attending. As for which of the participating pr...

US Drilling: Schlumberger Chief Calls For Caution - Has He Got His Wish?

...ll on 21 July. “The pursuit of equity appreciation outweighs the lack of free cash flow, net income and return on capital employed.” In marked contrast to the larger independents and majors who remain more focused on cost-cutting than raising output – BP this week cut its planned 2017 capex from $17...

Qatar Oil & Gas Revenues Fall To Eight Month Low

...Qatar’s hydrocarbon revenues, and those from oil exports in particular, fell sharply in June amid ongoing geopolitical upheaval. Qatar’s 2017 deficit is already on track to exceed the budget figure, weakening revenues would provide a further blow. Qatari oil and gas export revenues fell to...

Oman Taps China For $3.6bn Amid Ratings Downgrade

...tracted strong interest, prompting the government to raise the size from the original $2bn target. The ministry says the loan completes Oman’s external funding requirements for 2017 whilst adding geographical diversity to Oman’s external funding sources – past funding has largely come from western ba...

Gulf NOCs Target IPOs, Other Routes To Foreign Funding

...ke place on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange by the end of 2017. Adnoc has not publicly stated the size of the stake that will be sold but Bloomberg on 11 July reported that Adnoc may seek a valuation as high as $14bn, with proceeds from the share sales potentially pulling in as much as $3bn for Abu Dh...

IMF Greenlights Iraq Cash, Calls For More Reform

...w phase following last month’s liberation of Mosul. The IMF points out that the authorities are maintaining the peg of the Iraqi dinar to the US dollar, which provides “a key anchor to the economy.” But much work is required in 2017-18 to boost non-oil revenue and reduce current expenditure. Pl...

Lebanon To Hike Taxes

...x measures as a first step towards fiscal reform, paving the way for ratifying the 2017 budget for the first time since 2005. Lebanon’s draft budget was approved by the cabinet in March and submitted to parliament for approval. It projects total expenditure of $15.8bn and a fiscal deficit of $5.2bn, or...

2016 Global Energy Investment: Electricity Powers Ahead

...•  Global energy investment fell by 12% to $1.7trillion, some 2.2% of global GDP, in 2016, according to the IEA’s recently-released World Energy Investment 2017 report. The fall comes on the back of 2015’s 8% fall.   •  Spending on electricity, at $718bn, overtook that on oil and ga...

Egypt Touts $33bn Gas Investment, But Receivables Worry Remains

...e award of a tender for a third floating storage and regasification unit (FRSU), to be moored at the Red Sea port of Safaga in the first half of 2017. The ship’s capacity will be 750mn cfd to add to its two existing FSRUs totaling 1.3bn cfd. Both moored at Ain Sukhna, north of Safaga, these started op...