1. Kufpec Raises $1.1bn Loan

    ...lies on ‘backdated’ purchases to bolster production figures, buying into two Norwegian gas fields last September (MEES, 8 September 2017).  Its $900mn purchase of Shell’s stake in Thailand’s 1bn cfd Bongkot field fell through in October (MEES, 13 October 2017), but the  July startup of train 2  at the 8....

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 32
    Published at Fri, 10 Aug 2018
  2. Japan Slashes Abu Dhabi LNG Imports

    ...r three years from 2019. Jera says that “This MOA is in line with the Japan Fair Trade Commission ruling issued in June 2017.” This ruling bars Japanese importers from inking new deals that contain ‘destination clauses’ preventing cargo resale (MEES, 28 July 2017). Jera was formed in 2015 as To...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 32
    Published at Fri, 10 Aug 2018
  3. Asian* LNG Imports Soar To New Record Highs (Mn Tons)

    ...Q2 IMPORTS FELL FROM Q1’S ALL TIME HIGH BUT WERE STILL UP 12% YEAR-ON-YEAR...   ...WHILE FIRST HALF VOLUMES WERE UP A WHOPPING 14.5% *THESE 5 KEY ASIAN IMPORTERS ARE ALSO BY FAR THE LARGEST GLOBAL IMPORTERS ACCOUNTING FOR 68% OF GLOBAL LNG TRADE IN 2017. SOURCE: OFFICIAL IM...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 32
    Published at Fri, 10 Aug 2018
  4. Yemen: OMV’s Risky Reentry Pays Dividends

    ...ude exports come from Blocks 10 and 14 in the east of the country (MEES, 15 September 2017). State firm PetroMasila operates the blocks, using some of the crude for local power generation and sending the rest via a 138km pipeline to Ash Shihr where it is exported to Asia. Exports in 2017 averaged 44...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 31
    Published at Fri, 03 Aug 2018
  5. Iraq Takes On Mansuriya

    ...er development. Kuwait Energy, in its 2017 financial statements, bemoaned the Iraqi government for having “so far refused to entertain any request for change in terms.” It reclassified the field’s 2P reserves as contingent resources whilst impairing the asset in full (MEES, 25 May). The oil ministry sa...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 31
    Published at Fri, 03 Aug 2018
  6. Libya: Companies Crave Elusive Stability

    ...,000 b/d for 1H 2017. However the firm is clearly not banking on these gains continuing. “Production in Libya is forecasted to be at a similar level to that of 2017,” the firm said on 2 August. Average 2017 output was 25,000 b/d.  Repsol also continues to insert the caveat that its 2018 global output fo...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 31
    Published at Fri, 03 Aug 2018
  7. Iran Suffers Korea Export Blow Ahead Of Sanctions

    ...d been an increasingly important customer for Iran and took record volumes in 2017. The 361,000 b/d that South Korea imported from Iran over the course of 2017 was more than any country bar China and India. This marked the third consecutive year in which the country has held the number three sp...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 31
    Published at Fri, 03 Aug 2018
  8. Iraq: Saudi Power Play As Protests Continue

    ...sengaged entirely, creating a vacuum on which rival Iran capitalized. Riyadh is now belatedly seeking to engage, particularly since now-Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman began deciding the kingdom’s foreign policy in 2015 (MEES, 27 October 2017). Though few concrete developments have so far ma...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 31
    Published at Fri, 03 Aug 2018
  9. Cash-Rich Gulf State Refiners Seek Overseas Capacity, Integration

    ...18mn b/d, while refinery throughputs have risen from 5.41mn b/d in 2009 to a record 7.18mn b/d in 2017 (see charts). Gulf refinery throughputs averaged around 6.97mn b/d in the first half of 2018 but this figure is likely to increase as consumption of fuels for both power generation and transport rises du...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 31
    Published at Fri, 03 Aug 2018
  10. Egypt’s New CCGTs Take Pressure Off Power Generators

    ...ypt’s installed generating capacity close to 50GW (see table). This is two-thirds higher than 2017’s record peak power load, with demand topping 30GW for the first time last July. With such a comfortable excess, EEHC can now afford to shut down some older and more inefficient power plants, at least fo...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 31
    Published at Fri, 03 Aug 2018
  11. Qatar Export Revenues Hit Three-Year High Despite Continued Embargo

    ...position in June 2017 (MEES, 9 June 2017). Internationally flagged vessels can still load up with cargoes from Qatar’s oil and gas terminals before calling on ports from embargoing nations – such as Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura or the UAE’s Das Island. Moreover, Qatari vessels can easily refuel at Oman’s So...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 31
    Published at Fri, 03 Aug 2018
  12. Kuwait Fiscal Deficit Falls By 19% To $16bn For 2017-18

    ...-year real terms fall in its budget deficit for the year to 31 March 2018. The Ministry of Finance this week announced that the deficit fell from $19.5bn to $16bn. Predictably the deficit was much smaller than the $26.1bn laid out in the original 2017-18 budget law which underestimated oil prices an...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 31
    Published at Fri, 03 Aug 2018
  13. Brazil Crude Output And Exports Flatter To Deceive (Mn B/D)

    ...KE A MAJOR 2H18 REBOUND IF 2018 VOLUMES ARE TO EVEN MATCH 2017’S RECORDS SOURCE: ANP, MEES....

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 31
    Published at Fri, 03 Aug 2018
  14. Iraq Signs Baker Hughes Gas Deal

    ...e use of a 200mn cfd modular gas processing plant at Nasiriya. An initial contract was penned more than a year ago in July 2017 (MEES, 21 July 2017). Seeking to assuage local citizens who have joined nationwide protests, Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi stressed that the work would create 500 jobs an...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 31
    Published at Fri, 03 Aug 2018
  15. Aramco Receives Bids For Hawiyah Gas Plant Expansion, Targets Gas Supply Boost

    ...velopment. Whether increased gas availability is contributing to reduced Saudi burning of liquids in power plants is a moot point. Certainly direct crude burning is declining: first half 2017 direct burn was 424,000 b/d, down 50,000 b/d on H1 2016. MEES forecasts that Saudi crude burning will average 44...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 34
    Published at Fri, 25 Aug 2017
  16. Saudi Raises $3.5bn Sukuk

    ....4bn at end-2016, according to the finance ministry’s Debt Management Office.   Saudi Arabia is on track to cut its budget deficit in 2017. Actual numbers from the finance ministry show a deficit of $19.4bn in the first half of the year, which on a pro-rated basis would rise to $39.1bn for the full ye...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 34
    Published at Fri, 25 Aug 2017
  17. Algeria Pushes For Late-2017 Gas Start-Ups

    ...Cash-strapped Algeria is hoping to start up key gas projects, and boost revenue, before the end of 2017 with over 10bcm/year set to be added by mid-2018. Algiers has announced a new timetable for the long delayed South West Gas Project (SWGP), a series of field developments on which the co...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 34
    Published at Fri, 25 Aug 2017
  18. Algeria On Track For $11bn Deficit Despite Gas Export Boost

    ...esent a positive picture, at least compared to the disaster years of 2015 and 2016, when the country notched up trade deficits of $17.0bn and $17.8bn respectively, the two highest figures on record (MEES, 20 January). The first half of 2017 saw a trade deficit of ‘only’ $4.85bn, less than half the H1 2016 fi...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 34
    Published at Fri, 25 Aug 2017
  19. Kuwait: Al-Zour Re-Award But Delay Likely

    ...hi Son, Vietnam (35.1%, 2017) n/a 200 70 Duqm, Oman (50%, 2021) n/a 23...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 34
    Published at Fri, 25 Aug 2017
  20. Saudi Electricity Taps $1.75bn Loan For Capacity Expansion

    ...ternational finance market in 2017. Last year saw the company raise $5.1bn in three deals, an annual record if the 2014 finance ministry loan is excluded (see chart). SEC says the latest agreement is for a five-year ‘bullet’ repayment loan. Bullet loans require the entirety of the loan amount to be repaid at ma...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 34
    Published at Fri, 25 Aug 2017