1. OPEC Output Up In June Despite Iraqi Outages

    ...vised 29.94mn b/d in May (see table). This pushed output above the group’s nominal 30mn b/d target, which has been in place since December 2011. At their latest meeting in Vienna last month, OPEC ministers decided to maintain this target for the remainder of the year. This is despite the fact that th...

    Volume: 57
    Issue: 28
    Published at Fri, 11 Jul 2014
  2. Libyan Operators Wait For Output Surge

    ...ened up the pipeline to the Mellitah terminal; Sharara production is exported from nearby Zawiya. Before the revolution that toppled veteran despot Mu’ammar al-Qadhafi in 2011, Libya was producing 1.6mn b/d. The hasty shut down of fields and pipelines during the fighting led to fears that it would ta...

    Volume: 57
    Issue: 28
    Published at Fri, 11 Jul 2014
  3. Saudi Arabia Denies Funding Isis

    ...ceived new support from Iran in the form of elite al-Quds brigade forces helping to fight the Sunni insurgency. Prince Muqrin bin ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, the former Saudi intelligence chief named recently as the future King of Saudi Arabia to succeed Crown Prince Salman, back in 2011 warned Washington at a me...

    Volume: 57
    Issue: 28
    Published at Fri, 11 Jul 2014
  4. Gulfsands Struggling To Regroup More Than Two Years After Losing Syria Assets

    ...rce majeure at its Syria operations, Gulfsands’ only producing asset, in December 2011. Gulfsands’ working interest from its Syria operations totaled about 8,500 b/d in 2011, down from 10,300 b/d in 2010. In a corporate update issued at the end of June, Gulfsands suggests that it remains ho...

    Volume: 57
    Issue: 28
    Published at Fri, 11 Jul 2014
  5. Production Restarts At DNO Yemen Blocks

    ...en the growing strength of local workers’ unions in Yemen’s oil and gas sector. In the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring, oil workers have increasingly turned to strike action over the last three years to demand better rights for themselves. Among the companies most recently affected by this is No...

    Volume: 57
    Issue: 28
    Published at Fri, 11 Jul 2014
  6. IFC Invests In ACWA Power To Support MENA Renewables

    ...one of the world’s largest owners and operators of desalination plants, “have attracted the interest of the IFC.” The IFC began working with ACWA in 2011 in Jordan, where it has 51% of generator CEGCO, and is considering investing with ACWA in Morocco’s 160MW Noor-1 solar project, where co...

    Volume: 57
    Issue: 28
    Published at Fri, 11 Jul 2014
  7. Benchmark Crude Prices ($/B)

    ...12 2011 WTI 102.93 104.61 106.06 105.13 101.90 103.00 98.56 98.03 94...

    Volume: 57
    Issue: 28
    Published at Fri, 11 Jul 2014
  8. Libya On The Cusp Of Oil Revival

    ...sumed both from eastern and western oil ports, and currently stands at around 320,000 b/d, according to National Oil Corporation (NOC) spokesman Muhammad al-Harari. Prior to the crisis, output stood at 1.5mn b/d, just shy of volumes pumped before the outbreak of the 2011 revolution that toppled Mu’ammar al...

    Volume: 57
    Issue: 27
    Published at Fri, 04 Jul 2014
  9. Egypt’s 2014-15 Budget Slashes Energy Subsidies, Deficit

    ...e IMF in particular has pressed for the curbing of the budget deficit as one of its preconditions to approve a $4.8bn loan to Egypt which was first considered in 2011, but is still pending. Egyptian officials – buoyed by Gulf largesse – say that the time has not yet come for further discussion on th...

    Volume: 57
    Issue: 27
    Published at Fri, 04 Jul 2014
  10. GCC Economies ‘Hooked’ On Bumper Oil And Gas Revenues -S&P

    ...r reserves and production. Stable Prices?    Of course, GCC producers are aware of market risks. But with oil prices seemingly rangebound at $100-110/B since early 2011, a geopolitical climate that supports prices, and the emergence of new pressures – such as the need for prices to remain ov...

    Volume: 57
    Issue: 27
    Published at Fri, 04 Jul 2014
  11. Benchmark Crude Prices ($/B)

    ...12 2011 WTI 104.06 106.06 106.50 105.13 101.90 103.00 98.56 98.03 94...

    Volume: 57
    Issue: 27
    Published at Fri, 04 Jul 2014
  12. 230,000 B/D Garraf Joins List of Delayed Iraqi Projects

    ...late 2011/early 2012, causing a delay of at least two years to the original 2015 phase 1 start-up (MEES, 26 March 2012). Current project manager, CH2M Hill believes it can still make the 5.2mn b/d phase 1 start up by 2017 (MEES, 22 March), but most Iraqi oil investors are skeptical. A high pr...

    Volume: 56
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 26 Jul 2013
  13. Wintershall Set To Explore Shuweihat As IOCs Help Abu Dhabi Boost Gas Production

    ...eathing tanks. Three workers had previously died from hydrogen sulfide at the Shah oil field on the same site (MEES, 4 April 2011). Unlike Shah – which is isolated in a mostly unpopulated quarter of Abu Dhabi’s desert – Bab is near heavily populated areas such as the Habshan gas processing hub.   Sh...

    Volume: 56
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 26 Jul 2013
  14. US Mulls Further Tightening Of Iran Sanctions Screw

    ...porting oil from Iran.   Washington in December 2011 passed legislation cutting off access to the US financial system for foreign financial institutions involved in oil trade with Iran, unless their home countries were given a waiver by committing to reduce oil import volumes from Iran. Each im...

    Volume: 56
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 26 Jul 2013
  15. Bahrain LNG Import Plans

    ...unch a tender by the end of 2010 (MEES, 15 March 2010). Bahrain ended up rejecting a 2011 offer by Shell to sell gas to Bahrain at or near oil-price parity.   Qatar Gas For Bahrain Qatar, meanwhile, discussed the possibility of building a gas pipeline that would supply Bahrain with Qatari ga...

    Volume: 56
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 26 Jul 2013
  16. GCC Polypropylene Boosted By Conversion Push

    ...bolstering demand for PP in a region which has long been a net exporter.   The GCC PP resin market for local conversion was worth $983mn in 2011, says Frost & Sullivan, but is expected to grow to $1.366bn by 2016. “GCC states’ easy access to PP resin, owing to their large oil and gas re...

    Volume: 56
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 26 Jul 2013
  17. OPEC Producers Adopt Higher Oil Price Assumptions For 2013 Budgets

    ...ograms put in place by a number of the regional governments, to appease the lingering unrest sparked by the Arab Spring more than two years ago. Higher oil prices too have also played their part, with the OPEC basket climbing to a yearly average of $109.45/B in 2012, relative to $107.46/B for 2011. Pr...

    Volume: 56
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 26 Jul 2013
  18. Syria: $12Bn Oil Losses

    ...ditionally lost S£86.6bn ($878mn) from the damage of infrastructure and equipment, raising total direct losses to S£156bn ($1.58bn).   According to the ministry, indirect losses between the March 2011 start of the uprising and end-June 2013 were around S£1,000bn ($10.1bn). This is based on lost re...

    Volume: 56
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 26 Jul 2013
  19. Kuwait’s 2013-14 Budget Eyes Surplus

    ...dget Based On $70/B Oil Price   The Kuwait budget is based on a conservative oil price of $70/B, Khalifa Hamad, Ministry of Finance Undersecretary, said on 17 July, when he unveiled the budget details. The new oil price is higher than the $65/B in 2012-13 and $60/B in 2011-12, although even th...

    Volume: 56
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 26 Jul 2013
  20. Benchmark crude prices

    ...12 2011 WTI 105.49 106.64 104.81 95.79 94.75 94.17 94.42 94.18 95...

    Volume: 56
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 26 Jul 2013