Apicorp And Bahri Plan $1.5bn Saudi VLCC Shipping Fund

...versified and investment-led economy. “This fund will not only reduce Saudi Arabia’s dependence on external crude carriers, but also its earnings will be reinvested in the local economy,” says Mr Mufadhi. BAHRI/ARAMCO DEAL Bahri took over Saudi Aramco’s Vela shipping unit in 2014, in an ag...

GCC Bonds’ Bumper Year: 1H16 Surpasses All Previous Full-Year Historic Highs

...Saudi Arabia’s SAMA for whom net foreign reserves dropped from a peak of $732bn in August 2014 to $581bn at end-April 2016, where it remained in May (see p20). The kingdom’s budget deficit soared from around $14.4bn in 2014 to a record $98bn last year (MEES, 8 January), and it has budgeted fo...

Algeria’s Economy: Sinking Fast Despite ‘Titanic Efforts’

...Algeria has been rapidly drawing down its foreign currency reserves: from $194bn at the start of July 2014, just before oil prices started to slide, to $143bn at the end of 2015 and $137bn at the end of May (see chart). Speaking on 15 June, Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said that he ex...

Saudi Monetary Authority Reserves Rise For First Time Since 2014 In May (Net Foreign Assets, $Bn End Period)

Iran Takes Major Step Towards New Contracts. But Will IOCs Bite?

...11, but its lack of activity caused Iran to hook it from the field in 2014 with production at 50,000 b/d, well shy of the planned 320,000 b/d. IRAN POST-SANCTIONS UPSTREAM AGREEMENTS WITH FOREIGN FIRMS   TOTAL CRACKS ON     Total is at the forefront of IOCs in line for an IPC. It ma...

KRG Crude Revenues Set To Edge Higher For 2016

...ivate Kurdish firm Kar. Kar operates the Khurmala dome of the Kirkuk field, and has also operated the Avana Dome and nearby Bai Hassan field following the KRG’s seizure of contested territory from so-called Islamic State in 2014. Kar President Baz Karim said in December the firm plans to increase co...

Qatar LNG: More Sales To Europe But Flexibility The Key

...tight supply, such as following Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, they have been able to divert cargoes from Europe to higher-priced markets in Asia. But since 2014 less Qatari LNG has been redirected to Asia due to slow demand growth and increased supplies including from Papua New Gu...

Iraqi Refining Runs, Gasoline Output At 9-Year Low Despite Progress Against IS

...roughputs for April and May – at 354,000 b/d and 362,000 b/d respectively – were the two lowest figures since 2007. Until early 2014 refineries in the north of Iraq provided over half of the country’s products output: for 2012 northern runs were 345,000 b/d versus 241,000 b/d for the south (see chart). Bu...

Israel Switching To Gas From Coal As Tamar Ramps Up

...sit by anyone holding his office for almost a decade. Although discussions centered mainly on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, the visit signals Egypt’s improving relations with Israel. Whether that will be enough to greenlight two Letters of Intent (LOI) signed in 2014 between the partners of the Ta...

A Tale Of Two OPECs: GCC Drills For The Future, Periphery Slashes Spending

...nths since then Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi told MEES that his country was committed to a policy of maximizing market share for “highly-efficient…low-cost” producers, however long this took – “two years, three years, God knows” – and whatever the effect on oil prices (MEES, 18 December 2014). De...

OPEC Drilling By The Numbers: ‘Annual Wells Drilled’ From OPEC’S 2016 Statistical Bulletin

...lls % 2014 2013 S. Arabia 616 +78 +14.5 538 42...

Syria: Trauma To Last For Years Even If A ‘Deal’ Is Struck

...frastructure. Crude oil production in government-controlled areas has dropped to about 9,000 b/d in 2014 from 386,000 b/d in 2010. Total crude oil production is higher when factoring in output from fields under rebel control, which is then sold on the black market, including to the two 120,000 b/d capacity st...

Kuwaiti Oil IPOs: An Unlikely Prospect

...eld, after having previously secured a TSA to work on the field in November 2014 and in March announced a vague agreement “to study opportunities for joint investment” domestically and internationally (MEES, 1 April). Shell meanwhile has one ETSA to develop the heavy Ratqa field – which will de...

Egypt: Oil Drilling Uptick On Higher Prices, Output To Follow?

...Independents in Egypt have rapidly responded to rising oil prices. Egypt’s oil output has fallen by 35,000 b/d since peaking at 700,000 b/d in mid-2015. The output record came on the back of sustained high drilling levels – with the country’s oil rig count at around 40 during the whole of 2014...

Saudi Electricity Taps China For $1.5bn, Takes Expansion Funding To $33bn

...nistry of Finance in 2014 in addition to government’s regular long term backing (MEES, 17 July 2015). The loan from Chinese state bank ICBC also takes SEC’s capital projects fundraising for 2016 to $3.8bn – just half way through the year this already exceeds the previous record of $3.7bn, hit in both 2014...

Opec On Track For Record Annual Output Despite Unplanned Outages

...eaking lows (MEES, 1 July).  OPEC WELLHEAD PRODUCTION, June 2016 (MN B/D, MEES ESTIMATES)                   June '16 vs May'16 vs Jun '15 May '16 Apr '16 1H16 vs 1H15 1H15 2015 2014 S Ar...

Egypt Finally Pays Off $7bn Debt To Qatar, Backer Of Previous Islamist Government

...rch). Egypt recorded a budget deficit of E£311bn in the first 11 months of fiscal 2015-16, up from E£262bn in the corresponding period of 2014-15, according to the June Financial Monthly recently published by the Ministry of Finance. The 11-month deficit in 2015-16 exceeds by 24% the projected deficit of...

Abu Dhabi Streamlining Creates $135bn Energy Fund With Global Reach

...June).  IPIC reports that it recorded a net loss of $2.6bn in 2015, down from a $1.5bn profit in 2014. Revenue fell around 30% to $35.8bn as low oil prices resulted in the devaluation of many of its oil and gas investments. Its upstream stakes give it working interest production of just over 20...

Iran: Payments Start Flowing But Fear Factor Remains

...ese were tightened further in 2011 which led its roughly $420bn economy to shrink by about 9% in the two-year period that ended in March 2014, according to the IMF. From then until January 2016, when sanctions were broadly lifted in return for nuclear curbs, Iran’s ability to continue trading oil pr...

Kuwait Eyes Short Term $17bn Debt Market Boost; Longer-Term Reform Is Needed

...self was more than twice the KD2.31bn Kuwait ran up in 2014-15, its first deficit since 1999-2000. Last year’s deficit was considerably less than the KD8.18bn deficit it expected to run as recently as February, despite Kuwait’s main crude export stream averaging less than the budgeted price. Mr Sa...