Oman’s Million Barrel First Half Can’t Prevent Revenue Decline

...lf of 2016 totaled $5.74bn, down from $9.04bn in the same period last year, and from $15.14bn in the first half of 2014 when Omani oil averaged $105/B. Although the average price of DME Oman has slipped by around $2/B in July from June’s $46.62/B, there is typically a lag before this is felt in th...

Sabic & ExxonMobil Evaluating 1.8mn Tons/Year Record Cracker

...tput estimated at 64mn tons in 2014, it is currently facing competition from two large joint ventures involving state-owned petroleum giant Saudi Aramco. The 3.2mn t/y Sadara joint venture between Aramco and US chemicals firm Dow has completed two 375,000 t/y linear low density polyethylene units an...

Petro Rabigh Cracker Outage

...bigh threatened to terminate Rawec’s supply agreement. However, the dispute was resolved after Rawec paid Petro Rabigh SR750mn ($200mn) in compensation, along with a SR188mn ($50mn) reduction in tariffs and a SR188mn investment in improving the reliability of its supply systems (MEES, 6 June 2014).    ...

UAE Completes Nuclear Reactor Vessel

...ec says that overall construction of the four plants is more than 65% complete. Reactor vessels for the Barakah-1 and Barakah-2 reactor were completed in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Enec recently completed structural integrity and leak rate tests on the Barakah-1 reactor containment building. Al...

Opec Winning Back Market Share in Key Asian Markets

...16. However, while the importance of the Asian market for Opec has been growing, Opec’s importance to the region has been falling. IGA and Opec data shows that in 2011, 65.5% of Asia’s oil imports came from Opec, but this fell to 61.2% in 2014 and just 60.1% last year. But Opec’s Saudi-driven strategy to...

Dubai In Unwelcome Headwinds

...ported this week that property prices in Dubai have fallen by around 25% since their most recent peak in 2014, but remain above their 2011 trough. However, the IMF reports that the quality of the real estate loan portfolio is significantly better than prior to the 2009 crash.   Overall, Dubai, in...

Oilfield Services Firms Forecast Upturn As Industry Looks To Overcome Crisis

...low levels (MEES, 8 July). Middle East resilience – and deep pockets – has seen the region’s share of each company’s revenue grow since the third quarter of 2014. Schlumberger’s Middle East share of revenue has risen to 33.6% in Q2 16 compared to 23.5% in Q3 14, while Halliburton’s has risen to...

Iraq: Record Products Imports Eat Into Crude Export Earnings

...maximize the proportion of their crude output refined domestically in order to maximize revenue, Iraq saw a mere 8% of its crude output refined domestically in April and May, the lowest figure on record. Refinery output nosedived in June 2014 when Islamic State (IS) captured the 310,000 b/d Ba...

Moroccan Refiner Samir Fails To Clinch Crude Deal

...mains in doubt. Although an expansion of the plant’s capacity from 120,000 b/d was completed in 2012, it has reached a peak throughput of only 167,000 b/d in March 2014, before stuttering to a halt in August 2015. The last recorded Mohammedia throughput on the Jodi database is 113,000 b/d for July 2015....

Oman To Add 4.8GW To Grid By 2022 As Electricity Demand Forecast To Rise 74%

...ports – although trading is possible by 2022. OPWP joined the GCCIA in December 2014 and envisages “tangible benefits to Oman both for planning and operations.” The company hopes to pilot electricity trading with other GCC states this year and to begin spot market trading in the MIS system in 20...

Iraqi Political Deadlock Exacerbated Following Ministerial Resignations

...vel by Kurds both for cutting off the region’s budget payments in January 2014 and his repeated claims that Kurdistan sponsors Sunni Arab terrorist groups. The fact that the Kurdish parties closest to Baghdad are willing to reach out to him reflects poorly on their view of Mr ‘Abadi’s prospects. Ku...

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...