1. Aramco’s $69.1bn Sabic Takeover Refuels PIF Ambitions

    ...presents an expansion from 2017’s 14.6mn t/y capacity. The 2017 total fell to 9.9mn t/y when excluding intermediate products (MEES, 24 August 2018). As for Sabic, 2018 petchems output totaled 61.6mn t/y of which up to two-thirds are intermediate products (MEES, 22 March). Even at 20mn t/y, this would still be...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 13
    Published at Fri, 29 Mar 2019
  2. Oman Eyes $3.85bn Sri Lanka Refinery Project

    ...ES, 22 March). After upgrading the Sohar refinery to 197,000 b/d in 2017 (MEES, 17 February 2017), Oman is now pushing on with the $8bn Duqm refinery which will add an additional 230,000 b/d. A separate petrochemicals complex at Duqm is also slowly beginning to push forward – though construction is so...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 13
    Published at Fri, 29 Mar 2019
  3. 2018 US Crude Exports Double; New Monthly High In Jan

    ...e US, up more than fourfold on 2017 but still well behind China (249,000 b/d) as the US’ top Asian customer. *Korean buying from the US (and other long-haul sources such as the North Sea) has been boosted by a tax break on imports of non-Mideast cargoes in a bid to diversify the country’s import sl...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 13
    Published at Fri, 29 Mar 2019
  4. GCC Downstream Giants Eye Revolutionary Plastics Technology

    ...mmercialize one of them. Sabic had patented a process to produce chemicals directly from crude using existing downstream units in a new configuration (MEES, 1 December 2017). However, Aramco took a more revolutionary route by developing new technologies. Besides squeezing more out of its resources, Aramco ch...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 13
    Published at Fri, 29 Mar 2019
  5. Egypt Solar Capacity To Soar In 2019 With Benban Boom

    ...ansmission line 12km east of the park. In addition, Substation-3 will also be directly linked to a 500kV overhead transmission line which runs just 500m east of the park. 2017 saw work on only one plot (5-1) of the 37.2 km2 park being built in the desert 40km north of Aswan. Egypt’s Infinity Solar says it...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 13
    Published at Fri, 29 Mar 2019
  6. Israeli-Arab Relations Under The Spotlight As Leviathan Start-Up Nears

    ...bassy in Amman shot and killed two Jordanians in 2017 saw Israel’s embassy close for six months (MEES, 19 January 2018). And US President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in late 2017 made matters even worse. Israel’s poor handling of security at Al Aqsa mosque, of which Jordan is te...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 13
    Published at Fri, 29 Mar 2019
  7. Senior UAE Official Calls For Israeli Dialogue

    ...iticism of “subversive Qatari politics and support for extremism and terrorist organizations” in the wake of the June 2017 GCC rift (MEES, 9 June 2017). His views on the UAE’s neighbor haven’t softened over the past two years....

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 13
    Published at Fri, 29 Mar 2019
  8. …Keeps Israel Steady

    ...ficit widened from 1.9% of GDP in 2017 to 2.9% last year and Fitch forecasts it to widen even further to 3.5% of GDP in 2019 before narrowing to 3.0% in 2020. “Israel’s macroeconomic performance has been impressive and the economy remained buoyant in 2018, with real GDP growth of 3.3%, low un...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 13
    Published at Fri, 29 Mar 2019
  9. Qatar Establishing Shariah-Complaint Energy Bank

    ...nancing, and that this will be progressively scaled up to the targeted $10bn. The institution will provide financing to energy projects both overseas and domestically. Despite being subject to an economic embargo by neighboring states since June 2017, Qatar shows no sign of reigning in its hydrocarbon-ba...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 13
    Published at Fri, 29 Mar 2019
  10. Saudi China Volumes Surge

    ...n b/d, a level never before breached, culminating in a record 2.13mn b/d in January (the latest available data, see p6).   CHINA’S TOP 4* CRUDE SUPPLIERS: SAUDI ARABIA CHALLENGES RUSSIA FOR No.1 SPOT (‘000 B/D) *BASED ON 2018 (& 2017) VOLUMES. BRAZIL, WITH 1.04MN B/D, WAS AHEAD OF IRAQ FOR JA...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 13
    Published at Fri, 29 Mar 2019
  11. Oman Eyes Headline Projects To Move Up Oil & Gas Value Chain

    ...har refinery to 197,000 b/d (MEES, 17 February 2017). The plan also solves another of MOG’s main concerns: What to do with all its newly discovered gas? State-led Petroleum Development Oman (PDO; Oman 60%, Shell 34%, Total 4%, Partex 2%) announced the discovery of the (at least) 4.5tcf Mabrouk NE fi...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 12
    Published at Fri, 22 Mar 2019
  12. Israel Firm Eyes Groundbreaking Egypt Upstream Entry

    ...0,000 barrels of oil storage capacity: enough for Phase-2 tie-back of output from 1.2tcf Tanin field 40km away should additional sales deals be secured. The Greek firm was also awarded five blocks (12, 21, 22, 23, 31) following 2017 bidding, that fall to the south and southwest of Karish, adjacent to...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 12
    Published at Fri, 22 Mar 2019
  13. Egypt Awards Fertilizer EPC

    ...p during 2013-16 that saw fertilizer plants shut down because of a lack of gas feedstock. They only began receiving full allocations of gas again in early 2017 (MEES, 19 May 2017). El Nasr currently operates one gas-fueled fertilizer plant at Suez, with capacity to produce 132,000 t/y ammonia, 20...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 12
    Published at Fri, 22 Mar 2019
  14. Opec Slams US Sanctions For Heightened Instability

    ...Opec+ with the capacity to open the taps to do so. SAUDI AND RUSSIA ON THE SAME PAGE?   Russia certainly appears to be more hesitant over the benefits of continuing the Opec+ agreement, but then that is largely in line with the past two and a bit years (MEES, 1 December 2017). Russia’s sl...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 12
    Published at Fri, 22 Mar 2019
  15. Saudi Liquids Burn Edges Up, More Rises To Come?

    ...ril being 100,000 b/d below March. They are going to match the lowest in 2017-18.” That low was 9.91mn b/d in December 2017, so Saudi Arabia may in fact be cutting significantly below 2017 levels. This would be a massive fall of around 500,000 b/d from January production of 10.29mn b/d (10...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 12
    Published at Fri, 22 Mar 2019
  16. Sabic Reorganization Continues Ahead Of Planned Aramco Takeover

    ...rformance for 2018 was the best since oil prices crashed in 2014. Sabic made a profit of $5.73bn in 2018 on revenues of $45.1bn, figures which were respectively 17.0% and 12.8% up on 2017, though prices for Saudi Arabia’s key Arab Light crude were up even more at 33.5% (MEES, 1 February). SABIC OUTPUT TO...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 12
    Published at Fri, 22 Mar 2019
  17. Algeria’s Economic Sclerosis: Political Change Is Not Enough

    ...2017. ^INCLUDES VOLUMES TO SPAIN AND ITALY. TURKEY AND FRANCE HAVE BEEN ALGERIA'S TOP TWO LNG CUSTOMERS SINCE 2015. SOURCE: JODI, IEA, CORES, SNAM, SONELGAZ, OPEC, MEES ESTIMATES & CALCULATIONS.   SCLEROTIC MODEL Prices for Algeria’s light sweet Saharan Blend crude averaged $110/B for th...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 12
    Published at Fri, 22 Mar 2019
  18. Spain 2018 Gas Imports: Record 19.5bcm From Algeria But Volumes Slide In Q4

    ...rope (GME) pipeline handled 9.3bcm, up 21% on 2017, whilst the 8bcm/y-capacity Medgaz pipeline handled 7.1bcm, up 6% year-on-year. But Algerian LNG volumes fell to a multi-decade low of 1.5bcm, just 8% of Algerian supplies. Overall, LNG volumes comprised 43% of Spain’s 2018 gas imports.   *Wh...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 12
    Published at Fri, 22 Mar 2019
  19. Egypt Launches Red Sea Bidding

    ...udi minister says Riyadh will intensify Red Sea gas exploration over the next two years (MEES, 8 March). In a bid to attract companies to the acreage Cairo signed a $750mn deal in December 2017 with Norway’s TGS and Houston-based oilfield services firm Schlumberger which included 2D seismic data ov...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 11
    Published at Fri, 15 Mar 2019
  20. Egypt: ‘Steep Decline’ At BP’s Key WND Gas Project

    ...ticipated decline,” 17.25% partner Dea acknowledges in its Q4 results, released 7 March. Output from the two Phase-1 fields, Taurus and Libra, began in late March 2017, with operator BP (82.75%) saying just over a month later that production had hit 700mn cfd (MEES, 12 May 2017). BP added at the time th...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 11
    Published at Fri, 15 Mar 2019