GCC Debt Smashes All Records

...2017 has been a record year for GCC sovereign and corporate debt. Sustained low oil prices and budget deficits since 2015 have led to an ever-growing appetite for issuance. NOCs are now getting in on the act too.  GCC sovereigns have raised a record $50.5bn in international bond issuance to...

Saudi Deficit Set To Fall 50% In 2017

...Higher oil prices mean Saudi Arabia is on track to halve its deficit to $42.5bn for 2017, the lowest figure since 2014. Latest figures for the first nine months of 2017 show revenue rising by 23% year-on-year thanks to a 32% increase in oil prices (from $38.6/B to $50.9/B). For 2017 as a wh...

Crude Burn: Saudi Gains Reverse In September As Iraq Halts Burning

...ack to fall in 2017 for the second consecutive year. MEES estimates that the average figure for 2017 will come in at 470,000 b/d versus 497,000 b/d for 2016 (see data, MEES, 24 November). >  By contrast, Iraq, long the region’s #2 crude burner, reported that it eliminated crude burn in Se...

Adnoc Adds To Ambitious Downstream Plans, Mulls Retail IPO

...vestment decision for these was intended by the end of 2017, but there have been no reports of feasibility studies so far. Adnoc also plans a gasoline and aromatics project at Ruwais, to be integrated with existing refining units, but has not announced a schedule. This week Adnoc signed an MoU with Sp...

Abu Dhabi’s Taqa: Power Steady But Upstream Slumps With Capex Cuts

...E and abroad, are earning steadily and its upstream assets – all overseas – are providing better income. But the company again posted a net loss for the first nine months of 2017. Taqa’s Q1-3 2017 revenue was Dh12.53bn ($3.41bn at the fixed exchange rate of $1=Dh3.6725), down 40% from a record Dh...

IEA 2017 WEO: Key Power Forecasts*

...MENA LAGS THE WORLD IN RENEWABLE CAPACITY ADDITIONS TO 2040 (% OF TOTAL ADDITIONS)   MENA INSTALLED CAPACITY (GW): RENEWABLES OVERTAKE OIL BY 2035…   …BUT EVEN IN 2040 FOSSIL FUELS MAINTAIN A 75% MARKET SHARE *IEA 2017 WEO, NEW POLICIES SCENARIO. SOURCE: IE...

IEA, Opec Diverge On Market Outlook Ahead Of Key Vienna Meet

...tionale is clear. Participants to the agreement are currently aligned that an extension is required. But, with demand set to outstrip supply for the remainder of 2017, they may be less inclined to back an extension in early-2018. And the more bearish IEA report says that “the market balance in 2018 does no...

Iraq Dreams Of Economic Normality With Draft 2018 Budget

...ficit is $9.9bn. Likewise, the $21.2bn deficit implied by the August revision to this year’s budget is based on an oil price assumption ($44.4/B) that now also looks highly conservative. Plug in the actual $47.3/B achieved for Iraqi crude exports in the first 10 months of 2017 and the deficit sh...

US Shale: Becoming A Major Game?

...tracted the lions’ share of their stretched 2017 exploration budgets and this is set to remain the case for years to come. The role of majors and large independents in the US shale sector is set to grow further due to a combination of push and pull factors. Factors pushing majors to the sector include pl...

Gulf SWFs Overhaul Their Strategies For A ‘Lower For Longer’ World

...lling roughly $60bn of its dollar reserves in the second quarter of 2015 alone.     According to the most recent figures available, SAMA’s net foreign reserves fell to a new six-year low of $485bn at the end of September (MEES, 3 November). The reserves fell $50.6bn in the first nine months of 2017...

Taiwan Q1-3 2017 LNG Imports: Qatar Continues To Lose Market Share, Volumes Down 20% On Year-Ago Levels As Taipei Looks To Diversify

Crude Official Selling Prices ($/B)

...*VS ICE BRENT FROM JULY 2017 PREVIOUSLY VS BWAVE....

US Vs China Fossil Fuel Imports/Exports (Mn Tons Of Oil Equivalent) - IEA Projections

...THE US THIS YEAR^ BECAME A NET GAS EXPORTER. IT WILL BE ‘LONG’ FOSSIL FUELs FROM 2022 AND A NET OIL EXPORTER FROM 2028     CHINA THIS YEAR OVERTOOK THE US AS A GROSS IMPORTER OF CRUDE. IT IS ALREADY WAY AHEAD ON A NET BASIS *2017 WEO, NEW POLICIES SCENARIO. ^FROM 20...

BP Can’t Stop Falling For Low Cost Mideast Output

...Low cost Mideast fields are of growing importance for BP. The expiry of Abu Dhabi’s Adma sees output dip, but growth in Oman & Kuwait means long-term the trend is up. BP net oil and gas output for Jan-Sep 2017 is up 10% year-on-year (excluding the firm’s 19.75% stake in Russian state gi...

Reality Sets In As KRG Imagines Life With Less Oil

...ducting a range of federal expenses. But Reuters reports that the draft 2018 budget law cuts the KRG’s share to 12.6%. The 2017 budget pegs total expenditure of $90.6bn (MEES, 8 September) without setting out a KRG share. 12.6% of the 2017 figure would equate to $11.4bn. Prior to losing Kirkuk MEES es...

Israel Gas Projects Advance, But Buyers Remain Scarce

...ofitable. Output at Tamar hit a record 997bn cfd for 3Q 2017 despite a six-day shutdown for maintenance late in September after a crack was found in a subsea pipeline (MEES, 29 September). The shutdown “coupled with strong growing demand in Israel highlights the criticality of the Leviathan project in pr...

Mauritania Gas: Torturous Timeframe, Exploration Optimism Despite Drilling Flop

...atus of at least four years as a hydrocarbon producer (longer if Tortue development fails to proceed like clockwork). The country’s sole production since 2006 has been from the Chinguetti offshore oil field. But output dwindled to just 4,000 b/d in 1H 2017, too low to make production (via the Berge He...

LNG Prices Leap On Record Chinese Buying

...•  Prices for Asian spot LNG imports have jumped to around $9/mn BTU for December arrival cargoes. December is the peak month for winter (and thus annual) buying. •  China is the key demand driver. Already for the first nine months of 2017, imports at 25.63mn tons, were up by a whopping 43...

Egypt: Last LNG Tender?

...ypt. Oil minister Tarek El Molla says that Egypt will reach natural gas self-sufficiency by mid-2018 once Italian firm Eni’s 24 tcf Zohr gas field ramps up after its December 2017 start-up (MEES, 3 November). Egypt began importing LNG in April 2015 when gas output was 4.40bn cfd and has imported ar...

Abu Dhabi Completes 1.6GW Gas-Fired Plant

...Al-Mirfa CCGT (Gas)** 1.24 End 2017 Capacity: 30.07 Projects Awarded: Enec (2018-20) Ba...