1. Lower Prices Hit OQEP Profits In Q3

    ...rrently under testing.” If a commercial discovery is made, it will be the block’s first after previous operator Maersk drilled a series of dry wells (MEES, 17 February 2017). Alongside these two fields it also operates Block 54 (60%), which borders Block 53, where Genel Energy secured a 40% stake in Ma...

    Volume: 68
    Issue: 47
    Published at Fri, 21 Nov 2025
  2. QatarEnergy Expands In Egypt Amid US LNG, Namibia Exploration Setbacks

    ...oust Doha-backed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. Further straining relations, Egypt also participated in the Saudi-led 2017-2021 embargo of Qatar, but that all appears to be water under the bridge, especially if Qatar’s deep pockets can help Cairo fix its finances. MAJOR PA...

    Volume: 67
    Issue: 46
    Published at Fri, 15 Nov 2024
  3. Adnoc Agrees Egypt Entry As UAE East Med Footprint Grows

    ...addition to the stalled NewMed deal. QATAR: CYPRUS & LEBANON FOCUS               Abu Dhabi is not the only Gulf state to take a firm interest in the East Mediterranean. Qatar, through its state giant QatarEnergy has been in the East Med since entering Cyprus in 2017 alongside US major Ex...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 47
    Published at Fri, 24 Nov 2023
  4. Saudi Aramco Completes Key Gas Expansion Project

    ...wiyah and Haradh gas compression projects, but both have suffered delays since contracts were awarded in 2017 (MEES, 15 December 2017). Aramco noted in its Q3 results on 7 November that “the Hawiyah Gas Plant expansion, part of the Haradh gas increment program, was successfully commissioned and br...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 45
    Published at Fri, 10 Nov 2023
  5. Oman’s Blocks 3&4: Output Rebound Hopes Recede

    ...her operators the space to hike output. Oman’s upstream optimism received a boost in 2017 with the discovery of the Khazzan tight gas field in Block 61 (BP 40%op, OOC 30%, PTTEP 20%, Petronas 10%). Sparking a gas renaissance in the Sultanate, the completion of the Ghazeer development lifted ca...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 44
    Published at Fri, 03 Nov 2023
  6. Middle East Firms Ramp Up Drilling Fleets

    ...between offshore drilling contractor Valaris and Saudi Aramco. ARO started operations in October 2017 and currently operates 15 rigs. The venture says it intends to order 20 new jack-up rigs over the next decade and expects the first two to be delivered in 2023. This pair are to be constructed at th...

    Volume: 65
    Issue: 47
    Published at Fri, 25 Nov 2022
  7. QatarEnergy Plots Pivotal Iraq Entry Amid Planned Transformation

    ...transform itself into a major global energy player. “Qatar Petroleum; 10 years from now you will not recognize it,” CEO Saad Sherida al-Kaabi told MEES in 2017 (MEES, 8 December 2017), and in the ensuing five years, the Qatari state energy giant has changed much more than just its name. Mr Ka...

    Volume: 65
    Issue: 11
    Published at Fri, 11 Nov 2022
  8. Gulf Rig Count Surges In October

    ...ver mind 2019’s high of 68 (see chart 2).    2: ABU DHABI’S RIG COUNT ROSE BY FOUR IN OCTOBER, ALL OIL RIGS   KUWAIT SLUMP *Kuwait long vied with the UAE as the GCC’s number two producer. Until 2017 Kuwait typically had a higher rig count than Abu Dhabi (MEES, 9 July). Bu...

    Volume: 64
    Issue: 45
    Published at Fri, 12 Nov 2021
  9. US Majors: Record Permian Output, More To Come

    ...me value for a lot less spend,” he adds, referencing a strategy first set out in 2017 (MEES, 17 February 2017) and expanded upon two years later (MEES, 15 March 2019). “We invested in the infrastructure to make sure that we were in a position, once we focused in on and identified the areas we wa...

    Volume: 64
    Issue: 44
    Published at Fri, 05 Nov 2021
  10. Energean Eyes 28,000 b/d Of Israel Oil Output

    ...eep decline: the 9M 2020 figure is down almost 20% from 2019 (225mn cfd gas, 5,500 b/d condensate: 45,500 boe/d total), which in turn is well down from 270mn cfd in 2017 (MEES, 4 August 2017). The key plan to reverse this decline is via the tie-in of the North El Amriya (NEA) fields to the north. En...

    Volume: 63
    Issue: 48
    Published at Fri, 27 Nov 2020
  11. Petrofac Seeks $530mn From Bp/Equinor Algeria Gas Project As Finances Stretches By Continued Saudi Boycott

    ...ly managed to fully complete the In Salah tie-ins in November 2017 – some 30-months beyond the development’s original 50-month work-schedule. It remains unclear how much of the delay stemmed from the In Amenas attack: similar-length delays are par for the course in Algeria. STRETCHED FI...

    Volume: 63
    Issue: 45
    Published at Fri, 06 Nov 2020
  12. In Salah & In Amenas Gas Output Slump

    ...oduction hitting a 12-year high 808mn cfd in 2018 following the November 2017 tie-in of four ‘southern fields’ with the completion of a $1.2bn EPC contract by the UK’s Petrofac (see main story). Whereas In Salah saw a sudden collapse in output from Q2 – a timing that meshes with Europe’s Covid-related de...

    Volume: 63
    Issue: 45
    Published at Fri, 06 Nov 2020
  13. KRG’s Sarta To Start Soon

    ...me online since the startup of 50,000 b/d Atrush in 2017, and could provide a significant boost to the region’s struggling oil sector. The startup of a new field, and critically the first operated by a US major, will be welcome positive news for the KRG– even if it will do little to rectify the on...

    Volume: 63
    Issue: 45
    Published at Fri, 06 Nov 2020
  14. Not So Rapid: Aramco Malaysia Downstream JV Delayed

    ...ds. Aramco’s 9 November IPO prospectus says the PrefChem ARDS fire “has delayed the expected commissioning of the facility from the end of 2019 until the second half of 2020.” Aramco paid Petronas $7bn to buy into the PrefChem refinery and integrated petchems project in 2017, when it was called th...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 47
    Published at Fri, 22 Nov 2019
  15. KRG Eyes Major Boost As Exxon/DNO Firm Up Baeshiqa Light Oil Find

    ...praisal drilling on the Baeshiqa license it had issued “a notice of discovery” for “light oil and sour gas” to the KRG. Located in territory disputed by Baghdad and the KRG, DNO agreed in 2017 to take half of ExxonMobil’s 64% stake in Baeshiqa and obtain operatorship (MEES, 8 September 2017). The cu...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 47
    Published at Fri, 22 Nov 2019
  16. Aramco Kicks Off Share Offering: But At What Price?

    ...came Crown Prince in June 2017 consolidating his position as the kingdom’s de facto day to day ruler (MEES, 23 June 2017). The desire for a high implied valuation seems to have been a key factor behind both the delay to any sort of IPO and the kicking of an international listing into the long gr...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 46
    Published at Fri, 15 Nov 2019
  17. Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Puts Gas At Center Of Petroleum Strategy

    ...rst came the merger with fellow state-investor IPIC in 2017 (MEES, 24 February 2017), and after a period of consolidation last year saw a slew of major investments (MEES, 20 April 2018). The state investment vehicle’s consolidated energy portfolio sits in the Petroleum and Petrochemicals platform, wh...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 45
    Published at Fri, 08 Nov 2019
  18. MEES Interview: Musabbeh al-Kaabi, CEO of Mubadala Petroleum & Petrochemicals

    ...Q: Mubadala has accelerated energy sector investments over the past 18 months. What benefits have you realized from the increase in scale in your portfolio following the merger with IPIC in 2017? A: Our investment business is now well-established and we are very pleased with the progress si...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 45
    Published at Fri, 08 Nov 2019
  19. Qatar Banks On North Field Leverage To Boost Aggressive Overseas Expansion

    ...rld’s dominant LNG supplier is set to strengthen further (see p9). Despite its recent acquisition spree, QP has a long road ahead of it to achieve its international aspirations. Still, Mr Kaabi has long-term aspirations, telling MEES in 2017 that “Qatar Petroleum; in 10 years from now you will not re...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 44
    Published at Fri, 01 Nov 2019
  20. Qatar Faces Up To LNG Market Changes

    ...erging LNG market in which Qatar is the dominant player. State firm Petrobangla has two 3.75mn t/y floating storage and regasification units (FSRU), and a 2.5mn t/y supply deal was signed with Qatargas in July 2017 with supplies beginning in April 2018. However, the involvement of rival Saudi Arabia in th...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 44
    Published at Fri, 01 Nov 2019