Saudi Raises Bumper $12.5bn International Bond

...cently confirmed it had qualified 13 Saudi banks to participate in Sukuk issuance. Riyadh initially projected its 2017 budget deficit at $53bn. But the actual figure is likely to be lower: the actual deficit was $19.4bn for 1H 2017. MEES calculates that the deficit for the full year could fall to $40...

Jordan Eyes $1bn Eurobond

...nage. Amman is tapping the international debt market to refinance maturing debt and meet other fiscal obligations as stipulated in the borrowing limits set out in the 2017 budget (MEES, 5 May). In April it issued a 2026-maturity $500mn Eurobond which priced at 5.875%. In its previous Eurobond, in Oc...

Egypt: Economy Looking Up But Long Road Ahead

...vember with the IMF (MEES, 18 November 2016). Foreign direct investment (FDI) rose from $6.9bn in 2015-16 to $8.7bn in the 2016-17 financial year (to June 2017). Inflows in the first three months of 2017-18 put it on track to surpass $10bn, according to Investment Minister Sahar Nasr. This comes as Pr...

Saudi Crude Exports At 3-Year Low: Oil Burn Peaks Amid Opec Curbs

...cord 1.02mn b/d for the year as a whole, up from MEES’ previous 991,000 b/d 2017 forecast (MEES, 18 August). Increased oil burn has directly hit the volume of crude available for export. Crude exports, at 6.693mn b/d in July, were down for the fourth straight month and at their lowest level since Au...

Algeria Oil Output At 14-Year Low, Gas Exports Slump

...Algeria's oil output was just 1.551mn b/d in July, the lowest figure since 2003. Algeria’s crude output fell to just 1.065mn b/d in July 2017, the lowest since September 2003, whilst NGLs output, at 486,000 b/d, was at its lowest since December 2013, according to official figures su...

US Growth Revised Down As Rig Count Falls

...rch 2015’s record of 5.67mn b/d this month, although August projections had it achieving this last month. This was due to downward revisions to 2017 output from the Eagle Ford shale formation of southern Texas which was hit by Hurricane Harvey late last month (though the downgrades are also to pr...

What Embargo? Qatar Products Exports Hit Two-Year High

...e lowest since 2009, and domestic demand of 230,000 b/d had more than doubled since 2010. Despite the earlier outages, exports ought to breach 500,000 b/d for 2017 for the first time since 2013. Crude oil exports also rose in July to a four-month high of 496,000 b/d. The upshot is that total Qa...

Dubai Breaks Solar Capacity, Power Pricing Records With CSP Project

...70 Current Capacity 28.83 Projects Awarded:                                                                           13.57 Adwea (2017) Al-Mirfa CCGT (Ga...

Rosneft Plans Key Gas Pipeline To Unlock Kurdish Exports to Turkey

...creasingly competitive Turkish market. Turkey imported 45.4bcm of gas in 2016, of which number one supplier Russia provided 24.5bcm (54%). Imports are on course to soar to 55bcm in 2017, with Russian supplies growing to 29bcm, though Russia’s market share (53%) is broadly steady (see chart).  The ca...

KRG Receives Chevron Boost

...200 b/d at its Shewashan field over 2017. But while it completed a 10,000 b/d early production facility and a fourth well last quarter, output languishes at around 1,100 b/d due to water-cut problems....

Iran Signs For $10bn Chinese Credit, Eyes A Further $25bn

...int projects (MEES, 1 September). Iran is among the Middle East’s main suppliers of crude to China, with exports averaging 612,000 b/d in the second quarter of 2017, although Russia and Angola have recently been top suppliers, followed by Saudi Arabia (MEES, 28 July). Chinese energy companies have be...

Bahrain Taps Debt Market For Record $3bn

...gative reviews in recent months. It is therefore paying considerably higher rates on the bond than its fellow GCC states. S&P lowered its assessment of Bahrain to BB-, three notches below investment grade, in December 2016 and furthermore added a negative watch on 2 June. “At the end of February 2017...

Oman Oil $1bn Loan

...er Libor with the firm flagging it up as a “competitive new source of funding [which] will enable us to reduce reliance on government funding, so [the government] can redeploy resources to other areas of the economy” (MEES, 1 July 2016). Faced with a gaping 2017 budget deficit of OR3bn ($7.8bn) ca...

US Shale Oil Output (Mn B/D): Set To Break 2015’s Record This Month, Though The Latest Figures For 2017 Have Been Revised Down

War-Torn Yemen Maintains Steady Crude Exports; China, Thailand The Key Buyers

...men is currently tendering and exporting 2mn barrels of Masila crude every two months, figures that imply exports of about 33,000 b/d – actually somewhat less than the 48,000 b/d since the start of 2017 as implied by the Chinese and Thailand import stats. The two countries have also historically been Ye...

Oman Looks To Bid Round For Exploration Boost

...Oman hopes its stability will attract investors for its 2017 bid round. Last year’s effort was a flop. Oman’s Ministry of Oil and Gas (MOG) is offering four exploration blocks in north-central Oman in a tender slated for 20 September launch. Blocks 47, 51, and 65 are considered pr...

Oman Ties Up Ammonia Cash

...corporate anhydrous liquid ammonia technology licensed from Germany’s Linde. Construction will begin in fourth quarter 2017 with a view to plant start-up in 2020. While this size of ammonia plant would normally require 30mn cfd of gas feedstock, SMC says it can reduce the methane need by utilizing hy...

LNG Prices Edge Up, No Sign Of Hit To Qatar Revenues

...nsuming partners.” Korea has this year overtaken Japan as Qatar’s top customer: Japan took 12.12mn tons for 2016, versus 11.88mn t for Korea. For the first seven months of 2017 Korea took 7.12mn t versus 6.25mn t for Japan. Number three India took 10.64mn t for 2016 and 4.83mn t for the first half of 2017...

Egypt Starts Work On Assiut Refinery Upgrade To Boost Gasoline Output

...ise light products output and reduce Egypt’s dependence on imports – Egypt has been a net importer of gasoline since 2010 and has long imported diesel – to meet domestic demand. Gasoline demand averaged 170,000 b/d in the first half of 2017, suggesting that consumption is on track to surpass last ye...

Algeria Plots Unlikely Power Capacity Boost Whilst Rejecting Foreign Funding

...pacity delays (see p13). The first was awarded under a $1.06bn contract (MEES, 30 November 2012), while six more were awarded together under contracts valued at $4.05bn (MEES, 7 March 2014). The Ain Arnat plant was scheduled to reach full capacity in 2016 and the other six were expected to follow in 2017...