1. LNG Start-Ups To Peak, Then Slump

    ...ertaking Qatar (77mn t/y) as the world’s top LNG exporter. Actual Australian 2017 exports were 56.2mn tons, with the country set to add a further 21.4mn t of capacity this year (and of course the 9.7mn t/y of capacity added during 2017 was not operating for the whole of the year).   • With in...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 27 Jul 2018
  2. Iraq Water Crisis Highlights Baghdad’s Impotence

    ...facing desertification in varying degrees.” That neighboring Turkey—the source of both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers—experienced its driest year in four decades in 2017, has merely exacerbated the already dire situation. POLITICAL CRISIS       Baghdad is well aware of the investment ne...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 27 Jul 2018
  3. Libya Election Timetable To Slip Further Amid Factional Divisions

    ...ppen by December,” says a former ambassador to Tripoli, “but they are the least bad option as long as they are properly prepared. The challenge is for them to be genuine without being divisive.” The aim for elections to be held this year was first set at a Paris meeting on 25 July 2017 hosted by Fr...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 27 Jul 2018
  4. Gulf Choke Points Brought Into Focus As Iran, US & Saudi Ramp Up The Rhetoric

    ...se for Abu Dhabi’s 6mn t/y of LNG exports, as well as modest but growing LNG imports by Kuwait and Dubai. In total 81mn tons of Gulf LNG exports passed through the channel in 2017. From the perspective of importers, China the global number one oil importer, took 35% of its 2017 crude and co...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 27 Jul 2018
  5. Suez Canal Revenues, Crude Trade At Record Highs: Calm Before The Storm?

    ...lied on the canal for 12% of its 2017-18 revenue) is the threat to traffic via the Bab al-Mandab straights at the southern end of the Red Sea. Almost all Suez Canal traffic must also pass the Bab al-Mandab. A Saudi Aramco decision on 25 July to halt its shipments via the strait after two tankers we...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 27 Jul 2018
  6. Egypt Completes 14.4GW Gas-Fired Megaproject In Record Time

    ...W coal-fired plant at Hamrawein on the Red Sea (MEES, 29 June). At least this is a more economic option than Egypt’s other long-term megaplan, a 4.8GW nuclear plant to be built by Russia’s Rosatom which comes with a jaw-dropping $29.4bn price tag (MEES, 15 December 2017). EGYPT’S KEY POWER PR...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 27 Jul 2018
  7. Iran Appoints New Central Bank Chief: Mission Impossible?

    ...is capital flight is indeed alarming as it represents some 60% of Iran’s oil export revenue of $65.8bn for that year. According to the CBI, Iran posted a budget deficit of $8.2bn in 2017-18 and this will likely rise further if oil exports are cut under renewed US sanctions (MEES, 20 July). DI...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 27 Jul 2018
  8. Crude Official Selling Prices ($/B)

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

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 27 Jul 2018
  9. Sudans Hope For Output Gains From Cooperation

    ...timistic accounting and it was no surprise that when June came around, Juba sent a 600,000-barrel Dar Blend cargo Khartoum’s way, just as it has done every two months since April 2017 (equivalent to around 10,000 b/d). Nor was it a surprise that the diversion of a total of 28,000 b/d of crude to the 10...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 29
    Published at Fri, 20 Jul 2018
  10. DNO Adds KRG Output

    ...eraged 106,000 b/d in the year-to-date, which implies Q2 output from the Tawke field of around 88,000 b/d – 17.5% less than the same period last year. In the firm’s February 2017 results call, Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani said that while investments had been paused since 2015 “we will be making th...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 29
    Published at Fri, 20 Jul 2018
  11. Bahrain’s Troubled Banking Sector Set For Turbulent Times

    ...low investment grade. Fitch states that the reforms undertaken by the government haven’t been sufficient to stabilize its debt-to-GDP ratio. Bahrain raised $3bn in international bonds in 2017, and currently has about $14bn of outstanding dollar bonds, spiking the government’s debt-to-GDP from 43...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 29
    Published at Fri, 20 Jul 2018
  12. Saudi Crude Exports Poised To Fill Market

    ...rket. He said crude exports for July would be equal with June but expected August exports to fall by 100,000 b/d. It thus appears unlikely that November 2016’s record 8.26mn b/d is under imminent threat. Following the implementation of the Opec+ agreement in January 2017, Saudi Arabia cut crude ex...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 29
    Published at Fri, 20 Jul 2018
  13. Saudi Products Exports At Record Highs

    ...udi refinery runs averaged just over 2.60mn b/d in May, an 18% increase on the 2.2mn b/d reported for April when most of the Satorp work was carried out, but short of the almost 2.83mn b/d record throughput of December 2017 (see p7). And Satorp came back with a bang, taking to Twitter on 9 July to an...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 29
    Published at Fri, 20 Jul 2018
  14. Aramco Eyes Sabic Stake

    ...sewhere. Given that the planned Aramco IPO that was intended to provide PIF with $100bn appears to have stalled, there is clear incentive for such a move. Sabic’s total 2017 output was 71.2mn tons/year, mainly of petrochemicals – including intermediate products – but also including around 5mn t/y of st...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 29
    Published at Fri, 20 Jul 2018
  15. Abu Dhabi, Dubai Push Power Capacity, Diversify From Gas Fuel

    ...so supplies other emirati utilities. In 2017 Adwec delivered 13.97TWh (a daily average of 1.59GW) to the Federal Electricity & Water Authority (Fewa), which supplies the northern emirates, and 6.93TWh (791MW average) to Sharjah Water & Electricity Authority (Sewa). Fewa and Sewa have generating ca...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 29
    Published at Fri, 20 Jul 2018
  16. Saudi Arabia Struggling To Reform Economy Despite Ambitious Plans

    ...ass (MEES, 28 April 2017). And as rebounding oil prices alleviate the government’s fiscal concerns, the imperative for reform lessens. The continued absence of a revamped National Transformation Plan (“NTP 2.0”) is certainly a cause for concern that momentum for reform has been lost. Originally co...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 29
    Published at Fri, 20 Jul 2018
  17. Iran Budget Deficit Stubbornly High As Economic Turmoil Looms

    ...Iran posted an $8.2bn deficit in the last financial year. But with a growing economic crisis and looming sanctions, this may prove the highwater mark for some time.   Iran posted a budget deficit of IR270 trillion ($8.2bn at the fixed budget rate of $1=IR33,000) in fiscal year 2017...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 29
    Published at Fri, 20 Jul 2018
  18. Pearl Steps On The Gas In Iraqi Kurdistan

    ...5mn cfd in 2012 before the onset of arbitration over payments in 2013 halted development until last year’s resolution (MEES, 25 October 2013). Condensate output has stayed around 13,000 b/d and LPG at 10,000 b/d. The $2.2bn dispute was finally settled in August 2017, and both parties are keen to ma...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 28
    Published at Fri, 13 Jul 2018
  19. China Puts Oil Center Stage Of Middle East Strategy

    ...omoted to the cabinet and appointed First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense (MEES, 15 December 2017). Progress on the project would advance the deputy PM’s credentials as a potential future Emir. A number of bilateral agreements were reached including an MoU with the China Council for the Pr...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 28
    Published at Fri, 13 Jul 2018
  20. EIA Hikes 2019 US Output Forecast; Exports AT Record

    ...tput topped 14mn b/d for the first time in February and 15mn b/d in May. It is now set to breach 16mn b/d from January 2019 and 17mn b/d from November next year. Average 2018 output of 15.14mn b/d would represent a record 2.05mn b/d gain on the 2017 output figure; production is set to soar by a further 1....

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 28
    Published at Fri, 13 Jul 2018