Iraq Oil Export Revenues Hit Three Year High

...s soaring oil prices. The average price of Iraqi crude exports surged to $79.38/B for October, the highest figure since October 2014. With oil prices staying high in early November and Iraqi output set to rise further as Opec+ production cuts ease further (see p8), Baghdad can look forward to si...

Saudi Petchems Firms Post Strong Results Despite Pricy Feedstock

...e first nine months of 2021 are already up to $18.09bn. This is likely to lead to the highest full year profits since 2014, even if there is further slippage in Q4. CEO Yousef al-Benyan says the results “marked a continuation of our recovery from the impact of Covid-19, albeit at a lower level th...

Kuwait Sets Out Plan To Reverse Capacity Losses

...e long-overdue facility is one of a trio of identical plants which were originally intended to boost North Kuwait conventional output up to 1mn b/d (MEES, 11 July 2014). Instead, North Kuwait capacity last year was just 563,000 b/d. Looking ahead, Mr Hashem says that a central plank of KOC’s pu...

Services Firms Eye ‘Exceptional’ 2022 Upstream Growth With Gulf NOCs In The Vanguard

...s the highest since Q1 2020, but for all three, revenue remains well down on 2018 and 2019, never mind the boom years to 2014 (see charts) Cost-cutting efforts mean that profits have rebounded by more than revenue. Whilst collective ‘big 3’ revenues of $12.1bn (OFS only for Baker Hughes) are so...

Asian LNG Prices ($/mn btu): Spot Prices Soar To Over $30/mn btu, Average Chinese Price Highest Since 2014

China LNG Imports Soar, Prices At 7-Year High

...s well above Korea’s $11.36/mn BTU and China’s highest monthly price since 2014....

China Crude Imports: Mideast Volumes Hit Record Highs

...r full data).   CHINA CRUDE IMPORTS ('000 B/D): MIDEAST VOLUMES AT RECORD HIGH FOR 9M21 SOURCE: CHINA CUSTOMS, MEES CALCULATIONS.   The Middle East’s share of the China market peaked at 52% in 2014 but slid in the following years amid record volumes from the likes of Br...

Russia’s Tatneft Returns To Libya

...’, as well as three onshore blocks in the Ghadames Basin known as ‘Area 64’.   Another potential returnee is Polish state oil firm PGNiG which was forced to cut short an exploration program on its Area 113 concession in 2014 and had appeared to be on the cusp of exiting the country co...

Egypt Gas Market Tightens As Fuel Oil Burn Returns

...oothly since an extended 2019 shutdown for repairs, and before that chronic 2014-16 gas shortages (MEES, 17 May 2019), it is worth noting that Q2’s 268,000 tons of methanol output was well down on the average of around 300,000 tons for the preceding three quarters. Whilst the firm’s most recent results in...

Kuwait Oil Company Capacity Slumps To 12-Year Low

...pacity dropped to 1.391mn b/d, down by 97,000 b/d from 2019-20’s 1.488mn b/d for a cumulative loss of 320,000 b/d over the past five years (see chart 3). BP was brought in during 2014 (MEES, 14 November 2014) under a technical service agreement – later upgraded to an enhanced technical service agreement (ET...

Iraq Picks Up The Pace On Exploration; Can It Snag Chevron?

...6tcf of 5.6tcf gas in place is estimated to be recoverable. Akkas was originally awarded to Korean state firm Kogas (100%) in 2010, with the firm targeting 400mn cfd for a remuneration fee of $5.50/boe (MEES, 25 October 2010). Kogas declared force majeure on the field in 2014 as Islamic State ov...

Algeria’s Sonatrach Greenlights Key Gas Project

...tput will be far lower than the headline 5bcm/y figure. Sonatrach last published a production figure for Alrar way back in 2014 when output was 5.5bcm. UK engineering firm Petrofac is currently carrying out an EPC contract for Tinhert Phase 1, which  sees another group of Illizi basin fields tied ba...

World Faces Oil & Gas Investment Chasm

...ice collapses in 2014-15 and again in 2020. As a result, it is geared towards a world of stagnant or even falling demand…We are not investing enough to meet for future energy needs.” But whilst even a year ago the IEA viewed the collapse in energy investment as clearly unsustainable, it is now ca...

South Korea Crude Imports: Mideast Share At Record Low

...*South Korea’s crude imports, at 2.58mn b/d for 9M 2021 are down 4% year-on-year putting this year on track for the lowest imports since 2014.   *And volumes from Middle East and Opec countries are down much further as Korea continues a drive to diversify supplies.   *Mideast vo...

Iraq Braces For Government Formation: Sadr Wins Most Seats, Maliki Close Behind

...e outgoing parliament (see table). Sadr now has the largest bloc in parliament but he is tailed by the country’s longest serving post-2003 prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki who was in office from 2006 to 2014. Maliki’s ‘State of Law’ alliance added 10 seats for a provisional total of 35. But Mr Ma...

Algeria’s Economic Rebound: Can It Seize The Moment?

...I and diversify the economy? Algeria is set for its first trade surplus since 2014 as higher oil and gas prices coupled with a boost in export volumes drag its economy out of an abyss. If the latest estimates from Algerian officials prove correct, a surge in exports to $37.5bn is set to result in...

Petrofac Hopes To Turn Page After UK Bribery Conviction

...yments in 2013 and 2014 (MEES, 19 March). Being shut out of what were three key markets – and also the three (alongside Qatar) Mena markets with the largest suite of upcoming energy investments (MEES, 30 April) – has left Petrofac casting round for work in what were formerly marginal areas such as Li...

Dana Gas Wins Iran Arbitration

...intly owned by Dana Gas and its largest shareholder Crescent Petroleum, for the supply of up to 600mn cfd from the shared Salman field beginning in 2005.   Despite NIOC completing its section of the export pipeline, the agreement was effectively frozen after Iran demanded higher gas prices. In 2014...

Kuwait Starts Up Key Northern Oil Facility

...thering center in the north of the emirate. GC-31 is one of three gathering centers for which contracts worth $2.3bn were awarded in 2014 (MEES, 11 July 2014). All were initially slated to come online in late 2017, but were delayed. The first two, GC-29 and GC-30 were brought online in 2018, but GC-31’s co...

Adnoc Adopts Targeted Approach In Search For Unconventional Partner

...rategy.” This strategy has seen Adnoc radically shakeup its foreign partnerships in recent years. On the upstream side the expiry and renewal of long-term concessions over 2014-2018, coupled with the launch of exploration bid rounds, enabled Adnoc to bring in a range of new foreign partners based primarily on...