East Med: Hope Despite Dry Cyprus Well, Lebanon Bid Round Deadline Delayed

...economic, especially since the oil price collapse in 2014 and the accompanying lower gas prices. By far the most active firm offshore Cyprus is Eni. The Italians have stakes in six of the seven blocks currently awarded, and are operator in four. In early August Eni said it would drill three wells ac...

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

...scale, renewed crude exports are providing an essential influx of revenue and liquidity to the embattled regime. Prior to the onset of the civil war between Houthi rebels and government forces in 2015, hydrocarbons provided 73% of export revenues according to IMF figures. Crude exports in 2014 re...

Oman Looks To Bid Round For Exploration Boost

...ndered blocks appear less prospective. Block 43b was last operated by Hungary’s Mol which relinquished the 11,967km² block in 2014. A conventional gas play, previous owners combined have drilled only two wells with no discoveries. In Block 47, also mostly bordering open blocks, tight gas is expected to be...

UAE Looks To Offshore Gas To Ease Growing LNG Addiction

...M)                                                                                                     2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014...

Rig Count: Saudi Cuts Oil Drilling To 3-Year Low

...•  Opec kingpin Saudi Arabia saw its rig count fall to a 30-month low of 115 in August; those targeting oil fell by four to 60, the lowest level since May 2014 (see chart 1). Saudi Arabia claims it is pressing ahead with ambitious long term plans to develop new output capacity, but the rig co...

Algeria Plots Unlikely Power Capacity Boost Whilst Rejecting Foreign Funding

...utarfa said Sonelgaz had spent $5.5bn in 2015 and $5.6bn in 2014. Algiers was forced to increase power sector investment after blackouts in 2012 triggered violent protests. Sonelgaz hiked generating capacity by 2.8GW ahead of 2013 summer demand, by speeding the completion of two large power plants and de...

Oil Market Surplus To 2019 Despite Strong Growth Projections

...0,000 b/d to 1.6mn b/d, while Opec raised its figures by 50,000 b/d to 1.42mn b/d. The IEA’s 1.6mn b/d annual gain would be the highest since 2014. While they see a slight slowdown in 2018 (see table), both have strong growth projections in excess of 1.3mn b/d. Opec’s MOMR attributes the 50,000 b/d up...

Algerian Oil Bolstered By Berkine Basin Prospects

...sh to get oil out of the ground. Prices have fallen dramatically since 2014, and since the beginning of the year Opec members and other oil producers have been subject to production cuts. Algeria’s state energy company Sonatrach says it has implemented its mandated reduction of 50,000 b/d. But there ar...

Petronas Quits Algeria As Cepsa Expands

...praised in 2005, but it was not until a deep well found Triassic oil that the field showed commercial potential. Petronas had looked to expand in Algeria via its participation in the country’s flopped 2014 bidding round. Negotiations were held “in light of the fiscal incentives provided by the go...

Algeria Shuns Foreign Debt… By Printing Money?

...nds de Regulation des Recettes (FRR), a reserve fund intended for counter-cyclical spending, has been empty since February, whilst the country’s foreign currency reserves have collapsed from $179bn at end 2014 to just over $105bn at end-July. The IMF projects further falls to $79bn by end-2018 and $55...

DNO Injects Fresh Momentum Into KRG Oil Sector With Acquisition

...jority city of Mosul. ExxonMobil suspended operations at the block on 7 August 2014, before force majeure was then imposed. Documents released by WikiLeaks show that ExxonMobil and TEC put estimated oil in place at 580mn barrels. Should Baeshiqa prove commercially viable, it ought to be a simple ma...

Iraq Sparking Up Gas-Fired Capacity, Despite Fuel Supply Constraints

...quire 1.2bn cfd of gas. FEDERAL IRAQ PEAK POWER GENERATION (MW)   Plant type 2014 2015 2016 *20...

Kufpec Splashes The Cash in Norway But 2020 Target Remains Distant

...fpec’s net production edged up just 3,800 boe/d year-on-year in 2016 to 70,800 boe/d, still below 2014 levels (see chart). PRE-DATED PURCHASES      Add in the Thai purchase, and the 2016 gains will be more substantial, taking Kufpec’s overall output above 100,000 boe/d for the first time. But it ta...

Turkey 1H17 Gas Imports (Bcm): Iran On Track To Top Record 2014 Supplies But Still Less Than 1/3 Russian Volumes

Israel Products Output Down 17% Amid Maintenance, Strike

...vernment’s energy conservation measures began to take effect (MEES, 7 April). Increased use of gas has also been key to curbing Israel’s oil demand. Gas’ share of the power mix hit a record 55.4% in H1 2017, with Israel’s burning of fuel oil in power plants falling to virtually zero since 2014. Gas co...

China Crude Imports Grow At Record Rate: Can It Last?

...tensity,’ measured in megajoules per dollar (see chart). World Bank data to 2014 show this falling steeply, whilst data from China’s National Energy Administration (NEA), published 24 August, show a further 14.6% fall between 2013 and 2016, Reuters reports. In other words, China’s GDP growth figures of 6....

Iraq Hopes For IPSA Pipeline Access With Riyadh Rapprochement

...rkuk-Ceyhan pipeline) has been out of action since the IS advances of 2014. But July’s liberation of Mosul could result in Baghdad opting to repair this export link too. Talks have also been held with Iran over constructing a pipeline to export oil from Kirkuk via Iran. But this looks unlikely to be...

Algeria On Track For $11bn Deficit Despite Gas Export Boost

...e fall particularly marked in Q2 (see chart).  Revenues from number four customer the USA were up 22% in H1 2017. The US took 76,000 b/d of Algerian crude in Jan-May 2017, higher than any annual average since 2012 (though Q4 2016 saw 132,000 b/d). Volumes dwindled to near zero in 2014 and 2015 as...

Kuwait: Al-Zour Re-Award But Delay Likely

...am al-Marzuq says samples will be analyzed to determine the source. The spill is unlikely to hasten a solution to a dispute between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia over Neutral Zone operations, which has seen 300,000 b/d Khafji field shut in since October 2014 and the 200,000 b/d onshore Wafra field si...

Saudi Electricity Taps $1.75bn Loan For Capacity Expansion

...hieved. The deal is SEC’s largest syndicated loan to date. It takes to $36.2bn the outside funding the utility has secured since 2007, although the biggest single contribution was a $13.2bn ‘soft loan’ from the Ministry of Finance in 2014 (see table). The syndicated loan is SEC’s first foray into the in...