1. Energean: Karish, Tanin Go-Ahead Imminent

    ...th an IPO also under consideration, according to a 13 November Reuters article. US firm Noble operates Israel’s only producing gas field, Tamar, as well as the under-development Leviathan field. Noble and partner Delek were forced to sell off Karish and Tanin as part of a 2014 anti-trust ru...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 49
    Published at Fri, 08 Dec 2017
  2. Iraq Adds Upgrades To Gas-Fired Plans, Keeping Pressure On Rising Supplies

    ...ard further upgrading projects, given that only 16.91GW of existing capacity is operable out of an installed capacity of 26.15GW. Yet despite the strain on Iraq’s gas resources, gas turbine plants are expected to provide up to 56% of Iraq’s electricity this year, up from 47% in 2014 (see tables). On...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 49
    Published at Fri, 08 Dec 2017
  3. Building On Resilience: QP Chief Talks Embargo & LNG Plans With MEES

    ...troleum’s operations. How have you mitigated the impact? A: When I was appointed as CEO three and a half years ago [MEES, 19 September 2014], I had a different vision for QP. We had to focus on our core businesses, and so I made sure that we consolidated our subsidiaries to become fully aligned. As you sa...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 49
    Published at Fri, 08 Dec 2017
  4. Tunisia Oil Output Rebound From Protests, Fundamental Problems Remain

    ...hers decline to take any decisions on permits and the like for fear of being branded corrupt (MEES, 31 October). But, in an echo of the situation facing smaller firms in Egypt (MEES, 1 December), the bigger fall came with the collapse in oil prices in the second half of 2014. Many of the minnows in Tu...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 49
    Published at Fri, 08 Dec 2017
  5. Iraq: Contract Revamp To Be Revealed This Month

    ...the Opec meeting in Vienna this week. Iraq has been looking to move away from its rigid techinal service contracts (TSCs) since oil prices crashed in late 2014. Under these, per-barrel remuneration to IOCs stays fixed irrespective of price, placing a high burden on the government in a low oil pr...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 48
    Published at Fri, 01 Dec 2017
  6. Egypt: Gulf Of Suez Oil Output At 40-Year Low On Back Of Lower Prices, Capex

    ...sues related to defective pumps.) Fellow Canadian firm SDX Energy (formerly known as Sea Dragon) has meanwhile cut capex from $18.0mn in 2014 (when it only had Egyptian assets) to just $5.7mn for the first nine months of this year – and the latter includes Morocco where it acquired the assets of ba...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 48
    Published at Fri, 01 Dec 2017
  7. Payment Problems

    ...early 2012 and remained at $6.3bn as recently as September 2014. Though EGPC made substantial inroads after this, by then collapsing oil prices had come in as a sucker punch. Though payment delays also affected larger firms such as Eni, BP and Shell, smaller Egyptian-focused firms were much le...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 48
    Published at Fri, 01 Dec 2017
  8. Aramco & Sabic Think Big With $20bn Oil-To-Chemicals Plans

    ...an Exxon’s 1mn t/y crude-to-olefins unit at its 592,000 b/d Singapore refinery. Started in 2014, this uses a proprietary design which “can crack anything from light gases to heavy liquids, including crude oil,” the firm says. Aramco and Sabic are eyeing the Red Sea Port of Yanbu as a site, al...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 48
    Published at Fri, 01 Dec 2017
  9. Libya’s Waha Ramps Up Output To 260,000 b/d But Challenges Lie Ahead

    ...6,000 b/d of crude. At the time this was the highest level since late 2014, when it was sustained only briefly. Marathon (16.33%) is one of three US firms in the WOC venture alongside ConocoPhillips (16.33%) and Hess (8.16%). State-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC) has the largest share in the company (59...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 48
    Published at Fri, 01 Dec 2017
  10. North Africa Focus For German $15bn Upstream Tie-Up

    ...mes from the 110mn cfd Disouq field in the Nile Delta (DEA 100%). Output here was supposed to reach 200mn cfd but lack of investment has meant the German firm has been unable to arrest the field’s decline from 2014’s peak of 140mn cfd. The next regional addition for either company will likely come fr...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 48
    Published at Fri, 01 Dec 2017
  11. Omani Economy Looking Up Despite S&P Downgrade

    ...ude prices have taken a toll on Oman’s government coffers. Nominal GDP fell from OR31.5bn ($81.8bn) in 2014 to just OR25.5bn ($66.3bn) last year. But things have started looking up in recent months, with higher oil prices and BP starting up its key Khazzan gas project in September. Ne...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 47
    Published at Fri, 24 Nov 2017
  12. Qatar Maxes Condensate Splitters, Hits Fresh Products Records

    ...en the largest buyer of Qatari condensate. But after rising above 200,000 b/d in Q1 2014, imports fell to just over 125,000 b/d the following quarter and have been below 100,000 b/d since late-2014 (see chart). Much of this fall in shipments to Japan was caused by the neighboring UAE stepping up its im...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 47
    Published at Fri, 24 Nov 2017
  13. Algeria Eyes 2.4gw Power Capacity Boost By Mid-2018, But Money Is Tight

    ...ojects which have been announced by Sonelgaz in recent years – 26 plants with a combined capacity of 13.7GW were listed by Sonelgaz as scheduled to begin commissioning during 2014-16 (MEES, 6 November 2015). While some of these have been completed and others are progressing, the overall rate of progress ha...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 47
    Published at Fri, 24 Nov 2017
  14. Saudi Crude Exports At 7-Year Low, Outweighing Products Gains

    ...ch occurrence since 2014. The 6.65mn b/d exported in Q3 this year was down 290,000 b/d on Q2 and the lowest figure since 2011 (see table, MEES November 24). But has the nadir now passed? Initial indications imply there was a slight increase in crude exports in October, while Saudi Arabia an...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 47
    Published at Fri, 24 Nov 2017
  15. GCC Debt Smashes All Records

    ...hrain with $3bn. Less than three years ago, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman had never issued debt in the international markets but the plunge in oil prices since the end of 2014 sent their budget deficits soaring. Indeed, while political relations have frayed throughout the course of the year, one fr...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 47
    Published at Fri, 24 Nov 2017
  16. Saudi Deficit Set To Fall 50% In 2017

    ...Higher oil prices mean Saudi Arabia is on track to halve its deficit to $42.5bn for 2017, the lowest figure since 2014. Latest figures for the first nine months of 2017 show revenue rising by 23% year-on-year thanks to a 32% increase in oil prices (from $38.6/B to $50.9/B). For 2017 as a wh...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 47
    Published at Fri, 24 Nov 2017
  17. Abu Dhabi’s Taqa: Power Steady But Upstream Slumps With Capex Cuts

    ...20.71bn ($5.64bn) in Q1-3 2014 when Brent prices averaged $107/B. POWER VS UPSTREAM: THE HARE & THE TORTOISE              2014 also marked the peak of the relative importance of the firm’s upstream oil and gas segment relative to the much more steady earnings mainly from Abu Dhabi’s power market wh...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 46
    Published at Fri, 17 Nov 2017
  18. Gulf SWFs Overhaul Their Strategies For A ‘Lower For Longer’ World

    ...plug deficits,” Elliot Hentov of State Street Global Advisors tells MEES. “The net effect is that they are still providing liquidity but the trend has dramatically slowed.” GCC SWFs’ total assets increased by $404bn from $2,519bn in October 2014 to $2,923bn in November 2017, a 16% rise, ac...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 46
    Published at Fri, 17 Nov 2017
  19. BP Can’t Stop Falling For Low Cost Mideast Output

    ...lds the Kirkuk field’s Avana and Baba domes with a combined 160,000 b/d capacity, and has asked BP to help develop the field (MEES, 3 November). BP signed a deal to study the field in November 2013 with a view to further development, but the 2014 advance of IS put this on ice. Mr Townshend says he ha...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 46
    Published at Fri, 17 Nov 2017
  20. Reality Sets In As KRG Imagines Life With Less Oil

    ...ongside other disputed territories which had been held by the KRG since 2014. Crucially, Kirkuk oil fields provided the KRG with around 280,000 b/d of its 610,000 b/d crude production. Kirkuk volumes also represented around 50% of the KRG’s 560,000 b/d crude exports on which government coffers de...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 45
    Published at Fri, 10 Nov 2017