Iraq’s Unattractive Contracts Claim Fresh Victim As Shell Eyes The Exit

...newing its stake in Abu Dhabi’s onshore Adco concession following its 2014 expiry, this would leave it with just Oman, where it has a 34% ‘leading’ stake in dominant 600,000 b/d producer PDO, a source of currently producing Mena oil. On the gas front, Shell’s Mena gas exposure is also evolving. In Ja...

Leviathan Partners Line Up Funding But Still Short On Sales

...o most likely options – before sanctioning the project. This is clearly not now going to happen. The partners signed a letter of intent with BG (subsequently taken over by Shell) in June 2014 for the supply of 105bcm of gas over 15 years, an implied 685mn cfd, to the firm’s Egypt LNG liquefaction pl...

Traders Clean Up In Egypt LNG Import Tender

...lk of those with 25 (see table). Netherlands based Trafigura will supply 18 cargoes while BB Energy, Gunvor and Vitol will supply the rest. Egypt’s first LNG supply deal was signed with Algeria’s state gas firm Sonatrach in December 2014 (MEES, 27 February 2015) for the supply of six cargoes wh...

Oil-Poor Arab States Get Multilateral Finance Boost For Renewables

...ectricity from renewables. EBRD and IFC began investing in energy projects in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia as part of the IMF’s ‘Arab Countries in Transition Program’ which followed the 2011 ‘Arab Spring.’ This targeted these four countries plus Yemen and Libya (MEES, 24 October 2014). At the re...

Opec Agrees To Cut, But Questions Remain Over Implementation

...at Opec revenues are set to fall below $430bn this year, less than half of 2014 levels (see table). Oil prices reacted positively to the agreement and have risen around $7/B since the day before the meeting. As MEES went to press, Brent was just over $54/B, its highest level this year. Of course, fa...

The World’s Top Oil* Producer (Mn B/D): Saudi Output Recently Edged Past The US For The First Time Since Early 2014. But The US Is Set To Regain Top Spot Next Year And Keep It Until Shale Output Declines In The 2030s

Kuwaiti Opposition Gains Further Threaten Government Energy Policy

...afji field in the Saudi-Kuwait Partitioned Neutral Zone (PNZ) is being readied for restart. It has been offline since October 2014 as part of a dispute between the two over management of the PNZ, and the 200,000 b/d Wafra field since March 2015. With output split 50:50, this has denied Kuwait around 25...

The Political Implications Of Iraq’s Mosul Offensive

...sentment toward the KDP for abandoning them during the Islamic State’s 2014 offensive remains strong, and that when it comes to ethnic identity, views are diverse, heightening the complexity of this tinderbox of a region. Some Yazidis emphasize their Kurdish identity, others think of themselves as Ya...

Total Aims To Become Mena’s Dominant IOC

...eld takes over in June 2017 and could provide Total with around 90,000 b/d, potentially seeing it overtake ExxonMobil to claim top spot in the region for liquids. 1: TOTAL CLAIMS 40% UPSTREAM COST CUTS SINCE 2014 SOURCE: TOTAL, MEES.   2: TOTAL'S RENEWED ADCO SHARE SEES IT OV...

Suez Canal Sees Record Northbound Oil Shipments

...tal cargo shipped is up 9%. SUEZ CANAL MONTHLY REVENUE ($MN): DOWN 8% ON 2014 DESPITE LAST YEAR’S EXPANSION SOURCE: SUEZ CANAL AUTHORITY.   NORTHBOUND OIL SHIPMENTS SOAR The key area where the Suez Canal has seen transit volumes rise has been in northbound oil shipments. Saudi Ar...

Kuwait Eyes Push Into US Petchems With Award Of MEG Plant Contract

...ve been considering an aromatics joint venture since 2014. PIC and Noga signed an agreement in late October for a 1.44mn t/y aromatics project, according to Kuwait’s state news agency Kuna. Rapid progress is unlikely on this venture also, given Bahrain’s relatively limited financial resources and ma...

Qatargas Ramps Up Output At Ras Laffan 2 Splitter

...Qatar’s Qatargas has started operations at the Ras Laffan 2 condensate splitter and is ramping up production. But it is not clear how close the operator is to achieving full throughput capacity of 146,000 b/d. When Ras Laffan 2 construction began in 2014, Qatargas predicted plant co...

Morocco Awards Three PV Projects, As Mena Gets Serious About Solar

...solar capacity over two sites near Manah and Adam, respectively 150km and 170km southwest of Muscat. Iran plans 100MW of solar at Aran va Bidgol in Isfahan province. Bahrain built a 5MW solar pilot plant in 2014, and now plans new laws to encourage building owners to install rooftop solar. In No...

Can Opec Get Its Act Together Ahead Of Vienna Meeting?

...giers on 29 September and set its target range, Iraq has been insistent that while it approves of an overall cut, it should be exempt. As the second largest producer in Opec and the one whose production has increased the most during the price slump – 1.24mn b/d since November 2014 – its non-pa...

Trump Sword Of Damocles Hangs Over Global Climate Action

...SITIONS IN FULL Nov 2012 (tweet): "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive" Jan 2014 (tweet): "Is our country still spending money on the GLOBAL WARMING HOAX?" Jan 2016 (Fox & Friends TV show): "I think the climate ch...

‘Iran Is A Risk…The US Is A Risk’ Total’s Pouyanné Speaks To MEES

...at people are exaggerating. Yes, we have seen a few rigs come back into the picture. But in the US today, you have 450 active oil rigs, it’s nothing compared to what we had in 2014, when it was around 1,400 [see chart, p20]. Yes, this is a potential dynamic, but I think it is not clear how many of th...

Taiwan’s LNG Imports Boosted As Government Plans To Exit Nuclear

...elled power generation. One 600MW reactor at Chinshan has been out of action since the end of 2014 due to technical problems. But the government’s anti-nuclear policy means it is unlikely to come back online with the plant approaching the end of its life in 2018. Technical issues also led to the cl...

Oil Demand To Keep Growing Past 2040 As Opec Share Nears 50% - IEA

....9 100.8 102.8 105.3 107.7 +13.6 *THE US IS EXPECTED TO SUPPLY C.85% OF GLOBAL 2025-30 TIGHT OIL OUTPUT. ^2014-40 FOR 2015 WEO. **CHANGES IN PE...

IEA On The Energy/Water Nexus

...MIDEAST DOMINATES ENERGY USE FOR DESALINATION, UAE ALONE 50% OF GLOBAL TOTAL (2014, MN TOE) SOURCE: GWI, IEA.   MASSIVE DESALINATION EXPANSION WILL REQUIRE 16% OF MIDEAST POWER OUTPUT BY 2040...

IEA Outlook Trumped By Events

...a good pun to head up the WEO section on the fuel, but it is looking decidedly out of date. According to the IEA projections sharp declines in US, Chinese and EU coal demand over 2014-40 will more or less cancel out a doubling of Indian demand over the same period. But the forecast 40% fall from 62...