Egypt Inches Towards Paying Off Receivables Bill

...ll in late 2014 when it halved dues to $3.1bn on the back of borrowed cash (MEES, 5 December 2014). EGPC has pledged to pay off receivables by mid-2019. VICIOUS CIRCLE EGPC can point to the sums it is owed by other ministries as a reason it has fallen so far behind with payments. As of late 20...

Mena Remittances Up 10% In 2017

...Remittances are a crucial lifeline to the region’s cash-strapped oil importing economies. Thanks largely to Cairo’s floatation of the Egyptian Pound in late 2016, Mena remittance inflows topped $56bn in 2017 after having fallen year-on-year since 2014. Egyptian inflows hit $20bn ac...

Tunisia Looks To The Sun To Cut Dependence On Algerian Gas

...ongside seven straight years of falling output since the 2010 peak of 310mn cfd. Initially this fall was due to instability and bureaucratic inertia in the wake of the country’s 2011 revolution, with the slump in oil prices since late 2014 providing a second blow to investment as IOCs slashed capex (MEES, 23...

Iran’s Banking Sector: Dark Days Loom

...sperately trying to repair their books after offering deposit rates as high as 22% back in 2014 before the oil price crashed later that year. (A substantial premium over inflation which was around 15%.) Oil revenue collapsed from $57.3bn in 2014 to $27.3bn in 2015. But the real damage was done after the ti...

Sama Net Foreign Assets ($Bn)

...SAUDI FOREIGN RESERVES ROSE ABOVE $500BN FOR FIRST TIME IN A YEAR AT END OF APRIL...   ...WITH THE RECENT REBOUND COMING AS PRiCES FOR ARAB LIGHT HIT $69/B, the HIGHEST SINCE 2014 SOURCE: SAMA, MEES....

Suez Canal Revenues Rise To $479mn In April, Highest Since 2014, As Gross Tonnage Hits Record 86.3mn

The Dragon Rises In The Middle East

...stream sector (MEES, 23 March). Conversely, China’s dependence on the Middle East for more than 40% of its oil imports (though this is down from 52% for 2014), means that the region is strategically crucial for Beijing. Having Chinese firms participating in the production of these imported volumes af...

Kuwait Energy: Could Stretched Finances Force Firm From Key Iraq Asset?

...The 2014 discovery of the 1.13bn barrel Faihaa field by Kuwait Energy was the biggest  exploration success of Iraq’s post-2009 upstream opening. But plans to develop the field to 250,000 b/d by the mid-2020s are threatened by an onerous debt burden.   Iraq has been the great success st...

China’s Anton Oil Expands Iraq Presence As Shell Exits

...th BOC on 11 May, thereby lowering its PPT from 1.2mn b/d to 800,000 b/d by 2025. Current output stands around 400,000 b/d, which Lukoil vows to increase to 480,000 b/d by 2020. The Russian giant had already managed to renegotiate its PPT down once before, from 1.8mn b/d to 1.2mn b/d in 2014. ...

UK Firm Gulfsands Vies To Outlast Syria Sanctions

...erated several of the region’s fields under a 2014 understanding. GPC reportedly produced around 17,000 b/d through 2017 as well, but due to EU sanctions on the state firm, Gulfsands does not receive a cent of revenue from its crown jewel asset. That the block’s fields and infrastructure escaped the wr...

US Shale Records Test Infrastructure Limits

...tput is now forecast to top 12mn b/d by the end of 2019 (see charts). For this year the EIA now forecasts 10.72mn b/d,  up a whopping 1.37mn b/d on 2017 – a record annual gain, beating 2014’s 1.29mn b/d. The hike in forecasts comes in on the back of soaring oil prices. US marker WTI, having av...

Oil Price Gains Prompt Debate Over Demand Slowdown

...The IEA is seeing signs that the global oil market is overheating, with recent price gains towards $80/B Brent potentially dampening demand growth. Opec meanwhile is sticking to the line it pursued in January when prices edged above $70/B for the first time since December 2014, that short-te...

Libya: What Hope For The UN’s Ambitious ‘Action Plan’?

...te April between Ageela Saleh, head of Libya’s Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HOR), and Khalid Mishri, head of parliament’s Tripoli-based consultative chamber, the High Council of State (HSC). The HOR and HSC broadly represent the political factions whose 2014 split led to Libya’s effective di...

Algeria Advances Downstream Plans

...ssaoud, and a new naphtha reformer and hydrocracker at the Skikda refinery,” according to the firm’s comments in announcing the Exxon deal. Plans for the two new units at Skikda intended to boost the country’s diesel and gasoline output have been around in some form since at least 2014. Spain’s Te...

Algeria Eyes Solar To Power Oil Operations, But ‘It’s A Long-Term Job’

...om renewables. These will be small projects whose capacity is around 100MW.” Algeria’s solar capacity has risen quickly of late, although from a low level, to 425MW at the end of 2017, while wind capacity has languished at 10MW since 2014 (see chart). The solar increase is attributable to small-sc...

Mubadala’s SWF Acquisitions To Create Global Champions

...namic state organizations in the region. It was formed just over 15 years ago in 2002 and is chaired by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Zayid Al Nahyan whose influence has increased significantly since UAE President Khalifa bin Zayid Al Nahyan’s stroke in 2014 (MEES, 29 August 2014). The Crown Pr...

Qatar Plans For 2019 Drilling To Fuel Massive LNG Expansion

...ceeded 14mn tons in Q1 2018 for the first time since Q1 2014, although March data is not yet available for India and Taiwan. The increase was driven by China, which imported a record 2.92mn tons, up 1.1mn tons year-on-year, as its insatiable appetite continues to grow. South Korea also saw a 780,000 to...

Saudi Petchems Sector Gets Oil Price Boost As Sabic, Sipchem Eye Expansion

...ar. And combined net income fell short of the bumper returns in 3Q 2017, which neared $9bn for the first time since crude prices plunged in late 2014 (see chart). State-led Sabic, the biggest Saudi petchems firm by far, attributed its Q1 income boost to higher average selling prices and sales vo...

Egypt’s Western Desert: Is Capex Boost Enough For Output Rebound?

...e second half of 2014. But the rebound in oil prices over the past year has seen key regional producer Apache double capex to $156mn for 1Q 2018 from the low of $78mn plumbed in 3Q 2016. With spending having averaged $154mn for each of the last three quarters, up from $83mn for the same period a ye...

Blow To Nuclear Deal Forces Opec Output Reappraisal

...5,000 b/d. This is due to the startup of the first 50,000 b/d unit of the Hammar Mishrif Degassing Station facilities (DGS North). This consists of four units for a total 200,000 b/d and is being installed by South Korea’s Samsung under an $840mn 2014 contract (MEES, 4 April 2014). Completion was due for 20...