1. Yemen: New Import Hub Increases Houthi Economic Control

    ...port terminal. STRATEGIC LOCATION        Ras Issa sits in a strategic bay on Yemen’s Red Sea coast. It has traditionally been the country’s primary export terminal, receiving crude oil from the Marib Basin via a 110,000 b/d pipeline. But with the onset of civil war in 2014, targeted sabotage of th...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 44
    Published at Fri, 03 Nov 2023
  2. Saudi Oil Export Revenues On Course For 25% Annual Drop

    ...ole, MEES estimates that oil revenues are on course to total $245-250bn. Although this is down significantly from last year’s bumper $327bn, it remains a historically high figure. With the exception of 2022, this would be the highest annual figure since 2014 (see chart 2).   2024: SUBJECT TO MA...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 48
    Published at Wed, 01 Nov 2023
  3. Hopes For Libyan Unity Fade In Wake Of Flooding Disaster

    ...untry’s east since 2014 (MEES, 22 May 2020), the flooding disaster has offered an opportunity to leverage the new state of emergency to empower his sons and support their political ambitions, further strengthening the Haftar family’s grip on eastern Libya. The ailing 79-year-old patriarch, who an...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 41
    Published at Fri, 13 Oct 2023
  4. Oman Wields Oil Profits To Slash Debt In Fiscal Reform Push

    ...in shocks of the 2014-15 oil price crash and then the Covid-19 pandemic, the recently enthroned Sultan Haitham bin Tarik Al Said at the end of 2020 moved ahead with a series of reform packages to reorient the national economy (MEES, 17 September 2021). Oman is now more than halfway through the Medium Te...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 39
    Published at Fri, 29 Sep 2023
  5. Asian LNG Imports: China Drives Demand Despite Record Overland Russia Volumes

    ...21 (30.1mn tons) came much more recently than that of Japan (88.51mn tons in 2014), the recent trend has been similar. Korea has reversed previous plans to phase-out nuclear power and as a result LNG is set to play a lower-than-previously-envisaged role in the country’s powergen mix. For 8M 2023 Ko...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 38
    Published at Fri, 22 Sep 2023
  6. Turkey Claims Iraq Owes Nearly $1bn In Net Arbitration Damages

    ...accrue further interest until payment, or amicable resolution.    Turkey’s claim is that “Iraq’s damages date from 2014 to 2018 – a period of relatively low [Turkish] bond yields,” and therefore “far more interest has accrued on Türkiye’s damages” which date back to 1990 until 2011. Based on...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 37
    Published at Fri, 15 Sep 2023
  7. Softening Oil Sector Puts Brakes On Saudi Growth

    ...in Q2 according to preliminary government figures, to 5.5% from Q1’s 5.4%. It has now notched up five consecutive quarters above 5% for the first time since 2014. However, given the extent to which the economy is dominated by the oil and gas sector – which is itself undergoing an extensive ca...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 31
    Published at Fri, 04 Aug 2023
  8. Kuwait’s Four Year Government Program Gets Little Support

    ...position-led assembly, only a handful of MPs showed support, rendering the passage of the approximately 30 proposed laws questionable. One law in particular saw almost unanimous opposition – the contentious Debt Law. Kuwait ran a series of eight consecutive budget deficits (see chart) between 2014/15 an...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 28 Jul 2023
  9. Algeria Oil & Gas Revenues Fall Back From Record 2022

    ...*Algerian state firm Sonatrach earned $21bn in oil and gas export revenues for the first five months of 2023. On an annualized basis this equates to $50.8bn, well down from 2022’s 9-year high $60bn, but is still the second highest since energy prices tanked in late 2014 (see ch...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 28
    Published at Fri, 14 Jul 2023
  10. Oman Achieves $1.17bn Surplus for Q1

    ...ffers to pay down debt.” 2022’s annual surplus of $2.98bn saw Oman end the run of 13 consecutive deficits stretching back to 2009 (MEES, 23 December 2022). The consecutive budget deficits meant debt levels have ballooned in recent years, especially after the 2014 oil price crash. Debt surged from 4....

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 21
    Published at Fri, 26 May 2023
  11. Oman’s State Energy Firm Profits From Improved Credit Rating As Economy Picks Up

    ...pths of the Covid-19 pandemic. The sultanate even achieved a $2.98bn surplus in 2022 which brought an end to a run of 13 consecutive budget deficits. That extended run in the red meant debt levels ballooned in recent years, especially after the 2014 oil price crash. From 4.9% of GDP in 2013 debt surged to...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 17
    Published at Fri, 28 Apr 2023
  12. Iraq Drafts Blowout Budget: More Energy Capex, But More Wages Too

    ...cludes exports from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, with which the government hopes to finalize a political agreement over monitoring the region’s 400,000 b/d exports (see p10). The oil price assumption is the largest in an Iraqi budget since 2013’s $90/B – the planned 2014 budget was also based on $90...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 12
    Published at Fri, 24 Mar 2023
  13. Saudi Arabia Nets $27.7bn Surplus For 2022

    ...th a 22% increase to $38.3bn. Further gains are planned for this year, with budgeted capex of $41.9bn up 9.4% on last year’s levels. These capex figures remain well below historic levels. Saudi capex peaked at $85.2bn in 2014 before being slashed as oil prices dropped. But it was still running at $45...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 11
    Published at Fri, 17 Mar 2023
  14. Iraq Looks To New Karbala Refinery To Cut Record Fuel Import Bill

    ...Hyundai Engineering awarded the EPC contract nine years ago (MEES, 10 January 2014). Since then, the primary gains to Iraq’s refining capacity have come from repairing existing units such as those at the Baiji refinery. Another key project is the construction of a 55,000 b/d FCC complex at the 35...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 10
    Published at Fri, 10 Mar 2023
  15. Saudi Export Revenues Topped $400bn For First Time For 2022

    ...SPITE A LATE-YEAR DIP AS CRUDE PRICES FELL BACK BELOW $90/B, OIL EXPORT REVENUES REMAIN WELL ABOVE RECENT LEVELS ($BN)... SOURCE: GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR STATISTICS, MEES.   3: ...AND WERE THE HIGHEST SINCE THE 2014 OIL PRICE CRASH FOR EVERY MONTH LAST YEAR($BN) SOURCE: GE...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 09
    Published at Fri, 03 Mar 2023
  16. Qatar Achieves Eight-Year High $24.5bn Surplus For 2022

    ...bounded following a $2.9bn deficit just two years earlier amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The latest figures from the Ministry of Finance show that last year’s surplus was the biggest since $29.8bn for 2014-15 (see chart 1). Qatar entered last year budgeting for a $2.3bn deficit. While few could have pr...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 09
    Published at Fri, 03 Mar 2023
  17. Opec Revenues Rise 50% To Eight Year High In 2022

    ...erged from 2020’s catastrophic Covid depths (see chart 1). Despite the huge back-to-back revenue gains, last year’s Opec export revenues look to have remained below 2014’s levels as the group’s fortunes have yet to fully bounce back from the price slump that began in the second half of that year. It is...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 05
    Published at Fri, 03 Feb 2023
  18. Iraq Eyes 2023 Budget Priorities: Can It Spend Oil Windfall Wisely?

    ...gh-level KRG source tells MEES that Erbil’s delegation is planning to return to Baghdad to resume talks end of this month.. MORE CAPEX, OR MORE PAYROLL?                Last year marked the third year that Iraq has failed to pass a budget, after 2014 and 2020. If ID222bn ($153bn) is indeed the fi...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 01
    Published at Fri, 06 Jan 2023