1. Libya’s NOC Forced To Shut In Key El Sharara Field

    ...utdown output level of 73,000 b/d was the highest since 2014 (see chart). NOC head Mustafa Sanalla at last week’s Opec meeting, eager to avoid being subject to output limits as part of the then under-discussion output deal, complained “we have internal cuts inside the country. Unfortunately, we have so...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 14 Dec 2018
  2. Qatar Shines Spotlight On OPEC Divisions As It Ends 57-Year Membership

    ...is week and the numbers make good reading for Doha. Oil and gas revenues of $6.8bn were the highest since December 2014, and as these account for 86% of total export revenues, these were also the highest since December 2014 at $7.9bn. Revenues are on track to be the highest since 2014, exceeding $80...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 49
    Published at Fri, 07 Dec 2018
  3. Jordan Energy Goals Remain Hostage To Geography

    ...x has consequently risen from 4% in 2014 to 35% in 2016 and 2017 (see chart).  Even with its FSRU contract running into the mid-2020s, Amman is nonetheless keen to increase natural gas imports and diversify sources. Jordan signed two controversial deals—one in 2014 and one in 2016—to import Is...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 48
    Published at Fri, 30 Nov 2018
  4. KRG Tempts Baghdad With Pipeline Expansion

    ...s successor Adil Abd al-Mahdi (MEES, 26 October). Indeed, the new PM has  track record of negotiating access to the KRG pipeline having done exactly that as oil minister in 2014 (MEES, 2 November). Oil minister Thamir Ghadhban has also expressed a desire to bury the hatchet since taking office. Wh...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 45
    Published at Fri, 09 Nov 2018
  5. Qatar Petroleum Chief Consolidates Energy Sector Grip With Cabinet Seat

    ...sponsibility for all energy issues” according to the government. The industry portfolio previously held by Mr Sada has been removed and merged with commerce to create the new Commerce and Industry Ministry. KAABI’S RISE  The new energy minister was appointed, president and CEO of QP in September 2014, su...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 45
    Published at Fri, 09 Nov 2018
  6. Qatar’s Export Revenues Hit A Four-Year High Despite Ongoing Embargo

    ...19. These increases contributed to Qatar achieving its first quarterly budget surplus since 4Q 2015 in 1Q 2018, albeit a modest $260mn (MEES, 3 August). Latest figures show it backed this up with a $1.67bn Q2 surplus, putting the emirate on track to secure its first annual budget surplus since 2014’s $25...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 44
    Published at Fri, 02 Nov 2018
  7. Syria: Gas Output At 75% Pre-War Levels, Oil Recovery Lags

    ...agnation but also the exodus of some seven million Syrians abroad. OIL: FROM BAD TO WORSE   Syria’s oil outlook was precarious even before the conflict broke out, and then government-controlled output fell to 9,000 b/d by 2014. Natural declines had nearly halved output and poor contract conditions al...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 42
    Published at Fri, 19 Oct 2018
  8. Iraqi Government Formation Gathers Pace

    ...al with his counterpart Ashti Hawrami in 2014 giving Iraq access to the KRG’s 700,000 b/d export pipeline to Ceyhan, Turkey (MEES, 5 December 2014). Baghdad would have otherwise had to shut-in the bulk of its production from Kirkuk following the Islamic State’s 2014 advance in which they damaged Ir...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 40
    Published at Fri, 05 Oct 2018
  9. Iraq’s Baiji Refinery Restarts Amid Security Concerns

    ...erations at Baiji refinery commenced this week for the first time since Islamic State (IS) overran the plant in June 2014 inflicting catastrophic damage (MEES, 26 September 2014). Prior to 2014 Baiji had 310,000 b/d nameplate capacity and produced around a third of Iraq’s gasoline and diesel before the IS ta...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 37
    Published at Fri, 14 Sep 2018
  10. Sinai Insecurity: Sisi’s Achilles’ Heel

    ...litants in the region were made up of disaffected Bedouin tribesmen but since 2014, a local group called Ansar Bait al-Maqdis pledged its allegiance to IS, rebranding as the latter’s ‘Sinai Province’. This group claimed responsibility for the downing of a Russian passenger jet over the Sinai in Oc...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 35
    Published at Fri, 31 Aug 2018
  11. Iraq Water Crisis Highlights Baghdad’s Impotence

    ...outing to keep the dam from sinking and disintegrating—an event that could trigger a tidal wave affecting millions downstream. Iraqi officials consistently downplay the threat, but the dam’s structural integrity was further undermined when IS forces briefly took the dam in 2014. Ross Filkins of the Ne...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 27 Jul 2018
  12. Libya Election Timetable To Slip Further Amid Factional Divisions

    ...rliamentary polls in June 2014 led to the de facto division of Libya between two rival administrations. It is “increasingly doubtful” that elections will be held by end-2018, says Tarek Megerisi, Libya specialist at the European Council on Foreign Relations, after meeting senior officials from several co...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 30
    Published at Fri, 27 Jul 2018
  13. Iraqi Authorities Feel The Heat As Protests Boil Over

    ...wer sector. IRAQ: EXPORT REVENUES ON PACE OF 2014 LEVELS IN 1H 2018 *FORECAST BASED ON CURRENT CRUDE FUTURES PRICES. SOURCE: IRAQ OIL MINISTRY, MEES CALCULATIONS.   EXPLOSIVE PROTESTS              Some of the most high-profile protests have been those held outside some of Ir...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 29
    Published at Fri, 20 Jul 2018
  14. Syria: Key Crossing Open

    ...uckers would embark on the five-hour Beirut-Amman trek despite the ongoing civil war, but when the crossing closed, it stymied exports. Customs data show that export volumes at the Masnaa crossing on the Beirut-Damascus highway fell from $495mn in 2014 to $103mn in 2016—a key reason why total Lebanese ex...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 28
    Published at Fri, 13 Jul 2018
  15. Lebanon’s Recurring Power Nightmare

    ...cording to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The country continued its push for an LNG import tender (MEES, 4 April 2014), but the political crisis beset on the nation from 2014-16 scuttled the effort. Immediate relief from the overpriced Turkish powerships looked the only feasible op...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 27
    Published at Fri, 06 Jul 2018
  16. OMV Tests Yemen Restart

    ...spended in 2015. COST RECOVERY         Production hit 14,500 b/d in 2014 and OMV forecast 23,000 b/d upon Phase-2 completion, then set for 2016. But fate intervened. Today, Shabwa basin lies in relatively safe government controlled territory, and OMV appears bent on cost recovery: “If you’ve in...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 25
    Published at Fri, 22 Jun 2018
  17. 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...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 22
    Published at Fri, 01 Jun 2018
  18. 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...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 20
    Published at Fri, 18 May 2018
  19. Suez Canal Shipments, Revenue Up But Trade War Threatens

    ...0,000 b/d as the highest on record. •  For the moment the Suez Canal is reaping the benefits of the massive Gulf (in particular Saudi) 2014-17 expansion in refining capacity and diesel output, with Europe the key target export market. Saudi exported a record 2mn b/d of oil products in February with di...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 16
    Published at Fri, 20 Apr 2018
  20. Yemen: IOCs Eye Re-Entry Amidst Battlefield Stalemate

    ...OMV’s 2014 global net liquids output. But this share was set to rise from 14,500 b/d (6,400 b/d net to OMV) for 2014 to 23,000 b/d in 2016 with the culmination of €1.9bn development plans. Late-2014 saw the start-up of five wells and two early production facilities, with a further 15 wells pl...

    Volume: 61
    Issue: 14
    Published at Fri, 06 Apr 2018