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Iraq’s Northern Oil Infrastructure Under Attack From Islamic State
...ll as their proximity to major assets. The small topping plant at Sainia lies just a few kilometers from the Baiji refining complex, which before its total destruction in 2014, was Iraq’s biggest producing 310,000 b/d. Rebuilding Baiji – which previously consisted of two 70,000 b/d crude distillation un...
Volume: 63Issue: 51Published at Fri, 18 Dec 2020 -
Oman Sees Economic Weaknesses Play A Geopolitical Role
...l revenues. But it never fully recovered from 2014’s oil price crash. Coupled with a post-Arab Spring spending spree, this saw its debt balloon from $4bn in 2013 to $50bn just seven years later. This year’s collapse in oil prices added insult to injury. Revenues fell from $14.3bn in 1H 2019 to $12...
Volume: 63Issue: 44Published at Fri, 30 Oct 2020 -
Turkey’s East Med Drilling Campaign: Politics By Other Means
...In the scramble for the East Med, Turkey has been mixing guns with energy. A prolific politics-first drilling campaign has so far failed to result in an ‘economic’ discovery. But will Turkey’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ mentality see it strike gas? When in 2014 your correspondent asked the now-Tu...
Volume: 63Issue: 41Published at Fri, 09 Oct 2020 -
Turkey Unites Rival East Med Players As Regional ‘Gas Forum’ Expands Ambitions
...peline plans for the photo-opportunity this affords them. Plans for an Israel-Cyprus-Greece-Italy gas pipeline have been included on a list of the EU’s ‘projects of common interest’ since 2014 (MEES, 12 December 2014), with EU energy commissioners a regular fixture at related meet-ups. Never mind the gl...
Volume: 63Issue: 39Published at Fri, 25 Sep 2020 -
Libya’s Eastern Power Cuts Force Haftar’s Hand
...A imposed a nationwide oil-blockade aiming to put pressure on the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) it seeks to overthrow (MEES, 24 January). Libya has had two rival eastern and western administrations since 2014. As a result of the blockades, the eastern terminals of Es Sider, Zu...
Volume: 63Issue: 34Published at Fri, 21 Aug 2020 -
Beirut Explosion Sends Lebanon Into Humanitarian, Economic Abyss\
...vestigated in Cyprus) instructed the crew to pick up heavy machinery at Beirut and deliver it to Jordan’s port of Aqaba. The poorly-maintained vessel was then embroiled in a legal dispute over fees, and the crew was stranded onboard in Beirut for 11 months. In 2014 the cargo was offloaded for ‘safety re...
Volume: 63Issue: 32Published at Fri, 07 Aug 2020 -
Kuwait’s Ailing Emir
...bah. But both have been tarnished by their rivalry and appear out of the running (MEES, 4 July 2014). More recently, Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak’s resignation as Prime Minister last year ended any faint prospect of his potential elevation – he is from a more minor branch of the family. The new PM Sh...
Volume: 63Issue: 30Published at Fri, 24 Jul 2020 -
Saudi Arabia Looks To Expand Iraq Footprint
...ntract, does not make sense” – adding that the Saudi media could have possibly misinterpreted the comments made my Mr Allawi. Nonetheless, Akkas remains a major bone of contention. Iraq’s oil ministry continues to urge Kogas to return to the field, where the Koreans declared force majeure in 2014 as Is...
Volume: 63Issue: 22Published at Fri, 29 May 2020 -
On Iraq Power, And Power Politics: MEES Interview with Luay al-Khatteeb
...proving supply efficiency from certain stations, and adding new units and power stations. Additionally, we added significant capacity to the transmission lines and extended the distribution system in the liberated areas – so for the first time since the 2014 Daesh [Islamic State] insurgency we have ma...
Volume: 63Issue: 20Published at Fri, 15 May 2020 -
Can Iraq’s New Government Weather The Economic Storm?
...l price, Iraq will burn through its fiscal buffers and we will see more social unrest.” “The biggest threat right now, and the one that can derail everything a whole lot faster, is denial,” Mr Tabaqchali says. “They are talking like this is 2014-2016 again and the difficult times will pass. So my...
Volume: 63Issue: 19Published at Fri, 08 May 2020 -
Algeria: Exports Down, Revenue Down, Outlook Dire
...tober 2014’s 171mn cfd. Volumes have bounced back slightly so far in April but at 572mn cfd are still the second lowest in the past five years (barring March). Algeria could regain some demand from both Italy and Spain later in the year when its oil-linked piped gas prices begin to fall with lower oi...
Volume: 63Issue: 18Published at Fri, 01 May 2020 -
Libya’s Financial Vulnerabilities Laid Bare By Dwindling Oil Revenue
...consultation with Libya’s internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) based in the capital. STATE FAILURE Such is the level of state failure in Libya, that since a political crisis in 2014 it has had two rival governments, two central banks and two national oi...
Volume: 63Issue: 17Published at Fri, 24 Apr 2020 -
Syria Emerges As Iran’s Top Crude ‘Customer’
...e embattled Assad government lost key northeastern fields to Kurdish-led forces and key Euphrates fields (once Shell and Total-operated) to various rebel groups, sending oil output to 28,000 b/d in 2013 and 9,000 b/d in 2014, where it remained for four years. Damascus subsequently developed a sh...
Volume: 63Issue: 15Published at Fri, 10 Apr 2020 -
Algeria Posts 5th Straight Trade Deficit
...$6.11bn for 2019 (see chart). Oil and gas revenues are down 15% at $33.24bn – half levels consistently reached before the 2014 oil price crash and a substantially larger slump than the 9% fall to $64.5/B in the price of Algeria’s Saharan Blend crude. This reflects the fact that gas prices have been un...
Volume: 63Issue: 08Published at Fri, 21 Feb 2020 -
Iraq Crude Exports: Slow January Highlights Systemic Vulnerabilities
...aqi exports averaged 3.96mn b/d over 2019, up from 3.82mn b/d for 2018. Overall, more than 60% of Iraqi exports ended up in the major Asian markets. The proportion has increased considerably over the past five years, with barely 50% heading to Asia in 2014. Unsurprisingly, China as the world’s la...
Volume: 63Issue: 06Published at Fri, 07 Feb 2020 -
Oman At The Crossroads As New Sultan Takes The Reins
...owing to a record $39.4bn in 2014. At the time, all was well and good: $100/B+ oil filled state coffers, covering additional spending and keeping Oman’s public debt in check (see chart). But once implemented, government handouts are politically difficult to stop. And when oil prices crashed in la...
Volume: 63Issue: 03Published at Fri, 17 Jan 2020