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Iran: Khamenei Looks To ‘Resistance’ Budget For 2019
...rchases in return for being granted ‘waivers’ – MEES, 16 November), and at least some of those Mediterranean and East Asian countries that have halted buying to restart. Korea, which imported 361,000 b/d from Iran in 2017 took zero for the third straight month in November. Japan and Taiwan also took ze...
Volume: 61Issue: 51-52Published at Fri, 21 Dec 2018 -
Saudi Reveals Optimistic 2019 Budget But Still Expects To Load Up On Debt
...is option for long. While much of the borrowing will be on domestic markets, the hefty budget deficit spells another trip to the international debt markets for Saudi Arabia. Having issued $17.5bn worth of bonds in 2016, Saudi Arabia smashed this in 2017 with $21.5bn, before falling back to just $13...
Volume: 61Issue: 51-52Published at Fri, 21 Dec 2018 -
Qatar: New 2.5GW Plant Powers Economic Growth
...provements in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions have so far come to naught. However, Kahramaa has prequalified 16 international solar power developers to bid for a 500MW solar photovoltaic plant at Al Kharsaah, 80km west of Doha, and is expected to invite bids shortly (MEES, 29 September 2017). QA...
Volume: 61Issue: 50Published at Fri, 14 Dec 2018 -
Algeria Set For $5bn 2018 Trade Deficit: As Good As It Gets?
...1.03mn b/d for the first nine months of 2018, output of condensate and field NGLs was down 5.6% at 472,000 b/d, whilst gas output fell 1.1% to 67.5bcm. The dip in gas production came despite key project start-ups at Reggane (MEES, 22 December 2017) and Timimoun (MEES, 2 March 2018). Whilst un...
Volume: 61Issue: 49Published at Fri, 07 Dec 2018 -
Saudi Arabia Bags $118bn Trade Surplus In 9M 2018
...Falling oil prices since October augur Q4 reversal. Saudi Arabia’s export revenues over the first nine months of 2018 are already within touching distance of the full year 2017 figure. The kingdom’s latest trade data shows that export revenues over the period are up nearly 27% ($58.7bn) ye...
Volume: 61Issue: 48Published at Fri, 30 Nov 2018 -
Oman Economy Set For Strong 2018 Finish
...er the same period last year – a 46% decrease that reflects the all-powerful role international oil prices play in Muscat’s economic wellbeing. If the government can keep end-year spending under control, MEES estimates a full-year deficit of around $5.5-6bn versus $9.76bn in 2017. Such a su...
Volume: 61Issue: 47Published at Fri, 23 Nov 2018 -
Iran’s Deficit Soars As Economy Sags
...$1=IR42,000). This shortfall is more than twice the projected deficit of IR164.5 trillion for that period. Indeed, it has already exceeded the projected full year deficit of IR322 trillion. Iran posted a budget deficit of $8.2bn in 2017-18 (IR 270 trillion; MEES, 20 July). To plug the 1H deficit th...
Volume: 61Issue: 47Published at Fri, 23 Nov 2018 -
Tunisia Struggles To Cash In On Democracy
...the revolution, growth slumped to average less than 2% since 2013, though the 2.7% figure (annualized) for 1H 2018 is a modest improvement on 2016’s 1.0% and 2017’s 1.9%. That said, most experts reckon that growth of at least 5% will be needed to make a serious dent in unemployment. On the se...
Volume: 61Issue: 46Published at Fri, 16 Nov 2018 -
Saudi 9M Stats Show Kingdom Almost In The Black: Too Good To Be True?
...Freshly-released official Saudi figures show the kingdom’s deficit falling to just $13.1bn for the first three quarters of 2018, and just $2bn for each of Q2 and Q3. The nine-month deficit is down a whopping 60% from the $32.4bn deficit over the corresponding period of 2017. Pro-rating th...
Volume: 61Issue: 45Published at Fri, 09 Nov 2018 -
Egypt Economy Marches Upwards, But Higher Oil Prices Hit Subsidy Reforms
...Egypt’s economy is on the mend. Its current account deficit shrunk by almost 60% to $6bn for the 2017-18 financial year. But higher oil prices could derail the country’s subsidy reforms and it’s still on track for a massive budget deficit this year. Two years on from Cairo’s November 20...
Volume: 61Issue: 44Published at Fri, 02 Nov 2018 -
Will Saudi Geopolitical Crisis Derail PIF Plans, 2030 Vision?
...ve only seen a marginal increase to $250bn. The PIF program’s four key objectives are “growing and maximizing PIF’s assets; launching new sectors; localizing advanced technologies and knowledge, and building strategic economic partnerships” (MEES, 27 October 2017). Therefore, the decision by a ho...
Volume: 61Issue: 43Published at Fri, 26 Oct 2018 -
US Crude Still Big In Asia But China Volumes Fall To Zero
...r January-August). As for Iran, though August volumes were down on the January-August average (578,000 b/d), they are actually slightly higher than the 2017 average of 484,000 b/d. That each of India’s top three suppliers saw volumes dip in August is in part a function of US volumes which hi...
Volume: 61Issue: 42Published at Fri, 19 Oct 2018 -
Saudi Steps Up Spending In Bid To Boost Economy
...lf of 2018 that will see the budget deficit nearly quadruple from 1H 2018. Nevertheless, the expected $39.5bn deficit announced in revised Ministry of Finance figures is still considerably less than 2017’s $63.6bn. Government figures show that the kingdom accrued a deficit of $11.1bn in the first ha...
Volume: 61Issue: 40Published at Fri, 05 Oct 2018 -
Qatar Enlarges LNG Expansion, Drilling Expected Imminently
...is putting its money where its mouth is, this week upwardly-revising its North Field gas expansion plans for the second time since they were initially launched in April 2017 (MEES, 3 April 2017). A fourth 7.8mn t/y LNG train now forms a definitive part of the expansion plans, taking Qatar’s total en...
Volume: 61Issue: 39Published at Fri, 28 Sep 2018 -
Vision 2030: Is The Public Investment Fund’s Strategy Due An Overhaul?
...ers of banking services in the region.” At last October’s Future Investment Initiative forum, PIF announced that it was aiming to beef up its assets to $400bn by 2020 from its current $240bn (MEES, 27 October 2017). A year later there is little evidence of a major increase having occurred. With it...
Volume: 61Issue: 38Published at Fri, 21 Sep 2018 -
Iran Offers Big Discounts To Retain Customers
...dn’t have to cut prices to such levels even during the previous tightening of sanctions from 2011-2016 (see chart 1). Iran’s five key Asian buyers took 1.66mn b/d for 2017, 68% of Iran’s 2.46mn b/d crude and condensate sales, highlighting their critical importance to the Iranian economy. In 2011, th...
Volume: 61Issue: 38Published at Fri, 21 Sep 2018 -
Egypt Gets $3bn Finance As Import Cost Soars
...e up in the first quarter of 2018, bringing in $6.8bn, compared to $5.5bn in Q1 2017, imports have also increased from $14.9bn to $16.0bn, meaning Egypt’s trade deficit was $9.3bn for both quarters. The share of oil and gas in Egypt’s exports grew from 31.0% in Q1 2017 to 32.6% in the first qu...
Volume: 61Issue: 37Published at Fri, 14 Sep 2018 -
Saudi $2bn Sukuk
...Saudi Arabia is raising $2bn in an international sukuk, its second ever after $9bn in April 2017 (MEES, 21 April 2017), “part of the Ministry of Finance’s commitment to develop Sharia-compliant debt capital markets,” it announced on 12 September. Global coordinators are Citi, HSBC and JP Mo...
Volume: 61Issue: 37Published at Fri, 14 Sep 2018 -
Japan Set To Follow South Korea and France In Halting Iran Oil Imports
...thout this, firms don’t want to risk damaging commercial links with the US. Japan imported 162,000 b/d from Iran in the first half of 2018, a figure broadly in line with the 170,000 b/d it imported over the course of 2017 (see chart). Q2 volumes of 130,000 b/d were down from 193,000 b/d the previous qu...
Volume: 61Issue: 36Published at Fri, 07 Sep 2018 -
Algeria Halves Trade Deficit, Thanks To Higher Oil Prices
...): DEFICIT ON TRACK TO FALL TO $4.2BN FOR 2018 BUT OIL & GAS DEPENDENCE STILL WELL OVER 90% F =FORECAST. PRESUMES OIL PRICES IN LINE WITH CURRENT LEVELS FOR REMAINDER OF 2018. R=REVISED FROM PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED FIGURES. *GAS EXPORT FIGURES ARE FOR 1H 2018, 2017, OIL EXPORTS FOR JAN-APR. **CH...
Volume: 61Issue: 35Published at Fri, 31 Aug 2018