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Iraqi Kurdistan Poised For More Gains In 2020
...G can likely count on another 40,000 b/d in 2020, according to MEES estimates (see chart). This would push output back above 500,000 b/d for the first time since the KRG lost a swathe of territory around Kirkuk to the federal government in 2017. The additional volumes would appear to be critical to...
Volume: 62Issue: 50Published at Fri, 13 Dec 2019 -
Upcoming GCC Summit Raises Qatar Questions
...nsions with Qatar. However, even if the embargo is ended, a return to the pre-June 2017 status quo is highly unlikely (MEES, 9 June 2017). It will take a long time for Qatar’s leadership to regain trust in its neighbors. Qatar has also had to substantially alter its trade flows to replace imports fr...
Volume: 62Issue: 49Published at Fri, 06 Dec 2019 -
Baghdad And KRG Sign Preliminary Oil Sharing, Budget Deal
...mo. The KRG’s independent oil exports have been a major bone of contention with Baghdad and a key cause of broader tensions between the two parties – including the 2017 operation to retake two of the KRG’s key producing fields, Bai Hassan and the Avana Dome, which transferred 280,000 b/d of production ba...
Volume: 62Issue: 48Published at Fri, 29 Nov 2019 -
Kuwait Emir’s Son Unleashes Political Upheaval
...e now out of the picture. Despite his own advanced age – 71 – Sheikh Nasser Sabah appeared to be solidifying a position as the front runner to eventually succeed his father. He was appointed deputy prime minister in 2017 and is the key backer of the planned $130bn Silk City megaproject (MEES, 15 De...
Volume: 62Issue: 47Published at Fri, 22 Nov 2019 -
Iran Ups Geopolitical Stakes With Nuclear Advances
...ssia. The new plants at Bushehr will also process Russian fuel (MEES, 31 March 2017). ...
Volume: 62Issue: 46Published at Fri, 15 Nov 2019 -
Putin Mideast Tour Shows Off Russia’s Expanded Regional Influence
...esident Vladimir Putin’s first visit to Saudi Arabia in more than a decade and followed King Salman becoming the first Saudi monarch to visit Russia in 2017 (MEES, 6 October 2017). President Putin referenced that historic trip upon arrival in Riyadh on 14 October: “your first ever visit to Russia in Oc...
Volume: 62Issue: 42Published at Fri, 18 Oct 2019 -
Turkey Ups Cyprus Ante By Drilling South Of The Island
...sitant to restart talks after the failure of a summit in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana in 2017. Turkey’s actions could be the catalyst that pushes the Greek Cypriots to get back to the table, with Ankara looking unlikely to back off until a solution is found....
Volume: 62Issue: 41Published at Fri, 11 Oct 2019 -
Turkey Deployment To Reshape Syria Conflict
...fineries or ‘exported’ to regime-held areas. Estimates of current output from the Kurdish-held region vary. But MEES puts current production at 60,000 b/d. SDF operations against Islamic State militants saw Kurdish forces take nearly the entire east bank of the Euphrates in the second half of 2017. The ar...
Volume: 62Issue: 41Published at Fri, 11 Oct 2019 -
Egypt, Ethiopia Hit Dam Deadlock
...uld prove to be a blessing in disguise, giving Ethiopia and Egypt time to come to a compromise. Slated to be complete in July 2017, the most recent delay came in April last year when Ethiopia’s newly elected Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched investigations into key projects awarded by his pr...
Volume: 62Issue: 41Published at Fri, 11 Oct 2019 -
Iran Confident Jask Terminal On Track For 2021 Start
...ippage. At 1mn b/d, Jask will be Iran’s second largest crude export terminal upon completion, behind the Kharg Island facilities which Iran puts at a massive 8mn b/d (MEES, 30 June 2017). Condensate meanwhile is exported from the Assaluyeh terminal. While Jask’s location outside of the Strait of Ho...
Volume: 62Issue: 40Published at Fri, 04 Oct 2019 -
PIF Muscles In On Aramco Amid Oil Sector Shakeup
...r Saudi Arabia’s struggles to secure the foreign investment inflows required to boost economic diversity. Whether Mr Khorayef is likely to achieve more success than Mr Falih is far from clear. After all, investors have been deterred by the fallout from the Jamal Khashoggi killing and 2017’s in...
Volume: 62Issue: 36Published at Fri, 06 Sep 2019 -
Tunisia At The Crossroads
...der 25, whose inability to secure formal employment was a key catalyst for the 2010-11 revolution. Creating jobs is thus a political imperative for Tunisia. And an economic one too if is to reach its stated aim of a 3.9% fiscal deficit, down from 2018’s 4.6% and 2017’s 6% (see table). PUBLIC SE...
Volume: 62Issue: 31Published at Fri, 02 Aug 2019 -
Qatar Investments Win Trump Approval
...Qatari Emir Tamim Al Thani can be pleased with the results of this week’s trip to the US, where he received glowing praise from President Donald Trump. The emirate has been assiduously courting support from potential allies since its neighbors imposed an embargo in June 2017 and appears to ha...
Volume: 62Issue: 28Published at Fri, 12 Jul 2019 -
Houthis Expose Saudi Arabia’s Growing Desalination Dependency
...pulation’s need for potable water. This dependency is growing at a rapid rate. The latest data from state regulator ECRA puts demand over the course of 2017 at an average 6.73mn m³/d, up a massive 9.9% year-on-year (see chart). Demand has almost certainly continued to soar over the past 18 months. Me...
Volume: 62Issue: 26Published at Fri, 28 Jun 2019 -
Rising Gulf Tensions Cast Spotlight Back On Iran’s Nuclear Capabilities
...named site in Iran. At the time AEOI was seeking to fabricate fuel rods itself for any new plants in Iran. However, the agency decided it would need to accept an expansion of existing arrangements for using Russian fuel and returning spent rods before work on Bushehr-2 could begin (MEES, 31 March 2017...
Volume: 62Issue: 25Published at Fri, 21 Jun 2019 -
GCC Rift Enters Third Year As Qatar PM’s Saudi Trip Ends In Acrimony
...abia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar (MEES, 9 June 2017). The rift shows no sign of easing. Qatari Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani last week became the first senior official to visit Saudi Arabia since the June 2017 flareup when he attended a series of su...
Volume: 62Issue: 23Published at Fri, 07 Jun 2019 -
Gulf Monarchies Look To Score In Soft Power Premier League
...ch invested over $1bn to date in a bid to win football’s biggest club prize, Europe’s Champion’s League. Adding spice to the contest is that Abu Dhabi alongside Saudi Arabia has been the key instigator of an embargo on Qatar since 2017. At least, to paraphrase George Orwell, football is a war minus th...
Volume: 62Issue: 22Published at Fri, 31 May 2019 -
Saudi Keeps Crude Exports Tight Despite Us Pressure
...12mn b/d, the lowest quarterly figure since 4Q 2017 (see chart 1 and p18 for full data). They appear on track to dip further in Q2. MEES pegs exports at a shade over 7mn b/d during April, and slightly less than this over the first half of May. Of course, this could all change. Saudi Arabia could ramp up pr...
Volume: 62Issue: 21Published at Fri, 24 May 2019 -
Iran Sets New Rules For Repatriation Of Petchems Forex
...rrency earnings, as Tehran struggles to access its export revenues under tough US sanctions. State petrochemicals firm National Petrochemical Company (NPC) and its subsidiaries and affiliates earned some $10bn in the Iranian 2017-18 calendar year before the US unilaterally reimposed sanctions in May 20...
Volume: 62Issue: 21Published at Fri, 24 May 2019 -
Yemen: Second IOC Returns Despite No End In Sight To Conflict
...rm PetroMasila’s Blocks 10 & 14 – the main producers of Masila grade crude – and sent via a 150km, 300,000 b/d pipeline to the Ash Shihr terminal which has storage capacity of 3.5mn barrels. PetroMasila was the first firm to restart production in Yemen back in 2016 (MEES, 15 September 2017). Ca...
Volume: 62Issue: 20Published at Fri, 17 May 2019