Taiwan 2017 Crude Imports ('000 B/D): UAE Volumes Up 70% Year-On-Year, Iran Down 15%

...  TAIWAN 2017 CRUDE IMPORTS ('000 B/D): OPEC MAINTAINS STRONG SHARE DESPITE PRODUCTION CUTS SOURCE: TAIWAN IMPORT STATS, MEES CALCULATIONS....

Total Deepens Algeria Ties

...gned a deal ending legal action brought by the French firm against Sonatrach in 2016 for changes made 10 years earlier to profit-sharing terms on its oil and gas contracts in the country (MEES, 21 April 2017). April’s Total-Sonatrach deal not only allowed the partners to “amicably” resolve the di...

Iranian Oil Exports Hit Pre-Sanctions Levels As European Share Grows

...Iran produced an average of 3.79mn b/d of crude in 2017, up 10.5% on 2016, with output reaching 3.83mn b/d last month. Not surprisingly export volumes are also up. Buyers of Iranian crude and condensate took just over 2.50mn b/d last year, edging above 2.47mn b/d for 2011, the year before US-le...

Adnoc Plans $3.1bn Ruwais Upgrade To Free Up Murban For Export

...Processing Upper Zakum instead of Murban would’ve raised $275mn more in 2017. Abu Dhabi state Adnoc has awarded a $3.1bn contract for a long-planned Crude Flexibility Project (CFP) to enable its Ruwais West refinery to process 420,000 b/d of Upper Zakum crude, freeing up more valuable Mu...

Qatar Sidesteps Trade Embargo With 20% Export Revenue Gain In 2017

...Qatar’s exports proceeded largely unimpeded in 2017 despite the Saudi-led embargo being in force since June. But failure to diversify its exports remains a major concern, as does a dependency on five countries for more than 60% of exports. Qatari export revenues soared 18% to $67bn in 2017...

QP Goes Big Off Mexico

...erica as part of a “very defined” expansion strategy (MEES, 8 December 2017). Four of QP’s new Mexican assets are in a consortium with Anglo-Dutch major Shell (60% op, QP 40%), Blocks 3, 4, 6, and 7 in the Perdido Basin. This abuts the US border in proximity to the Whale deep-water discovery an...

Japan Big Winner As Saudi Arabia Cuts Crude Exports

...Saudi crude exports to its five key markets, Japan, China, the US, South Korea and India, edged down 2% in 2017. Though this is a more modest dip than the 4% fall to 9.97mn b/d in the country’s crude output and the 9% fall to 6.96mn b/d for Saudi Arabia’s overall crude exports, the kingdom ha...

LNG As A Shipping Fuel: Can Producers Capitalize On IMO 2020 Sulfur Cap?

...ailable on a regional or local level, especially if there are supply problems or in the event of price hikes post-2020. In its 2017 World Energy Outlook and under its New Policies Scenario, the International Energy Agency (IEA) expects the upcoming regulation to pressure demand for high sulfur fuel oi...

Suez Canal Boosted By Oil Trade Records

...•  2017 was a standout year for the Suez Canal, with record oil shipments both northbound and southbound. Revenues, at $5.276bn, were second only to the record $5.465bn hit in 2014. •  Northbound oil shipments – essentially those from Gulf countries to Europe and the Americas – remain mo...

Key Middle East Producers Ease Off Drilling Going Into 2018

...Last year saw record low global oil and gas discoveries. The 2018 picture looks similar, despite a nascent major return to deepwater drilling. The Middle East, a bright spot in the downturn, kept drilling at near-record levels in 2017, but dwindling cash reserves mean activity has eased. Th...

China LNG Buying At Record Levels, Prices At 3-Year High

...rld’s number two LNG importer over the course of 2017. China imported 33.3mn tons for January-November, up 48% year-on-year. Korea’s imports, at 33.5mn tons for the same period, were slightly higher. •  Although Korean imports are up by a not-inconsiderable 14% year-on-year, this pales alongside the gr...

Libya’s 2017 Energy Fortunes: Good-Ish News On Oil, Less So On Gas As Instability Continues

Algeria: Could 2018 See An End To Deficits?

...nths of 2017, the first time this has happened for any two-month period since 2014. Algerian gas exports have rebounded strongly since September as domestic demand has eased whilst the country has looked to maximize gas output (MEES, 15 September). The start-up of new gas fields – output from the Re...

Saudi Targets Major Gas Gains, But LNG Imports Loom

...s the startup of the Wasit gas plant in mid-2016. Wasit has capacity to process 2bn cfd raw gas from the offshore Arabiyah and Hasbah fields, and produce 1.5bn cfd sales gas. 2017 will likewise secure gains as Saudi Arabia will benefit from a full year of the plant’s operations. SAUDI ARABIA GAS PR...

China Demand Boost For LNG Sellers: But Will It Last?

...ijing’s coal-to-gas switching policy. With demand far outstripping volumes under long-term contracts, Chinese buyers have turned to flexible short-term volumes, including from the world’s top LNG producer Qatar which shipped 5.65mn tons in the first ten months of 2017, up 67% year-on-year. China’s ov...

World’s #2 Lng Importer: With Another Record Month In Oct Will China Overtake Korea?

...KOREA HAS LONG BEEN THE WORLD’S #2 LNG IMPORTER. IT TOOK 33.5MN TONS IN 2016, SECOND ONLY TO JAPAN’S 83.3MN T. KOREA IMPORTS ARE UP 16% AT 30.2MN T FOR THE FIRST 10 MONTHS OF 2017… (MN T)   BUT THAT’S NOTHING COMPARED TO THE 48% LEAP IN CHINESE IMPORTS. THESE HAD NEVER TOPPED TH...

Qatar Maxes Condensate Splitters, Hits Fresh Products Records

...ich 349,000b/d refined, 401,000b/d exported)               SOURCE: QATAR PETROLEUM, ASIA PACIFIC ENERGY CONSULTING, MEES. JAPANESE IMPORTS OF QATARI CONDENSATE SLUMP FURTHER IN 2017 ('000 B/D) SOURCE: METI, MEES. NAPHTHA, JET-KERO, DIESEL FROM RAS LAFFAN 2 DRIVE QA...

LNG Prices Leap On Record Chinese Buying

...•  Prices for Asian spot LNG imports have jumped to around $9/mn BTU for December arrival cargoes. December is the peak month for winter (and thus annual) buying. •  China is the key demand driver. Already for the first nine months of 2017, imports at 25.63mn tons, were up by a whopping 43...

Egypt: Last LNG Tender?

...ypt. Oil minister Tarek El Molla says that Egypt will reach natural gas self-sufficiency by mid-2018 once Italian firm Eni’s 24 tcf Zohr gas field ramps up after its December 2017 start-up (MEES, 3 November). Egypt began importing LNG in April 2015 when gas output was 4.40bn cfd and has imported ar...

Iraq Boosts Export Capacity, Eyes Alternative Routes

...346mn b/d, up about 100,000 b/d from September (see p7). Southern exports have averaged 3.264mn b/d for the first 10 months of 2017 with output cut from January as part of the Opec agreement. October figures also saw a three-year high for export revenues at $5.455bn. The new SPM brings Iraq’s total ex...