Industry Links

Iraq's oil ministry has launched The Midland Oil Company. It will be responsible for overseeing development in recently auctioned fields in the centre of the country. Midland (aka Sharikat Naft Wasat) will be the fourth state company, joining the North, South, and Maysan companies.

According to recent reports, India, which is already the world's fifth-largest energy consumer and imports more than three quarters of its crude oil requirements, is about to increase its crude oil imports from Middle East, to fuel its upcoming refining capacities.

Lamprell, a provider of specialist engineering services to the international oil & gas industry, has received two new contract awards from Fred Olsen Windcarrier AS, which in aggregate total US$ 320.4 million.

Petroleum company Dana has announced a second gas discovery in the West El Burullus concession, offshore Nile Delta, Egypt. To date, Dana and GDF Suez have drilled two wells in this concession and made two discoveries. Dana holds a 50 per cent interest in the discovery and concession area, which, it says, contains numerous additional prospects at both shallow and deeper horizons. GDF Suez (operator) also has a 50 per cent stake in the concession.

Epsilon Energy Ltd, a producer of natural gas and oil, has announced the sale of Epsilon Energy Yemen Ltd to an unrelated third party purchaser for US$100,000, pending government of Yemen approval. Epsilon has participating interests and production sharing agreements in a number of natural gas and oil plays within North America, the Middle East, and Africa.

Ahmad Humaid Al Tayer, Governor of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and chairman of the UAE's largest bank, Emirates NB, has said that the UAE's oil reserves will help to support the country's growth for the next 30 years. The UAE has proven oil reserves of about 98 billion barrels. Speaking at a seminar in Dubai recently, the governor indicated that growth would also be aided by the country's well-developed infrastructure and its current investments in projects.

Reports that OPEC aims to call for further compliance before considering any output cut if oil falls below US$70 a barrel may be at least temporarily rendered redundant by a recent rebound in the price of crude.

News agencies in Tunisia have reported that an agreement on guarantee and another loan agreement granted by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to Tunisia's power and gas utility (STEG) to finance a natural gas project in Gafsa, a city in west-central Tunisia, were signed recently in Tunis by representatives of government, STEG and IDB.

Italian energy giant ENI will not make any further investments in Iran, according to a recent announcement by the CEO Paolo Scaroni. He said the outstanding two contracts, signed in 2000 and 2001 for the development of two fields, will be honoured. This follows a recent statement by Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, of the cancellation of a decision by Eni to develop the third phase of an oil field in Iran.

Things appear to be moving fairly quickly since the discovery of a new oil field offshore Dubai was announced recently. The latest news is that, according to a recent official statement, the field is likely to enter commercial production within a year.

The possibility of a further boost to gas and oil supply for Iran, both locally and for export, was raised earlier this week when the country’s Oil Ministry's news agency announced the discovery of an oil field and a gas field.

Schlumberger, a supplier of technology, integrated project management and information solutions to customers working in the oil and gas industry, has announced the appointment by its Board of Directors of a new Chief Operating Officer of Schlumberger Limited. Paal Kibsgaard will be responsible for the day-to-day management of all worldwide operations in addition to the Schlumberger technology organisation—including engineering, manufacturing and product development. He reports to Andrew Gould, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Reports from a number of news sources have indicated that plans to put into operation a new hydrotreating unit have been temporarily shelved by Aramco and Shell. The unit, which will produce ultra-low sulphur diesel from the companies’ joint-venture refinery, has run into teething problems.

The General Manager of the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (Adco), Abdul Munim Saif Al Kindi, has announced that the company plans to award $1.8 billion worth of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts this year. The contracts will involve the development of the Bab, Qusahwira and Bida Al Qemzan fields. In 2009 EPC contracts worth $3.5 billion were awarded by Adco for the development of its Shah, Asab and Sahil fields.

Following the announcement in January from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission that it proposed to limit speculation on energy futures, it has seemed likely that Abdalla El-Badri, OPEC's Secretary General since 2007 and a former deputy prime minister of Libya, would be supportive.

Saudi Aramco’s president and CEO, Khalid A Al-Falih stated at this year’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, that‬ “the concern of peak oil is behind us.” Al-Falih told delegates, during a Global Energy Outlook panel discussion: “There is too much rhetoric in the public domain about moving away from oil.”

Sterling, the oil and gas exploration and production company with interests in Africa and the Middle East, has announced the spudding of the Sangaw North-1 exploration well. The well, in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, was spud on 1st February 2010.

Aramco Overseas Company BV, a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco has awarded, Keppel FELS Limited, a major group of companies in the offshore, energy and engineering industry, a contract to build a customised KFELS Super B Class jackup rig. This is said to be Aramco’s first purpose-built, next-generation mobile offshore drilling rig.

According to Schlumberger Limited’s recently announced fourth-quarter and full-year 2009 results, its full-year 2009 revenue was US$22.70 billion. This compares with US$27.16 billion in 2008. Fourth-quarter revenue was US$5.74 billion (compared with US$5.43 billion in the third quarter of 2009, and US$6.87 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008).

Among recent activity in the continuing upsurge in oil-production related deals in Iraq is the news that Occidental Petroleum Corporation and Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) have signed a technical service contract with Iraq's state-owned South Oil Company (SOC) and Missan Oil Company as State Partner, to redevelop the Zubair field, near Basra in southern Iraq.

THE UAE WILL play a pivotal role in sustainable energy projects, spearheading efforts in the Gulf to contribute to the global advancement towards a less carbondependent world, a top official told a regional energy security conference recently. "We are the first country in the Gulf which undertook a leading commitment in producing renewable energy.

THE COMBINED OIL income of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries is expected to reach US$1 trillion (Dh3.67 trillion) by 2030 at current oil prices, an energy expert said at an industry conference in Abu Dhabi recently. "The Gulf contains 40 per cent of the world's proven oil reserves and 23 per cent of its gas reserves," Dr Hesham Al Khateeb, Honorary Vice-Chairman of the World Energy Council, told delegates.

BAHRAIN IS SEEKING to increase its oil production to 250,000 barrels per day over the next seven years, the Gulf nation's oil and gas minister Abdul Hussein Mirza said recently. Bahrain currently pumps 33,000 barrels a day of oil from its own field, and plans to raise that to 100,000 barrels a day in seven years after an agreement last month with U.S. oil firm Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY) and Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Co, Mirza said.

AS A GROUP, the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) controls a sizable portion of proven oil reserves. Still, several GCC countries have contracts with international oil companies to explore for fresh oil reserves of commercial quantity.

GULF HYDROCARBON PROJECTS have topped US$690 billion, says a report by Dubai-based research house Proleads Global. A full 30 per cent of hydrocarbon projects by value have been put on hold or cancelled, it said. The report shows, however, that the GCC countries remain the most active construction markets in the world for the oil, gas and petrochemical industries

THE ABU DHABI National Oil Company (Adnoc) and its subsidiaries and several international petroleum companies operating in the emirate recently signed a charter pledging greater investments in sustainability particularly in health, safety and environment. The charter, called the Sustainability Performance Initiative, was signed at a ceremony held at the

MUBADALA DEVELOPMENT COMPANY (Mubadala) and the National Oil and Gas Authority (Noga) have set up a new joint operating company. The Tatweer Petroleum-Bahrain Field Development Company (Tatweer Petroleum), will serve as the operator for the Bahrain Field. The company will operate under the development and production sharing agreement signed in April by the partners, including Occidental Petroleum, and approved by the Bahraini parliament in May.

Iraq managed to license seven out of 10 offered oilfields, ending its two-day auction on a high note, after only the two largest fields offered during the first day had been taken. Relatively fierce competition was expected for most of Iraq's mega-fields, with some of the lesser fields in the south also seeing a number of highly interested suitors in the run-up to the bidding.

GCC countries are expected to earn US$4.7 trillion in oil exports by 2020 going by the Opec targeted floor price of US$50 per barrel, a recent report by Ernst & Young says.'This will be 2.5 times their [GCC countries'] oil earnings over the last 14 years. Middle East economies are predicted to be a real growth story for the next few years,

ABU DHABI NATIONAL Oil Company (ADNOC) expects to save 30 per cent on the cost of developing its major oil and gas projects because of lower construction costs. In the keynote address at the Energy Exchange’s Gas Arabia conference in Abu Dhabi recently, Ismail al Ramahi, the manager of ADNOC’s gas process division, said the company would press ahead with energy development during the global economic downturn, but at much lower cost than it previously expected.“

OMAN HAS NO plans to cut oil production this year, said a top oil and gas ministry official after the country managed to arrest six-year production decline. "We plan to increase the daily production of crude oil and condensates from 757,000 bpd in 2008 to 805,000 bpd this year,

A REPORT BY Iran's national audit office that US$1 billion of the country's oil revenues have gone missing may create an embarrassing problem for President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad

LEAST AFFECTED BY the current global economic meltdown, the Saudi petrochemical companies are poised to make an aggressive entry into more foreign markets at the expense of their counterparts in Europe.