Qatari oil and gas services company, Gulf International Services QSC, is looking to set up joint ventures to drill outside the emirate as it faces lower rates for its rigs, the company's chief coordinator, Ebrahim Al Mannai, has said.
Dana Petroleum has announced that the Fin-1X exploration well has discovered a new oil field in the North Zeit Bay Production Sharing Contract ('PSC') area onshore in the Gulf of Suez, Egypt. This follows the recent discovery of the Lorcan oil field in the same PSC area.
Gulf Keystone has announced the commencement of drilling operations on its Sheikh Adi-1 exploration well in the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq. This is the first exploration well to be drilled on the Sheikh Adi Block immediately to the west of the company's Shaikan Block, the site of last year's discovery of the giant Shaikan oil field.
SABIC enters oleo-chemicals market
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), has announced that it has signed an agreement with German company, Lurgi GmbH, for the technology licensing and engineering that will allow SABIC to produce oleo-chemicals. The chemicals will be produced at its affiliate, Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company (Saudi Kayan), following the completion of new facilities to be constructed in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Start up of the new production line is planned for the end of 2013 and will utilise renewable feedstock technology.
Iran has allocated US$2.2 billion for seven gasoline production and refinery renovation projects, the Iranian deputy oil minister Alireza Zeighami has been quoted as saying by the Mehr News Agency. The projects are currently 70 per cent complete on average.
Two Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), amounting to four million barrels of Oman crude, are to be shipped to the US west coast. The rare move comes after the arbitrage window was opened over the past few weeks, according to industry sources.
UAE's state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) has reissued a tender to import 180,000 tonnes of petroleum as it prepares to shut two units at its 415,000 bpd Ruwais refinery, according to an industry source. The reissued tender will close today for cargoes to be delivered from October to November, Reuters said the source disclosed. ADNOC was not immediately available for comment.
Kuwait Petroleum International may be interested in buying some of BP's assets, according to the country's oil minister. Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah told journalists in Moscow, after meeting Russia's Energy Minister, that Kuwait was satisfied with its current BP investments, although state-run Kuwait Petroleum would consider investing further if assets put up for sale were attractive and fit in with the company's strategy.
Kuwait Energy Company has announced that it has entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Beach Energy Limited as part of its ongoing portfolio management. The deal covers the partial divestment of two Kuwait Energy assets in Egypt, the Abu Sennan and Mesaha concessions. Kuwait Energy will remain the majority holder and operator of the Abu Sennan concession.
Iran may switch from requesting euros to UAE dirhams for payment for oil exports to Europe as EU sanctions may block Iranian transactions in the single European currency, an Iranian official said recently.
Southern Iraq is changing as oil production brings more work and development. However, so too are the security challenges in the area. The threat of militias and terrorism may have diminished but there is no reason to assume that security will soon cease to be a concern.
Maersk Oil and Qatar Petroleum have reached the outstanding production landmark of one billion barrels from the Al Shaheen field in Qatar. Other oil companies reportedly shunned the field as uneconomical, but Maersk Oil saw opportunities to unlock the tight reservoir.
The International Energy Agency has predicted that global oil demand will increase at a slower pace next year in its first assessment of 2011. Crude oil consumption will climb 1.3mn bpd globally, or 1.6 per cent, to average 87.8mn a day, the agency said in its most recent monthly report. This leaves the IEA estimate for this year unchanged at 86.5mn and the advising body said that the rate of demand growth for 2011 will be less than this year’s 2.1 per cent as a result of increased fuel efficiency in the industrialised nations of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Nabucco Gas Pipeline International, the consortium that plans to build the US$10 billion Nabucco natural gas pipeline, may add Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic) as a member by the end of this year. According to the Dow Jones Energy Daily, which quoted an industry source and a person close to the company, Ipic is interested in taking an equity stake in the project.
Libya's most senior oil official has said that the country should buy a strategic stake in BP to take advantage of its weakened share price triggered by the giant oil spill from one of its wells in the Gulf of Mexico. Shokri Ganem, chairman of Libya's Nation Oil, said he will recommend buying a stake in BP to the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), the North African state's sovereign wealth fund.
Senior executives of GE Oil & Gas and Al Shaheen Energy Services (ASES), a 100 per cent subsidiary of Qatar Petroleum (QP), have hosted a celebratory dinner reception in Doha, Qatar to mark their joint venture agreements, signed last month.
Singapore has reported a 39 per cent year-on-year increase in oil supplied to the country by the UAE. This is in contrast to a 16 per cent drop in imports during the same period a year ago, according to a study by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
State-run Oman Oil Company (OOC) is reportedly in talks with Oman's Ministry of Oil and Gas to take on an exploration block ceded by Britain's BG Group, according to a senior Omani oil official.
Apache Corporation has announced that new production from its Faghur Basin fields has propelled its Egyptian gross-operated oil and gas production above 330,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day. This surpasses the company's goal set in 2005 of doubling output from Egypt's Western Desert within five years.
Abu Dhabi Polymer, or Borouge, the largest manufacturer of plastic raw materials, has announced that phase two of its expansion project is 98 per cent complete and will go into production in November. The US$5 billion expansion project has developed the world’s largest ethane cracker with 1.5mn tonnes production capacity annually, next to Abu Dhabi’s Ruwais hydrocarbon complex, chief operating officer, Roy Vardheim, was reported as saying by the Khaleej Times.
Yemen LNG has announced that its first train is producing at 99 per cent availability and its second train at 91 per cent availability. The announcement was made by the company's general manager, Francois Rafin, recently. In October, production started at the first train of the US$4.5 billion project to produce LNG.
Russia's oil arm, Rosneft, has signing up to a ground-breaking gas project with UAE energy firm, Crescent Petroleum, according to Russia's top energy official. Rosneft will join Crescent in running a gas concession in the emirate of Sharjah, Crescent said recently, in the first Middle Eastern foray for the state-run Russian firm. The pair will consider more joint ventures in the Middle East.
Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable and alternative energy technologies and solutions initiative, has appointed the bidding consortium of Total and Abengoa Solar as a partner to own, build and operate Shams 1, the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant (CSP). One of Masdar’s flagship projects and the first plant of its kind in the Middle East, Shams 1 will directly contribute towards Abu Dhabi’s target of achieving 7 per cent renewable energy power generation capacity by the year 2020.
Saudi Aramco has invited Saudi-based companies to begin the qualification process to compete for deals to build the Wasit and Shaybah gas plants. The plants form part of a push by the world’s top oil exporter to boost gas capacity to meet domestic demand growth of around seven per cent a year.
IRAN HAS ANNOUNCED that all its refineries are to produce gasoline (petrol) and diesel in accordance with Euro-IV environmental standards by 2012, as requested by parliament's ‘roadmap’, Platts reported.
U.S. ENGINEERING CONTRACTOR Fluor Corp. has won a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for development of the offshore Satah al-Razboot oilfield in Abu Dhabi, by state-dominated Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (ADMA-OPCO).
Crescent Petroleum has signed a co-operation agreement with Russia's Rosneft, in which the companies will seek deals jointly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. State-dominated Rosneft is Russia's largest oil company, and has in recent years started to expand internationally, and Crescent Petroleum - together with affiliate Dana Gas - is the region's largest privately owned oil and gas company.
Iran's floating crude storage operation is continuing to grow, with Reuters recently reporting that shipping and oil trading sources had seen Iran looking to charter three more very large crude carriers (VLCCs, which can normally hold up to two million barrels of crude) for three-month storage contracts. Iran was earlier this month reported to have built up a rapidly expanding floating storage operation, mainly in the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, as it was experiencing an unusually tough market for its heavy and sour crudes in particular.
Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), is planning to complete an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project at its Qarn Alam field by the second quarter next year, which will lift recovery levels at the field from about four per cent to 30 per cent.
Plastic solutions provider, Borouge, has broken ground for its new innovation centre in Abu Dhabi, UAE. With a total investment in excess of US$70mn in equipment and facilities, the innovation centre will work together with the European innovation centres of Borealis (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's (ADNOC) joint venture partner in Borouge) as well as with local and international educational institutions such as the Petroleum Institute of Abu Dhabi, to further develop the competence of polymer science in the United Arab Emirates. It is expected to be completed at the end of 2011.
These days, QHSE (Quality, Health, Safety and Environment) is by no means an optional extra. However, the degree to which policies and systems are applied and upheld varies greatly from company to company and culture to culture. In the Middle East, and significantly the United Arab Emirates, one of the many challenges facing QHSE teams is the significant mix of nationalities, which can make communicating key QHSE policies even more difficult.
THE WORLD WILL remain heavily reliant on fossil fuels for the next 40 years, Shell’s chief executive said recently, as a massive US oil spill continued to cast a cloud over the industry.
Bahrain has been forced into action to safeguard its oil and gas sector, which is under threat as a result of its ageing workforce.
The offshore division of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) hopes to stop the wasteful burning of natural gas, or flaring, within the next five to seven years according to Bloomberg. ADNOC will become the first in the Gulf to end flaring that contributes to the emirate’s carbon footprint, a senior company official said.
The Arab Energy Conference opened recently in Doha, Qatar, with Qatari deputy prime minister and minister of energy and industry, Abdullha bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, delivering a keynote speech on behalf of Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. According to reports from the Global Arab Network, he stressed Qatar's significant role in supplying international markets with crude oil and natural gas. He said that his country is the key world producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas with Qatar to produce roughly 77mn tons by the end of this year. Al-Attiyah said that the conference would reflect on investment for Arab oil projects and the link between energy, the environment and sustainable development, as well as energy cooperation among Arab nations.
A deal between Iraq's central government in Baghdad and its semiautonomous northern Kurdish region to restart oil exports could come within days, Iraq's deputy oil minister has been quoted as saying.
Kuwaiti Minister of Oil, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah, has said a fresh strategy has been set out to raise oil output to four million barrels per day by 2020, and gas output to one billion cubic feet per day by 2016.
Bahrian's Oil and Gas Affairs Minister, Abdulhussain Mirza, has said that talks between Bahrain and Iran on the price of gas imports are likely to be lengthy. The kingdom signed a preliminary agreement in 2008 with Tehran to import up to one billion cubic feet per day (cfd) of natural gas from the Islamic republic, but the two countries have yet to agree final terms.
GRANT THORNTON LLP, the US member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd, one of the six global accounting, tax and advisory organisations, has just published its eighth annual Survey of Upstream US Energy Companies – and the outlook, it seems, is good.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
/31-05-09-official-b1e.jpg)
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 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.
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
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. 
PETROMAL, THE OIL and gas explorer funded by Abu Dhabi, aims to take advantage of its cash-rich position and turmoil in the world energy markets to build resources and output almost from scratch. The Iraqi government's sale of oil and gas development rights is one of the opportunities Petromal seeks to exploit to gain access to supplies and build technical expertise, chief executive officer Radhwan Al Sa'adi said in an interview. 
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.
