Algeria, the Middle East largest gas producer, is starting to look for unconventional gas. Algeria produced a total of 81 Billin CM and exported 21.3 BCM to Italy by pipeline and another 8 BCM to Spain and Portugal (Total Algeria gas exports according to BP Energy Statistics of 52.67 BCM). This comes in wake of its neighbors, Morocco & Tunisia already stating their shale gas ambitions. Algeria goes unconventional – No Hot Air.
Saudi Aramco revealed that the Kingdom has large unconventional gas reserve and will speak to its partners in brining some of their expertise in unconventional gas exploration in North America to the country. Nevertheless, the new method and technology utilized in North America such as water injection to crack rocks and allow gas to flow, may not be suitable for the deserts of Saudi Arabia.
Although Saudi is the world’s largest oil producer, its gas reserves are minimal when compared to its giant oil reserves. Saudi need for gas is paramount in order to meet its domestic electricity demand and large petrochem industry. FT.com / In depth – Saudi reveals large unconventional gas reserves.
Barclays Capital has downgraded Qatar’s estimated total LNG production forecast for 2010 by as much as 27% owing to a large number of maintenance stoppages in the first half of the year and the delay of two LNG mega-trains.
Analysis: Qatar’s LNG delays affect 2010 forecast | ArabianOilandGas.com.
WSJ reports that the UAE is asking Banks in the country to declare remittance sent to Iran on a monthly basis. U.A.E. Studies Impact of Iran Sanctions – WSJ.com.
The lack of strong and clear legal framework in Saudi is putting pressure Saudi’s business credentials. Legal cases can drag on for years and enforcement is difficult. As one Legal analyst in quoted in Bloomberg:
“Enforcement is really, really difficult,” Pump said. “If you can get anything, 10 cents on the dollar, I really recommend taking it.”
Image via Wikipedia
By Muhannad Mansour
On Tuesday 17th August Lebanese parliament passed a law which allows offshore oil and gas exploration in the country’s Mediterranean waters. This comes ahead of two offshore gas discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean by Noble Energy Inc. and Israeli companies, which Noble estimates contain as much as 24 trillion cubic feet.
Petroleum Geo-Services ASA, the Norwegian oil and gas surveyor, described the region as “exciting”, and said it had explored Lebanese waters and retrieved “valuable information” on potential gas reserves. Although at the moment Lebanon has no official oil or gas deposits, it is keen to protect its national interest by accelerating natural resource exploration policy.
The need for energy security in Lebanon is paramount in a country that is still facing power cuts, war inherited poor infrastructure, rising population and water & electricity shortage. The country still relies financially and energy-wise on support of Gulf Countries like Saudi, Qatar and Kuwait in particular.
The practicality of the law depends on the Lebanese governments’ progress at drawing its maritime borders. Gibran Bassil Lebanon’s energy minister said that the government is close to an agreement with Cyprus, and that it is working unilaterally to outline borders with Israel. The latter has the potential of being a major stumbling block as Israel and Lebanon are technically in a state of war. Israeli minister of national infrastructure Uzi Landau said the Israeli government is willing to use force to protect its resources.
The pursuit of natural resources in a region plagued by conflict, ideology, and militarism, will no doubt add further variables to an existing complexity which for the foreseeable future sees no practical or theoretically agreed upon solution. It is in this writers’ opinion that should further exploration yield more discoveries, communication, be it direct or indirect, between nations of the eastern Mediterranean becomes mandatory rather voluntary. Yet this is should not favour optimism over pessimism. Should policymakers from the respective parties bring practicality ahead of political unreason then there may genuinely be a glimmer of light in the darkness. If the opposite be true, then this will only further deteriorate an already volatile political situation following the 2006 war not to mention religious hardliners on both sides.
Related articles
After being rebuffed from using the UAE Dirham for oil trade, Iran is in talks with China with regard to using the Chinese Yuan to settle oil transactions. Recently, China allowed the sale of Yuan-denominated financial products in Hong KOng and giving companies greater access to Yuan funds which is seen as gradual opening of China’s capital account to the world. China Daily : Iran explore using yuan to settle trade: rpt.
Naphtha Cracks to Persian Gulf benchmark crude Dubai widened by 73 cents to – $ 6.66 a barrel amid buildup in stockpiles and concerns of slowing growth in China. (Bloomberg)
With heated discussions around deep water drilling following the BP oil spill, RIGZONE points that the Middle East remains highest proven oil reserves. Although the percentage has declined in past two decades, as of last year, the Middle East held 56.6% (753.7 billion barrels of oil) of world’s total oil reserves from 65.7 % in 1989.
International Oil Companies (IOCs) are pushing ahead with their plans in Iraq that will kick-start Iraqi oil production. BP & CNPC have reiterated their plans to increase production from Rumaila oil field by 100,000 bpd by beginning of next year. Other companies such as ENI are awarding drilling contracts and Lukoil have stated that the company will invest close to $ 5 billion in giant West Qurna oil field. (WSJ)
The National reports that recent increases in price of Diesel (up by 12%) and Petrol (up by 14%) is attributed to higher refining cost at ADNOC. Fuel prices in the UAE have increased by 27% in total.
The success of the first large bond issue from the GCC namely Qatari Diar $ 3.5 billion bond issue may send positive signal to the market. Nevertheless, the bond had strong backing from the Government of Qatar and S&P accordingly assigned AA rating. Some may see this as re-emergance of debt market in the region, but most will wait a long time to see pure Corporate debt market coming back any time soon as investors are still liking their wounds from Dubai state owned entities and Kuwait Investment Co’s defaults and restructured debt. Qatari Diar Prices $3.5 Billion Bond Deal – WSJ.com.
International Oil Daily reports that Iran is contemplating switching to UAE’s Dirham from Euro for its oil sales to Europe as a way of circumventing new sanctions on the country. Large European customers are not familiar with AED. (Bloomberg)
Sharjah,the third largest city in the emirates is seeing gas consumption soar even as the UAE is short net of Gas. Sharjah is the first city in the emirates with network of municipal pipelines for distribution of gas to customers via its utility SEWA. Last May, the emirate faced a series of power cuts due to insufficient gas supplies to local power stations. Sharjah can buy additional gas from neighboring emirates such as Abu Dhabi but would require sufficient advance notice to meet surging demand. In addition, gas piped from Iran (via Crescent Petroleum) never materialized. ( The National Newspaper )
Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince said that they are considering an investment into BP via one of Abu Dhabi’s Sovereign Wealth Funds (ADIA, Mubadala or IPIC). This would be a loud voice of confidence for the embattled oil company. (Bloomberg)
Recent Comments