An excellent week for Arab markets, with all 12 Shuaa indices seeing a rise. The best performer was Egypt, which continues to attract considerable overseas investment. Shuaa Capital’s Head of Research, Walid Shihabi, expects upwards trends to continue next week, driven by the same macro factors.
Iraq: The Iraqi transport ministry plans to build a $3bn rail network and two principal passenger stations around Baghdad, Reuters has reported. The new line will connect all the railway lines heading to the provinces and the neighbouring countries and it will solve all the congestion which the railway network suffers from inside Baghdad. The network is planned to have a capacity of 23 million passengers per year and 46 million tonnes of freight per year. [AMEInfo.com]
Iraq: ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) today announced that its affiliate ExxonMobil Iraq Limited signed an agreement with the Iraq Ministry of Oil to redevelop and expand the West Qurna-1 field in southern Iraq. [AMEInfo.com]
Iraq: The Iraqi parliament has approved a 2010 budget that sets federal spending at ID84.7 trillion dinars and a deficit of ID22.9 trillion dinars, Reuters has reported. Lawmakers said the budget sets an expected oil price of $62.5 per barrel and puts expected average oil exports at 2.15 million barrels per day in 2010. According to Ali Hussain Balou, head of parliament’s oil and gas committee, the parliament also included a clause setting aside $1 for each barrel of oil produced for oil-producing provinces to use in investment projects. [AMEInfo.com]
Iraq: A final contract has been signed by Iraq’s oil ministry and China National Petroleum Company (CNPC), Total (TOTF.PA) of France and Malaysian state firm Petronas to develop the Halfaya oilfield, Reuters has reported. The group will be paid a remuneration fee of $1.40 per barrel and will have to pay Iraq a non-recoverable signature bonus of $150m. The Halfaya oilfield, in southern Iraq, has estimated reserves of 4.1 billion barrels of oil. CNPC and its partners have pledged to boost output at Halfaya to 535,000 bpd from a current level of 3,100 bpd. [AMEInfo.com]
Iraq: Siemens Healthcare has won its biggest single order contract in the Middle East with the signing of a $69m contract to supply diagnostics imaging equipment to all Iraqi government hospitals. The products, which include magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography equipment, mobile x-rays and mammography systems, help to increase diagnostic confidence, allowing for earlier detection of diseases. [AMEInfo.com]
Saudi Aramco and French oil giant, Total have secured $6bn in bank loans to finance the construction of the $12bn Jubail Export Refinery in the kingdom’s Eastern Province, Bloomberg has reported, citing two bankers involved in the transaction. Last June, the two oil companies said the 400,000 barrels-a-day refinery will be fully operational by the second half of 2013. Saudi Aramco and Total each plan to retain 37.5% of the refinery, with 25% to be sold in an initial public offering, the companies said.
Falah Alamri, head of Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation has said the supergiant Rumaila oilfield will begin producing an extra 100,000 barrels per day by the beginning of July, Reuters has reported. Oil major British Petroleum and China’s CNPC had signed a 20-year development contract last year for the field, which has 17 billion barrels of estimated crude reserves.
The bidding deadline for a solids handling unit at the Yanbu refinery has been extended by Saudi Aramco and ConocoPhillips to March 22, from February 28, Reuters has reported. Aramco and Conoco are expected to award all contracts for their 400,000 barrels per day joint venture in May.
Iraq’s oil minister has said he expects the country to become the world’s top oil producer within six to seven years, Reuters has reported. “We can’t find a reason to prevent Iraqi production becoming higher than any other Opec state or even states outside Opec,” Hussain al-Shahristani said. Unlike Opec’s 11 other members, Baghdad is not currently subject to the output targets the group uses to set supply levels. Iraq expects capacity to eventually reach up to 12 million bpd.
The Iraqi oil ministry will today sign the final contract over West al-Qarna-2 oilfield with Russia’s Lukoil and Norway’s Statoil, Aswat al-Iraq has reported. “The two companies pledged to up production to a peak of 1.8 million barrels per day at a rate of $1.15 per barrel of additional produced barrel,” oil ministry spokesman, Assem Jihad said. Located in southern Iraq, Qarna-2 has a huge reserve estimated to reach 13 billion barrels.
The British Business Group (BBG) is one of the longest established organisations of its kind in the UAE. Mark Beer, Chairman & CEO, BBG, talks to Phil Blizzard about the groups activities, which range from forging strong business links between Dubai and the United Kingdom, to networking and social activities.
Iraq: Falah Alamri, head of Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation has said the supergiant Rumaila oilfield will begin producing an extra 100,000 barrels per day by the beginning of July, Reuters has reported. Oil major British Petroleum and China’s CNPC had signed a 20-year development contract last year for the field, which has 17 billion barrels of estimated crude reserves. [AMEInfo.com]
Iraq: Iraq’s oil minister has said he expects the country to become the world’s top oil producer within six to seven years, Reuters has reported. “We can’t find a reason to prevent Iraqi production becoming higher than any other Opec state or even states outside Opec,” Hussain al-Shahristani said. Unlike Opec’s 11 other members, Baghdad is not currently subject to the output targets the group uses to set supply levels. Iraq expects capacity to eventually reach up to 12 million bpd. [AMEInfo.com]
Iraq: The Iraqi oil ministry will today sign the final contract over West al-Qarna-2 oilfield with Russia’s Lukoil and Norway’s Statoil, Aswat al-Iraq has reported. “The two companies pledged to up production to a peak of 1.8 million barrels per day at a rate of $1.15 per barrel of additional produced barrel,” oil ministry spokesman, Assem Jihad said. Located in southern Iraq, Qarna-2 has a huge reserve estimated to reach 13 billion barrels. [AMEInfo.com]
Iraq: In celebration of its 9th anniversary, which coincides on the 6th of February 2010, Asiacell promised the Iraqi people that it will maintain its advanced position in the Iraqi telecom market as a result of the trust that has been placed in the company, and that it will continue on the path that it has been following over the past several years to achieve more success and accomplishments, and to provide citizens with the highest level of services and products in the telecom industry. [AMEInfo.com]
After starting the week on a firmer note, oil prices fell sharply toward the end of the week in a general market sell-off as investors sought the dollar as a safe haven amid worries about European Union economies.
Masoud Mirkazemi, Iran’s oil minister has announced that two oil and gas fields have been discovered in western Kermanshah and southern Fars provinces, respectively, Mehr news agency has reported. Soumar oilfield is estimated to have 475 million barrels of in-situ crude oil reserve, 70 million barrels recoverable, while Halgan gas field will have a daily production capacity of 50 million cubic metres of gas.
Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery (Sasref) has announced that its refinery will reach full production of ultra-low sulphur diesel by the end of this month after starting trial production, Reuters has reported. The new unit at the 305,000 barrels per day Sasref crude refinery has the potential to produce about 100,000 bpd of ultra-low sulphur diesel, making it among the first producers of diesel in the kingdom with sulphur less than 10 ppm.
by Faleh Al-Khayat, oil expert. This speech was a part of Occupation Year 7: What future for Iraq? , a series of events organized by The BRussells Tribunal, and took place in the European Parliament, 18 March 2009, in Brussels
The Abu Dhabi government has announced plans to invite firms to submit proposals in March to build a 1,600 megawatt power plant worth about $2bn, Reuters has reported. The Shuweihat 3 independent power project will be the emirate’s ninth power project under a privatisation plan launched in 1998, under which international developers take a stake in the project. ‘We have started the process of prequalification and we are targeting sending the request for proposals early next month,’ Abdulla Saif al Nuaimi, director of privatisation at the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (Adwea), told the news service. ‘We expect to finalise selection of the developer by November this year, (make the) financial close by April 2011 and commissioning in summer 2013.’
Japan’s AOC Holdings has said it will delay until May 2012 plans to start commercial crude oil output from Egypt’s offshore Northwest October block in the northern Gulf of Suez, Reuters has reported. AOC, the parent of oil and gas development unit Arabian Oil Co, has a 50% stake in the block and state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corp holds the remainder. Production from the block had previously been slated for later in 2010.
The Dubai government press office has released a statement saying that the emirate’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has informed ministers and the rulers of the other emirates that a new maritime oil field has been discovered east of Dubai’s Rashid field. Instructions have been given for exploration to begin on the field in order to gauge its size.
Saudi-based firms have been invited by Saudi Aramco Lubricating Oil Refining Co to bid for the early engineering work to expand the company’s Yanbu refinery, Reuters has reported, citing industry sources. The expansion of the refinery, which has a capacity of 280,000 tpy of oil lubricants, includes a new lube hydrocracker, raising the capacity of the vacuum distillation unit, upgrading the electrical facilities and adding new storage tanks, according to one source, who declined to say what the capacity of the refinery would be after the upgrade.
Saudi-based Arabian Bemco Contracting Co. has signed a SR2.145bn contract financing facility with Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF) and National Commercial Bank (NCB), Arab News has reported. The deal follows the award of a contract to a consortium led by Arabian Bemco with Doosan Heavy Industries, to convert the Qurayyah Power Plant from an open cycle process to one of a combined cycle. Under the agreement, the consortium will build additional capacity for the existing plant, with work in its final stages. Total capacity will be raised from 2,000 MW to 3,200 MW.
