The natural resources minister of Iraq’s Kurdistan has said the region is ready to export oil at a rate of 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) through neighbouring Turkey, Aswat al-Iraq has reported. “Oil exportation from Kurdistan will start as soon as a new Iraqi government is formed,” Ashti Horami was quoted as saying. Exports could rise to 500,000bpd by the end of the year Horami said.
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Salem Shaheen, CEO of Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Co has said that Saudi Aramco and Total expect to raise $8bn in debt financing for the joint refinery and petrochemical project in the “coming months,” Bloomberg has reported. The 400,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Jubail on Saudi Arabia’s Gulf coast will cost more than $12bn, he said, noting that this, including financing expenses, will also be funded by Saudi Arabia which will contribute more than $1bn to the project, and by the partners’ equity.
Qatar has expressed interest in developing gas fields on Yamal, a Russian peninsula near the Arctic Ocean with enough gas in the ground to satisfy world demand for five years, Reuters has reported. State-run Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom said that it had discussed the “high potential” for deals with state oil firm Qatar Petroleum in LNG, as well as pipeline gas supplies to Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. “The Qatari side expressed interest in projects to develop complex deposits on the Yamal peninsula, including the Yamal-LNG project,” Gazprom said in a statement.
Abu Dhabi Co for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO) has awarded UAE-based National Petroleum Construction (NPCC) a $560m contract to develop the first phase of the new Qusahwira Field located south east of the UAE capital, Wam has reported. The project includes construction of a new central degassing station, remote degassing station, oil gathering system, production supporting systems and the main oil line to Asab Field. The Qusawhira phase 1 calls for adding 30,000 BOPD sustainable by 2013 to achieve ADCO’s target of the 1.8 MMBOPD.
The Iraqi oil ministry has said the country has made $4.23bn in revenues from exporting 57.9 million barrels of crude oil last February at the price of $73 a barrel, Aswat al-Iraq has reported. A total of 45.2 million barrels have been exported from Basra oilfields and 12.7 million barrels from Kirkuk, the ministry said.
Egypt-based private equity firm Citadel Capital expects to close a $2.2bn financing deal related to an Egyptian refinery in the second quarter, Reuters has reported. Financing for the project, a greenfield refinery in partnership with Egyptian General Petroleum Corp, will include $900m from state-run Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Ahmed El Houssieny, a managing director at Citadel said at a conference in Dubai.
Maersk Oil Qatar has announced the successful installation of the last of 15 new platforms and other offshore facilities, including the region’s largest platform at 13,500 tonnes as part of the Al Shaheen Field development Plan, the Peninsula has reported. Hook-up and commissioning of the new platforms is underway and is expected to be finalised by the end of Q1 2010, connecting facilities via 300km of inter-field pipelines and 50km of subsea cables, the company said.
Saudi oil minister Ali Al-Naimi has said that oil prices are in the right range and that production policy should remain unchanged, Bloomberg has reported. ‘The price has stayed very well in the range of $70 to $80. It is in a very happy situation,’ Al-Naimi was quoted as saying in Vienna, adding he is pleased with quota compliance and foresees no need to change output. ‘There are no shortages, investment is going on, demand looking forward is going to continue to rise, so everyone is happy.’
China has become the biggest single investor in Iraq’s oil and gas sector, with nearly one fifth of the reserves that have been auctioned over the past year under its control, Meed has reported. China is spending a total of $577m in signing on fees to give it access to an estimated 24 billion barrels, or about 18% of the reserves on offer, the magazine said, citing its own data. Chinese investment doubles the US’ signing on fees, which has committed $296m to control about 12 billion barrels, the magazine added.
Egypt’s Delta Electricity Production Co has secured a KD30m loan ($104m) from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development to launch El-Ein El-Sokhna power generating station, east of Cairo, Kuna has reported. The new power station aims to help Egypt meet its growing demand for electricity and feed the national power grid.
