EIC Middle East News
Middle East News
On the conference side of things, we were delighted to address the British Business Group in Dubai last month as well as being very pleased to have been invited to speak at MEED UAE Oil & Gas Projects next month. We are also looking forward to the Iraq Mega Projects Conference & Exhibition at the end of next month. One development since the last monthly news has been the postponement of The Big Oilfield BBQ due to circumstance beyond the control of the organisers. Lastly, we have pleasure in acknowledging members’ representatives who we have had the pleasure of meeting in the last month. We met Petrofac’s Arun Jani in Sharjah and we caught up with John Tredger in Saudi Arabia on a recent market visit. Michael Robinson from Stapleton International passed by as did the CEO of Oil Consultants, Helen Smith along with their Middle East representative, Gareth Allen. Finally, it was good to see ex-colleague Mutaz Bakheit at the local Shell regional headquarters. Terry Willis, Director, Middle East Contact: terry.willis@the-eic.com
Office News
At the time of writing we can reflect on three developments across the region that serve to illustrate the degree of unpredictability that pervades across the Middle East. The most positive was the sudden announcement that the Emir of Qatar intends to abdicate in favour of his second eldest son who was appointed Crown Prince in 2003. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa AlThani at 33 became the youngest head of state and immediately announced a new government that would mix a high degree of continuity along with a taste for positive change. A week earlier a new president was elected in Iran. By comparison with his predecessors, Hassan Rouhani is considered slightly less hardline and certainly his speeches following his victory contained positive overtures which one can hope will be delivered. Meanwhile, as the death toll in Syria spilled over the 100,000 mark, there seems to be growing unrest in Egypt as well as continued incidents in Libya plus a degree of disaffection being shown in Turkey. Let us all hope that the current second half of the holy month, Ramadan, plus the ensuing Eid holiday, brings with it some respite for these unsettled countries. Meanwhile closer to home, we were pleased to host Kentz International at our last Opportunities lunch in Abu Dhabi which followed on from its EIC debut at EIC Connect Oil, Gas & Power. They are certainly expanding their footprint across the region, especially in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Our next event, on 28 August, is our Fish & Chips networking night which will be at Wheeler’s restaurant. Following on from this, we hope to announce further speakers who can keep our local membership informed of industry developments. After three successful years, Aggreko has decided not to go ahead as prime sponsor for our 2014 Golf Tournament. From its meagre beginnings, the tournament has grown out of all recognition and part of that growth should be attributed to the considerable support that we have received from Aggreko in the past. However, this now leaves us with a huge hole to fill, so we would welcome any enquiries from member companies that might be interested in supporting and branding this great event scheduled for 20 February at the Els Club in Dubai. On the training side, we are once again running the Fundamentals of Oil & Gas course which has proved to be very popular with us having a waiting list left over from the previous March. In addition, we are currently examining options to expand this particular programme of events and will naturally keep you informed. Full details of our other planned events covering Overseas Delegations to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Libya and Azerbaijan plus the up and coming ‘OTC of the Middle East’ ADIPEC in November and Basra Oil & Gas Show in December, can be found under the events calendar of our website where you can register your interest to participate.
Regional Comment
BP agrees retail price for Khazzan project BP has agreed a price for any gas produced from Oman’s Khazzan project as part of a commercial framework agreement with the government. BP has been negotiating for months over the price it will get for selling to the local market any gas produced from Khazzan where it is tight or hard to bring out gas. Khazzan is expected to start production in 2017 and reach full output of around 1 billion cubic feet per day a year later. KRG approves Gulf Keystone’s Shaikan plan Gulf Keystone Petroleum expects to start production from the Shaikan oil field in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan at 40,000 barrels a day after the completion of a production facility in the field. The KRG’s ministry of natural resources has approved the field development plan. Production from Shaikan is expected to increase gradually to reach 150,000 barrels a day within three years and 250,000 barrels a day by 2018. OMV wins right for UAE oil and gas exploration OMV has won rights to explore for oil and gas in Abu Dhabi. A regional subsidiary of OMV signed the deal with ADCO to pursue exploration of oil and natural gas in the eastern area of the emirate. OMV said it would work with National Oil on a seismic exploration campaign and exploratory drilling in the region. Dana gas makes new discovery in Egypt Dana Gas has discovered more gas in Egypt’s Nile Delta, with 9.4 million cubic feet per day produced during initial tests. The Begonia-1 discovery well also produced 133 barrels of condensate, a light oil, in the test drilling in a sandstone reservoir of the Lower Abu Madi Formation. Total evaluated resources for the Lower Abu Madi zone are between 7 and 15 billion cubic feet, along with around 100,000 barrels of condensate.
EIC Newsbriefs – Keeping you up to date on energy news from around the world. Email membership@the-eic.com www.the-eic.com
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August 2013