Energy
Oil Ministry official says contracts issued by Kurds invalid
All oil drilling and exploration contracts issued by the Kurdish regional administration are invalid and foreign companies that sign them risk being blacklisted by the Iraqi government, an oil ministry official said late this month.
Kurdish authorities have signed eight contracts and others are expected soon for operations in the area of northern Iraq they control. The Kurds insist that the contracts are authorised under Iraq's constitution, even in the absence of a national oil law that the Kurds themselves have blocked.
Abu Dhabi to build US$5 billion refinery in Pakistan
Abu Dhabi signed an implementation agreement to build a US$5 billion refinery that will double Pakistan's refining capacity. Under the deal between Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company and Pak-Arab Refinery, the project will be built at Khalifa Point in the Hub district of Baluchistan province, about 15 km (9 miles) west of the port city of Karachi.
UAE Dana Gas opens its new branch office in Kurdistan, Iraq
Dana Gas, the Middle East's first and largest regional private-sector natural gas company, inaugurated its new Suleymaniya office in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In April of this year, agreements were signed with Dana Gas by Nechirvan Barzani, the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan regional government, to produce, process and transport natural gas from the Khor Mor gas field and to appraise the Chemchemal gas field for development.
Taqa gets nod to buy Canadian firms
The Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, or Taqa, a publicly listed company on the Abu Dhabi Securities Market, said it had received final approval for the purchases of Pioneer Natural Resources Canada and PrimeWest Energy Trust under the Investment Canada Act.
Saudi Arabia: Oil partnerships
Riyadh-based Jadwa Investment agreed to purchase ExxonMobil's share in the Saudi Aramco Lubricating Oil Refining Company (Luberef) for an undisclosed amount. The investment company is to partner with Saudi Aramco, the kingdom's state-owned national oil producer, which will retain its majority share in the refinery.
China seeks 30 percent increase in Saudi oil imports
China has asked for a 30 percent increase in crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia for 2008 and also aims to raise imports from Iran, partly to feed two new refineries amid steady demand growth, trading sources said.
Sinopec Corp, Asia's top refiner, wants to increase Saudi crude imports to 600,000 barrels per day for next year, up from this year's 460,000 bpd, a trading source close to the supply talks said.
Abu Dhabi to pump US$20 billion into oil sector
Abu Dhabi has planned investments of more than US$20 billion to boost the emirate's oil and natural gas output, said the chairman of Al Rayan Investment. Speaking at a conference organised by the company, Fardan Hassan Al Fardan said the proposed investment will be made under Abu Dhabi's Strategic Plan 2030.
Executive Briefing: Oil shock and dollar collapse
The price of oil has surged dramatically in recent weeks just as the dollar has fallen to fresh all-time lows against the euro and to multi-decade lows against sterling and some other currencies.
While this is partly the result of recent and perhaps unwarranted interest rate cuts by the Fed, it has also become clear that global currency and commodity markets are driven by a new and unprecedented dynamic. US economic and financial turmoil and falling interest rates have led to the emergence of crude as a de facto global currency and a powerful hedge against dollar weakness.
Shell, Oxy lead race for UAE sour gas project
Royal Dutch Shell and U.S. Occidental Petroleum are the front-runners to win a multibillion-dollar project to develop sour gas reserves in the United Arab Emirates, industry sources said. The project is one of the biggest this year available to international companies competing for limited access to the Middle East's oil and gas fields.
India GAIL in petrochemical talks with Qatar, Russia companies
Indian state-run gas firm GAIL is in talks with Qatar Petrochemical Co and Russia's LUKOIL as it looks to build a large petrochemical plant overseas to gain better margins. "We are looking at setting up a mega petrochemical project overseas of 1.3-1.9m tonnes a year," the firm's chairman and managing director, U.D. Choubey, said.
UAE gives Technip US$613m gas plant contract
The United Arab Emirates has awarded a US$613m contract to build a gas compressor to a subsidiary of Technip. The contract is to build a plant on Das Island off the coast of the emirate of Abu Dhabi that will compress 211m cubic feet per day of gas produced from offshore fields.
Qatar sets up nuclear information centre
Qatar has set up a National Centre for Nuclear Information for the exchange of scientific and technical research regarding the use of atomic energy. The institute has already started operations under Qatar's Supreme Council for the Environment and Natural Reserves (SCENR) in coordination with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.
Gaz de France buys 45 percent stake in Egypt licence
Gaz de France said it had bought a 45 percent stake in Alam El Shawish West licence in Egypt from Vegas Oil & Gas, enabling it to boost its portfolio of reserves by at least 30m barrels of oil equivalent. Covering 1,075 sq km, the licence is located in the Abu Gharadig Basin, approximately 250 km south-west of Alexandria.
N. Emirates: Jet fuel pipeline
A new 45 km jet fuel pipeline recently opened running between Sharjah International Airport and the Hamriyah Free Zone (HFZ). The line and associated 50,000 tonne storage facility at the HFZ are expected to further boost economic expansion in Sharjah and the other Northern Emirates.
