Energy

Mideast's solar power technology to slow down

Advancements in solar power technology in the Middle East in the next three to four years are expected to be limited because of a lack of government involvement in the field, according to a senior research analyst in renewable energy. It could be more than five years before solar power begins to be harnessed more widely in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region, aside from at Masdar City, the zero-carbon project to be powered by solar energy under development in Abu Dhabi, said Hemanth Nayak, senior research analyst at Frost & Sullivan.

Official: Iraq to award oil contract in March

Iraq's Oil Ministry will award a service contract to develop a prized oil field in southern Iraq next month. Italy's Eni SpA, Spain's Repsol and Japan's Nippon Oil are competing for the service contract to develop the Nasiriyah oil field. The contract is designed to offer engineering, procurement and construction services. Iraq's deputy oil minister, Ahmed al-Shamaa, said the Iraqis will finish studying the three companies' technical offers at the end of February and their commercial offers in the first half of next month. According to ministry estimates, the oil field has reserves of about 4.4 billion barrels with a potential of producing at least 300,000 barrels a day.

Kuwait eyes nuclear power with French help

Kuwait will consider developing nuclear power with the help of a French firm to meet demand for electricity and water desalination. The oil-rich Gulf state would only put nuclear power to civilian use and according to international laws. Nuclear power would “save a lot of wasted fuel in electricity and water desalination plants", it said, without giving more details.

NoozzVIEW; Oil "supply crunch" possible in 2010

Despite bearish data from Japan, the recent downward trend in oil prices was at least temporarily reversed at the beginning of the week following a warning from the director of the International Energy Authority (IEA) - the group which advises 28 industrialised countries - that there could be supply shortages next year, if and when demand picks up. The IEA warning came from Nobuo Tanaka, who said: "Currently the demand is very low due to the very bad economic situation. But when the economy starts growing, recovery comes again in 2010 and then onward, we could have another serious supply crunch if capital investment (in the oil industry) is not coming."

Dubai to invest in Nigerian oil sector

Dubai said it has reached a deal with Nigeria to invest in the African nation's conflict-ravaged oil industry and other sectors of the economy. The agreement appears to be the first for a company the fast-growing Middle Eastern city-state set up last year to invest in natural resources in the developing world. Under the deal, Dubai Natural Resources World, a subsidiary of state-owned conglomerate Dubai World, would manage the development and output of Nigeria crude oil and gas reserves. Dubai World called the agreement "far reaching," but provided few details, including the financial terms.

S.Korea LG Corp starts production at Oman oil field

South Korean trading house LG Corp said its oil field in Oman had started crude production, securing the firm about 5,000 barrels per day (bpd) for the next 20 years. The West Bukha field in Oman is believed to have capacity of 10,000 of crude per day in total. LG Corp has a 50 percent stake in the field, it said. "The amount that we have secured is already about 10 percent of what South Korea has aimed to additionally secure this year," LG Corp said.

Dana Gas announces further gas discovery in Egypt

Dana Gas, the Middle East's first and largest regional private sector natural gas company, has made its second gas discovery of 2009 in the West Manzala Concession in the Nile Delta region of Egypt. The discovery, named West Manzala-2 (Haggag prospect), has encountered approximately 20 billion cubic feet (bcf) of dry gas. The new well is located a few hundred meters away from the gas sales pipeline leading from the companys South Manzala gas processing facility.

Shell says Qatar Pearl project tough but on track

The project receiving Royal Dutch Shell's largest foreign investment, the Pearl super-clean fuels plant in Qatar, is tough but on schedule, a top Shell executive said. "It's a very challenging project, but so far so good," Linda Cook, Shell's executive director for gas and power, commented. Cook reiterated Shell's guidance on the start date for the plant at the end of this decade. Qatari officials have said the plant, which converts gas to liquid fuels, would start in late 2010. Spiralling costs have taken the price for Pearl to $18 billion, from an initial budget of $5 billion. It will be the world's largest gas-to-liquids plant, with capacity of 140,000 barrels per day.

Abu Dhabi Leads Green Energy Shift With Solar Power Initiative

The Emirate of Abu Dhabi is now focusing efforts on solar power generation as a future source of sustainable growth, given declining oil prices and the U.S. Obama administration's calls to expand the use of green energy. In suburban Abu Dhabi City, as many as 87,777 solar panels have been installed to collect sunlight to supply electric power to Masdar City, a new metropolis under construction that will run only on green energy. The city is one of a wide range of green energy projects in which Masdar is actively investing. The Abu Dhabi government-affiliated corporation also plans to build a heat-collecting solar power generation plant near Abu Dhabi City capable of producing 100,000kw. The group is also jointly constructing three similar plants with a Spanish company in other parts of the country.

Dubai to invest in Nigerian oil sector

Abu Dhabi plans world's largest petchem plant

Abu Dhabi has set up a state-controlled petrochemicals firm with capital of 500 million dirhams ($136.1 million) to build the world's largest petrochemicals complex. The project will be implemented in a number of phases, the first of which will be a multi-billion dollar Naphtha unit. The new chemicals company, to be set up with a capital of 500 million, will build the largest and the most integrated chemicals complex in the world.

GCC to invest $70b in energy projects

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are expected to spend close to $70 billion in energy projects this year, roughly in line with their actual capital expenditure of $60 billion-$70 billion estimated in energy projects in 2008, research conducted by Contax and supported by the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) shows.

Poland eyes Qatar LNG deal

Poland will finalise a liquefied gas delivery deal with Qatar in late April, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, a move to diversify its energy imports with tanker shipments of the super-cooled gas. Poland wants to build an LNG import terminal by 2014 in order to break its dependence on Russian gas.