Energy

UAE calls for international joint energy strategy

UAE Minister of Energy Mohammed bin Dhaen Al Hamili has called for developing joint strategies and common approaches to ensure that universal energy access becomes a reality for a growing number of people. Addressing the three-day Vienna Energy Forum, Al Hamili said: ''Access to energy, something most of us take for granted, is not yet a reality for billions of people throughout the world''. Held under the theme ''Paving the Way for Universal Energy Access'', the meeting is organized by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). The OECD, Al Hamili explained, has ranked the UAE higher than some of the world's most prominent donor countries primarily because the UAE gives a higher percentage of its GDP than most developed countries. ''Over the years, as our nation increased in wealth, we have allocated a growing proportion of our revenue to international aid projects, particularly in water and energy sectors. Overall, during the last three-and-a-half decades, the UAE has contributed more than $70 billion in loans, grants and assistance for development projects in nearly 100 countries around the world.” According to him, the $70 billion given in aid is above and beyond the UAE infrastructure in developing countries. For example, over the last few decades, Pakistan has built four hydroelectric power stations with support from the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Water and energy are the two major prerequisites for development and many of our projects involve both. Source: Emirates News Agency

Iran installs new nuclear enrichment machines

The Iranian foreign ministry has announced the installation of two more advanced models of the centrifuges used to refine uranium, as the country seeks to speed progress in its nuclear program, Reuters has reported. ""By installing the new centrifuges progress is being made with more speed and better quality,"" ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been informed of the move, he added. Source: Reuters

Bahrain may drill deeper, look to Russia for gas

Bahrain should drill deeper for natural gas and even look as far as Russia to meet growing demand for fuel as supply talks with its neighbors stall, Bahraini energy minister Abd Al-Hussein Mirza said. Demand for gas in the country has grown rapidly in the last few years, pressing the kingdom to find new sources of gas to feed its refining, power and aluminum smelting industries. The Bahraini government expects drilling under a new gas exploration deal with US-based Occidental to start soon, but in the meantime it is considering importing gas from Turkmenistan or Russia because of slow progress on dealing with Iran or Qatar. ""Bahrain signed a framework agreement with Iran in 2008 and the negotiations made great strides but the negotiations were not completed due to disagreement over the price,"" Mirza told Kuna, the state news agency of Kuwait. ""Currently negotiations are frozen,"" he said, adding that Bahrain is studying the possibility of importing gas from Russia and Turkmenistan. Bahrain's proven natural gas reserves stood at 7.7 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) at the end of 2010, according to the BP Statistical Review 2011, but the country produced only 1.3 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/day) in 2010, mostly from the Awali oil field. Oxy expects gross gas production from Awali to rise to 1.6 bcf/day by 2014, but Bahrain could double its gas output by delving deeper under the Gulf. Source: TradeArabia News

Saudi Aramco begins gas production from Karan

Saudi Aramco has started producing gas from Karan in early July, its first non-associated gas field, Reuters has reported, citing two industry sources. First gas started flowing from the field on schedule in early July, one source said. New gas fields typically increase production gradually over weeks as engineers test equipment. Source: Reuters

ABB wins $30m gas order in Abu Dhabi

ABB has won an order worth $30 million from Saipem and Samsung Engineering to provide a range of power and automation equipment for a natural gas processing plant in Abu Dhabi. The plant is located in the Shah natural gas field 180 kilometers southwest of Abu Dhabi city, and has a daily production target of one billion cubic feet of sour gas. Abu Dhabi is developing its sour, or high sulfur, gas reserves as domestic power consumption soars. The hydrogen sulfide content of the gas must be reduced to acceptable levels before it can be used. For this project ABB Italy and ABB South Korea will supply low voltage switchgear, intelligent motor control units and variable frequency drives. Source: TradeArabia News Service

Jordan: Planning for the future

Regional events are forcing Jordan to look past its traditional sources of energy, both in terms of feedstock and physical location. Disruptions in the supply of natural gas to the kingdom coupled with rising costs mean it may look elsewhere for feedstock, while also pushing forward with its own nuclear energy program. Jordan consumes in the region of 3 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year and only a small amount of that is produced domestically with 80% of the country’s electricity supply is generated by natural gas secured from Egypt. The kingdom’s natural gas-fed electricity power plants produce 1880 MW per year, fulfilling only around 20% of domestic demand, according to the 2009 annual report from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the most recent information available. Natural gas deliveries from Egypt are expected to increase to more than 7.1 million cubic meters per day in early July, from 2.8 million cubic meters per day in mid-June, according to Khaled Toukan, the minister of energy and mineral resources. However, this is significantly lower than the 8.8 million cubic meters Egypt shipped to Jordan in 2009. The decrease is the result of recent political unrest and attacks in Egypt’s Sinai region that have disrupted the flow of natural gas. Though the kingdom is currently in talks with Egypt regarding the quality and price of imported natural gas, it is possible that Jordan could look to Israel to also supply the feedstock that fuels the majority of its electrical power plants, according to reports from Israeli financial firm Clal Finance. Israel’s Tamar offshore field, located about 90 kilometers west of Haifa, has an estimated 246 billion cubic meters of natural gas. The field is expected to eventually provide for Israel’s domestic production and turn the country into a natural gas exporter within several years, the Jerusalem Post reported in June. But the kingdom is also looking inwards to meet increasing energy demand and to quell an energy bill that takes up 20% of the state budget at a cost of $4 billion. Like many others, Jordan is not giving up on its nuclear program, which it considers an essential part of its energy plan. The country has plans to build two reactors in the next decade, and two additional reactors are planned for the next 25 years. June 30 is the deadline for offers by potential operators and investors for the first reactor, a $4.5 billion, 1000-MW nuclear plant. Jordan is also expected to receive bids for the technology that would be used in the nuclear station by the same date. The country’s atomic commission has pre-selected possible technologies from Atomic Energy of Canada, Russia’s ZAO Atomstroyexport and Atmea, a joint venture between France’s Areva and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. It will take about five months to review the proposals and a selection should be made by the end of the year, Toukan said. Source: Oxford Business Group

Qatar rides surging demand for LNG

Qatar, the Persian Gulf emirate that is the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, is poised for a sharp rise in the value and volume of its exports of the super-cooled fuel this year, benefiting from the troubles in Japan's nuclear industry and from surging demand for energy elsewhere in Asia. With a quarter of Japan's nuclear production shut down by the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March, that country's power companies have agreed to buy an extra four million tons of LNG from Qatar over the next year and are in talks to purchase additional volumes, Qatar's energy minister, Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada, said last month. Surging demand for gas in China—keen to switch away from polluting fuels such as oil and coal amid strong economic growth—is also positive for Qatar. ""Post Fukushima, there will be a lot of opportunities,"" said Fatih Birol, chief economist for the International Energy Agency. ""Japan and Korea have new long-term contracts in the next four years, and China demand is booming—as of 2015 they will have to import as much as Europe today."" Mostly as a result of greater Asian demand, Qatar's LNG exports are expected to rise to 73 million tons this year, 30% above the 56 million tons exported in 2010 and close to the country's installed export capacity of 77 million tons, according to projections from the commodities consultancy Wood Mackenzie. And prices for LNG are rising, after being depressed in recent years by the development of massive shale gas reserves in the U.S. and Canada, which stymied the hopes of Qatar and other exporters to supply large quantities of gas to the North American market. With higher volumes and rising prices, the value of Qatar's LNG exports is expected to jump at least 43% to over $30 billion in 2011, from $21 billion last year, according to estimates from Samba Financial Group, a Saudi bank. Source: Wall Street Journal