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Ministers gathering in Vienna for an Opec seminar were confronted with concerns over the profitability of their oil and gas production, despite a broad consensus that long-term global dependence on hydrocarbons is unshakeable

Monde Petroleum, a former consultant to WesternZagros Ltd (WZL), is suing WZL for a stake in the Kurdamir exploration and production-sharing agreement (EPSA). The claim could be worth more than $100m. A preliminary High Court of Justice Queen’s Bench Division judgment dated 14 January also raises questions about the relationship between WZL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Calgary-based WesternZagros Resources (WZR), and Bafel Talabani, son of former Iraqi president Jalal Talabani. British Virgin Islands-incorporated Monde, wholly controlled by Yassir Al-Fekaiki, has accused WZL of wrongfully terminating an April 2006 consultancy agreement which contained “an option in certain circumstances to share in the benefit of a successful EPSA by acquiring a 3% interest”.

French major Total recorded relatively strong Q1 2015 results, despite turbulence in several zones of operation, including Yemen and onshore Libya (where it reported output down to 40,000 b/d). The situation in Yemen has deteriorated further in Q2, and exports from Yemen LNG at Balhaf have been shut in since early April. Total is a major player in Yemen, where its upstream assets include Block 10 (28.57%, operator) in Hadhramaut and 15% of Block 5 in Marib.

President Hassan Rouhani on 17 March inaugurated two new refineries to process the output from the South Pars gas field’s phases 13 and 22-24. This takes the total number of phases launched in the past few years to 15.In a pointed remark aimed at domestic critics of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal, Rouhani said: “Without the JCPOA, opening 15 phases of South Pars in such a short time would have been impossible”.

Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) said on 3 March that it had made a significant gas find in the northern part of its concession.

Gulf schism: The dispute between Qatar and the GCC-3 passed its second anniversary in early June, with no sign of any resolution. Instead, the two sides continue to try and score points against each other in international arenas. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has agreed to set up a panel to investigate alleged restrictions by Qatar on the import and sale of goods from the UAE. This followed an Emirati complaint that the measures were in violation of WTO rules.

The UAE has said it could build an oil pipeline between the Eritrean port of Assab and the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in the latest sign of its growing involvement in the Horn of Africa.The proposal was announced on 10 August following talks in Addis Ababa between Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and visiting state minister for international co-operation Reem Al-Hashimi.

Another of the string of cases related to bribery at Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) wrapped up on 9 January, when Alcoa World Alumina LLC agreed to plead guilty and pay $223m in criminal fines and forfeiture for having violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), as well as $161m to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).The case, brought by the Department of Justice (DoJ), follows investigations begun in 2008 into allegations that, to secure contracts, Alcoa paid millions of dollars of bribes through an international middleman in London to officials at Alba.

Iran is scrutinising its relationship with Asian customers as it struggles to generate hard currency, prevent economic collapse and head off competition from Iraq.

Much more expensively than Dewa’s solar pricing (see above), Dubai Municipality has announced plans for a Dh2bn ($544.5m) waste-to-energy (WTE) plant in Warsan district, which would treat 2m t/d of its solid waste and generate 60MW. Start-up is scheduled for mid-2020. WTE is seen as an essential means of tackling Dubai’s diminishing landfill options. This underlines a problem faced by other UAE authorities, of handling huge quantities of solid waste; the federal government wants landfill to be reduced by 75% by 2021.

The first shipment of goods from India to Afghanistan to pass through Chabahar arrived on 1 November. The consignment of wheat represents an important ‘proof of concept’ for the huge investments being made in the southern Iranian port, which forms part of a trade route which will enable India to reach markets in Afghanistan and elsewhere in central Asia while bypassing Pakistan.

Expressions of interest were expected by end-September to install 800MW of photovoltaic power at Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Solar Park under a 25-year power purchase agreement, with commissioning expected from 2018. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) plans for the park’s capacity to reach 3GW by 2030. This is the third tender for the project: the 13MW phase one went online in April 2013, and work by Saudi-based ACWA Power and Spain’s TSK, using First Solar modules, is under way on the 200MW phase two.

Oil minister Mohammed Al-Rumhi said on 4 December the government intended to sell 20%-25% of the shares in Oman Oil Company (OOC) by end-2020. Given that OOC no longer receives capital transfers from the government, a part-privatisation will allow it to raise additional capital and adopt a different risk profile in its future investments.OOC is structured as a commercial company which invests in energy assets inside Oman and abroad.

Sharjah-based company’s oil and gas exploration deal with Rosneft will focus on the Mena region

The prospect of major oil discoveries appears to have ended questions raised when Gulf Keystone announced that Etamic had become its partner, although there remains little information about the deal