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Iraq says it is determined to adhere to the Opec+ group’s latest agreed production cuts, which came into effect from 1 January. The largest over-producer in the first round of production cuts, the Ministry of Oil (MoO) said Iraq was committed to holding crude production at 4.513m b/d for the next six months.

Petroleum and mineral resources minister Ali Bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi arrived in Vienna ahead of a 5 June meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) in an upbeat mood, as he forecast increased demand for crude in H2 2015 and into 2016. Saudi levels of production remain high, reaching around 10.3m b/d in April, its highest level since 1980, and a 31 May Reuters survey showed Opec supply in May to be 31.22m b/d, the highest for more than two years.

Saudi Arabia has reopened an old pipeline built by Iraq to bypass Gulf shipping lanes, according to industry sources quoted by Reuters. On 28 June, the news agency said Riyadh had taken the measure as a precaution against Iran blocking the Strait of Hormuz.

Canada’s denial of extra landing rights for United Arab Emirates national carriers Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways after five years of negotiations has strained relations. The UAE responded in October by forcing Canada to close a military base in Dubai that was part of a key supply route to Afghanistan, denying a plane carrying Canadian defence minister Peter MacKay, who was flying from Afghanistan, airspace over the UAE and causing it to take a long detour.

A deal signed between the government and Japan’s Softbank Group to develop 200GW of solar power over the next 12 years has given fresh hope that the kingdom’s green energy industry may finally get off the ground, after previous false starts. Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) signed a memorandum of understanding on 27 March with Softbank Group chairman and chief executive Masayoshi Son to set up what will be the world’s largest solar energy investment programme.

The futuristic city of Neom, being developed in a remote area in the north-west of the kingdom, is to use a novel solar power design for a desalination plant. A deal has been signed with UK-based Solar Water to build a “solar dome”, based on concentrated solar power technology, to provide electricity to the water plant. Work on the project starts this month and is due to be completed by end-2020.

Oman is to extend curbs on the hiring of foreign workers in the construction and housekeeping sectors as part of efforts to save more jobs for local citizens and limit outflows of money from the economy. The hiring of expatriates by private companies in those two sectors will be banned for six months from 4 May, the official Oman News Agency (ONA) quoted manpower minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al-Bakri as saying on 14 April. The ban was originally introduced for a six-month period in November 2013

For the UAE’s troubled energy consumers access to gas from Iran is a tiresome and not very successful process – as the experience of Sharjah’s Dana Gas deal seems to show. Imports from Iran to Sharjah have been delayed for over a year and a half, as both sides are yet to agree on a gas price, and Iran has yet to complete building the facilities to pump gas to the UAE. Internal Iranian politics provide a further obstacle as various factions in the Islamic Republic argue about the need to channel gas into the domestic market, rather than meeting export needs.

The financial backers of Rex and Eric Wempen, owners of Excalibur Ventures which is suing both Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) and its sister company Texas Keystone for a 30% stake in the Shaikan field in Iraqi Kurdistan, have been ordered to pay £8m ($12.2) into court as additional security for the defendants’ costs, having lodged an initial £9.5m in April 2012.

Egyptian international co-operation minister Dr Sahar Nasr and Saudi Fund for Development chairman Dr Ibrahim Assaf signed a $100m financing agreement for the Cairo West power plant. This 650MW gas-fired steam turbine plant is being developed by state-owned Egyptian Electricity Holding Company at an estimated $700m cost. Other sources of funding are National Bank of Egypt, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, Kuwait-based Arab Fund for Economic Development and the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank. The plant is expected to start operation in November 2019.

Iraq is on course to breach the 5m barrel-a-day (b/d) level later this year as new southern production increments come on stream, continuing the steady improvement in the country’s production profile witnessed in recent years. Iraq pumped a record 4.82m b/d in May, some 300,000 b/d above its Opec output quota -- for which Oil Minister and deputy prime minister Thamer Ghadhban is pleading understanding from fellow cartel ministers. Exports are averaging 3.5m b/d.

Nasdaq-listed First Solar has signed an agreement to supply 2.36m photovoltaic modules to power the 200MW second phase of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Solar Park. The facility is being developed by Saudi-based Acwa Power and Spain’s TSK. First Solar modules already power the Mohammed Bin Rashid park’s 13MW first phase. They will also be installed at Jordan’s 52.5MW Shams Maan solar PV plant, which is scheduled for completion in H2 2016.

Hugely ambitious Riyadh-based water and power developer Acwa Power has signed another important independent power producer (IPP) contract in Oman, reached financial close on the third phase of the Ouarzazate solar project in Morocco, and is lining up potentially 8GW of thermal and renewable energy schemes in Egypt, according to a welter of company announcements, conference presentations and GSN’s conversations with industry players during the past month. Acwa is active as an owner and operator across ten countries, notably Dubai, where this year it won a contract to build the 200MW second phase of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

Qatar Petroleum (QP) has signed a joint venture agreement with Total (10%), Idemitsu (2%), Cosmo (2%), Marubeni (1%) and Mitsui (1%) for the new $1.5bn Laffan Refinery 2 project. QP will own 84% of the project. In a statement on 21 April, QP said the new condensate refinery would be similar to the first Laffan refinery, which started operations in September 2009, with a similar processing capacity of 146,000 bbls/d. It will be operated by Qatargas Operating Company Limited, and will have a daily production capacity of 60,000 bbls of naphtha, 53,000 bbls of jet fuel, 24,000 bbls of gasoil and 9,000 bbls of liquefied petroleum gas. Construction is expected to be completed in H2 2016.

Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc) completed its $1.5bn dirham/dollar-denominated debt facility on 17 June – which was oversubscribed by a syndicate of local, regional and international banks – and is poised to complete its full takeover of London and Irish Stock Exchange-listed Dragon Oil. Downstream-focused Enoc said in a statement that the Dragon purchase was a “key step” towards its ambition of “creating an international integrated oil and gas company”.