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Saudi Arabia is said to be considering dropping its unofficial price target of $100/bbl in favour of chasing market share. Concerns around the wars involving Israel and Iran and its proxies could help to sustain oil prices, although there is a risk of a disorderly break-up of the Opec+ agreement between oil cartel Opec and other major producers including Russia.
Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Energy and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (Kufpec) were awarded further licences in September, adding to their existing portfolios in Indonesia, where both have recently made natural gas discoveries.
Bapco Energies has sold a minority stake in the pipeline that brings Saudi crude to the Bahrain Refinery and, in a separate deal, bought out its minority partners to take full control of Bapco Gas.
Nasdaq Stockholm-listed Tethys Oil has recommended its shareholders accept an offer from Australian suitor Roc Oil, which values the company at $186m.
The sale of 25% of the shares in OQ Exploration and Production could raise up to $2bn, according to some estimates.
The Daleel Petroleum partnership of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and an arm of the local MB Group has signed an oil and gas exploration and production concession for the block, adding to a portfolio which already includes Block 5.
Oman’s plans for a fourth LNG train at the Qalhat Industrial Complex is an indication of the robust health of the regional LNG market and follows a trend already established in other Gulf producers of gas.
The Doha-based energy company has agreed to take a 20% stake in offshore Block 5 from American major Chevron – adding to an already diverse global asset portfolio.
Kuwait Oil Company announced in mid-July the discovery of the offshore Al-Nokhatha field, which is estimated to hold some 2.1bn barrels of crude and more than 5tcf of natural gas.
Shell, BP, Mitsui and TotalEnergies have all signed up to take 10% stakes in the $5.5bn Ruwais LNG project. Construction work is due to start soon, with the first LNG deliveries pencilled in for 2028.
Energy giant Saudi Aramco has signed $25bn worth of contracts to expand its natural gas facilities in the kingdom, while also making a series of oil and gas discoveries in the Eastern Province and Empty Quarter, in a clear sign that the kingdom remains committed to fully exploiting its hydrocarbon reserves.
Prominent go-between: Qatar has emerged as a major player in regional conflicts – making itself very useful to a wide range of partners by acting as an interlocuter between various Islamist movements and western governments in crises from Afghanistan to Gaza.
PTT Exploration and Production has bought its 10% stake in the offshore concession from Germany’s Wintershall Dea, which now plans to close all its operations in the UAE.
The 615,000 b/d Al-Zour refinery has come online more than a decade later than planned, following numerous delays caused by the retendering of contracts, construction issues and parliamentary investigation.
Riyadh has continued to tap a range of sources of finance to support investments in the domestic economy, with Aramco shares worth $11bn being sold and the Public Investment Fund issuing $830m in debt, pushing the PIF’s total debt burden close to $40bn.
