Kenya and Uganda ended months of debate in August to sign an agreement on an oil pipeline costing almost $4 billion. Finding the money to build it and companies to start pumping crude may be a harder task.
The 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) pipeline is key for exporting the region’s crude when production finally begins -- 2018 in Uganda’s case. With oil prices languishing below $50 a barrel, there’s little incentive for companies such as Tullow Oil Plc, Africa Oil Corp., China’s CNOOC Ltd. and France’s Total SA to keep investing.
“The lower oil price has created a great deal more of uncertainty around future oil production, given that additional capital expenditure will be required to make oil production a reality,” Razia Khan, head of Africa economic research at Standard Chartered Plc in London, said in an e-mailed response to questions.
Venezuelan proposals for a summit between OPEC and non-OPEC producers are advancing, and should focus on bolstering oil prices rather than limiting volumes, government officials said Tuesday.
The country seeks a fair price for oil that will support economic growth and energy demand, Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino said in an interview at Tuesday’s meeting between Venezuela and Saudi Arabia officials in Caracas. The oil price floor Venezuela is suggesting would be analyzed every quarter, he said.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has come under pressure from Venezuela and some other members to take action after the group decided last November not to reduce output. Saudi Arabia led OPEC’s decision to compete for market share against US shale producers rather than support prices. Oil in New York and London reached six-year lows last month amid excess global supply.
The Government should invest revenues from UK shale gas production in research and development of renewables and low carbon technology, it has been urged.
Shale gas, which is extracted through controversial fracking, could play a role as a “bridge” to a low carbon future, Lord Chris Smith said as the task force on shale gas he chairs published a report on the climate impacts of the fuel.
But to minimise its impact and to ensure it does not hinder the development of renewables, the Government needs to invest the revenues it received from energy taxes and royalties into research and development of low carbon technology.
The money could give more of a push to areas such as battery storage, which allows power from intermittent renewables to be stored until it is needed, and to technologies including wave and tidal power which need to be developed, he said.
Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing has called on the UK Government to make further commitments to the help the North Sea oil and gas industry and take action on protecting the stability of the oil and gas fiscal regime.
In a briefing at Holyrood to politicians he said there needed to be an urgent consultation on inventives to boost further exploration in the North Sea.
Ewing also urged the UK government to make a commitment there would be no tax increases for the industry and any significant policy proposals should be in consultation with both industry and the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA).
Xodus Group has been awarded two contracts with TengizChevrOil (TCO) for acoustic induced vibration fatigue assessments of its Tengiz complex in Kazakhstan.
Iraq asked oil companies to reduce their 2016 spending plans in the country by Sept. 30, citing lower oil prices and government revenue.
The reduced budgets shouldn’t affect 2015 production, Abdul Mahdy Al-Ameedi, director of licensing at Iraq’s oil ministry, said by phone Tuesday, citing a letter that the ministry sent to companies.
Iraq is now producing more than 3 million barrels a day, he said.
“We’ve asked them in a letter we sent them to take into consideration the drop in oil prices and the low revenues of the government that may not cover their investments,” al-Ameedi said. “There was a stipulation that this investment reduction must not affect oil output from the fields that was in the 2015 schedule.”
Seadrill has canceled a contract for the construction of the sixth generation West Mira semisubmersible drilling unit.
The company had ordered the unit during the second quarter of 2012 and the delivery date put forward in the construction contract had been for December last year.
Oil exploration in the Kara Sea in the Arctic is unlikely to restart before 2020, according to reports.
The news comes following a Russian Energy Ministry presentation this week.
Last year Rosneft was forced to suspend drilling in the region after its partner ExxonMobil withdrew from the project because of Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.
Oil and Gas Development Company Limited has found "significant" hydrocarbon reserves via its Aradin 1 exploratory well in Pakistan. This is the 104th discovery and a significant landmark achieved by the company.
Turkmenistan will start building a long-delayed, $10billion gas pipeline to Pakistan and India via Afghanistan in early December. The Central Asian country holds the world's fourth-largest natural gas reserves but remains dependent on gas exports to China after Russia cut back gas imports in the past few years.
Sparrows Group has won a five-year deal with Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (ADMA-OPCO) in the Middle East.
The successful re-tender came through the company’s local partner Abu Dhabi Oilfield Services.
The company will provide operations and maintenance support to all cranes and lifting equipment aboard offshore platforms and the Al Hyleh Barge in the UAE and Zirku Islands.
Wood Group will lead five new international joint industry projects (JIPs) working alongside operators, contractors and regulators on subsea projects.
The projects will run between 2015 and 2018.
Wood Group Kenny chief executive Bob MacDonald, said: "Spearheading these critical projects is fundamental to providing solutions to our customers and we look forward to working with the participants to deliver successful JIPs."
A new services player backed by private equity funds has been established in the Norwegian market.
WellConnection Group has been formed with acquisitions of Eurotechnology InCon AS, Frank Mohn Mongstad AS and WellConnection Subsea AS.
Equity funding was provided by Energy Ventures Private Equity (EVPE) to WellConnection Group to support the company’s planned growth strategy.
President Energy has extended its options on the Puesto Guardian prospect in Argentina, which was due to expire in 2026 to a new unconventional concession until 2050.
The topside for oil major Shell’s Malikai tension leg platform have been placed together with the hull at Malaysia Marine & Heavy Engineering’s (MMHE) yard in Malaysia.
ALE was awarded the contracts for the Malikai project on behalf of TMJV.
The company said it was given the scope of weighing and transporting four unit hull blocks, living quarters and mega beams for the ‘superlift’ activities.
In addition ALE was also awarded with the weighing of the topside as well as the mating of the topside and hull.
Mexico’s finance ministry has set the minimum fiscal terms companies will be required to meet in order to win development rights in an upcoming oil auction.
The country is gearing up for the second round of its auctions in its Round One tender after an historic energy overhaul last year.
The minimum amount of profits required to win development rights varies slightly by contract.
The minimum value of pre-tax profits for the five offshore extraction contract up for grabs range between 30.2 and 35.9%.
In the race to supply crude to the world’s biggest energy user, it’s the tussle for second place that’s too close to call.
Russia, Angola and Iran are vying to be runner-up to Saudi Arabia as the top seller to China. The contest is set to intensify as Iran seeks to recover market share lost because of sanctions and the US Congress debates a nuclear deal that’ll allow the Persian Gulf state to boost shipments.
China overtook the US as the biggest importer of crude most recently in June, taking advantage of a 50 percent slump in benchmark prices over the past year to boost strategic reserves. With the Asian nation forecast to account for more than a quarter of global demand growth in 2016, the prize of becoming a top supplier will bolster the economic health of national producers that depend on energy exports for most of their budget revenue.
BP Plc asked federal regulators on Monday to reverse an administrative judge’s ruling that it had manipulated natural gas markets in Texas in 2008.
“There is no direct evidence of manipulation,” BP said in an appeal filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The energy company said last month’s initial ruling by the agency was “arbitrary and capricious.”
Shale producers in the US have learned to do more with less.
Last year’s price crash forced drillers to cut budgets, reducing the number of rigs in U.S. oil fields by 59 percent from the peak. Crude production, though, has fallen only about 5 percent.
Part of the reason for that is a spurt of innovation driven by desperation. Rig productivity increased last month in all shale oil plays, the Energy Information Administration said in a report Monday, as companies drill more wells in less time.
Iraq aims to export a record volume of Basra crude from its southern terminals in October as it ramps up production, adding to a global oil supply glut.
A former chief executive of Dana Petroleum has criticised alleged contradictions in the Scottish Government’s energy policies.
Stuart Paton has called for an overarching framework policy from politicians including its approach to fuel poverty, security of supply and climate change.
He said the way in which the North Sea oil and gas industry is viewed is different to the way in which potential onshore energy is looked at, because it’s “just over the horizon”.
The former boss and advisor to the oil and gas industry has written a chapter on energy in a yet-to-be published book by the think tank Reform Scotland.
OPEC predicted higher demand for its crude oil next year, sticking to its view that a strategy of letting prices fall will tame the US shale boom and cut a global surplus.
The TUC has backed a motion calling for a concerted campaign to resist "commercial pressures" that offshore unions say could erode safety standards, cut jobs and training.
