Author: Rigs & Barge World

Oman appears to have found a workaround to bring crude oil out of the Gulf to its 255,000 b/d Duqm refinery, which has suffered from a lack of crude feedstock since the start of the 28 February conflict. Two laden tankers crossed the Strait of Hormuz this week, sailing along Oman’s side of the narrow waterway. Kpler data shows that the Habrut and Dhalkut very-large crude carriers (VLCCs), each carrying up to 2mn barrels of crude, sailed through the strait on 2 April, signaling Oman’s Ras Markaz oil terminal, through which crude oil is delivered to the Duqm refinery. As…

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Saudi Aramco has been ramping up throughputs at its Red Sea refineries to mitigate the impact of Iran’s de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The process began in February as a precautionary measure ahead of the joint US-Israeli military campaign against Iran, and went into overdrive in March. Saudi products exports averaged 1.17mn b/d last month, Kpler data shows, of which 99% was from the Red Sea coast. This equated to a 20% decline from 1.46mn b/d in January – February exports were abnormally high due to the precautionary pre-conflict increases and so January is a more appropriate…

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Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MoPMR) has successfully brought four new natural gas wells onstream, with a combined production capacity of around 120 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d), as part of its strategy to reduce the gas import bill and enhance domestic production. The new wells include developments in the West El Burullus field in the Mediterranean, implemented in partnership with Cheiron Petroleum Corporation, Egypt’s largest independent E&P company, alongside additional wells within the concession areas of Khalda Petroleum Company, in partnership with Apache Corporation, in the Western Desert. The ministry stated that accelerating the pace of…

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In his live address on 1 April, US President Donald Trump said that the conflict with Iran will last another two-to-three weeks, extinguishi… Source link

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Cyprus’s plans to start producing gas as early as 2027 have hit the buffers, as Eni’s negotiations with the government over contractual terms for the Cronos gas field are at an impasse and plans to take FID have stalled. After years of frustration and delays, Cyprus had appeared to be within touching distance of finally monetizing its gas reserves, but now the wait will go on. Eni partners TotalEnergies at the 3.1tcf Cronos gas field, and they had planned to announce FID at next week’s Egypt Energy Show (EGYPES) in Cairo. Key commercial deals with Egypt, the intended destination for…

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The Valaris DS-12 has arrived in Egyptian waters as it makes its final preparations to begin a four-well drilling campaign, the country’s Petroleum Ministry announced on 23 March. UK major BP booked the vessel last year, and holds an option to drill a fifth well (MEES, 12 September 2025). “The vessel is scheduled to begin drilling one production well and one exploratory well for BP, followed by the drilling of two exploratory wells for Arcius Energy; JV of BP and the UAE’s Adnoc,” the ministry announced on 23 March. (CONTINUED – 794 WORDS) Read this article for free Gain access…

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Conversely, European leaders face significant challenges in reconciling with Washington. President Trump remains unpopular across the European political spectrum, largely due to inflammatory remarks that have caused widespread offense. A notable example was his claim that only Americans died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which sparked outrage in the United Kingdom, a nation that suffered nearly one thousand fatalities and thousands of life-altering injuries.Trust within the alliance had already been severely eroded by the invasion of Iraq under President George W. Bush, which was based on the false pretext of weapons of mass destruction. Subsequent unilateral decisions by…

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Gulf states without bypass options have been cut off from their primary export markets by the Strait of Hormuz closure. Markets closer to home within the Gulf can provide vital outlets, enabling producers to keep production and export revenues going. The most obvious example of cross-border trade is the Dolphin pipeline that delivers around 2bn cfd of pipeline gas from Qatar to the UAE and Oman. For the UAE in particular, this is a vital source of gas for power plants as its own facilities have come under Iranian attack (MEES, 20 March). (CONTINUED – 740 WORDS) Read this article…

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Crude oil production from Iraq’s giant oil fields in Basra province declined again this week, pushing the country’s output down to below 1.3mn b/d. This is putting added pressure on Iraqi officials to finalize crude and fuel oil trucking export contracts to prevent further output declines and relieve pressure on refineries where fuel oil storage is filling up, potentially forcing run cuts that would exacerbate gasoline shortages (MEES, 20 March). MEES understands that state oil marketer Somo is set to sign a trucking contract with a little-known Syrian company named “Adam” to initially truck 50,000 b/d, which could later be…

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