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In an unexpected move on Saturday, the core members of OPEC+ declared plans to increase oil production by 411,000 barrels per day starting in June. The decision was made despite a recent downward trend in oil prices. This increase builds upon the existing gradual rise of 138,000 bpd that began in April, as outlined in December 2024. The key players involved in Saturday’s swift agreement included Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman. The unexpected stance marks a significant shift from the organization’s policy last year, when they implemented substantial production cuts of 2.2 million bpd, disregarding calls…

Saudi Arabia has transformed over the past decade as the government has pursued the Vision 2030 reform program launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud in 2016. The kingdom is racing ahead on many metrics, as any visitor can attest, but efforts to ramp up foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to fund ‘gigaprojects’ and boost the private sector are struggling to gain traction. The recently-released Vision 2030 Annual Report for 2024 benchmarks progress in multiple metrics, with Crown Prince Mohammed noting “we have not only met key targets – we have surpassed many.” Certainly, the reform agenda is…

Abu Dhabi state offtaker Ewec announced on 28 April that it is extending the lifetime of the Shuweihat-1 (S1) power plant. The facility is currently a gas-fired combined cycle cogeneration plant with the capacity to produce 1.6GW of electricity and 340,000 m³/d of desalinated water, but it is now to be converted to an open-cycle power plant providing up to 1.1GW of flexible gas-fired reserve supply. Ewec signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with S1 owners Taqa (60%), France’s Engie (20%) and Japan’s Sumitomo (20%) covering the reconfiguration. With operations due to begin in 2027, the new PPA is…

 A curious paradox unfolded in the oil market this week: despite growing anxieties over a looming military conflict between the two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors, crude oil prices experienced a significant decline; the prices of both WTI and Brent have been at their the lowest since 2021, just as the world was recovering from a once-in-a-century pandemic, Covid-19.Despite the looming threat of war between India and Pakistan, which carries the risk of significant disruption to oil and gas tanker traffic and the need for expensive alternative shipping routes, energy prices have surprisingly not risen. In fact, after remaining stable in…

Saudi Aramco and Nabors Drilling are considering monetizing their 50:50 Sanad Drilling JV through an IPO. Speaking on the firm’s Q1 earnings call on 30 April, Nabors CEO Anthony Petrello, described an IPO as “the obvious path…we think Sanad is the most attractive company in the region.” He adds that for now plans remain embryonic. “Obviously we have some preparatory work to be done in the meantime. Both parties are looking at that as an option. It’s pretty clear that this is one path to realize value and create enormous shareholder value,” he says. Nabors last month valued its 50%…

This week saw two major Gulf NOCs sign new deals to boost their growing LNG trading portfolios. On 30 April, Adnoc Trading signed an agreement to supply India’s Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) with volumes at the latter’s recently-commissioned LNG import terminal at Chhara in Gujarat province. The 5mn t/y facility has two storage tanks with combined capacity to store 400,000 tons. India is the largest destination for Adnoc’s LNG, although Adnoc Trading could ultimately source cargoes from elsewhere. The same day, Oman’s OQ Trading signed a 15-year LNG Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA) to receive 600,000 t/y of LNG from Amigo…

The Engineering for the Petroleum and Process Industries (ENPPI) organized an extensive meeting at the company’s headquarters on the occasion of the World Day for Safety and Health at Work. The event aligns with the strategy of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MoPMR) and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), which attach paramount importance to establishing a culture of security and safety. The meeting featured live broadcasts from the company’s work sites and projects both inside and outside Egypt. It was held under the slogan: “Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation in Health, Occupational Safety, and Environmental Protection (HSE).”…

The fate of Egypt’s gas output has gone hand in hand with the country’s largest producer Zohr since the Eni-operated field’s late 2017 start-up. Zohr output initially soared to peak at 2.96bn cfd for 1Q 2021 but had slumped to 1.5bn cfd by early this year following water breakthrough issues that began in 2021 (MEES, 11 June 2021). Eni has attempted to offset those losses by drilling more development wells, specifically on the northern portion of the field. But, after two wells drilled in 2023 some 13km northeast of the key Zohr producing wells proved unfruitful, Eni subsequently scaled back…

The IPR Energy Group (IPR) has announced another significant hydrocarbon discovery in the Yidma field (Yidma-12), located within the Yidma-Alamein concession in Egypt’s Western Desert. The well was drilled to a total depth of 8,910 feet (ft), targeting untapped reserves following recent successes in the adjacent Alamein field. The well encountered a substantial oil column of 73 ft hydrocarbons beneath a tight stratigraphic barrier within the Alamein Dolomite formation. A highly porous dolostone interval was perforated, yielding initial rates of 1,926 barrels of oil per day (bbl/d), stabilizing at a rate of 1,250 bbl/d with high quality light oil at…