Author: Rigs & Barge World

ExxonMobil has approached Iraqi oil ministry officials to express interest in acquiring Lukoil’s majority share in the West Qurna 2 oilfield, Reuters reported. The field holds approximately 13 billion barrels of recoverable reserves and produces about 480,000 barrels per day (bbl/d), accounting for roughly 10% of Iraq’s total output. The move follows ExxonMobil’s earlier review of potential acquisitions of Lukoil overseas assets, particularly in Kazakhstan, where both companies hold stakes in the Karachaganak and Tengiz projects, Reuters said. The US has sanctioned Lukoil and Rosneft, Russia’s two biggest oil producers, over their contribution to funding the war in Ukraine. The measures have heavily…

French oil major TotalEnergies and its partner Tree Energy Solutions will jointly develop a synthetic methane production facility in Nebraska with Japanese firms Osaka Gas, Toho Gas, and Itochu, Reuters reported. The Live Oak project will leverage Nebraska’s abundant biogenic carbon dioxide resources captured from bioethanol plants and the growing renewable power generation capacity in the US, TotalEnergies said in a statement. Under the partnership structure, TotalEnergies and Tree Energy Solutions will each hold 33.35% of the project, with the Japanese firms together holding the remaining 33.3%. The Japanese partners will play a critical role in the project’s commercial viability, with…

Entering the final stretch of the year, Saudi Arabia can look back at how the summer played out with satisfaction. The kingdom brought back 1mn b/d of crude oil production between April and September, and despite concerns over economic uncertainty and global oversupply, quarterly export revenues in Q3 of $55.4bn were at their highest level since the second quarter of 2024. Q3 revenues were up $2.9bn year-on-year, marking the first such annual rise since 4Q 2022 (see charts 1 & 2). (CONTINUED – 920 WORDS) Read this article for free Gain access to over 60-years of energy analysis and news…

Petroleum Projects and Technical Consultations Company (PETROJET) has secured a $273 million Engineering, Erocurement, and Construction (EPC) contract to deliver a 193-kilometer natural gas pipeline project in Oman. The contract was announced during a meeting between Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, and Mansoor Ali Al-Abdali, Managing Director of OQ Gas Networks (OQGN), reinforcing growing cooperation on natural gas infrastructure projects between Egyptian and Omani partners. As part of this broader partnership, PETROJET will implement the first phase of OQGN’s planned hydrogen pipeline network, undertaking 400 kilometers out of the project’s total 2,000-kilometer length at an estimated cost…

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly held a meeting to review the availability of petroleum products’ strategic reserves and the regularity of arrears payments to International Oil Companies (IOC). The meeting was attended by Hassan Abdallah, Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt; Ahmed Kouchouk, Minister of Finance; and Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, according to a statement from the cabinet. The government is committed to maintaining strategic petroleum reserves at safe levels to ensure market stability and the continued availability of these essential resources to cover the needs of the production and service sectors, as well as those…

Adnoc’s Board of Directors this week approved the state energy company’s new five-year business plan for 2026-2030. The board meeting on 24 November was chaired by UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed, and the scale and breadth of the new business plan highlights the extent of Adnoc’s ambitions. Adnoc plans to invest $150bn over the five-year period, averaging $30bn/year, keeping capex level with the previous 2023-2027 five-year plan. Adnoc aims to increase crude production to 5mn b/d by 2027, and in keeping capex elevated beyond that the company is showcasing the extent of its expansion plans outside of its primary crude…

Egypt is currently developing investment incentive packages that aim to increase the country’s share of the global green Hydrogen market to 8% with an estimated production of 10 million tons per year (t/y) in the coming decades,  Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi stated during the opening ministerial session of the 4th Oman Green Hydrogen Summit. Badawi highlighted the country’s unique geographic position in the Middle East, which serves as a natural gateway to Africa and a link to Europe, and already has energy interconnection projects with Cyprus and Greece. Moreover, he emphasized the importance of the Suez…

Algeria’s refining sector has been stuck in second gear for the last decade or more, with installed capacity of 677,000 b/d barely up on 2015’s 650,000 b/d. With their diet of domestic light sweet crudes, Algeria’s refineries have a low fuel oil yield of around 16%, but they also churn out a high proportion of naphtha rather than more valuable transport fuels such as gasoline and diesel. Naphtha output has averaged 195,000 b/d over the first nine months of the year, Jodi data shows, accounting for 31% of total output. Meanwhile gasoline production is languishing at just 87,000 b/d, roughly…

On the sidelines of the Oman Green Hydrogen Summit 2025, Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, held a series of meetings aimed at strengthening the presence of Egyptian petroleum companies in Oman and expanding bilateral cooperation in green energy and major infrastructure projects. Badawi met with senior officials from Hydrogen Oman Company (Hydrome) and the Oman Tank Terminal Company (OTTCO), in the presence of the heads of the Petroleum Projects and Technical Consultations Company (Petrojet) and the Engineering for the Petroleum and Process Industries (ENPPI), and Wael Lotfy, the ministry’s Undersecretary for Projects. The discussions focused on establishing…

Equinor and Shell have officially completed a transaction to combine their United Kingdom (UK) offshore oil and natural gas operations into a new joint venture company, Adura, becoming the UK North Sea’s largest independent producer. According to a press release by Equinor, Adura is jointly owned by Shell and Equinor, each holding a 50% stake. The new entity brings together decades of expertise from the two energy majors. It is positioned to deliver a more cost-competitive and resilient portfolio while maximizing the long-term value of their UK assets. Neil McCulloch has been appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Adura. With…