Author: Rigs & Barge World

Sudan’s escalating civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continues to threaten lifeline oil exports from both Sudan and its southern neighbour. As the fighting has extended into areas on the border with South Sudan that are home to key oil fields, Juba has deployed troops to guard the Heglig processing facilities. The conflict is proving too much for China’s CNPC, which is requesting an exit from the nearby Baleela oilfield. (CONTINUED – 965 WORDS) Read this article for free Gain access to over 60-years of energy analysis and news Delve…

SLB has signed a strategic collaboration agreement with Shell to develop digital and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions aimed at driving performance and efficiency gains across upstream operations for the industry. The partnership will focus on developing agentic AI-powered solutions to accelerate and amplify the capabilities of technical experts and decision makers in subsurface operations, well construction, and production. The collaboration aims to develop and deploy an open data and AI infrastructure that unifies data and workflows across upstream operations in a secure digital environment using SLB’s Lumi data and AI platform, according to an SLB press release dated December 11,…

Morocco is ending 2025 on a high note, with long-delayed gas plans finally moving forward, bringing the coal-dependent kingdom a step closer to achieving its energy ambitions. Morocco has struggled to gain traction with its plans to establish LNG import terminals over the past decade as political deadlock and financing challenges have provided insurmountable challenges (MEES, 16 October 2015). A 2021 reboot that envisaged imports beginning in 2025 failed to materialize (MEES, 28 May 2021). (CONTINUED – 1323 WORDS) Read this article for free Gain access to over 60-years of energy analysis and news Delve into the details backed by…

Maridive & Oil Services has signed a three-year contract to provide exploration, maintenance, and production support services in the UAE. The contract, finalized by Maridive Offshore Projects, a subsidiary of the company,  will come into force in the first quarter of 2026 and carries an annual value of $8.95 million, according to a disclosure to the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX). Earlier this month, Maridive & Oil Services secured a 15-year contract in Qatar to provide maintenance and production support services, with operations set to begin in Q1 2028 and an annual contract value of $10.15 million. On December 15, the…

On the sidelines of his visit to Kuwait to attend the meetings of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC)  Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, met with Loay Jassim Al-Kharafi, Chairman of the Egyptian-Kuwaiti Holding Company (EKH) to explore new investment opportunities for the company in Egypt. Among these opportunities are:  cooperation in upgrading refineries, natural gas processing, LPG and condensate projects, and petrochemical expansions. Also, opportunities for the EKH  to participate in green hydrogen, green ammonia, and renewable energy projects were discussed. The meeting focused on strengthening cooperation and leveraging EKH’s diversified portfolio in Egypt,…

ExxonMobil and Saudi Aramco this week signed a Venture Framework Agreement (VFA) “to evaluate a significant upgrade” of their 50:50 joint venture Samref refinery in Yanbu. The partners will explore an expansion of the 400,000 b/d capacity refinery into an integrated petrochemical complex as part of Aramco’s aims to increase its liquids-to-chemicals capacity to 4mn b/d by 2030. The VFA follows an MoU that was signed in May to examine the potential integration (MEES, 16 May). (CONTINUED – 179 WORDS) Read this article for free Gain access to over 60-years of energy analysis and news Delve into the details backed…

Oman’s energy ministery has dubbed state firm OQ Alternative Energy (OQAE) the “national champion for renewable energy.” Its purpose is distinct from state offtaker Nama Power and Water Procurement (Nama PWP), which is working with international consortia to develop projects to raise renewable capacity from 1.55GW to 5.1GW by 2030 (MEES, 23 May). Instead, OQAE is working with upstream oil and gas firms, industrial companies, and green hydrogen developers to provide renewable power capacity for their operations. “OQ Alternative Energy has been tasked with two main roles. First, we are the national champion for developing renewable projects in the country…

On 11 December, Dana Gas announced that its North El-Basant 1 exploration well in Egypt’s onshore Nile Delta had yielded a new gas discovery. The Abu Dhabi-listed firm says that the initial well results indicate estimated reserves of 15-25 bcf, with expected production of 8mn cfd once the well is connected to Egypt’s gas network. Egypt is suffering from substantial gas shortages despite production of 4.20bn cfd last quarter, and while new discoveries are welcome, this is not going to make much of an impact on its balances (MEES, 17 October). (CONTINUED – 252 WORDS) Read this article for free…

Iraq’s economy is driven by revenues from crude oil exports to global markets, and these are sputtering this year as prices have fallen due to economic uncertainty. MEES calculates that crude export revenues are set to fall by $11bn this year to a four-year low of $84bn. Realized export prices are set to average $9.3/B below last year’s $76.92/B. This is a far cry from 2022 when the disruption caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove up oil prices, resulting in record export revenues of $116bn (see chart 1). The steady downwards drift of oil prices since then has caused…

Qatar’s fiscal balance and trade revenues have suffered from oil prices dropping below $70/B this year amid global trade wars and the unwinding of Opec+ production cuts. This has generated a $700mn deficit over the first nine months of the year making a full-year deficit of around $1bn likely by MEES estimates. This will be the first deficit since Qatar posted a $2.2bn deficit in 2020, and another deficit is likely next year. The recently released 2026 budget has a $6bn deficit, although this is based on a conservative $55/B oil price assumption and the eventual deficit will likely be…