Author: Rigs & Barge World

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…

Speech: Samantha McCulloch address to the 2026 Australian Domestic Gas Outlook Conference | Australian Energy Producers Skip to content Source link

Global gas markets are coming to grips with the second major supply shock in four years. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is now set to extend into a second month, and LNG buyers are scrambling to find alternative supplies (MEES, 6 March). The immediate loss of 83mn t/y capacity (20% of global capacity) from Qatar and the UAE would have been bad enough, but buyers are also having to come to terms with the fact that Qatari supplies will be reduced for up to five years. Iran’s missile strike on Qatar’s LNG facilities at Ras Laffan last week…

The Middle East conflict is on the cusp of reaching the one-month milestone, and a meaningful peace agreement appears as elusive as ever (MEES, 26 March). Iran has all but locked down the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off Middle Eastern producers from global markets and forcing approximately 10mn b/d of production shut-ins. Including Oman – which lies outside Hormuz but is at risk of Iranian attacks – more than 20mn b/d of crude oil and refined products was being exported from Gulf states prior to the conflict, and that figure has since dropped to barely 10mn b/d, Kpler data shows.…

Less than a month after the devastating events of 7 October 2023, Israel felt emboldened enough to announce the winners of its fourth offshore bid round (OBR4), seemingly certain that awardees such as BP, Socar and Eni would not withdraw their interest despite increasingly troubling optics (MEES, 3 November 2023). But since then, none of the winning consortia have made any moves toward developing acreage. Only one consortium has finalized its contract – a grouping of BP, Socar and Israeli company NewMed Energy at Zone I on the Lebanese and Cypriot maritime borders (MEES, 14 March 2025). Socar, the Azerbaijan…

The US’ 30-day waiver allowing the purchase of sanctioned Iranian oil was designed to provide oil markets with some psychological relief, but it will not affect global supply balances. The move theoretically frees up access to up to 170mn barrels of Iranian oil-on-water, including both crude oil and condensate. China is expected to be the primary buyer as financial, legal and logistical constraints deter other potential buyers. The ‘General License U’ issued by the US Office of Foreign Asset Control allows the “the sale, delivery, or offloading of crude oil or petroleum products of Iranian origin” loaded on vessels as…

Media release: Greens’ reckless gas tax is an attack on Australia’s energy security and affordability | Australian Energy Producers Skip to content Source link

Just as Libya’s oil and gas sector was showing signs of a gradual recovery, a new attack on critical infrastructure has undermined recent progress and risks dragging the country back towards instability (MEES, 30 May 2025). After a week of speculation about the cause of the 18 March fire along a section of the 725km pipeline linking the 300,000 b/d Sharara fields in the southwestern Murzuq basin to the 120,000 b/d Zawiya refinery and export terminal (see map & MEES, 20 March), the authorities finally confirmed that the pipeline was targeted with explosives in a deliberate attack. (CONTINUED – 886…

Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly announced on Saturday, March 28, that Egypt is adopting a set of measures to rationalize energy consumption in response to soaring global prices triggered by the war in the Middle East. The measures include slowing the pace of execution of fuel‑intensive national projects for at least two months, cutting fuel allocations for government vehicles by 30%, and enforcing earlier closing hours for commercial outlets — 9:00 PM on weekdays and 10:00 PM on Thursdays and Fridays. Madbouly explained that the government is preparing for a prolonged war scenario, with plans to curb fuel consumption without disrupting…

As the Middle East conflict approaches the one-month mark, it has become clear that there will be no return to the status quo however the war ends. Either the US and Israel will succeed in degrading Iran’s military capabilities, or Tehran emerges with a strategic victory, having demonstrated an ability to withstand devastating airstrikes and still control flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran moved early in the conflict to close the strait to non-Iranian vessels, before later allowing selected foreign ships to transit. That shift raises serious concerns among regional states that such control could become embedded in the…