Author: Rigs & Barge World

A series of Israeli air strikes in recent days has effectively shut down most of Iran’s petrochemicals production. The main targets of the attacks were utility plants that provide electricity and steam for Iran’s two largest petrochemical hubs at Mahshahr (4 April) and Assaluyeh (6 April) in Khuzestan and Bushehr provinces. The two sites account for more than 80% of Iran’s petrochemicals capacity. There were also attacks on petrochemical plants in Shiraz and Marvdasht on 6 April. Israel began its campaign against Iran’s petrochemical sites with a 30 March attack on Tabriz (MEES, 3 April) as it increasingly targeted assets…

The Alexandria Petroleum Maintenance Company (Petromaint) recorded its highest-ever revenues in 2025, rising by 56% year-on-year (YoY) to EGP 11.8 billion, compared to EGP 7.6 billion in 2024. The results, which were approved during the company’s general assembly, reflect strong confidence in its specialized workforce and technical capabilities. Chairman Amr Osama presented the company’s financial results for the fiscal year (FY) ending 2025, reporting net profit of EGP 725 million, compared to EGP 580 million in 2024—a 125% increase. He noted that profits also surpassed the company’s target by 158%. He also noted that Petromaint secured contracts exceeding EGP 2.5 billion…

Saudi Arabia has fully restored oil pumping capacity through its East-West pipeline, which holds a total capacity of 7 million barrels per day (mmbbl/d). The East-West pipeline is a critical strategic asset, serving as Saudi Arabia’s primary export artery while the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. By transporting crude from the eastern fields to the Red Sea coast, the pipeline allows the Kingdom to bypass the maritime chokepoint entirely, ensuring the continued flow of oil to global markets despite the regional blockade. The Saudi Ministry of Energy confirmed on Sunday that the energy facilities and the pipeline segments affected by…

The collapse of US-Iran negotiations in Pakistan on Saturday signals a dangerous new phase in regional instability. Despite four marathon sessions, the talks ended abruptly without a breakthrough or a scheduled return to the table. The only significant thing that happened appeared to be the rare handshakes between an American politician and an Iranian members of the ruling elite,  after 47 long years!The American delegation operated under a rigid deadline with minimal flexibility, while Vice President JD Vance’s reported hopes for a peaceful resolution were overshadowed by the administration’s hardline stance. Pakistan, which risked its relationship with Gulf allies to…

Three years into Sudan’s raging conflict, the war-torn country’s partition is becoming a reality, with both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) settling into the new status quo. After years of intense fighting and deliberate targeting of critical infrastructure, the country is now de facto divided in a Libya-style partition (MEES, 12 September 2025): the army controls the east and the Red Sea coast, including the Bashayer-2 Marine Terminal at Port Sudan from which crude from Sudan and its southern neighbor is exported. (CONTINUED – 830 WORDS) Read this article for free Gain…

South Korea is close to securing crude oil supplies from Kazakhstan, as Seoul steps up efforts to diversify energy sources amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East, the country’s industry minister announced, according to Reuters. Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan indicated that negotiations had made significant progress, adding that specific volumes and further details were expected to be announced early next week, according to remarks made in an interview with local broadcaster KBS. The push comes after Kim and presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik travelled to Kazakhstan earlier this month to secure shipments of crude oil and naphtha, as disruptions to…

The Middle East conflict will have a profound and lasting impact on regional economies. The economies of the region’s leading oil exporters are being hit hard by the conflict itself, while oil importers outside the Gulf are suffering from the spike in oil and gas prices, not to mention the government measures being taken to mitigate against shortages. In its April 2026 regional update, the World Bank warns that the “conflict brings destruction and exposes economic and social vulnerabilities in the region.” The economic impacts vary considerably across the region, even among the Gulf states. (CONTINUED – 546 WORDS) Read…

Saudi Arabia’s Acwa announced on 2 April that two of its large-scale solar PV plants in the kingdom are subject to temporary power dispatch limitations on instruction from the National Grid SA. In a disclosure to the Tadawul, Acwa said that the 1.425GW Al Kahfah and 2GW Ar Rass 2 solar plants continue to operate at limited capacity as a result. The limitations were imposed “following instructions from the grid operator citing alleged reactive power fluctuations affecting grid stability, matters that both project companies deny,” explained Acwa. The two plants are managed by separate project companies, both of which are…

The war that started with US and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28, 2026, and escalated throughout the Arabian Gulf, could well be the third Gulf war that will have a wider impact on global energy security and markets. The other two conflicts were the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988 and Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the war of liberation from August 1990 to February 1991. These and the Arab-Israeli war in October 1973 — and the accompanying oil supply crisis — shaped global oil and energy relations as well as the Middle East and its relationship with the world…

ExxonMobil published an update on 8 April on the impact of the Iran war on its operations in the Middle East. Although its only producing upstream assets in the Middle East Gulf region are in Qatar and the UAE, combined production from the two countries is equivalent to around 20% of Exxon’s global oil-equivalent production. The company notes that this represents a smaller percentage of its upstream earnings. It expects that the Middle East conflict will have reduced its global oil-equivalent production by around 6% in Q1 against the previous quarter, implying a substantial 300,000 boe/d impact; Q4 output was…