Author: Rigs & Barge World

Kuwait is making headway in revamping its oil sector that has fallen behind its neighbors in recent years. Long-standing targets for 2020 were missed and crude oil production capacity declined between 2016 and 2021. Much of this was due to opposition in some political quarters to foreign investment, while large-scale capital projects were frequently cancelled amid heightened political scrutiny and frequent squabbles between a succession of governments and parliament. Since his appointment in 2022, KPC CEO Sheikh Nawaf Al Sabah has sought to address these issues. As a result, capacity increased gradually from around 2.7mn b/d in 2021 to 3.0-3.2mn…

Four petroleum sector companies have successfully made discoveries in the Western Desert, yielding a total estimated production of over 5,200 barrels per day (bbl/d) of crude oil and condensates, alongside approximately 34 million cubic feet per day (mmcf/d) of natural gas. In line with the production increase pillar of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MoPMR )’s strategy, these results come as part of the Ministry’s efforts to offset the natural decline in older wells, reduce the import bill, and boost domestic production to meet the needs of consuming sectors. Khalda Petroleum has successfully achieved two new gas discoveries.…

Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, presented the latest reforms, incentives, and opportunities within the petroleum and mining sectors during a roundtable meeting with a group of International financial institutions and investment banks, including  JPMorgan, EIG, Rothschild & Co., BlackRock, Jefferies, and Kirkland & Alice. The meeting, which took place on February 10, was also attended by  Ahmed Kouchouk, Minister of Finance, and Hassan El-Khatib, Former Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade According to the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MoPMR), the meeting seeks to open new channels with financial institutions to secure funding for faster project…

Chevron put its East Mediterranean ambitions front and center of its Q4 earnings call last week, with its leadership seeing a big year ahead for the region. “We continue to be very excited about the resource potential in the Eastern Mediterranean,” CEO Mike Wirth told investors on his firm’s Q4 earnings call on 30 January. He added that Chevron’s “advantaged assets in the Eastern Mediterranean continue to grow, and we’re advancing multiple high-return projects to bring world-class gas resources to regional markets.” (CONTINUED – 1346 WORDS) Read this article for free Gain access to over 60-years of energy analysis and…

President Trump welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House on Wednesday for a high-stakes summit, set against the backdrop of rapidly evolving military escalation in the Middle East.Following a closed-door session with a select group of officials, President Trump emerged to signal a dual-track approach. He stated that the U.S. remains prepared to give “negotiations” a chance, while pointedly referencing the events of June, when Tehran failed to engage seriously with his previous overtures. Prime Minister Netanyahu remained characteristically tight-lipped as he departed for Israel later that evening.The diplomatic movement has clearly unsettled Tehran. Iranian officials have…

TotalEnergies, a global integrated energy major, achieved net income of $ 2.9 billion in the fourth quarter (Q4) 2025, decreasing by 21% compared to the third quarter (Q3) of 2025. The company’s adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) recorded $10.1 billion in Q4 2025 compared to $10.3 billion in the previous quarter. Regarding the operational results, TotalEnergies’ hydrocarbon production of 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mmboe/d), including 1.55 barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil and 5.4 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) of natural gas during the fourth quarter of 2025, increased by 1%…

US major ExxonMobil (60%, operator) and partner QatarEnergy (40%) have relinquished their North Marakia block in Egypt’s West Mediterranean offshore region, MEES learns. Despite making the Nefertari discovery in January last year with its first offshore Egypt well (MEES, 10 January 2025), the US major has decided against entering the concession’s second exploration phase that would commit the partners to developing the field. Local Egyptian media reported last year that Exxon was looking to sell its stakes at North Marakia, but it evidently found no takers (MEES, 2 May 2025). Instead, the acreage has been returned to state firm EGAS.…

The British energy company, bp, reported a loss for the fourth quarter (Q4) 2025 worth $3.4 billion, a significant decline from the $1.2 billion profit recorded in the third quarter. Following these results, the board has decided to suspend share buybacks and fully allocate excess cash to accelerate the strengthening of the company’s balance sheet, according to a press release by the company. Consequently, bp has retired its previous guidance to distribute approximately 30–40% of its operating cash flow to shareholders. The reported quarterly loss was heavily impacted by a net adverse impact of adjusting items totaling $4.3 billion, which…

The British energy company, bp, stated that its replacement cost (RC) profit dropped to $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter (Q4) 2025, from $2.2 billion in the previous quarter. RC profit is a measure commonly used by oil and gas companies, especially refiners, to show underlying profitability by excluding the impact of inventory price fluctuations. The company said that the result was impacted by weaker upstream price realizations, an unfavorable production mix, and reduced refinery throughput due to increased maintenance activity and temporary capacity constraints following an outage at the Whiting refinery. Seasonally lower customer volumes also weighed on performance.…

UK major Shell has outlined plans to double its Egypt gas output by June 2030. West Delta Deep Marine (WDDM) is currently the company’s only producing Egypt asset, where output is approximately 400mn cfd. The implied target of 800mn cfd mid-2030 appears to be achievable, although Shell will need to contend with the steep underlying decline rates that have caused its Egypt output to drop by 80% since 2008. Twenty years ago, WDDM was Shell and Egypt’s flagship project and production peaked at 2bn cfd in 2008. But Egypt’s offshore gas fields suffer from high rates of natural decline and…