Faster - Cleaner - Greener  

Oil Demand Set To Increase In 2012, IEA Says   

(www.bbc.co.uk - July 13, 2011) 

Qatar: ExxonMobil Sees Gas Projects Key to Qatar Growth 

(www.ordons.com - July 12, 2011)

   Qatar's major domestic gas development projects will help lay the foundations for the country's economic expansion. Qatar's major domestic gas development projects will help lay the foundations for the country's economic expansion, according to Alex Dodds, president and general manager of ExxonMobil Qatar.

     Dodds said in an interview with Oxford Business Group that the projects would generate the power needed for extensive infrastructural works.  He added that the ventures would allow Qatar to move ahead with plans to diversify its economy in line with its long-term development plan, the Qatar National Vision 2030.   

     With the completion of the Al Khaleej Gas Venture (AKG), the focus is on the Barzan project, which marks the next phase of Qatar's gas development. The venture is a joint initiative between ExxonMobil Qatar and Qatar Petroleum (QP) with the first gas flow planned for 2014. It will be operated by RasGas. 

     "The Barzan project is a critical component of Qatar's strategy because it will provide the remaining energy needed to propel the country towards sustainable development," Dodds said. "Without an energy source to help develop and power the economy and provide the electricity needed to build the infrastructure, none of that can happen."

     Aside from its investment in domestic gas projects, ExxonMobil said it has also participated in 12 of Qatar's 14 LNG trains since launching its operations in Qatar in the early 1990s. "Our focus now is towards reliable LNG operations. We view this strategy as important because of Qatar's role as a key supplier of energy to the world."

     He said Qatar's long-term plans to drive forward its expansion in the worldwide LNG market were in line with global trends which indicated that natural gas would overtake coal as the primary power source. "LNG is viewed as a critical component of the global energy mix and natural gas is the hydrocarbon fuel of choice from an emissions perspective," he said.

     "While we expect to see overall growth in energy demand up almost 35 percent between 2005 and 2030, demand for natural gas looks likely to grow by 60 percent."

     He said he was confident that the strategic positioning of ExxonMobil's three LNG receiving terminal projects in Wales, Northern Italy and the US will bolster Qatar's plans to up its delivery of LNG worldwide. "The LNG receiving terminals are strategic assets for the delivery of Qatari LNG into key markets. This energy value chain is helping to establish Qatar as global supplier of clean-burning energy."  

Yemen, Total Discuss Raising Oil, Gas Production  

(www.ordons.com - July 5, 2011)  

 

  Yemen and Total discussed here on Sunday the new developments and procedures aiming to raise the oil and gas production in Yemen. This came in a meeting brought together Vice President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi and Total's most senior executive in the Middle East Arnaud Breuillac.

 

     During the meeting, Hadi underlined the necessity to process the oil-accompanied gas burning in the block 10 to liquid gas to be utilized in electricity uses.He urged to search for new markets for the Yemeni gas, stressing the importance of the entire cooperation between Oil ministry and Total company.  The Vice President described the Yemeni partnership with Total company as strategic, economic and significant.

 

 

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Oman: BP Mulls $15 Billion Investment in Omani "tight gas" Fields 

(www.ordons.com - June 21, 2011) 

 

       

      "We have not yet reached an agreement with the government," Evan said, adding that, "We have to submit a field development plan to the government, which we plan to do early next year."

     Evans noted that on the basis of field development plan, BP will negotiate commercial terms with the government. "The government has to agree for the scale of development that we are talking about," he said. If everything goes well, the first production of gas on commercial basis from the field is expected in late 2016 or early 2017. "We need 60 wells to start commercial production and thereafter, we will drill 20 wells every year for 10 years," Evans said.

     Evans' remarks followed an announcement by BP of the successful completion of an extended well testing project, with the anticipated commercial gas production from its Khazzan and Makarem fields expected at about 1.2 bcfd. "We are encouraged by the results of the extended well tests," said Evans, who explained that the tests, "will help us as we now work towards declaration of commercialization by 2012-end."

     "We have already drilled eight wells and a ninth one is being drilled at the moment," said Evans, who added that the stimulation and testing of the first three wells have been completed.

61.

     "This includes designs for wells and surface facilities," said Evans, who added that BP had begun producing 60 MMcfd of gas from the test wells. He said seven wells have been successfully tested, with BP Oman planning to add two more wells by yearend.

     Under the terms of the exploration and production-sharing agreement signed in January 2007, BP is required to submit a full field development plan to the government. "We plan to do this early next year, and on the basis of that, we will then negotiate commercial terms," Evans said. The agreement covers a 2,800 sq km area in central Oman, including the Khazzan and Makarem gas fields, which were discovered in 1993 but had remained undeveloped due to what BP called "the complexity of their tight gas reservoirs."

     At the time, BP said it signed "a major production-sharing agreement that will give the company access to two Middle East fields and associated accumulations that could yield resources of some 20-30 tcf of natural gas."

     In November 2009, BP completed drilling five of eight appraisal wells as part of its development program for the reserves on Block 61. "BP will drill eight appraisal wells in total by 2011," according to Jonathan Evans, BP Oman general manager. "So far we've done five wells, which have provided a lot of useful information on the nature and the scale of the reservoirs (OGJ Newsletter, June 7, 2010)." BP has a 100% stake in Block 61, but Oman's government may take 20% equity in the project at the time of commerciality.

(www.petroleumafrica.com - July 18, 2011)

     

   

   Abengoa launched the first hybrid solar-gas plant in Hassi R 'Mel, Algeria. The plant will generate electricity on a large scale using both natural gas and solar energy. The hybrid plant has a 150 MW capacity and consists of a natural gas combined cycle plant with a solar field of 224 parabolic trough collectors with the capacity to produce up to 25 MW of energy.

     The Hassi R 'Mel solar thermal plant is the first hybrid solar-gas plant in Algeria and the second that Abengoa has undertaken. The other facility, opened on May 13, is located in Ain-Beni-Mathar in Morocco. The Moroccan plant has a 470 MW capacity.

 

Kuwait's Al-Zour Refinery Gets Approval 

    Kuwait's Oil Minister Mohammad al-Busairy said the Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC), the country's highest decision-making body for oil policy, has approved construction of the 615,000 b/d Al-Zour refinery.

     Al-Busairy said SPC also approved proposals to upgrade two of Kuwait's three existing refineries-the 466,000 b/d Mina Al-Ahmadi and the 270,000 b/d Mina Abdulla..