New base energy news issue 878 dated 22 june 2016

Copyright © 2015 NewBase www.hawkenergy.net Edited by Khaled Al Awadi – Energy Consultant All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, redistributed,

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NewBase Energy News 22 June 2016 - Issue No. 878 Edited & Produced by: Khaled Al Awadi

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Iraq southern oil exports average 3.14 million barrels per day Reuters

Oil exports from Iraq's southern ports are averaging 3.144 million barrels per day (bpd) so far in June, down from May due to maintenance work and weather, a South Oil Co. official said on Tuesday.

State-run South Oil oversees Iraq's operations in the southern provinces that produce most of the OPEC's nation's crude. Iraq exported 3.2 million bpd in May and 3.364 million bpd in April from its southern ports, according to official figures.

"There are expectations that the daily average will return to the previous level as periodic maintenance carried out on different facilities is finished," the official said. The central government in Baghdad halted exports from the northern Kirkuk fields in March because of a financial dispute with the Kurdish self-rule administration in the region.

The Kurds exported about 513,000 bpd of crude in May, independently from Baghdad, via a pipeline to Turkey.

Iraq: DNO reports payment for Tawke deliveries

DNO, the Norwegian oil and gas operator, has reported receipt of USD 15.0 million from the Kurdistan Regional Government as partial payment to DNO and partner Genel Energy for May crude oil deliveries to the export market from the Tawke field. The total invoiced amount for May is USD 39.28 million, of which USD 32.95 million comprises the monthly entitlement and USD 6.34 million is towards the recovery of outstanding receivables for past deliveries.




Tanzania: Otto Energy farms out Kilosa - Kilombero Licence, Source: Otto Energy

Otto Energy has reached an agreement with MV Upstream Tanzania, a joint venture between Vegas Oil & Gas and Motor Oil Hellas ('MOH') in respect of the assignment of a 25% participating interest in the Kilosa-Kilombero Licence, onshore Tanzania.

Under the terms of the farm down agreement with MV Upstream:

MV Upstream shall pay to Otto the sum of US$2.3 million (inclusive of applicable taxes) for a 25% participating interest in the Licence as reimbursement of historical costs incurred by Otto.

In addition to paying its 25% participating interest share of well costs, MV Upstream shall carry Otto’s remaining 25% working interest through the drilling of the Kito prospect up to an amount of US$2 million. Costs over and above this capped amount shall be payable by Otto in accordance with its remaining 25% participating interest. Well costs are currently estimated at around US$10 million.

In the event of a discovery at Kito, MV Upstream shall carry Otto’s remaining 25% working interest through the drilling of an appraisal well up to an amount of US$1 million.

The transaction is conditional upon customary Tanzanian regulatory and joint venture approvals prior to completion.

Otto’s Managing Director, Matthew Allen said: 'Otto is very pleased to welcome Vegas and MOH to the Kilosa-Kilombero joint venture. The Vegas group has an extremely successful track record in exploration, development and production, particularly in Egypt, where the group has operated for more than 30 years and MOH is a substantial business with interests and holdings across all aspects of the downstream value chain.

The farm down provides Otto shareholders with meaningful exposure to the high-impact exploration well targeting the 194MMbbl (gross Prospective Resource) Kito prospect, whilst conserving the Company’s balance sheet. The joint venture continues to make preparations for




drilling, with final rig selection and permitting continuing ahead of an expected spud date in the second half of 2016. The carried drilling in Tanzania extends what continues to be an active period for Otto post the Company’s recent maiden discovery in the Gulf of Mexico and ahead of its planned multi-well campaign on the Alaskan North Slope.'

Otto was advised on this transaction by First Energy Capital in London.

Overview of Kito Prospect

The Kito Prospect is a Miocene (Neogene) age bounded fault block target analogous to the highly successful prospects drilled in the Lokichar Basin in Kenya and around Lake Albert in Uganda. A discovery at Kito would open up several follow up targets within the Kilosa-Kilombero Licence.

About MV Upstream and Vegas Oil & Gas

MV Upstream is a newly formed joint venture established to participate in upstream activity. Vegas has a long track record of exploration and production activities in both Egypt and the USA and is privately owned. MOH is a diversified downstream company, which has a core business in refining crude oil products at its owned and operated Corinth Refinery. MOH is listed on the Athens stock exchange and during 2015 had a consolidated annual turnover of 7 billion Euros.




Algeria: Eni and Sonatrach renew partnership in Algeria Source: Eni

The Minister of Energy, Noureddine Bouterfa, and the Chairman and CEO of the Algerian State Oil & Gas Company Sonatrach, Amine Mazouzi, on Tuesday met with Eni CEO, Claudio Descalzi, in Algiers. This latest meeting between the parties follows previous engagements in November 2015 and April 2016.

During the meeting, Claudio Descalzi and Amine Mazouzi signed an agreement propaedeutic to the extension of the production licenses for the ROD reservoir, its satellite fields and three fields in Block 403. These are considered to be particularly important assets as their discovery led to the establishment in 1995 of the first Groupement Sonatrach Agip in Algeria (GSA) and marked the start of a strong partnership between Eni and Sonatrach.

The renewal of the partnership between Eni and Sonatrach, enshrined in today's agreement, will bring about an ambitious programme of activities that will include advanced techniques for hydrocarbon recovery. The agreement also lays the foundations for the completion of the unitisation process between the SF field, where Sonatrach has a 100% stake, and the SFNE field, which is jointly operated by Eni and Sonatrach.

With this visit, Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi has renewed the hope of a cooperation ever more fruitful either by re-launching gas development activities in existing concessions in the Country and by embarking on new renewable energy activities. The aim is to further strengthen the partnership between Italy and Algeria and between Eni and Sonatrach by a development model capable of enhancing the existing facilities of Eni and Sonatrach in Algeria.

Eni has been present in Algeria since 1981 and now participates in 32 mining permits. In the period between 2010 and 2015, the company invested $11.5bn in the development of hydrocarbons in Algeria, which represented approximately 26% of the total investment made by all international companies operating in the country. Eni's production in the country currently amounts to more than 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.




India: Essar Oil Emerges as India's Largest Unconventional Gas Producer by Chee Yew Cheang|Rigzone Staff|

India's Essar Oil Ltd. emerged as the country's largest unconventional gas player as its Raniganj (East) Block in West Bengal crossed an important milestone when it became the first local coal bed methane (CBM) asset to produce 35.3 million standard cubic per day (MMscf/d) or 1 million standard cubic meters per day (MMscf/m).

The company expected peak production from the Raniganj (East) Block to reach 105.9 MMscf/d (3 MMscf/d). According to the 2016 NSAI (Netherland Sewell & Associates, Inc.) report, the proven, probable and possible gross CBM reserves in the block is around 1.09 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), while contingent resources was estimated at around 270 billion cubic feet (Bcf). “We married talent with technology to transform reserves to production. In the last 12 months, the average well productivity has more than doubled, the gas break-out time in new wells has reduced to days instead of months, and the workover cycle has reduced to a fifth. Our collaborative relationship with international service providers has resulted in win-win solutions,” Essar Oil CEO for Exploration and Production Manish Maheshwari said in the press release. Essar Oil is supplying 5.29 MMscf/d

(150,000 scm/d) of CBM gas to Matix Fertilisers for its pre-commissioning activities, while industrial consumers in the catchment area of Durgapur also received the fuel from the company. “There are tremendous opportunities in the domestic unconventional hydrocarbon sector. The Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing Policy (HELP), which was announced by the Government in March 2016, recognizes this potential in contributing towards national energy security,” Maheshwari added. Essar Oil revealed that a U.S. Trade & Development Agency-supported study by an independent U.S. firm with expertise in shale has assessed that the original in-place shale gas resources in the Raniganj (East) Block is estimated at around 8 Tcf. In February, Essar Oil awarded Greka Drilling Ltd. a $8 million one year contract for the provision of drilling services for its Raniganj (East) Block. Greka deploys two semi-automated GD75 rigs for the drilling operations, which commenced May 8 and June 5, respectively. Excluding its Raniganj (East) Block, Essar Oil's CBM portfolio in India includes more than 1,042 square miles of acreage. The Indian government has been working to increase the country's energy supply, whether domestic and foreign, to meet rising consumption in the South Asian nation. India's energy demand reached 700.5 million tons of oil equivalent (MMtoe) last year, up 36 percent from 515.2 MMtoe in 2008, figures released recently by BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2016 indicated.




Russia’s Gazprom eyes asset swap deals with Shell, OMV by year-end Reuters - Denis Pinchuk and Dmitry Zhdannikov

Russia’s state-controlled gas giant Gazprom could gain control over some of the assets that Shell acquired earlier this year from BG group, a senior Gazprom executive said in an interview. Gazprom’s Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Medvedev said the BG holdings could be included in an asset swap deal between Gazprom and Shell that was announced last year. He did not say

what the BG holdings were or where they were located.

“The work is under way, progress has been made and the final result is just around the corner – it’s certain that the (deals will be completed) by the year-end, maybe earlier,” Medvedev said in an interview cleared for publication on Monday. “Obviously, the BG assets are also in that basket,” Medvedev told Reuters in the interview. Gazprom is subject to U.S. financial sanctions imposed on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.

Shell signed a deal with Gazprom last week to study jointly building a $10 billion (6.82 billion pound) gas plant on the Baltic Sea, as part of

their strategic partnership which also foresees asset swaps. Shell, which wants to sell as much as $30 billion worth of assets and exit 10 countries after merging with BG, has never commented on the assets it plans to offer to Gazprom.

The asset swap deal is not covered by the scope of the sanctions. Nevertheless, it could still arouse political sensitivities, especially if as part of the deal the Russian company, run by a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, ends up controlling assets in western Europe.

Shell acquired BG Group for $54 billion in February.

Under the previously-announced terms of their asset swap deal, Gazprom and Shell will jointly invest $13 billion in three projects in Russia, including construction of a liquefied natural gas plant on the Baltic Sea and the Sakhalin-2 LNG plant expansion, in the Pacific Ocean.

Shell is also eyeing the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye gas field off Sakhalin island as part of the asset swap deal. That asset is specifically subject to the U.S. sanctions, complicating any involvement by Shell.

GAS AUCTION, LNG

Gazprom has another asset swap deal with Austrian energy firm OMV which will include OMV-owned assets in the North and Norwegian seas. Medvedev said in the interview that deal too would be completed by year end.

Medvedev also told Reuters that Gazprom plans to offer no less than 3 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas at an auction for northwest Europe for supplies between October and March. Last year, Gazprom started holding gas auctions for sales to Europe as part of efforts to protect its market share against other producers and types of fuel.

Medvedev also reiterated Gazprom’s position that the United States will struggle to market its LNG to Europe because other markets offer more favourable conditions. “Under the current pricing situation, they will resend (LNG cargoes) to other markets,” Medvedev said.




US: Musk Buys Musk: Tesla’s SolarCity Deal by the Numb Agencies + NewBase

Elon Musk's Tesla Motors Inc. just made an offer to buy Elon Musk's SolarCity Corp. for as much

as $2.86 billion. The mind boggles.

Musk is the largest SolarCity shareholder, already owning 23 percent of the company, so he would personally profit by as much as $140 million from his shares. On the other hand, he's also the largest shareholder of Tesla, a much bigger company, which fell about 11 percent in late trading after the deal was announced. That cost him about $715 million, so on net he's down about $575 million. Not a great start.

So why is he doing it? There's basically two ways to look at it: Either Musk, 44, is bailing out a beleaguered company that's run by his cousin, Lyndon Rive, or he's consolidating a clean-energy empire at rock-bottom prices. Or both.

Scenario 1: Musk to the rescue

SolarCity has been getting hammered. Shares had tumbled 60 percent so far this year as the company missed the consensus earnings forecast for three out of four quarters and shifted its focus away from installation growth. The most devastating blow, spiritually speaking, came during the last quarter's conference call when analyst Ben Kallo posed a simple question to executives: "What is SolarCity?"

The implication was that SolarCity had lost its way, shifting its business model to offer a loan program for homeowners to buy solar panels instead of leasing them, and pulling back on installation estimates three times in seven months. "Wall Street thinks it's way too complicated," said Kallo, who covers the company for Robert Baird & Co. Ten companies tracked by Bloomberg had a "buy" rating on the stock prior to Tuesday's announcement, while 11 said "hold" or "sell."




Scenario 2: An empire rising

An alternative reading of the offer is that Musk knows a good deal when he sees one. With shares hovering near their lowest prices since 2013, Tesla's proposed 21 percent to 30 percent premium still makes for a historically low valuation of under $2.9 billion for one of the world's biggest rooftop solar installers.

It allows Musk to integrate the three-legged stool of clean energy in a way the world has never seen: electric cars, solar power, and grid battery storage all in one place. If so inclined, you could provide for all of your energy needs without ever leaving the Tesla family. Forget the economies of scale (which are significant), that's just powerful branding. And adding batteries to solar is about to become increasingly common, according to a recent analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Tesla showrooms are swanky modern places of clean-tech worship, and now all that well-heeled foot traffic may benefit SolarCity. Customers could peruse solar panels with home batteries while sipping their Tesla cappuccinos. Musk is promising to make rooftop solar cooler, "including by making solar panels add to the look of your home." The deal, if approved by shareholders, could also help Tesla become a major distributor of utility-scale battery storage and solar power.

Regardless of any bright future, for now the tie-up translates into a drag on Tesla's shares and a bit more challenge for the world's most challenge-loving CEO. Tesla recently sold $1.4 billion in stock to help pay for a massive expansion, preparing for its most important car, the forthcoming Model 3. The company plans to boost production from last year's 50,000 to 500,000 vehicles by 2018—an incredibly ambitious target that's widely dismissed by Wall Street. And to top it off, Musk's company is in the process of becoming the world's biggest battery producer.




NewBase 22 June 2016 Khaled Al Awadi

NewBase For discussion or further details on the news below you may contact us on +971504822502 , Dubai , UAE

Oil prices above $50, buoyed by US stock draw Reuters + NewBase

Oil prices rose in early Asian trading on Wednesday, with U.S. crude joining Brent above $50 a barrel after data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed a larger than expected draw on stocks.

U.S. crude futures' August contract, the new front month from Wednesday, had climbed 9 cents to $49.94 a barrel by 0223 GMT. Earlier it rose to as high as $50.54, marking the first time it had risen above $50 since June 10.

Brent crude futures were up 4 cents at $50.66 a barrel, after settling down 3 cents at $50.62 on Tuesday.

U.S. crude inventories fell by 5.2 million barrels for the week ended June 17, the API said. The trade group's figures were triple the draw of 1.7 million barrels forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.

The U.S. government's Energy Information Administration will issue official stockpile data on Wednesday.

Markets remain jumpy over the possibility the United Kingdom will vote to leave the European Union on Thursday in a referendum, with polls showing little difference between the "remain" and "leave" camps.

The dollar clung to modest gains early on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen held the line of "gradual increases" in U.S. rates, while sterling's short-covering rally lost momentum a day ahead of the referendum.

Oil price special

coverage




Japan's Nikkei was down nearly 0.7 percent in early trading, while gold prices edged lower.

"Strengthening in the dollar and weakness in other currencies would ... be directionally short-term bearish for crude oil" in the event of a British exit, Societe Generale said in a research note.

A stronger dollar makes oil more expensive because it raises the cost for imports for most of the world's countries. Still, fundamentals could come into play once the dust settles from the vote.

"Global demand growth is quite robust, driven by the U.S., China, India and other emerging markets," Societe Generale said. "On the supply side, declining U.S. crude production is expected to underpin a trend of lower non-OPEC production."




NewBase Special Coverage

News Agencies News Release 22 June 2016

Oil Bust Pushes Producers Together to Make Cost Cutting Count Bloomberg - Rakteem Katakey rakteem

The biggest oil-industry downturn in a generation has companies collaborating in ways they never thought possible.

In this global effort, one of the world’s most expensive oil regions intends to lead the way. Last month companies operating in the North Sea started pooling spare parts and tools, and they are even sharing plans on how to drill wells so they can work faster and cheaper, said Paul Goodfellow, Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s vice president for the U.K. and Ireland.

This is a big change from oil’s boom, when costs weren’t such an issue as long as $100-a-barrel crude kept flowing. As companies focus on adapting to prices closer to $50 by making their spending less wasteful, they also aim to boost profitability for years to come by keeping costs low as markets recover.

“We didn’t particularly focus with the same urgency on costs when oil and gas prices were high,” said Colette Cohen, senior vice president of U.K. and the Netherlands for Centrica Plc, a natural gas supplier. “Now it’s about coming in every day and thinking how can I do that better, or how can I reduce costs,” but it’s “very difficult” to keep this going when prices recover, she said.




Companies responded to the price slump by reducing spending, potentially cutting as much as $1 trillion by 2020. The industry has reduced costs by 10 percent to 15 percent overall, but in the U.K. about three-quarters of these savings are linked to things like rig-rental rates, which typically go back up when oil prices rise, said Malcolm Dickson, principal analyst at consulting firm Wood Mackenzie Ltd.

The Shell-led initiative in the North Sea aims to avoid that.

“You can sit there in a world of $100 and think all is good and not maybe realize how fragile the system is,” Goodfellow said in an interview in Aberdeen, Scotland, the center of the U.K. oil industry. “You’ve had the shock and that’s illuminated the problem.”

Shell and partners including EnQuest Plc, Marathon Oil Corp., Apache Corp., Centrica and Repsol SA’s Talisman started talking last year about setting up a pool of spare parts, ranging from nuts and screws to valves and compressors, Goodfellow said. They formed a group to manage the inventory, contributed their excess equipment, cataloged it and found a warehouse in Aberdeen to store more than 200,000 parts.

Sharing Economy

The system, which is managed by a company called Ampelius Trading, came online a few weeks ago. So now, for example, if Shell needs a valve for a North Sea facility, it can log on to the system, go through the catalog, place an order and have the part delivered the next day instead of waiting “six weeks, six months,” Goodfellow said.

Shell is also leading a group called the Wells Forum, which asked members to share their drilling plans so others could give their opinion and experience on how to reduce costs, Goodfellow said. Shell, BP Plc and France’s Engie SA were the first to put up their well plans and seven others followed, helping cut costs by at least 10 percent, he said.




Overall, operating costs in the area have fallen as much as 40 percent in the past two years, Goodfellow said.

While this cooperation is “very desirable,” it’s not enough to fully compensate for current low oil prices, said Nick Butler, visiting professor at the Policy Institute at Kings College in London and former vice president of strategy at BP. Investment cuts in the area will start to affect production from 2018, he said.

Adding Up

Still, lots of incremental savings can add up to significant cost reductions for individual projects. Statoil ASA and its partners have cut the estimate for capital spending on the giant Johan Sverdrup field in the Norwegian North Sea to 160 billion kroner to 190 billion kroner ($19.3 billion to $22.9 billion) from 170 billion kroner to 220 billion kroner previously.

Fewer wells are being drilled, production vessels are being changed and the standardization of equipment like underwater valves makes cost reductions more sustainable, said Wood Mackenzie’s Dickson.

BP CEO Bob Dudley says the industry can do a better-than-expected job of keeping costs low.

The company’s Mad Dog Phase 2 project in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico is now expected to costs less than $9 billion compared with an estimate of $10 billion last year and $20 billion four years ago, Dudley said. Rig-rental rates are likely to stay down because of an oversupply, while low steel prices are reducing the cost of other equipment, he said.

“That’s too pessimistic” to say that most savings will be lost when the industry rebounds from the downturn, he said in an interview in St. Petersburg, Russia, on June 17. “For our organization, we believe we can capture 75 percent of the cost reduction and keep them there.”

C R E D I T : R E Z A / C O N T R I B U T O R




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Khaled Malallah Al Awadi, Energy Consultant MS & BS Mechanical Engineering (HON), USA Emarat member since 1990

ASME member since 1995 Hawk Energy member 2010

Mobile: +97150-4822502 [email protected] [email protected]

Khaled Al Awadi is a UAE National with a total of 25 years of experience in the Oil & Gas sector. Currently working as Technical Affairs Specialist for Emirates General Petroleum Corp. “Emarat“ with external voluntary Energy consultation for the GCC area via Hawk Energy Service as a UAE operations base , Most of the experience were spent as the Gas Operations Manager in Emarat , responsible for Emarat Gas Pipeline Network Facility & gas compressor stations . Through the years, he has developed great

experiences in the designing & constructing of gas pipelines, gas metering & regulating stations and in the engineering of supply routes. Many years were spent drafting, & compiling gas transportation, operation & maintenance agreements along with many MOUs for the local authorities. He has become a reference for many of the Oil & Gas Conferences held in the UAE and Energy program broadcasted internationally, via GCC leading satellite Channels. NewBase : For discussion or further details on the news above you may contact us on +971504822502 , Dubai , UAE

NewBase 22 June 2016 K. Al Awadi

New base energy news issue 878 dated 22 june 2016

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Transcript of New base energy news issue 878 dated 22 june 2016