Nov 2019

Existing housing stock offers big efficiency wins but also presents the hardest challenges

Yashar Latifov, vice president for field development at Azerbaijan’s Socar, outlines the firm’s ambitious upstream development plans

Venezuela misses crucial bond payment as danger of losing control of the US refiner looms

The November 2019 issue of Petroleum Economist is out now!

Conservatives’ first budget forecasts a slight uptick in most oil and gas industry measures, but also includes planning for a ‘doomsday scenario’

Targeted support from a multilateral institution can result in substantial commercial and developmental rewards, says Olivier Mussat of the World Bank Group’s IFC

Explorers say they will work with the government to try to revive the nascent shale gas industry, but a new fracking moratorium makes it look like an uphill struggle

The petroleum ministry is poised to publish a new timetable and hold a Houston roadshow

Somalia’s Minister of Petroleum & Mineral Resources says the upcoming offshore 15 block licensing round is a ‘game-changing development’ that will benefit the entire population

Lack of fully liberalised East Asian downstream sectors and growing linkage to European prices slow progress towards a stand-alone regional gas market

The state energy giant’s decision to proceed with a share sale is no surprise, but the lack of an international listing is a crucial point

Declining European indigenous gas production to be substituted by more Russian imports as LNG market tightens

In the New Energy environment, culture may sometimes trump traditional calculations in determining deal success

The European Commission expects gas to be in the long-term energy mix, albeit in different ways to today

Stranded asset concerns encourage west African nation to get its oil out as quickly as possible

Isolated from instability in the south, the pioneers of the north’s independent oil industry are quietly pushing ahead

Sagging oil prices bruise the firm’s bottom line, despite a positive quarterly upstream performance

Financial fundamentals and sustainability considerations will also be key to attracting the project financing required to develop recent discoveries

Firms need to step up climate change efforts in new ESG environment

Enormous offshore pre-salt reserves fail to entice IOCs to the Transfer of Rights surplus bidding round

Sales of gas as a marine fuel close to double in just three months at Europe’s biggest port

The National Assembly has waited more than six months for the president to give his assent to anti-corruption legislation

Threat actors constantly remain one step ahead of those seeking to prevent malicious attacks

Cypriot energy minister Georgios Lakkotrypis issues the country’s first exploitation licence to the Aphrodite consortium to export gas to Egypt

Sceptical Western investors adopt wait-and-see attitude even after Algeria’s interim government agreed a draft hydrocarbons law

German gas and power firm Uniper sees a compelling need to understand LNG, given the impact on its core business

The Italian oil and gas firm is aiming to grow despite a challenging market

Former US secretary of state says a bipartisan consensus against its increasingly assertive rival will be lasting impediment to global trade and keep downward pressure on oil prices

Energy minister Gwede Mantashe outlines the benefits expected from the country’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2019 beyond energy security

Merging digital technologies with operations excellence is the new lever for performance improvement

Technology developments could take a chunk out of demand forecasts, but the impact may be just to moderate growth rather than shrink overall demand

The Saudi state-owned producer is aiming for a formidable network of midstream and downstream assets

The challenge of re-engineering the global energy system to meet or exceed Paris Agreement commitments is too important and too complex to be reduced to Right-Left squabbling

Technology is increasingly replacing the roles of humans across the energy supply chain

China needs to replicate the US approach of making more data available before it can hope for game-changing shale production growth

The Norwegian firm’s exit is another signal that US shale may no longer be the promised land

The glut of associated gas production in the Permian Basin has led to a scramble to build new takeaway capacity, although significant relief will not come before 2021

Does electoral pledge indicate that carbon capture and storage (CCS) is finally being taken seriously?

The winners of the 2019 Petroleum Economist Awards were announced in London on 19 November

Gulf Energy Information asked readers in the upstream, midstream and downstream to name their perceived leaders in Sustainability

The energy ministry’s aim to achieve FID in early 2020 looks ambitious

The Aramco IPO may fall short of his talismanic figure, but an anticipated result of the largest ever public offering is a rare win for the prince

There are strong indications that Saudi Arabia and the UAE intend to normalise relations with Qatar

Oman’s thriving gas sector is set to receive a further boost to both upstream and downstream investment

Riyadh's stuttering attempt to attract international investors to state oil firm Saudi Aramco's chimeric initial public offering (IPO) is forcing a re-evaluation of downstream projects

A new history of Opec says the organisation is being undermined in part by the ambitions of national oil companies

Discouraging Guyanese crude appraisal ramps up the pressure on year-ending drill prospect

A trade reconciliation between Washington and Beijing may come too late for the US oil and gas industry

The newly completed Power of Siberia pipeline may boost Moscow's options, but it is hardly a geopolitical big win

Expanding upstream investment is boosting Oman’s thriving gas sector

The US oilfield water-handling market is growing as shale production continues to rise, with the Permian Basin leading the way

Confidence is rising amid an uptick in deepwater permits and the proving of potentially transformative technologies

Expanding the use of enhanced oil recovery methods could offset output declines

Unless Cairo can consolidate economic progress, upcoming elections could become a focal point for mass protests

Washington remains committed to GCC nations but is also strengthening relationships in Asia-Pacific and beyond, says State Department

Digital transformation will shape the energy industry of the 2020s

Former BP CEO calls on oil & gas industry to start constructive dialogue with governments over environmental concerns—or risk misguided and ineffective legislation