Microsoft word new base 667 special 18 august 2015

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,

or otherwise copied without the written permission of the authors. This includes internal distribution. All reasonable endeavours have been used to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this

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NewBase 18 August 2015 - Issue No. 667 Senior Editor Eng. Khaled Al Awadi

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

UAE open to meeting Indian oil demand - UAE economy minister REUTERS

The United Arab Emirates is open to meeting any demand for oil from India, the Gulf OPEC member's economy minister Sultan bin Saeed al-Mansouri told Reuters on Monday. Mansouri was speaking after meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in the UAE on a two-day visit.

"India is importing oil now and the UAE is open to meet demand for any oil from India," Mansouri said, adding that the issue would be discussed further by representatives of the two sides. Abu Dhabi currently provides 9 percent of India’s energy needs and India is the world's fourth biggest oil consumer.

Mansouri said Modi presented

proposals for investments in India worth $1 trillion.

"The UAE can focus on certain areas such as infrastructure, railways, medical, tourism, real estate," Mansouri said, adding that the tourism sector had huge untapped potential but needed rules and regulations to develop it.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, is already an investor in India and further investment will depend on what India provides, Mansouri added.

Modi said he would send India's minister of commerce to the UAE shortly to discuss investment, the UAE minister said.

"There's a new momentum in the relationship between the two countries in different areas, mainly economic and investments," Mansouri said. "We are addressing some challenges of the past and creating a new vision for India-UAE in the future."

India is in talks to lease part of its planned strategic oil storage facilities to Abu Dhabi’s state oil company ADNOC, Indian government sources said last year. India imports about 80 percent of its oil needs and is building emergency storage capacity to hedge against energy security risks.

A UAE industry source said this week that negotiations between ADNOC and India were continuing but no final agreement had been reached yet.




GCC: New sun control fabric to cut GCC buildings energy costs by 25% Saudi Gazette + NewBase GCC buildings can reduce energy costs by up to 25 percent with a new line of sun control fabric launched today by Hunter Douglas, according to industry experts. Demonstrating the strong potential for building sustainability, the GCC hosts 1,236 LEED-rated projects, with 837 (68 percent) in the UAE, according to a report by Ventures Middle East. Qatar has 190 projects, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with 158 projects, and Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain combining for 51 projects.

With the UAE as the region’s leader in green buildings, Dubai has one of the region’s more ambitious plans, with the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy expecting nearly one quarter – 30,000 of Dubai’s 130,000 buildings - to be energy-efficient by 2030, at a cost of $ 820 million, according to the report. Supporting sustainable buildings in the region, Hunter Douglas, an international manufacturer of sun control systems based in The Netherlands, has released the new Screen Nature Ultimetal sun control fabric, which reflects 70 percent of solar energy that strikes buildings and can substantially reduce energy costs. In projects with a lot of glass, such as skyscrapers, Screen Nature Ultimetal can cut the amount of energy needed for cooling by 25 percent by blocking out glare, while minute holes allow for light and openness. Robin van der Velden, Manager of Window Covering Division, Hunter Douglas Middle East, said: “With GCC countries among the world leaders in focusing on sustainable buildings, skyscrapers in particular require advanced solutions to cope with harsh daylight, while ensuring people have a comfortable climate and visibility. Screen Nature Ultimetal pushes the boundaries of sustainable sun control, combining visual appeal, thermal performance, and environmental properties, while substantially reducing energy consumption.” Screen Nature Ultimetal is recyclable as it is made with fiberglass with a reflective aluminum layer, is fire-safe, and free of PVC, odors, toxic vapors. Wouter Beck, Director of GreenTech, Hunter Douglas, said: "Fiberglass shading fabrics often come with a protective layer of PVC. Despite its strong protective properties, PVC is not the most environment-friendly material in terms of production or recyclability. The yarns used in Screen Nature have a patented inorganic coating that offers excellent protection. Screen Nature Ultimetal has two additional advantages: the material is fire-safe as well as odorless, due to the absence of softeners." Job Hoevenaars, Product Manager, Hunter Douglas, said: "The fabric halves the solar heat gain coming through the window. This means the interior temperature will remain pleasant in summer without much additional cooling. This also makes the Screen Nature Ultimetal sun control fabric ideal for projects facing high requirements with regard to Energy Performance Certification and sustainable schemes, such as BREEAM and LEED."




Adnoc lowers run rate at Ruwais refinery after outage Reuters + NewBase State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (Adnoc) is operating its newly expanded Ruwais refinery at just above 70 per cent of capacity after it recently had to shut a secondary unit, industry sources said. The refinery was running at near maximum capacity in July with its residue fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC) - a unit which processes heavy fuel oil into higher valued products such as diesel and gasoline - operating at about a 90 to 95 per cent use rate, one of the sources said.

But an unexpected outage at the RFCC earlier this month forced a reduction in the refinery's run rate. The extent of the problem is not clear, but the unit typically takes four to six weeks to fix, the source added.

"The crude distillation unit, hydrotreater and hydrocracker units are all working fine," the source said. "The RFCC is a very complex unit so it's not clear how long it will take to fix it." Adnoc has been slowly ramping up the crude distillation unit's (CDU) operating rate since the RFCC outage and is aiming to

have it at about 75 per cent by end-August, the source said. Term exports of middle distillates from the refinery will not be disrupted as half the volumes contracted are optional cargoes. The refiner's inventory levels are also enough to meet term obligations, industry sources said. Adnoc offered a large volume of straight-run fuel oil and Murban crude for this month and next, because of issues with the RFCC unit. The more than 800,000 barrels-per-day newly expanded refinery, faced start-up issues with the RFCC when it started operations in May.

The RR-Expansion project would augment the refining , capacity of

Takreer from the present level of 510,000 BPD , to 958,000 BPD




Iraq: IRAQ BASRA CRUDE AUGUST EXPORTS SEEN AT 2.93 MLN BPD -INDUSTRY SOURCE .. Reuters + GulfNews +NewBase

OPEC’s second-largest oil producer, is expected to export about 2.93 million barrels per day of its Basra crude in August, an industry source familiar with the matter said on Sunday. The country plans to ship about 2.08 million bpd of Basra Light and 850,000 bpd of Basra Heavy in August, the source said.

Traders said on Thursday that the State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) has allocated 3.017 million bpd of Basra crude for export for its September loading programme, with Basra Heavy shipments to jump by about 400,000 bpd from a month earlier.

However, the industry source said Basra Heavy crude allocation in September is expected to be about 1.02 million bpd, with Basra Light allocation of 1.995 million bpd. A reason for the rise next month is that some of the

August cargoes are expected to be lifted in September, the source said.

Iraq’s limited storage capacity means that SOMO tends to/sallocate more crude shipments than the volumes available for export to avoid disrupting production.




Bulgaria: Total on track to start Bulgaria offshore drilling in early 2016 Source: Reuters / energy-pedia

French oil firm Total said on Monday it was on track to start drilling for oil and gas at an

exploration site off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast early next year. Total, an operator of the offshore

Han Asparuh 1-21 block along with OMV and Spain's Repsol, had postponed drilling there due to

the fall in oil prices.

'We are currently under preparation and we expect to begin in early 2016,' Xavier Faugeras, general manager of Total's Bulgaria division, told Reuters. 'It depends on the availability of our contractors when exactly we will start, but everything is going according to the plan.'

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said on Saturday that explorations in the continental shelf of the

Black Sea off Bulgaria were expected to begin in February and help the country reduce its almost complete dependence on Russian gas.

Bulgaria has opened tenders for exploratory drilling for oil and gas in two blocks and expects offers in late September.

Han-Asparuh Block

In 2012 the Bulgarian Government awarded the Han Asparuh Block located in the offshore Black Sea to the consortium of OMV (30%), TOTAL (40%) and Repsol (30%). OMV acts as the operator for the seismic phase of the exploration and will hand over to TOTAL when it comes to the drilling operations. Strategically well positioned next to the Neptun block offshore Romania (Domino discovery – 1.5 – 3.0 TCF) the huge block (14,220 km2) offers additional potential to find hydrocarbons in the Western Black Sea Basin.

The first license period of five years contains an exciting exploration program. A 3D seismic of almost 8,000 km2 will be acquired. This will be the largest 3D seismic ever acquired in the Black Sea and also OMV´s largest operated seismic program. This will be supported by additional 3,000 km of 2D seismic. Based on the evaluation of the seismic data and a number of geological and geophysical studies two exploration wells are planned for 2015-2016 to test the potential of the block. The depth of the wells will be more than 5,000 m. (Source: OMV web site)




Norway: VNG Norge granted drilling permit for Boomerang Prospect

sidetrack well 6406/12-4 A in PL 586.. Source: NPD / energy-pedia

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has issued a drilling permit to VNG Norge for well 6406/12-4 A, which will be drilled from the Transocean Arctic drilling facility in position 64°1’7.48” north and 6°46’31.29” east after drilling wildcat well 6406/12-4 S in production licence PL 586.

According to information on JV partner Faroe Petroleum's web site, the 6406/12-4 A well is an updip side-track of the 6406/12-4S Boomerang exploration well, which was spudded June 22 2015. VNG Norge is the operator with an ownership interest of 30 per cent. The other licensees are Spike Exploration Holding (30 per cent), Faroe Petroleum Norge (25 per cent) and

Rocksource Exploration Norway (15 per cent).

The area in this permit consists of part of Block 6406/11 and part of Block 6406/12. The well will be drilled about 33 km south-west of the Njord field. Production licence PL 586 was awarded on 4 February 2011 (APA 2010). This is the fifth exploration well to be drilled in the licence. PL 586 is located on the Halten Terrace in the Norwegian Sea, where the Pil & Bue discoveries were made in 2014.

The permit is contingent on the operator securing all other permits and consents required by other authorities prior to commencing the drilling activity.




Thailand: First oil flows at KrisEnergy-operated Wassana field Source: KrisEnergy

The Wassana oil field has commenced production from the first development well in 15 months after

KrisEnergy took over operatorship of G10/48. Production is expected to reach a peak rate of approx.

10,000 bopd by year end.

KrisEnergy, an independent upstream oil and gas company, has announced that oil production from the Wassana oil field in the G10/48 concession in the Gulf of Thailand commenced on 14 August 2015. KrisEnergy became the operator of the G10/48 block in May 2014.

'Wassana is KrisEnergy’s first operated oil project and the start of production marks a major milestone in the Company’s evolution. Work is now underway to bring another five wells on stream and to optimise production in this initial wave of drilling. This field is the first of a series of

KrisEnergy-operated developments we are working on in Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia.'

Wassana production is expected to reach a peak rate of approx. 10,000 barrels of oil per day ('bopd') as additional development wells are drilled and completed by the Key Gibraltar jack-up rig. Up to 15 development wells are planned, 14 producer wells and one water disposal well. The Wassana infrastructure comprises a mobile offshore production unit ('MOPU'), the MOPU Ingenium, a mooring buoy and the Rubicon Vantage floating storage offloading vessel.

The G10/48 contract area covers 4,696 sq km over the Southern Pattani Basin in water depths of up to 60 metres. The contract area contains three other discoveries – Niramai and Mayura from 2009 and Rayrai in 2015. KrisEnergy holds an effective 89% working interest in G10/48 and Palang Sophon Offshore holds an effective 11% working interest.

The Gulf of Thailand is a core operational area for KrisEnergy. The Company has non-operated working interests in the B8/32, B9A and G11/48 producing blocks and is the operator of G10/48 and G6/48, where it drilled four successful exploration wells in 2015 and has subsequently submitted a plan of development for the Rossukon oil field. It also operates Block A across the maritime border in Cambodian waters, where it is seeking to develop the Apsara oil field. Visit http://www.krisenergy.com/videos/wassana/ for a video animation on the Wassana project.




US: Shell Wins Approval to Drill for Oil in Alaskan Arctic Waters Bloomberg -Brian Wingfield

Royal Dutch Shell Plc won permission to fully drill a well for oil in the Arctic waters off Alaska for the first time in three years.

The U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement granted the permit for the Burger J well in the Chukchi Sea, while limiting drilling at the nearby Burger V site, according to a statement on Monday. Because of a requirement that active rigs have at least 15 miles of space between them, the company can drill only the top section of Burger V.

Shell halted Arctic drilling in 2012 after a rig ran aground, helping prompt the Obama administration to revisit U.S. rules for exploration activities in the region. The producer, based in The Hague, may complete the well as early as this summer.

“It’s possible we will complete a well this summer but we’re not attaching a timeline to the number of feet drilled,” Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said by e-mail. “Safe, efficient operations will ultimately determine the progress we make.”

Shell won federal regulators’ approval to drill the top sections of the two wells on July 22, and the company began drilling at Burger J on July 30. The BSEE permit allows it to drill into the oil-baring zone only at Burger J.

Environmental groups have protested Shell’s drilling plans, saying that a spill may cause an ecological disaster in the Arctic. “Not allowing Arctic Ocean oil drilling would have been the right technical decision,” Lois Epstein, Arctic program director for The Wilderness Society, said in a statement. Shell is committed to operating in a safe, environmentally responsible manner, Smith said.

“Shell has spent years preparing to fully explore its leases in the Arctic offshore,” Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said in a statement. She said offshore development would create jobs in the state and boost the oil supply for the trans-Alaska pipeline.

Shell’s drilling plan proposes to drill up to six wells within the Burger Prospect, located about 70 miles (110 km) northwest of the village of Wainwright, Alaska. The wells would be drilled in about 140 feet (40 meters) of water by the Polar Pioneer and the Noble Discoverer. Both vessels would provide relief-well capability for the other.

Shell has said the two ships will leave the Chukchi Sea at the end of each drilling season.

Arctic offshore reserves are estimated at 26 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 130 trillion cu. feet of natural gas, according to U.S. Geological Survey estimates.




Oil Price Drop Special Coverage

Oil prices fall again as US, Asia demand looks set to weaken Reuters + CNBC + NeewBase

Oil prices dipped again on Tuesday as traders braced for lower refinery consumption after the U.S. summer, while Asia's weakening economies and high global production stoked concerns about oversupply.

Both crude oil benchmarks are now almost a third below their last peak in May, with data showing speculators have taken huge bets on further falls.

"Fundamentals suggest downside risks still remain in key markets - particularly iron ore and crude oil - in the months ahead," ANZ bank said on Tuesday, expecting U.S. stockpiles to rise in coming months as refiners reduce operations for maintenance.

U.S. crude futures were trading 6 cents lower at $41.81 per barrel at 0234 GMT, not far off more than six-year lows touched earlier this week. Brent futures were at $48.63 a barrel, down 11 cents but still some way from their 2015-low of $45.19.

"The downward move has been largely speculative, driven by the Iranian nuclear accord, economic uncertainties surrounding China and bearish repositioning in the futures market," BMI Research analysts said.

Many oil traders are positioning themselves to profit from a further drop in U.S. prices. As well as betting on further outright falls, traders have been aggressively taking up put options - an option to sell a contract once it has fallen to a certain level - at prices as low as $35 and even $30 per barrel.




"The amount of queries we've received recently about leveraging bets on further price falls has been astonishing," one broker said. Underscoring the bearish sentiment, money managers and hedge funds cut their net long holdings of Brent crude futures for a fourth straight week, exchange data showed on Monday.

The long-term outlook also remained bearish, with BMI Research expecting "oil prices will remain anchored until 2018".

"The return of Iranian oil to the market, coupled with strong project pipelines in North America, the Middle East, West Africa and Kazakhstan, will see global supply growth outstrip the growth in global consumption for the next two years," they said.

The firm forecasts Brent to average $56 and $55 in 2016 and 2017 respectively, with U.S. crude averaging $53 in both years.




Algeria Calls for Non-OPEC Output Cut to Stop Oil Price Slump Bloomberg + NewBase

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries can do little to halt the oil price decline on its own and needs producers from outside the group to help in reducing global supplies, Algeria’s Energy Minister said. “A supply reduction by OPEC alone cannot really guarantee a return to oil

market stability,” Salah Khebri said at an event in Algiers, according to Liberte newspaper. As the 12-member group of crude producing nations accounts for 40 percent of the world’s supply, “there should be steps taken within OPEC and with non-OPECs.”

Khebri called earlier this month for an OPEC emergency meeting because of the continued decline in oil prices, which dropped by half from a year ago amid rising production from the U.S. Oil and gas

sales account for about 60 percent of Algeria’s budget revenue and 95 percent of its export income, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Algeria’s initiative to coordinate an OPEC response to tumbling crude prices had the backing of cash-strapped fellow members Libya and Venezuela. It was met with no public response from OPEC’s top producer Saudi Arabia, which engineered at the Nov. 27 meeting of the group a shift in its policy away from the historic role of managing prices by adjusting supply.

Saudi Arabia instead lobbied OPEC to preserve market share in the hope that prices would recover when higher cost producers such as U.S. shale companies are forced out of the market. The group stuck to the same policy at its last meeting in June. Financial Muscle

“Algeria doesn’t have the financial muscle of Gulf Arab oil exporters,” Robin Mills, a Dubai-based analyst at Manaar Energy Consulting, said by e-mail. “Unlike Iran or Iraq, it doesn’t have the capacity to raise crude output; it’s a relatively small, high-cost and declining oil producer among its OPEC peers.”

Algeria’s financial cushion has been instrumental in shielding the country of 40 million away from strife that swept through the Middle East and North Africa since 2011, toppling the rulers of Yemen, Egypt and neighboring Libya.

“The country can increase its oil and gas output, and has renewable energy development projects, but that’s more of a medium-term perspective,” Francis Perrin, director of Paris-based energy consultants Stratener, said in an e-mail. “In the short term, Algeria’s only solution is to dip into the currency reserves.”

Algeria’s foreign reserves fell 18 percent to $158.4 billion in March, the last month when the figures are available on Bloomberg data, from a year earlier. With a population smaller than Algeria and oil production at 10.5 million barrels a day, Saudi Arabia’s reserves dropped 8 percent over the same period to about $667 billion.




Kuwait S&P credit rating AA/A-1 affirmed despite low oil prices SG/Agencies Standard & Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'AA/A-1' long- and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Kuwait. The outlook is stable.

Prices for crude oil have fallen by around 50% in the last year. We now forecast an average Brent oil price of 55/bbl in 2015 and 67.5/bbl in 2015-2018. The sharp fall in oil prices over the past year has significantly affected Kuwait's fiscal and current account (flow) positions. Nevertheless, our ratings on Kuwait remain unchanged as they continue to be supported by the sovereign's high levels of accumulated wealth and very strong external and fiscal asset (stock) positions the Kuwaiti government, via the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), has accumulated substantial assets through oil and gas production over the years, saving its oil wealth in what we consider to be a prudent manner. “The government's large net asset position, which we estimate at over three times GDP at the end of 2015, is a significant ratings strength providing a substantial buffer to lower oil prices,” S&P said. Nevertheless, the ratings are constrained by a very heavy reliance on oil, as well as domestic political risk and regional geopolitical tensions. “Our base-case scenario assumes that, despite the sharp fall in the oil price, OPEC will chose to broadly maintain its current oil production levels to undermine shale-oil production,” it noted. Consequently, Kuwaiti oil output will remain at least 2.7 million barrels per day until 2018. Kuwait's production is also likely to increase if OPEC choses to increase production, and if Kuwait's planned investment in the sector comes to fruition.




The general government budget has averaged a surplus of around 35% of GDP for the past decade, if we include investment income from funds held by the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA). Fiscal surpluses in past years have contributed to the build-up of the significant net general government (and external) asset stocks. Even in the lower oil price environment, the Kuwaiti government will continue to run surpluses of around 14% of GDP for the budget years 2015-2018, when we include investment income from KIA funds. The 2015/16 budget has a reduced spending plan of Kuwaiti dinar (KWD) 19 billion (compared to a budgeted allocation of KWD23.2 billion in 2014/15) and a planned deficit of KWD8.2 billion. Kuwait typically spends below its proposed budgetary allocations and with lower average oil prices in 2015/16 onward it will likely generate significant automatic savings on the fuel subsidy bill. In addition, some large one-off costs incurred in 2014/15, such as social security fund top-ups, are unlikely to repeat in 2015/16. When investment income is included, we forecast that Kuwait will still run a surplus in 2015/16. “We estimate that strong oil exports led to current account surpluses averaging more than 37% of GDP in 2008-2014. We forecast these surpluses will fall to an annual average of 15% in 2015-2018. Given the government's policy of investing a large portion of its surpluses abroad, we estimate Kuwait had a net external asset position of more than 300% of current account receipts (CARs) in 2014,” the rating “We believe the government will maintain this large asset position given ongoing external surpluses and reinvestment but we note a distortion in the ratio due to a sharp decline in the denominator because of the fall in current account receipts (owing to lower oil prices).” At the same time, we project that gross external financing needs will remain relatively low, averaging around 75% of CARs plus usable reserves in the next four years. Kuwait had increased its annual contributions to the KIA's Future Generations Fund (FGF) from 10% to 25% of total revenues in the last few fiscal years including in 2014/15, because higher oil prices had produced very strong revenues. Now that oil prices are sharply lower, transfers to the fund from 2015/16 are planned to revert back to 10% from 2015/16 onward. The fund will still continue to grow on reinvested earnings and ongoing, albeit lower, contributions. Disclosure about the size and structure of the FGF and KIA's assets is limited but the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute and other sources estimate total assets at $592 billion at end-2014. “We estimate real GDP growth to average about 2.1% in 2015-2018, but GDP per capita growth to contract by about 1% annually, partly because of high population growth, which is to an extent linked to large numbers of expatriates. Nevertheless, Kuwait's high wealth we estimate GDP per capita at 44,500 in 2015means that its weak economic growth performance (on a per capita basis) does not currently affect our ratings.” Oil slump pushes Kuwait’s foreign trade surplus into nosedive

Kuwait’s foreign trade surplus plummeted in the first quarter as the oil price rout hit export earnings. The amount between January and March fell 68 per cent to 1.74 billion Kuwaiti dinars




(Dh21.1bn) from 5.4bn dinars in the year-earlier period, according to data from the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics. The value of exports dropped 46 per cent year-on-year to 4bn dinars, while imports rose 11 per cent to 2.3bn dinars.Crude exports accounted for nearly 90 per cent, or 3.62bn dinars, of all exports. Vehicles led imports with a collective value of 346 million dinars, accounting for 14.9 per cent of all imports. The benchmark Brent crude has lost 57 per cent of its value since peaking at US$115 a barrel in June last year. It closed down 0.9 per cent on Friday to $49.19 a barrel in London.Oil prices have been declining as Opec keeps its taps open to maintain market share amid a supply glut. Concerns about oil demand and the economic outlook in China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, and the strong US dollar have been weighing on energy prices. Kuwait's exchange rate is pegged to an undisclosed basket of currencies, with a large US dollar component, which limits its monetary flexibility. “We view its monetary flexibility as limited although we acknowledge that the exchange rate regime is consistent with Kuwait's reliance on US dollar-based oil revenues and that Kuwait has sufficient resources to defend the peg. Kuwait's financial system remains fairly stable, in our view; its banks maintain healthy capital levels,” S&P said. —

Saudi Growth to Slow as Kingdom Adjusts to Cheaper Oil, IMF Says Bloomberg - Ahmed Feteha

Economic growth in Saudi Arabia is set to slow this year and next as the government is forced to reduce spending to compensate for lower oil prices, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday.

Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product will grow by 2.8 percent this year and 2.4 percent in 2016, the IMF said in e-mailed statement at the conclusion of its regular country consultation. That compares with 3.5 percent growth last year. Growth may expand to 3 percent in the “medium term,” it said.

The world’s largest oil producer turned to the bond market this year for the first time since 2007 after oil prices fell by over 50 percent. The resulting budget deficit, which the IMF projects at 19.5 percent of GDP, may force Saudi rulers to abandon the kingdom’s traditional largess.

Saudi Arabia needs “comprehensive energy price reforms, firm control of the public sector wage bill, greater efficiency in public sector investment,” the IMF said. “The sharp drop in oil revenues and continued expenditure growth would result in a very large fiscal deficit this year and over the medium term, eroding the fiscal buffers built up over the past decade.”

The government should also introduce value-added and land taxes, the IMF said. Saudi Arabia sold 20 billion riyals ($5.3 billion) of bonds to local banks and public institutions in August to cover the deficit. Government debt was equivalent to 1.6 percent of the country’s GDP at the end of 2014, the IMF said.

The drop in oil revenues combined with a war in Yemen and a boost in domestic spending led the country’s net foreign assets to fall for a fifth consecutive month in June. Reserves stood at $664.4 billion, down from $724.5 in January. Saudi Arabia opened its stock market to international investors in June as part of broader plans to diversify the economy away from oil. The benchmark stock index has since fallen by 13 percent.




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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 18 August 2015 K. Al Awadi

Microsoft word new base 667 special 18 august 2015

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Transcript of Microsoft word new base 667 special 18 august 2015