New base energy news issue 949 dated 15 november 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 15 November 2016 - Issue No. 949 Edited & Produced by: Khaled Al Awadi

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

UAE: Masdar seeks to develop advanced water desalination technologies

(WAM)--Masdar Institute is keen to strengthen its research efforts in the field of water desalination in the light of the challenges facing the region, including the scarcity of water resources, Dr. Behjat Al Yousuf, Interim Provost, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, has said.

She cited that the per capita consumption of water in the state is around 550 liters per day, the highest global rate.

In a statement to Emirates News Agency, WAM, Dr. Al Yousuf said, "Masdar Institute supports the development of new and advanced technologies for water purification and reduction of clean water production costs as well as provision of innovative solutions that help achieve the strategic objectives pertaining to the water security."

This came on the sidelines of the start of the 9th International Desalination Workshop organised by the Masdar Institute at Yas Rotana Hotel Abu Dhabi, in cooperation with the Technology and Global MVP of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of South Korea, and the Korean Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement.

Dr. Al Yousuf added that Masdar Institute takes great interest in the Institute Center for Water and Environment (iWater) to explore innovative solutions to meet the challenges of water desalination sector.

It focusses on research and development activities conducted by professors, students, and researchers to devise a sustainable, and low-cost desalination technologies in pursuit of boosting the food security and reducing the depletion of natural freshwater resources, she added.




Iraq plans to export 3.163 million bpd of Basra crude in December Reuters + NewBase

Iraq plans to export 3.163 million barrels per day (bpd) of Basra crude from its southern ports in December, slightly lower than in this month, five sources with knowledge of the matter said on Monday.

The allocated December volume will be the lowest in four months, although Iraq exported more than what it had planned in October, seeking to be exempt from OPEC's plan to limit supplies.

Basra Light crude exports in December are set to edge up to 2.437 million bpd, the sources said, citing a preliminary loading program from Iraq's Oil Marketing Company (SOMO).

Basra Heavy exports are expected to fall to 726,000 bpd in December, from 900,000 bpd in November, they said.

Last week, Iraq raised the December prices for both grades to Asia, setting Basra Light at the narrowest discount to Saudi's Arab Medium crude since October 2012.

The price hikes may cool demand and cap premiums for December-loading Basra Light spot cargoes, traders said. Some buyers may also choose to buy in January when prices are expected to fall, they said.

Tighter supplies for Basra Heavy and a reasonable price in December could underpin the grade's spot premiums, traders said.




Egypt: SDX Energy provides operations update Source: SDX Energy

SDX Energy, the North Africa focused oil and gas company, is pleased to provide an operational update on its South Disouq and Meseda concessions in Egypt.

South Disouq

As previously announced on 10 October 2016, SDX's initial assessment of the 3D seismic data at South Disouq was positive and identified potential for both oil and gas bearing prospects. Further interpretation of the data has now indicated several Abu Madi and Kafr El Sheikh

prospects displaying strong Class III amplitude versus offset (AVO) responses. Testing of similar responses in offset areas has resulted in numerous discoveries at these stratigraphic levels. These responses have allowed SDX to high grade several prospects for drilling in the near term. These positive AVO responses further de-risk the prospectivity in the area, allowing SDX and its partners to achieve the intended goal of the 3D seismic acquisition program.

SDX, who operate with a 55% equity interest on the concession, and its

partner, have agreed on the target and location for drilling the carried exploration well, identified during the interpretation of data. The permitting process has commenced and a team has been engaged to provide technical assistance on the well, with drilling set to commence by early Q1 2017.

Subsequent to the announcement on 10 October 2016, the Company can confirm that it has received enquiries from a number of operators regarding farming in to the licence. Although the Company is fully carried on its remaining obligations in the license and is unlikely to farm down any additional equity, it has agreed to let selected companies submit proposals to acquire an interest in the concession. These discussions are ongoing and SDX will update the market as appropriate.

Meseda

SDX has completed the final design work on the Electrical Submersible Pump ('ESP') program, which it undertook after conclusion of its field review in May 2016. The Company is now finalising its technical review of the Meseda facility after which it will procure equipment necessary to double the treating capacity of the central production facility ('CPF'), enabling it to significantly raise net production from the concession.

Paul Welch, CEO of SDX Energy, commented:

'Today's announcement demonstrates solid operational progress and momentum for SDX. The update on South Disouq marks an important step for the Company, as we move out of the analysis phase of our work programme and into drilling phase. At Meseda, we are excited to have the majority of the technical work completed and look forward to moving into the implementation phase in the near term in order to maximise the field's full potential.'




Energy research: Al-Attiyah Foundation, Qatar Shell join hands

The Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah International Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development and Qatar Shell signed a three-year agreement to develop independent research publications focusing on energy sustainability. The vision of the foundation is to become the leading think tank in the region and one of the leading institutions in the world in the areas of sustainable energy development.

The signing ceremony took place at the Al-Attiyah Foundation and was attended by its chairman, HE Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, and Michiel Kool, managing director and chairman of Qatar Shell Companies. Al-Attiyah said, “At the foundation we aim for inclusive and sustainable growth for future generations in Qatar. That is why we are delighted to collaborate with Qatar Shell to support Qatar’s quest to become a knowledge-based economy in which research plays a vital role in resolving emerging issues and furthering development.”

Kool said, “We are extremely proud to once again collaborate with The Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah International Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development. This agreement builds on our long-standing partnership with the Foundation and allows us to work jointly on a topic of mutual interest and an issue of great relevance to society.

“At Qatar Shell we will continue to cooperate with academia, government, non-profit organisations and private sector partners to provide research and innovative solutions that will help mitigate and resolve energy challenges faced by Qatar, in turn delivering sustainable impact in support of the Qatar National Vision 2030.”

Shell is the largest international investor in Qatar having invested $21bn over the past decade. As the anchor tenant of Qatar Science and Technology Park, Qatar Shell Research and Technology Centre continues to play a vital role in shaping the future of R&D in Qatar, through ground-breaking research and thought-leadership into energy and environmental challenges faced by Qatar. Its programme of dynamic collaborations with both the local and international academic community ensures QSRTC meets its mandate to add value to Pearl GTL and the State of Qatar, in line with Qatar National Vision 2030.

HE al-Attiyah, Kool among other executives at the agreement signing. The vision of the foundation is to become the leading think tank in the region and one of the leading institutions in the world in the

areas of sustainable energy development




US: Microchannel gas-to-liquid plants convert stranded natural gas to marketable products … Source: Republished with permission from Velocys

The first microchannel gas-to-liquid (GTL) plant in the United States was completed in September. The new plant, built by ENVIA Energy, is located in Oklahoma and is expected to begin converting landfill gas into liquid petroleum products later this year.

GTL plants convert natural gas to higher-valued petroleum products, including liquid fuels, waxes, and chemical feedstocks. The most common conversion method is the Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) process, which involves a series of chemical reactions that transform natural gas (or a gasified solid fuel, such as coal or biomass) into hydrocarbons and water.

Six large-scale F-T GTL plants operate in the world today: two in South Africa, two in Qatar, and one each in Malaysia and Nigeria. These plants have output capacities ranging from 5,600 barrels per day (b/d) to 140,000 b/d. BP operated a smaller, 300 b/d pilot plant in Alaska from 2002 to 2009, but no commercial-scale GTL plants currently operate in the United States.

Once commissioned, ENVIA Energy’s plant will have a capacity of 300 b/d. For comparison, a petroleum refinery on the U.S. Gulf Coast may have a capacity of tens or hundreds of thousands of barrels per day.

The project is a joint venture between four companies that plan to build more microchannel GTL plants at landfill sites. Several other companies are also developing microchannel GTL plants in the United States, including a 100 b/d plant scheduled to be completed next month in Wharton, Texas.

Because F-T reactions require high temperature and pressure, building a suitable reaction vessel can be expensive. High capital costs, coupled with market uncertainty regarding natural gas and petroleum product prices, has led several companies to develop different techniques.

High temperatures and pressures are less costly to maintain at smaller volumes. Small-scale F-T GTL plants can use microchannel reactors (diameters of one millimeter or less) to optimize their




operation. The small diameters of the reactor vessels allow for better temperature control and reduce mass-transfer inefficiencies, but they limit overall flow rate. The smaller plants can also be sited in areas unable to accommodate large-scale industrial facilities.

Small GTL plants can be built close to isolated sources of excess methane (stranded gas). Landfill gas—primarily methane and carbon dioxide—is one example of a typical stranded gas; another is associated natural gas produced in oil fields that have little or no natural gas infrastructure.

GTL plants in such places could potentially obtain feed gas at steep discounts or even for free, since stranded gas is usually flared (burned off) or vented (allowed to dissipate into the atmosphere).

Small-scale GTL plants could become a more attractive option than flaring in the future, depending on the finalized version of rules initially proposed in February 2016 by the Bureau of Land Management designed to limit the amount of methane flared or vented from oil and natural gas production activities. If this gas were converted to liquid instead, it could be transported by vehicle or pipeline and sold.




NewBase 15 November 2016 Khaled Al Awadi

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

Oil prices rise on falling shale output, renewed hopes of OPEC cut Reuters + NewBase

Oil prices rose around 2 percent on Tuesday to move away from multi-month lows struck the day before, pushed higher by expectations of falling shale output and renewed optimism that OPEC will deliver on touted production cuts.

U.S. crude futures for December delivery CLc1 had climbed 90 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $44.22 a barrel by 0340 GMT. They struck their lowest in nearly two months the session before. January Brent futures LCOc1 were up 81 cents, or 1.9 percent, at $45.24 per barrel.

Prices were buoyed by expectations that U.S. shale oil production will in December fall to its lowest since April 2014 at 4.5 million barrels per day (bpd). "Crude oil prices stabilized after several days of continued falls," Australian bank ANZ said in a note on Tuesday.

"Headlines around increasing OPEC production remained prevalent, although the focus switched to final diplomatic efforts from nations to agree to a production cut."

Saudi Arabia's energy minister said it was imperative for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to reach a consensus on activating a deal made in September to curb production, according to Algeria's state news agency APS on Sunday. OPEC members are due to meet later this month.

Also supporting oil markets was news that Harold Hamm, chief executive at U.S. independent oil producer Continental Resources, could serve as energy secretary when Donald Trump becomes U.S. president.

Hamm, if nominated, would be the first U.S. energy secretary drawn directly from the industry, a move that would jolt environmental advocates but bolster Trump's pro-drilling energy platform.

Oil price special

coverage




U.S. crude prices are also likely to be supported by short-covering, said Philips Futures' investment analyst Jonathan Chan.

"The current active contract (for U.S. crude) is expiring. The last trading day is next Monday, so some oil traders are already starting to close out their positions to roll over," said Chan, based in Singapore.

Elsewhere, Iraq will cut exports of Basra crude from its southern ports to 3.16 million bpd in December, compared with 3.24 million bpd in November. The allocated December volume will be the lowest in four months.

Meanwhile, returning Libyan crude oil production could cap market gains.

A tanker carrying the first freshly produced cargo of Libyan crude to be exported since the Ras Lanuf terminal reopened in September left the port on Monday. The reopening of the eastern ports has helped Libya's national production double to around 600,000 bpd.




Oil Investors Shrug Off U.S. Vote While Focused on OPEC Disarray Bloomberg - Mark Shenk ShenkMark

Money managers raised bets on falling oil prices by the most in more than four years in the week leading up to Trump’s surprise win, amid waning belief in OPEC’s ability to meaningfully cut production. Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are due to meet Nov. 30 to finalize a deal to curb output. Failure to reach one may send oil lower amid “relentless global supply growth,” the International Energy Agency said Nov. 10.

“The market is focused on the OPEC meeting,” said Mike Wittner, head of oil-market research at Societe Generale SA in New York. “It’s looking like the obstacles to an agreement are getting bigger with both Iraq and Iran raising new issues.”

The rally that followed the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ preliminary deal reached in Algiers on Sept. 28 has evaporated, sending speculators scrambling. A surge in West Texas Intermediate short positions, or wagers the U.S. benchmark crude will decline, helped send the resulting net-long position to the biggest slump since May 2012 in the week ended Nov. 8, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Brent shorts surged, posting the biggest increase in more than five years.

WTI dropped 3.6 percent to $44.98 a barrel in the report week. Futures settled at $43.32 on Monday, the lowest close since Sept. 19.

Futures rose 0.6 percent on Nov. 9 amid speculation Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress will pursue business-friendly policies. The market dropped the following three days as




the dollar climbed to the highest level in more than nine months against its peers, curbing investor interest in commodities priced in the U.S. currency.

OPEC Obstacles

“Trump’s win is having no direct effect on oil,” said Stephen Schork, president of the Schork Group Inc., a consulting company in Villanova, Pennsylvania. “It’s having a tertiary impact because it’s strengthened the dollar.”

Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran, the group’s three biggest producers, are at odds over how to share output cuts, according to an OPEC delegate, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Qatar, Algeria and Venezuela are leading a push to overcome the divide, according to the delegate.

Iraq has sought an exemption from joining any production cuts, arguing that its fight against Islamic State justifies special treatment. Iran has insisted it won’t accept any limits on its production until it has returned to the pre-sanctions level of about 4 million barrels a day. The nation told OPEC that it raised output to 3.92 million in October.

OPEC’s 14 members raised production by 230,000 barrels a day to 33.83 million in October as Iraqi output reached a record and Nigeria and Libya restored halted supplies, IEA data showed Nov. 10.

“Last week we had the IEA and OPEC reports which showed that production was significantly higher October than the previous months,” Wittner said. “The re-balancing of the market continues to get pushed back.”

Money managers’ short position in WTI climbed by 82,791 to 145,319 futures and options, the highest in two months, the CFTC said. Longs rose 2.7 percent.




NewBase Special Coverage

News Agencies News Release 15 November 2016

Report: Growing Confidence in North Sea Oil, Gas Industry by Andreas Exarheas

There is a growing confidence that the industry has seen the worst of the current market downturn, according to a new report on the North Sea oil and gas sector from PwC.

The report highlighted that the past two years have been a “torrid” time for the industry, but stated that there now appears to be light at the end of the tunnel, with supply and demand seeking a gradual equilibrium.

Utilizing interviews with more than 30 senior stakeholders from the UK, the Netherlands and Norway, across the value chain in the North Sea, PwC’s latest report reveals that the general consensus is that the North Sea has a future. However, a number of “fundamental issues” will need to be addressed in the next 24 months if the basin is to avoid a rapid and premature decline.

The report outlined a need for collaboration, leadership and cost efficiency, as well as an uptick in M&A activity. “The basin has a history of seeing challenges and overcoming them,” said Ben Taylor, country commercial lead for Shell in the UK and Ireland.

“As before, operators, partners and their supply chain are going to have to work together to sustainably answer these challenges,” he added. Following the release of the PwC report, Deirdre Michie, chief executive of Oil & Gas UK, commended the UK oil and gas industry.

"Despite facing unprecedented challenges over the past few years the UK oil and gas industry has demonstrated drive and determination. Its efforts to make operations more efficient achieved the first increase in production in 15 years and a 45 percent drop in the cost of doing business this year,” Michie said in an emailed comment to Rigzone.

Michie admitted however that there is still much work to be done within the sector, which will require the joint efforts of industry, governments, the Treasury and the Oil and Gas Authority.

"The most important issues facing our sector are the lack of exploration and little new capital investment,” Michie said.

“In addition, we need certainty in our fiscal regime by a recommitment to the Treasury’s ‘Driving Investment’ strategy for the sector and as part of the UK’s new industrial strategy, to recognize our supply chain as a key strength in the economy, with world leading capability – equally valued as aerospace or the automotive sectors, for example,” she added.

Oil & Gas UK said that it had written to the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, asking him to use his Autumn Statement Nov. 23 to help boost investor confidence in North Sea exploration and production




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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 26 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 November 2016 K. Al Awadi

New base energy news issue 949 dated 15 november 2016

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Transcript of New base energy news issue 949 dated 15 november 2016