Algeria Says Tafouk1 Solar Mega-Project Soon to Get on Track
The Algerian government intends to launch a mega solar project called "Tafouk1" in the near future. It will allow the construction of several photovoltaic solar power plants with a combined capacity of 4,000 MW. The project could cost up to US$3.6 billion to the State, i.e. around 390 billion Algerian dinars.
“Tafouk1 “. This is the name of the mega solar project that will soon be launched in Algeria. It was presented by the Algerian Minister of Energy Mohamed Arkab on May 20, 2020 during a meeting, by videoconference, of the Algerian government. The project provides for the construction of several photovoltaic solar power plants. These will have a cumulative capacity of 4,000 MW. The work will be carried out over the period from 2020 to 2024. They will cost up to US$3.6 billion to the State, the equivalent of nearly 390 billion Algerian dinars.
The power plants will be spread over a dozen wilayas in Algeria and will mobilize a total area of about 6400 hectares. Their construction should create 56,000 jobs during the construction phase and 2,000 jobs during the operation phase. “In addition to meeting national energy demand and preserving our oil and gas resources, this project will also enable us to position ourselves on the international market by exporting electricity at a competitive price, as well as exporting the know-how we have acquired,” said Mohamed Arkab, Algeria’s Minister of Energy.
Algeria wants to produce 22 GW of green energy by 2030, with 13.6 GW reserved for photovoltaic solar energy. But the country is still a long way off. Algeria’s current installed solar power capacity is 343 MW, and gas is used to generate 98% of the total electricity production of this North African country. According to data from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), this industry (oil and gas) has become the backbone of the economy, accounting for 20% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 85% of total exports. At the beginning of May 2020, the country decided to reduce its budget by 50% for the current year, due to the drastic decline in oil revenues.
03/06/2020
PPP Law to Accelerate Economic Development: Qatar Chamber
Qatar Chamber’s (QC) Chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim Al Thani praised the Public-Private Partnership Law, issued by the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The QC Chairman said it would enhance the contribution of the private sector in the mega projects and in the economic activity in general.
The law would enable the private sector to be a genuine partner to the public sector in achieving the economic development. In statements, Sheikh Khalifa said that the new law fulfills the Chamber’s demand for expanding the participation of Qatari companies in the execution of governmental projects, as the Chamber was the first body to call for such legislation, noting that the Chamber also had an important role in putting in place the building blocks of a draft law that organizes the partnership between the two sectors.
He said that the PPP law reflects the Amir’s trust in the private sector. The QC Chairman recalled how the Amir emphasized in various occasions the role of the private sector in the economic development and its contribution in the mega projects in the future,, as well as his directives for the preparation of a Public-Private Partnership Law.
Sheikh Khalifa also praised the government’s interest in achieving the PPP, noting that several projects have recently been launched by the Technical Committee of the Ministerial Group for Stimulating the Private Sector, covering many sectors such as education, food security and others. Qatar Chamber Director General Saleh bin Hamad Al Sharqi hailed the issuance of Law No. 12 of the year 2020, regulating the partnership between public and private sectors, affirming that the new law would have a significant impact on accelerating the initiation and implementation of projects.
Al Sharqi also noted that the Chamber played a key role in highlighting the idea of issuing a law regulating the PPP, pointing out that it held a conference on this issue in 2009, which recommended the need for a legislation governing partnership between the two sectors.
He affirmed that the PPP projects would contribute to economic development and would play an important role in attracting investments, especially that the private sector has become able to play a greater role in economic development. He said that the new law enhances the economic and investment environment which witnessed great development, especially after the issuance of many new economic legislations such as the law regulating the Non-Qatari Capital Investment in the Economic Activity and other laws and legislations.
03/06/2020
Russian Oil Nears OPEC+ Target
Russian oil and gas condensate production fell to 39.7 million tons (9.39 million barrels per day) in May, near its target under a deal within the OPEC+ group, Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday, citing energy ministry data.
The figure was in line with data from sources, reported by Reuters on Monday, and down from 11.35 million barrels per day (bpd) in April.
Under the agreement between Russia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, a group known as OPEC+, Moscow has pledged to reduce its output by around 2.5 million bpd to 8.5 million bpd to help support oil prices. The deal does not include output of gas condensate, a light oil.
Russia usually produces 700,000-800,000 bpd of gas condensate. That means that excluding gas condensate, Russia produced 8.59-8.69 million bpd of crude oil in May.
The ministry does not disclose gas condensate output on a monthly basis separately.
Interfax also said that Russian oil exports outside former Soviet Union in May reached 17.36 million tons, or 4.1 million bpd, down 14.2% year-on-year.
OPEC+ agreed to cut its combined output by around 10 million bpd, or 10% of global oil production, in May and June, with a subsequent easing of the reductions, to tackle economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
OPEC+ may hold an online conference as early as Thursday to discuss its policy, compared with the original schedule of next week. The group is due to discuss extension of the output cuts in its current pace.
Interfax also said that Russia's natural gas production fell by 9.2%, year-on-year, in January - May, to 293.26 Bcm.
03/06/2020
Armed Militia Prevent Libya's NOC Maintenance Teams from Working
The National Oil Corporation (NOC) confirms that an armed militia commanded by a person called Abedelkarim Alrouni has prevented the maintenance teams affiliated to Akakus Oil Operations from opening Alhamada valve in order to pump chemical substances that would help protect the transfer line from corrosion.
As we have already warned technical problems resulted from the blockade of the petroleum installations started to appear by the corrosion and collapse of the Tank D101B at the area of tank GOSP 115 of 16,000 barrels at Sharara Field occurred yesterday morning because of the formation of a pond of crude oil at the tanks area which predicts the occurrence of many technical and environmental problems in the oil sector.
At that point, Akakus Oil Operations and the National Oil Corporation made emergency communications and consultations after which it was decided that the maintenance teams be instructed to check the pipelines and valves and open them in order to pump the chemical substances to protect the lines and prepare to discharge the crude from the tanks and start the maintenance and operations process.
However, our workers were surprised Saturday morning 30, May 2020 by the stubbornness of the so-called Abedelkarim Alrouni the Commander of the militia controlling the location and his preventing the maintenance teams from opening the valve and checking the pipelines indifferent to the size of the damage incurred by such criminal and irresponsible acts.
As the National Oil Corporation reaffirms that it is a merely economic body whose duty is to manage the oil sector and support the national economy, it renews its full right to defend itself and protect Libya’s oil installations from tampering by all legal means available and pursuant to to the local and international laws.
The National Oil Corporation has addressed the Office of the Attorney General to report the blockades, the persons and parties involved in these heinous criminal acts and asked for an immediate investigation in these crimes which will have serious consequences on the infrastructure of the oil sector and will certainly hinder NOC’s endeavors to preserve its installations and resume production in its previous levels in future.
NOC calls for the good people of Zintan to prevail the higher interest of the country and reveal the social, tribal and legal shelter of those committing these crimes as well as working on helping the general prosecution to arrest them and bring them to justice and make an example of them.
We must remember that the losses of the State of Libya resulted from closing of the oil pipelines and ports have exceeded 5 billion dollars and amounted to US$5,026,074,163. These amounts could have been used in combating the coronavirus pandemic, pay the employees’ salaries, maintenance schools, hospitals and the destroyed infrastructure. This issue predicts a huge economic disaster according to economists.
03/06/2020
GCC to Keep Currency Pegs Despite Oil Decline
The six nations of the GCC will maintain their pegged currencies despite a fall in oil prices, S&P Global Ratings said. The ability of GCC countries to defend their currencies' pegs, to the dollar in most cases, has come under scrutiny as historically low oil prices and the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic have pressured their economies.
Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have strong levels of reserves to weather shocks, while Bahrain and Oman have a lower level of external liquid assets, S&P said. But the ratings agency believes Bahrain and Oman's wealthier neighbors would provide financial support in times of stress if needed, similar to a US$10 billion aid package pledged to Bahrain by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE in 2018.
"We believe that should the currencies of lower-rated Bahrain and Oman come under significant pressure, higher-rated sovereigns would provide financial support to prevent contagion to their own financial markets," S&P said. Wealthier GCC countries may also step in to advance foreign policy interests, it added.
S&P said that while a floating exchange rate can act as a shock absorber for small open economies by helping exports and domestic demand and output, the benefits in many cases for the GCC are limited because their non-hydrocarbon export base is small.
"We note, however, that a currency devaluation would increase the local currency value of U.S. dollar-priced oil- and gas-related revenues. This would improve government fiscal balances as long as governments are able to contain their spending, which may not be so easy given the inflationary aspects of such a devaluation," it said.
03/06/2020
Neptune Energy Names Algeria Managing Director
Neptune Energy has announced Mehdi Bouguetaia will be joining the company to take on the role of Algeria Managing Director, based in Algiers.
Mehdi joins Neptune from Shell where he most recently held the position of Technical Support and Subsea Operations General Manager with the company’s Rashpetco JV business in Egypt.
An Algerian national, Mehdi has a strong commercial and technical background with 20 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry, having started his career with Shell in Aberdeen, UK, as a process and development engineer.
Mehdi has held a number of senior leadership roles in the Netherlands, Gabon and Egypt where he has been based since 2012, and has a deep understanding of the industry and stakeholders landscape in Algeria.
He has an MSc in Chemical Engineering from Grenoble Polytechnics, an MSc in Petroleum Economics & Management from Institut Francais du Petrole, and an MSc in Mineral Business & Economics from Colorado School of Mines.
Jerome Jacquemont will continue as MD in Algeria until the end of the year, when Mehdi will transition into the role. A further announcement on Jerome’s future role will be announced in due course.
Jim House, CEO of Neptune, said: “We are very pleased to welcome Mehdi at an important time for the business. He brings a great deal of experience to Neptune and has strong personal and professional links with Algeria, an important part of our geographically-diverse portfolio.
“I am grateful to Jerome for his continuing leadership and for overseeing the start-up of the Touat gas development, the first major development project we have seen over the line in North Africa.”
03/06/2020
Kuwait Oil Price Climbs
The price of Kuwaiti oil went by 89 cents to US$33.89 per barrel (pb) on Tuesday, compared with US$33.01 a day earlier, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said on Wednesday.
Globally, the price of Brent crude on Tuesday closed up by US$1.25 or 3.3% to US$39.57 pb, while the West Texas Intermediate jumped by US$1.37 or 3.9% to US$36.81 pb.
03/06/2020