Page 12 - MEOG Week 40

MEOG
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MEOG
PoLICy
Philippines courts upstream opportunities in UAE
The Philippines’ Department of Energy (DoE) is offering favourable terms as it seeks to facilitate collaborative energy sector investments into the UAE.
having paired up with the embassy in
Abu Dhabi, the DoE is promoting investment opportunities for Emirati investors. The move follows the recent roadshow carried out by the Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting Program (PCECP) in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.
Incentives and viable service contracts with the government are also thought to be on offer.
Energy Assistant Secretary Caron Aicitel Lascano led the six-member delegation to the roadshow.
Ambassador hjayceelyn Quintana welcomed the DOE’s strategic promotion of petroleum exploration in the UAE, its first- ever roadshow in the Gulf and Middle East region.
The PCECP roadshow aims to help sustain energy security and sustainability in the country by looking for investors interested in oil and gas exploration in pre-determined and unexplored areas in the Philippines.
During their visit, members of the delegation met with the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a number of big industry players with offices in the UAE.
The London-based Energy Institute, with Middle East office in Dubai, arranged the meetings.
The Philippines and China have agreed on a joint oil and gas exploration deal, one of 29 agreements signed during the state visit to the
Philippines of Chinese President Xi Jinping in november 2018.
The two countries have formed working groups to explore oil and gas agreements in the West Philippine Sea.
Members of an inter-government steering committee tasked to supervise the Philippines’ joint oil and gas exploration projects with China have already been appointed.
The Philippine delegation is composed of officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and one each from the DOE, Department of Justice and the national Mapping and Resource Information Authority.
PhILIPPIne star
Abu Dhabi’s $10bn bond
offering well received from
investors
Abu Dhabi’s issuance of a triple tranches US-dollar denominated $10bn bonds were well received by international and regional investors with the offering being two and a half times oversubscribed, media sources reported.
The five-year $3bn issuance due 2024 yielded 2.125% and was priced at 65 basis points (bps) over US Treasuries, while the 10-year $3bn bond due 2029 yielded 2.5% and was priced at 85 bps over US Treasuries and the 30-year $4bn bond due 2049 yielded 3.125% and was priced at 110 bps over US Treasuries.
The final geographical allocation for the bonds stood at 78% from international investors, and 22% from Middle East investors.
BnP Paribas, Citigroup, First Abu Dhabi Bank, hSBC, J.P. Morgan and MUFG were joint lead managers and joint bookrunners, and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank P.J.S.C. and
SMBC nikko were co-lead managers for the offering.
bne
Fitch downgrades Saudi’s
long-term foreign-currency
rating to A
Fitch ratings agency has downgraded Saudi Arabia’s long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating to A from A+ with a stable outlook. The downgrade reflects rising geo-political risk, growing fiscal deficits and indebtedness as well as narrowing current account surpluses.
The ratings agency’s downgrade of Saudi Arabia came to assess the vulnerability of Saudi Arabia’s economic infrastructure following the drone attack on the world’s largest oil processing facility in Abuqaiq causing the suspension of more than half
of the country’s oil production. Despite the restoration of oil production by the end of September, Fitch sees risks of further attacks on Saudi Arabia given the kingdom’s anti-Iran foreign policy stance in alignment with US’s position.
Moreover, Fitch forecasts Saudi fiscal deficit to grew to 6.7% of GDP in 2019 from 5.9% of GDP in 2018 due to the government adopting looser fiscal policy as well as because of lower average oil production and prices. In addition, it expects the government’s balance sheet to deteriorate further amid continued deficits with the general government debt rising to 26% of GDP in 2021 from 16% in 2018 and 14% in 2017. Sovereign net foreign asset position is anticipated to deteriorate declining to 64% of GDP by end-2021 from 74% of GDP in 2018 and 87% of GDP in 2017, mainly on the back of government external debt issuance. Furthermore, the current account surplus is projected to narrow to 3.5% of GDP in 2019 from 9.2% of GDP in 2018 driven lower by declining crude oil exports. bne
ComPanIes
Petrofac opens new Kuwait City office
Petrofac International has opened a new office in Kuwait City to strengthen the company’s global position in the State of Kuwait and
to emphasize the strategic partnership with Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and its oil and gas subsidiary companies.
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Week 40 08•October•2019