Page 10 - MEOG Week 06

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the dip in demand as a partial saving grace for its sanctioned exports of crude as prices would likely rise if a cut was to take place.
“They may reduce the output as much as they would want to,” he said when asked about Iran’s stance on deepening OPEC output cuts.
zangeneh further said that the number of cuts by each producer could not be merely viewed mathematically; “rather, each country has its own reasons for reducing its output which is complicated.”
zangeneh stressed that if an ad-hoc meeting for OPEC were to be held, then OPEC members would need to agree on reducing before the meeting.
“If there is no prior agreement, it would be futile to attend a meeting without an agreement because this would help lower the oil prices in the global market,” he said.
On the role of coronavirus on oil demand, zanganeh said: “This virus has lowered the demand, but if the Americans intend to act well, they need to create another crisis and impose sanctions on two more countries
so that there would be more room for their (US) oil in the market; I believe whatever the US does is partly aimed at ensuring supply- demand balance in the market so that it would not sell its oil cheap.”
On Chinese demand for Iranian oil, he noted that “it would not be that much [different].”
reuters
oIL
Iraq cuts output at oil field on gas emissions
Iraq will reduce oil production from the Nahr Bin Omar oil field to a minimum to cut gas emissions and pollution, reuters reported today, quoting the Iraqi state news agency.
Arab News quoted the director general of the field’s operator, Basra Oil Company, as saying “Nahr Bin Omar oilfield is considered one of the most controversial fields because
of the pollution and gas emissions. It has
been decided to cut crude oil production to minimum and to stop operating all oil wells to provide environmental protection.”
Nahr bin Omar has reserves of some 6.5 billion barrels of oil and 12 billion cu ft of natural gas. Daily production of oil averages 40,000 bpd and gas production stands at 25 million cu ft daily.
The decision to cut production at the field could be motivated by genuine--although not very typical--concern for the environment, but it could also prove to be a way of bringing Iraq closer to its production quota under
the OPEC+ agreement. The latest data on OPEC production, from an S&P Global
Platts survey, showed that Iraq and Nigeria continued to lagged behind their co-members in compliance.
Interestingly enough, Iraq managed to produce more than it should despite the temporary shutdown of a field that pumps some 70,000 bpd in late January. The Al Ahdab field, operated by Chinese CNPC, stopped producing oil about a month ago amid widespread economic protests, sparking concern that more fields could be affected
by the protests hurting the country’s vital oil revenues. A week later, the field was back online after the government struck a deal with the security guards that had blockaded it, causing the shutdown.
The protests also shut down another oil field twice in less than a month. The Nassiriya field, in southern Iraq, was first shut down in December and then in January as protesters demanded jobs, the Iraq Oil report wrote. Nassiriya produces some 80,000 bpd.
oIL PrICe
Gas
Qatargas to deliver 1mn tonnes of LNG to Kuwait
Qatargas signed a sale and purchase agreement with Shell to deliver 1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually to Kuwait starting this year, the Qatari company said in a press release on Sunday.
This long-term agreement follows a recent pact signed between Qatar Petroleum (QP) and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.
“These agreements demonstrate our commitment to Kuwait, which is a very important LNG market,” Qatari Minister
of State for Energy Affairs Saad bin Sherida al-Kaabi said. Kaabi, who is also the president and chief executive officer of QP, added that the new deal underlines Qatargas’ position as a LNG market leader.
xInhua
serVICes
Iraq’s Faw port project to be ready in 3 years
OPEC oil producer Iraq is expected to complete the Faw Grant Port, one of the world’s largest container terminals, on schedule by 2023, its Planning Minister was quoted on Monday as saying. Nouri Al- Dulaimi said a large part of the project in South Iraq was completed in 2019 and that new contracts include more wharfs as well as roads and rail networks linking the port with the Southern Basra oil hub and other cities.
Quoted by Aliqtisad News network, he said the final stages of the project would be funded through annual state budgets and a new oil- for-projects fund agreement signed between Iraq and China in Sept 2019.
“What was achieved in this project last
year exceeds work achieved in all the previous years...we now expected the project to be completed after three years and it will be
an important pillar of Iraq’s economy,” the Minister said. Faw Port, with an estimated cost of around $3.3 billion, will have a capacity to handle 99 million tonnes annually. It involves a 39km container quay and two km of berths along with a container warehouse and hinterland covering more than one million square metres. The project was launched in late 2010 but it was blocked by the country’s cash shortages due to internal hostilities and unstable oil prices.
reuters
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Week 06 12•February•2020