Page 10 - DMEA Week 07 2020

DMEA TRANSPORT DMEA
November 2018 with Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC LNG to supply the commissioning cargo was part of broader discussions that included the potential for a longer-term deal. But Qatar is precluded by hostile political relations, with Bahrain one of three Mid-East Gulf states sub- jecting its neighbour to an economic blockade since mid-2017.
Pricing is assumed to be the sticking point. But completion of the terminal, the upfront out- lays involved and the urgency of Bahrain’s gas need are expected to galvanise supply talks. e last of these is perhaps most pressing and could encourage the Bahraini side to compromise and to get imports up-and-running before the end of the year. Domestic gas demand is expanding rapidly to meet the power generation needs of a fast-growing population and to fuel industrial expansion, including that of the gas-guzzling Aluminium Bahrain smelter — which doubled in capacity last year to become the world’s largest such facility.
However, the government’s hopes of not hav- ing to sign up to long-term imports were deliv- ered a substantial shot in the arm by a discovery
announced in April 2018 — and somewhat overshadowed by a signi cant o shore oil nd revealed simultaneously — of an estimated 13.7tn cubic feet (388bn cubic metres) of deep gas below the onshore Awali oil eld, the coun- try’s sole crude producer since the 1930s.
Noga has yet to enlist international assis- tance to develop the new resource but has been courting Italy’s Eni for several years over wider engagement in the kingdom’s energy sector. e e orts bore some fruit in May last year, when the Bahraini government signed an exploration and production-sharing agreement (EPSA) with Eni for an o shore block in the north, where drill- ing is due to start this quarter. In early February, the Italian rm also signed an MoU with Noga- owned Tatweer Petroleum, the state’s upstream operator, to explore collaboration in various domains, including gas.
The terminal comprises a floating storage unit (FSU), an o shore LNG receiving jetty and breakwater, an adjacent regasi cation platform, subsea gas pipelines from the platform to shore, an onshore gas receiving facility, and an onshore nitrogen production facility.™
PETROCHEMICALS
Iran needs $30bn for petchem push: minister
IRAN
Iran has found it
easier to export petrochemicals than oil.
IRAN’S petrochemical industry needs $30bn in investment to complete projects and must raise this money “from small domestic investors,” its oil minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, told a con- ference in Tehran on February 15, according to Radio Farda.
Foreign investment in Iran has dried up since the US began reimposing sanctions on the coun- try in 2018, Zanganeh explained. Domestic nances are also low because of the resulting 90% decline in Iran’s oil exports.
Petrochemical exports are seen as an attrac- tive prospect for Iran – a way of adding value to its oil and bolstering revenues. As a result of the fall in oil shipments, they became Iran’s biggest driver of foreign currency income last year.
Sanctions apply to Iranian petrochemical products, but Tehran has found it easier to export them as the US’ attention has largely been on preventing oil from leaving the country.
Iran has sizeable oil resources but also ben- e ts from having the world’s second-largest gas
reserves, estimated by BP at almost 32tn cubic metres proven. As such, many of the petrochem- ical projects it has sought to advance in the past have used ethane as their primary feedstock, found in gas.
Zanganeh said that $10-12bn worth of pet- rochemical projects nationwide had been nal- ised, but others could also be developed with planning and resources. He also reportedly painted a disparaging picture of investments in the oil industry, saying the sector needed annual infusions of $25bn simply to ensure its produc- tivity. Without investments, the whole chain of oil production “will face di culties”, he was cited as saying.
Issuing bonds, borrowing from domestic banks and using Iran’s foreign currency reserves were three options for nancing the revitalisa- tion and development of the country’s oil and petrochemical sectors, the minister added.
Most Iranian petrochemical companies are either directly or indirectly controlled by gov- ernment state entities. ™
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