Page 18 - AsianOil Week 41

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Despite having the industry’s most robust late August by Hurricane Laura, which in some
financials, Aramco has delayed major projects. cases caused damage that delayed restart efforts.
The company has been acutely affected by the Reuters quoted sources familiar with the sit-
oil price crash and a prolonged period of sub- uation as saying that Total’s 225,500 barrel per
dued demand. day refinery lost power as a result of Delta, while
Meanwhile in Israel, towards which Riyadh Valero Energy’s 335,000 bpd facility lost a cool-
has shown signs of softening its approach, ing tower and Motiva Enterprises shut a small
Chevron has ruffled feathers following its unit at its 607,000 bpd refinery.
purchase of Noble Energy, the operator of the Offshore, meanwhile, Hurricane Delta was Hurricane Delta
offshore Leviathan natural gas field. The US the latest in a series of storms including Hurri-
major has allegedly cut supplies to Israel Elec- canes Laura and Sally that forced the evacuation was the latest in
tric Corp. (IEC) and is demanding that gas of manned platforms in the Gulf. According
sales prices be revised upwards. to the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental a series of storms
In the UAE, ADNOC has handed out Enforcement (BSEE), staff from more than 280
another infrastructure deal to a Chinese state- production platforms and drilling rigs were that forced
backed engineering firm. This time, ADNOC evacuated ahead of Delta’s arrival in the region, the evacuation
Gas Processing (AGP) awarded a front-end causing most Gulf oil output and 62% of gas pro-
engineering and design (FEED) contract duction to go offline. of manned
to China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering As of October 12, staff from around 124
(CPPE) for work on the country’s gas grid, production platforms, or 19.3% of the manned platforms in the
including new gas stations and the extension platforms in the Gulf, remained evacuated, while
of the network. In September, the same firm 69.4% of oil and 47.1% of gas output remained Gulf of Mexico
was awarded a deal to replace two major pipe- shut in.
lines running from onshore oilfields to the The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is already
Jebel Dhanna terminal. the second most active in recent history, and only
three more named storms are needed to match
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping the record set in 2005. For Gulf oil producers,
the Middle East’s oil and gas sector then please click this comes during a year of unprecedented vola-
here for NewsBase’s MEOG Monitor. tility caused by a short-lived Saudi Arabia-Rus-
sia price war and significantly exacerbated by the
Quarterly losses mount in North America coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. And while
Production has been coming back online in the there have been hopes that disruptions to out-
US Gulf of Mexico this week following the latest put in the Gulf would help to prop up oil prices,
weather-related disruptions, this time caused by this does not appear to be playing out, with West
Hurricane Delta. Texas Intermediate (WTI) below $40 per barrel
The storm also disrupted onshore operations as of October 12.
at refineries and other facilities when it made
landfall in Louisiana on October 9 as a Category If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
2 hurricane. This disruption came after a num- the North American oil and gas sector then please click
ber of downstream facilities were shut down in here for NewsBase’s NorthAmOil Monitor.™

P18 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 41 15•October•2020