Page 15 - AsianOil Week 50 2020

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MEOG: Attacks and unrest bring 2020 to development emerge in Canada, while news of
an appropriate close layoffs continued to emanate from the US’ oil
Oil prices have rebounded in recent weeks as a and gas industry.
string of attacks on oil infrastructure and politi- In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
cal unrest have reintroduced an element of geo- has stepped up his decarbonisation push, unveil-
political risk into pricing. ing a strategy that includes a gradual increase in
In Kurdistan, usually the least restive part of the country’s carbon tax over the coming decade.
Iraq, protests about unpaid public sector salaries His plan, which is aimed at Canada meeting its
have boiled over and threatened Erbil’s vital oil 2030 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions target
revenues. With public servants in the region not after missing previous ones, centres on the coun-
having received their salaries in full since April, try’s carbon tax increasing by CAD15 ($12) per
the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has tonne per year between 2023 and 2030.
resorted to banning protests and travel between The current price is CAD30 ($24) per tonne
cities, as well as restricting internet access in an and under the plan the price hikes would con-
attempt to slow the spread of unrest. So desperate tinue until it hits CAD170 ($133) per tonne.
is the KRG’s plight that it has agreed to provide The plan seeks to put Canada on track to cut
the federal oil marketing firm with ‘unspecified GHG emissions by around 40% below 2005 lev-
quantities’ of oil in exchange for its 12.67% share els by 2030, compared with the previous goal of
of the Iraqi budget. 30%. But there is opposition to the plan, with oil
Attacks have continued to plague Saudi Ara- production leader Alberta saying it would chal-
bia’s Red Sea coast, with Jeddah the site of an oil lenge the tax hikes in court.
tanker explosion this week. While there were Regardless of how successful Alberta’s chal-
no casualties, the attack is the latest in a string lenge is, the new target appears set to complicate
of small but threatening moves against Saudi the path forward for the province, which was hit
Aramco’s oil infrastructure and follows hits on hard by the oil price downturn this year.
tankers, a distribution centre and other infra- In the US, meanwhile, it emerged last week
structure in recent months. that Parsley Energy would lay off most of its
Meanwhile, a pipeline carrying crude from workers in Austin, Texas as part of its upcoming
the supergiant Marun oilfield to the city of Isfa- sale to Pioneer Natural Resources. The $4.5bn
han caught fire this week following a landslide. transaction comes as consolidation picks up
The incident appears to have been caused by the pace in the US oil and gas industry. A number of
integrity of the conduit rather than an attack, mergers are currently underway, but while these
though this will come as little consolation to may help companies to survive, the same cannot
NIOC, whose vast and ageing oil and gas infra- necessarily be said for their workforces.
structure is becoming increasingly problematic. The Parsley layoffs include 234 workers, Reu-
ters reported, citing a notice to the Texas Work-
If you’d like to read more about the key events force Commission, though it added that some
shaping the Middle East’s oil and gas sector then of those employees would be offered jobs with
please click here for NewsBase’s MEOG Monitor. Pioneer in Las Colinas or Midland, Texas.

NorthAmOil: Canadian decarbonisation, If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
US layoffs the North American oil and gas sector then please click
The end of the year has seen a significant policy here for NewsBase’s NorthAmOil Monitor.™

Week 50 17•December•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15