Page 11 - AfrOil Week 24

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Middle Eastern malaise a permit for Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast
Last week, focus was on the much anticipated pipeline, ruling that the Forest Service had acted
OPEC+ meeting to consider and agree oil pro- lawfully in allowing the project to cross under
duction cuts beyond the end of June. The dust the Appalachian Trail. A lower court ruling had
is settling on that meeting and there are many been holding up construction on the pipeline.
pieces to pick up and look at this week. The ruling was considered to be the main
The first signs of how Iraq may find its way obstacle for the $8bn pipeline, which will have
out of the competing demands of cutting its the capacity to carry 1.5bn cubic feet (42.5mn
oil production to meet the OPEC quota, bal- cubic metres) per day of gas from the Marcellus
ancing its budget and finding agreement with shale to North Carolina and West Virginia.
the various international oil companies (IOCs) And the ruling is also good news for the
operating in the country are being seen. It is not Mountain Valley pipeline, with operator EQM
difficult to predict that there will be many twists Midstream Partners also hoping to route the
and turns on the road ahead. project across the Appalachian Trail and some
One country which is not affected by the bodies of water regulated by the US Fish and
OPEC quota scheme but has been massively hit Wildlife Service.
by the underlying economic malaise is Lebanon. Indeed, EQM announced last week that the
It is not so long ago since its government was Mountain Valley pipeline, which is around 92%
setting out its stall by predicting significant oil complete, was now expected to enter service in
and gas finds; the first search – in Block 4 – has early 2021.
found no potentially commercial reservoirs but On the Gulf Coast, meanwhile, Exxon-
a second search is due to follow later this year. Mobil is reportedly delaying the start-up of its
However, events on the ground – such as massive Beaumont refinery by a year as it grapples with
unemployment and poverty followed by protests depressed demand as a result of the coronavirus
and clashes – threaten to undermine the coun- (COVID-19) pandemic. Citing sources familiar
try’s efforts to find green shoots in its energy and with the matter, Bloomberg reported that the
tourism sectors. project was now anticipated to start up in 2023
A notable event is the progress of integration instead of 2022.
moves in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, where QP and The expansion will make Beaumont one of
Aramco have announced efforts to strengthen the largest two refineries in the US, along with
their presence in their respective petrochemical Motiva Enterprises’ plant in Port Arthur, Texas.
businesses. It entails adding a crude distillation unit (CDU)
with a capacity of 250,000 bpd, lifting the Beau-
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping mont refinery’s overall capacity to 619,000 bpd.
the Middle’s East oil and gas sector then please click ExxonMobil had been planning the expan-
here for NewsBase’s MEOG Monitor. sion to help accommodate its growing crude
production in the Permian Basin. However, the
Mixed fortunes for US mega-projects super-major scaled back its Permian drilling
Some good news came for two major US pipe- plans dramatically this year as the downturn
line projects this week, even as the oil and gas took hold.
industry continues to be affected by the mar-
ket downturn and a major Gulf Coast refining If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
expansion delay has also been reported. the North American oil and gas sector then please click
On June 15, the US Supreme Court upheld here for NewsBase’s NorthAmOil Monitor.

Week 24 17•June•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P11