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Middle East: Deals, discovery, budget cuts as two storms in the region threatened to cause
Deals were signed last week between the Iraqi disruptions.
government and five US energy companies Tropical Storm Marco was downgraded to
that focus on oil production, gas capture and a tropical depression the day it made landfall,
electricity generation. The news comes as Iraq’s on August 24. However, Tropical Storm Laura
power sector continues to struggle particularly strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane this
amid record high temperatures, while Bagh- week as it approached the Gulf Coast, posing a
dad remains reliant on neighbouring Iran for serious threat to parts of Louisiana and
gas and electricity. Iraq has said it will reduce Texas, and then made landfall on August 26
imports from Iran, but this will depend greatly before dropping into Category 2.
on the progress made in capturing gas and grid The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental
connectivity. Enforcement (BSEE), the offshore regulator, esti-
Meanwhile, Turkey this week announced its mated that roughly 84.3% of the Gulf’s oil pro-
largest ever find at the Tuna-1 well. The discov- duction had been shut in as of August 26, as well
ery has been estimated at 320bn cubic metres as 60.9% of the region’s gas output.
and renamed Sakarya. While there are the usual Companies that had shut in production Iraq’s power
concerns about announcements made by the and evacuated platforms included BP, Chev-
Turkish President, the find is transformational ron, Royal Dutch Shell and Norway’s Equinor. sector continues
for a country which is reliant on imports for Onshore, meanwhile, Motiva Enterprises and
nearly all of its energy needs. Valero Energy were among those to shut some to struggle amid
As Saudi Aramco contends with a massively of their refining operations. Reuters estimated
reduced capital budget, the company is reported on August 25 that nine refining facilities with record high
to have cancelled its tender for maintenance a combined capacity of 2.9mn barrels per day temperatures
work at the giant offshore Marjan oilfield. Citing (bpd) were in the process of being shut in.
sources close to the company’s long-term agree- The disruption comes just as US producers
ment (LTA) programme, Upstream said that the were getting back on their feet after the severe
contract release purchase order 66 (CRPO-66) industry downturn earlier this year. Data from
engineering, procurement and construction oilfield services provider Baker Hughes showed
(EPC) project had been called off. that the total active oil and gas rig count in the US
rose in the week up to August 21 for the first time
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping since early March. The oil rig count increased by
the Middle East’s oil and gas sector then please click 11 on the previous week, while the gas rig count
here for NewsBase’s MEOG Monitor. fell by one. The Permian Basin accounted for the
majority of the increase..
North America: USGC braces for storms
Offshore oil and gas producers in the US Gulf If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
of Mexico – as well as refiners on the coast – the North American oil and gas sector then please click
were suspending operations over the weekend here for NewsBase’s NorthAmOil Monitor. ™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 34 27•August•2020