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Oil & Gas

Oil and gas news from the Middle East and beyond. All the important stories, exclusive interviews, plus authoritative opinion and analysis

OQ Exploration & Production will offer 2 billion shares on September 30 on the Muscat stock exchange

OQ production unit’s IPO set to raise $2bn

OQ Exploration and Production (OQEP), a unit of Oman’s state energy company, OQ, is expected to raise a maximum of OMR780 million ($2.03 billion) from its listing on the Muscat stock exchange. The offering, expected to be the country’s largest IPO, has been priced between 370 and 390 baisas per share with the final price […]

In the first half of 2024, Adnoc Distribution reported a 7.7 percent year-on-year rise in net profit to $319 million

Adnoc Distribution to pay $350m in interim dividend

Adnoc Distribution, an Abu Dhabi-listed fuel and convenience retailer, will pay an interim dividend of AED1.3 billion ($350 million) for the first half of 2024. The dividend is the first instalment of the expected full-year 2024 dividend of $700 million. The payout falls under the five-year dividend policy, which has set an annual dividend of […]

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, September 11, 2024. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY

The huge ambitions of PIF come at vast expense

The scale of the holdings is vast and the ambition is huge. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was the world’s highest-spending state-owned investor in the first half of 2024, according to Global SWF, a consultancy.   It is due to raise its annual spending to $70 billion in 2025, a year earlier than previously announced, according […]

Workers at Egypt's Zohr gas facility. It is unclear if the drop in output is due to technical issues or lack of investment

Egypt plans to restore full gas output in 2025

Egypt plans to restore its natural gas production to normal levels by June 2025, the prime minister has said.  The country has become a net importer of fuel amid declining domestic output and increasing energy demand.  Falling output from Zohr – Egypt’s largest natural gas field developed by Eni of Italy – led to daily […]

Saudi petrochemical

Second-half slide expected for Saudi petrochemical industry

With higher shipping and logistic rates and stable prices of raw materials, Saudi petrochemical producers are likely to report lower earnings in the second half of the year, an expert has said. The companies reported margin peaks in the second quarter of the year, but they are likely to face pressures on profit margins in […]

Oman needs three listed companies with market caps above $2.19bn to get on MSCI’s Emerging Markets index. OQEP could be one

Oil IPO is latest step towards Oman’s emerging market status

An Omani state oil company’s $2 billion initial public offering will boost the sultanate’s chances of eventually being reclassified as an emerging market by the world’s leading stock index providers. If achieved, Oman’s blue-chips will receive sizeable inflows from passive funds that track the MSCI and FTSE emerging market benchmarks, increasing bourse turnover and likely […]

Quantitative speculators can anticipate and 'accelerate price changes initiated by fundamentals'

‘Bot traders’ defy Opec and determine the price of oil

Oil has been trading at its lowest levels in a year, posing a severe challenge to Opec in its efforts to impose a floor on prices. But analysts say that speculative financial players are also driving price determination, alongside traders who study the fundamentals of supply and demand. Opec has voiced frustration at what it […]

Botas and TotalEnergies executives sign the long-term LNG supply deal in the presence of Turkish energy and natural resources minister Alparslan Bayraktar

Turkey’s Botas signs 10-year LNG deal with TotalEnergies

Turkish energy company Boru Hatları ile Petrol Taşıma AŞ (Botas) has signed a deal to purchase 16 billion cubic metres (bcm) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from France’s TotalEnergies. The 10-year deal will start from 2027, Anadolu Agency reported, citing Turkish energy and natural resources minister Alparslan Bayraktar. The deal offers flexible and competitive terms, […]

Aramco MidOcean Hunt Oil logo

Aramco raises stake in MidOcean

Saudi Aramco’s stake in MidOcean Energy, the liquefied natural gas unit of the US-based energy investor EIG, will rise to 49 percent after the oil giant agreed to fund an acquisition by MidOcean in Peru. MidOcean signed a deal to buy an additional 15 percent interest in Peru LNG from the American energy company Hunt […]

El Sharara Libyan National Army Commander Khalifa Haftar takes part in a meeting with U.S. Africa Command General Michael Langley (not pictured) at an unidentified location, in Libya, in this handout image released on August 27, 2024. Libyan National Army/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT El Sharara oilfield was shut down in August by Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army

Oil production in Libya returns, but full recovery is uncertain

Oil production in politically divided Libya is slowly recovering, after a tumultuous August when fields across the country were shut down. But crude exports remain disrupted, and government revenues are still dampened, amid concerns over prolonged instability. Libyan factions failed last week to resolve crises over the central bank’s powers and oil revenues. Crude output […]

US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell. The yield on 10-year treasuries hit a 17-year high of nearly 5 percent in October 2023

US rate cuts will help Gulf bonds but oil worries persist

Imminent US interest rate cuts bode well for Gulf bonds and sukuk, although declining oil prices could lead to higher spreads on regional debt. Bonds are typically priced against 10-year US government treasuries and the difference between their yields is known as the spread. The yield on 10-year treasuries hit a 17-year high of nearly […]

Saipem's EPC contract will help sustain production at QatarEnergy LNG's North Field offshore natural gas reservoir

QatarEnergy LNG awards $4bn contract to Saipem

QatarEnergy LNG, one of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) companies, has awarded a $4 billion contract to Italy’s Saipem to boost its gas production. The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract will aid in sustaining production at the North Field natural gas reservoir off the northeast coast of Qatar. The work scope includes the […]

IEA executive director Dr Fatih Birol. The agency has cut its 2024 oil demand growth outlook by about 7 percent

IEA cuts oil demand forecast as Chinese economy stalls

Rapidly slowing Chinese economic output is the primary driver of falling global oil demand, the International Energy Agency has said, as it cut the forecast in its monthly oil market report. The Paris-based energy watchdog has trimmed its 2024 oil demand growth outlook by 70,000 barrels per day, or around 7 percent, to an average […]

NMDC Energy provides engineering, procurement and construction for energy giants such as Adnoc and Saudi Aramco

Shopping trip for NMDC Energy boss after blockbuster IPO

NMDC Energy is looking for merger and acquisition targets after delivering the UAE’s biggest initial public offering of 2024, its CEO has told AGBI. Ahmed Al Dhaheri said the Emirati company, which listed on the Abu Dhabi exchange on Wednesday, would announce “some M&A soon” and was focusing on expansion outside the Gulf.  He also […]

Aramco and Rongsheng have signed an agreement to potentially expand the facilities at Saudi Aramco Jubail Refinery Company (Sasref)

Aramco and Rongsheng move on chem plant expansion

Saudi Aramco is accelerating plans to expand the liquids-to-chemicals project in Jubail in collaboration with China’s Rongsheng Petrochemical Company. The companies have signed a development framework agreement to potentially expand Saudi Aramco Jubail Refinery Company (Sasref) facilities and increase investments in the petrochemical sectors of both nations. This follows a cooperation framework signed in April, where Rongsheng proposed […]

The Aramco-Bapco pipeline can transport up to 350,00 barrels per day of crude oil

BlackRock buys stake in Saudi-Bahraini oil pipeline

Bahrain’s state-run Bapco Energies has sold a minority stake in an oil pipeline linking Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to a fund managed by US investment bank BlackRock. The BlackRock Diversified Infrastructure fund purchased a stake in the Saudi Bahrain Pipeline Co (SBPC), which owns a section of the 112-km pipeline. It supplies crude oil from […]

Adnoc covestro

Adnoc to acquire chemical company Covestro for $16bn

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) is expected to make a formal offer to buy German chemical company Covestro AG. The Financial Times reported that the 14.4 billion euros ($15.90 billion) offer will set up the state-owned energy producer to expand its overseas holdings. The companies have been in talks since Adnoc made an initial informal […]