Facts, News, Trends, Analysis
Not until recently when US banks begin to topple left and right did the activities of so-called Sovereign Wealth Funds begin to occupy the headlines. Indeed, very little has been heard about what the Gulf Oil States do with their sizable petro income.
What’s for sure is that the billions of dollars are not stuffed under [...]
December 4th, Syria agreed to cooperate with Cyprus in a bilateral deal for offshore oil-and-gas exploration, bypassing the objections of Turkey. Both sides expressed their willingness to sign agreements as soon as next week to define the undersea exploration. Turkey disagreed because it believes that it has claims to that area, and that Cyprus is [...]
Shokri Ghanem, the chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corporation recently stated that OPEC has many options still open to it, including a cut in global production. However, before any new cuts to production occur, Ghanem stated that OPEC needed to carefully asses members’ compliance with previous cuts.
According to OPEC, the market is flooded with oil [...]
Zwara Oil Refining Company, or ZORCO, has made HSBC the financial adviser to a crude oil refinery expected to be built in Zwara, located in northwest Libya.
ZORCO is owned by Tamoil Africa Holding, which is in turn owned by the Libya Africa Investment Portfolio. This ultimately means the Libyan government has ownership. Important to [...]
President Ahmadinejad has publicly conceded that the continued drop in oil prices is hurting the economy. This admission comes at a difficult time–close to next year’s election, and when his approval ratings have already declined. Oil prices have plummeted and the effect this has had on Iran, whose main export is oil, is a serious [...]
Libya has succeeded in increasing oil production by almost 50% in the past five years, from 1.3 million barrels per day in 2003 to the present 1.8 million bpd. Because Libya was on the US state sponsor of terror list, sanctions prevented foreign investment, particularly oil companies from drilling in the country. There are vast [...]
Saudi Oil Minister Ali Maimi said OPEC will be shoring up falling prices when it meets on Dec 17th in Algeria. The price of crude stood at about $147 a barrel in mid-July; now it is trading in the range of $50-$60.
The collapse of oil price puts pressure on many of the OPEC countries, who [...]
Libya’s top oil official, Shokri Ghanem, stated that OPEC may need to cut production further, but did not mention any specific numbers, saying, “It is too early to say how much needs to be cut … I don’t want to start throwing numbers out without consulting my colleagues – we want a consensus.”
Crude oil prices [...]
Yet another conflict has arisen between the Kurds and the Iraqi government, this time stemming from rights to the country’s most important natural resource, oil. The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq recently signed oil contracts with foreign oil companies, promising them rights to crude oil from the Kurdish region.
Iraqi oil minister, Hussain Shihristani, [...]
A London-based think tank believes that Yemen’s democracy and economy is very “fragile” for the time being. The World Bank which has much business in Yemen predicts that the country’s oil reserve could be completely gone by the year 2017. This is a major problem for the country since oil is its “cash crop.” Its [...]
