Middle East News

By Tsvetana Paraskova Some newly elected Iraqi lawmakers, linked with populist Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr whose alliance won the elections last month, are not sure that Baghdad’s participation in the OPEC production cut deal is good for the country. Some new members-elect of Iraq’s parliament think that Iraq should be able to export as much crude oil as it wants, ...

According to the CIF-based swap deal, Iran receives 30,000 to 60,000 bpd of oil from Kirkuk oil fields in northern Iraq to an Iranian refinery across the border via tanker trucks, in exchange for oil for southern Iraq. On Sunday, the tankers offloaded their cargoes at storage tanks in Iran’s Darreh Shahr, the western province of Ilam, which were installed ...

By Tsvetana Paraskova Saudi Aramco’s much-hyped initial public offering is “most likely” to take place in 2019, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said on Friday, likely confirming that plans for the IPO have been pushed from this year to next. “We’re simply waiting for a market readiness for the IPO,” al-Falih said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in ...

By Irina Slav Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has promised to start increasing the crisis-stricken country’s oil production during his second six-year term in office. AFP reports that during his inauguration speech, Maduro said he will seek the help of OPEC to double Venezuela’s oil production, which is currently at 70-year lows and much below its production quota under the OPEC ...

By Nick Cunningham It was only a few weeks ago that top officials from OPEC nations were issuing statements assuring the market that the group’s production cuts would remain in effect through the end of 2018, with the possibility of even extending them into next year. But now, with the Vienna meeting just a few weeks away, OPEC is suddenly ...

By Tsvetana Paraskova  OPEC revised up on Monday its forecast for global oil demand growth this year, but noted that sanctions, tariffs, and the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal point to rising uncertainty over the global economic growth momentum. In its closely watched Monthly Oil Market Report out today, OPEC revised up its global oil demand growth estimate ...

MILAN — Eni announces an oil discovery on the A-2X exploration prospect in the South West Meleiha license, in the Egyptian Western Desert, some 103 km north of the oasis of Siwa. The well is the first one drilled by Eni to explore the deep geological sequences of the Faghur basin. The exploratory well, named SWM A-2X, has been drilled ...

KUWAIT (Bloomberg) — Oil markets are expected to balance in the fourth quarter even as output from fellow OPEC members Libya and Nigeria as well as from shale oil producers is on the rise, according to Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih. The global effort to reduce crude production since the start of the year is helping supply and demand move ...

KUWAIT (Bloomberg) — Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are expected to relay to mediators what they want Qatar do to in return for ending their isolation of the tiny Gulf nation, according to a Gulf official with direct knowledge of the matter. The proposals, which may come in the next two days, would make it easier to end the ...

LONDON (Bloomberg) — Iraq’s ambition to boost oil-output capacity to a record 5 MMbpd is “not unrealistic” as the country prepares for the end of OPEC-mandated supply limits, consultants Wood Mackenzie Ltd. said. Iraq, which has been rehabilitating its oil industry after years of conflict, has vowed to keep expanding capacity while respecting an Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ accord ...