new base special 19 august 2014

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NewBase 19 August 2014 Khaled Al Awadi

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0.30 MPD crude of Kuwait in 10 year contact with China’s Sinopec Reuters + NewBase

Kuwait has concluded a new 10-year deal with a China’s Sinopec Corp to nearly double its supplies by offering to ship the oil and sell on a more competitive cost-and-freight basis, according to a KPC official and a trading source on Monday.

State-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp will export 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil under the agreement, which would amount to 15 per cent of Kuwaiti petroleum exports and estimated to be worth $120 billion, said Nasser al-Mudaf, KPC’s head of international marketing told Reuters.

Mudaf said the contract replaces a previous one for between 160,000 bpd 170,000 bpd that had expired. A senior trading source with direct knowledge of the contract said KPC managed to increase the supplies to Sinopec because it offered “a good deal”, under which KPC will use its own oil fleet and sell the oil on a cost-and-freight basis.

“It will be the first cost-and-freight term deal between KPC and China,” said the source, adding it would be more competitive than previous contract that Sinopec bought on a free-on-board basis and shipped the oil by itself. “We look for the best markets which has stability and gives high return to KPC,” said Mudaf, the marketing chief.

The agreement with China’s Sinopec’s trading arm, Unipec, was reached “in accordance with international prices and under purely commercial terms,” Mudaf said, adding the quantity was subject to increase, but did not specify by how much.

As Kuwait does not have spare crude production capacity, the incremental supplies to Sinopec would be diverted from other markets such as Japan and Europe, where demand has been weakening, said the trade source, who declined to be named as he’s not authorised to talk to media.

An official signing ceremony will be held in Hong Kong in three days, both said. State news agency KUNA, quoting government data, reported in July that Kuwait’s crude oil exports to China in the first half of this year stood at 3.87 million tonnes, equivalent to around 157,000 bpd. Most of Kuwait’s exports go to Asia. The Gulf Arab state pumped 2.81 million bpd in July, according to a Reuters survey.




BP Oman to boost drilling, general manager says PRESS RELEASE

BP Oman plans to increase its drilling activity in the Khazzan project to unlock the massiveunconventional gas reserves in the field, said BP Oman general manager Dave Campbell.

So far, more than 15 wells have been drilled and five or six more wells will be drilled by the end of2014, Campbell told reporters on Monday on the sidelines of a function to inaugurate BP Oman's

Technicians Training Centre in Ghala

"We have, at the moment, two drilling rigs,and by the middle of next year to the end ofnext year, we will have eight drilling rigs.So we are ramping up the drilling activity,"he added. Campbell also noted that theremaining projects (about 20 per cent) willbe awarded soon

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, hesaid, "This is a significant year for BP in

Oman, with the BP-operated Khazzan Project now under development following the Royal Decree(11/2014) in February 2014 and our announcement of the project sanction in December 2013

"Since then, we have been 'in action' as we prepare to unlock the massive unconventional gasreserves of the Khazzan field. The development of the Khazzan tight gas field in Block 61 willinvolve a drilling programme of around 300 wells over 15 years and deliver plateau production ofone billion cubic feet of gas per day.

BP had earlier said that the project will significantly contribute towards ensuring continuing stablesupplies from domestic sources.




Qatargas Delivers First LNG Cargo To China’s Hainan Terminal By Reuters

The cargo will be used to commission the new LNG terminal which CNOOC owns and will be

operating soon.

Qatargas delivered the first cargo of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to China National Oil Corporation’s (CNOOC) Hainan LNG terminal located in the Hainan province, a company statement said on Monday.

The cargo arrived on Aug. 8 on a Q-Max class LNG vessel and will be used to commission the new LNG terminal which CNOOC owns and will be operating soon, the statement added.

“This is an important milestone for Qatargas. We are very pleased that LNG from Qatar continues to contribute towards meeting the growing demand for energy in the People’s Republic of China,” said Chief Executive Khalid Bin Khalifa Al-Thani.

Qatargas and CNOOC have an existing sales agreement signed in 2008 to supply a total of 2 million tonnes per annum (MTA) of LNG. The first delivery of LNG from Qatar to China with CNOOC was made in October 2009.

“This is the third time Qatargas has provided a commissioning cargo for one of CNOOC’s LNG receiving terminals and represents the sixth LNG receiving terminal overall in China to use LNG supplied by Qatargas for commissioning activities,” the statement added.

Qatargas is the world’s largest LNG producing company with a production capacity of 42 MTA.

Qatar's LNG export capacity is the highest in the world at 77 million

tons per year (MMt/y), approximately 3.7 Tcf, split between

Qatargas (42 MMt/y) and RasGas (35 MMt/y)




To bypass Hurmoz Straight Iran plans oil terminal 0n Gulf of Oman NewBase + Oman Times

Muscat: Iran is planning to construct a huge oil terminal in the port city of Jask, off the Sea of Oman in south of the country, said an official.

Pirouz Mousavi, managing director of the Iranian Oil Terminals Company (IOTC), said that the

construction of the oil terminal in Jask -- which involves storage tanks, loading and unloading

wharves, single-point moorings (SPM) as well as onshore and offshore facilities -- would need an

estimated $2.5 billion in investment, according to Press TV.

He said Iran's private sector as well as foreign companies may be invited to contribute to this

project .Mousavi added that three SPMs will be constructed in this terminal, adding that state-of-

the-art technology will be applied to the storage tanks.

He stated that pipelines are to be laid out to deliver oil from Neka oil terminal near the Caspian

Sea and also from oil-rich regions in southern Iran to Jask Port before being exported. Mousavi

said establishment of an oil terminal in Jask will shorten the distance for oil delivery and thereby

exports costs.

According to Mousavi, Jask oil terminal will also boost Iran's storage capacity and provide the

country with a bargaining chip in its oil transactions. In June, Akbar Torkan, a top aide to Iranian

President Hassan Rouhani, said Kazakhstan plans to construct a pipeline running through the

Iranian territory which will end in Jask, where tankers will be able to dock to load petroleum

products.

He added that Iran also seeks to lay a pipeline projected to transfer crude oil from the oil terminal

in Neka to Jask. Also in March, Torkan said part of the natural gas transferred to Jask will be

exported to Oman, while the rest will feed petrochemical and steel industries in the coastal region.




Egypt :Sea Dragon - Farm out agreement for South Disouq Concession, SOURCE Sea Dragon Energy Inc. + NewBase

Sea Dragon Energy Inc. an oil & gas exploration and production company with assets in Egypt, is pleased to announce it has entered into an agreement with IPR Energy Resources, Ltd ("IPR") to farm-out a 45% participating interest in the South Disouq Concession, located in the Nile Delta, Egypt.

The South Disouq concession comprises 1,275 km² of acreage in the Nile Delta of Egypt and is anticipated to contain significant gas potential. It is located within the prolific Abu Madi-Baltim trend, which currently contains 10 discoveries, containing 6.3Tcf of gas and 100 MMbo of liquids.

Under the terms of the agreement IPR will carry the cost of the 1st Phase Commitment well, subject to a cap, pay$1.9 MM of the signature bonus, fund its proportionate share of the remaining work program and will have the option to operate the Commitment well.

IPR is a privately held company based in Dallas, TX - USA with exploration and production assets in Egypt, USA, and Pakistan. IPR has been active in Egypt for over 30 years and currently has operations and equity interests in 6 concessions. It also has a global upstream consulting business and an oil field services division in Egypt.




This agreement remains subject to final approval by the regulatory authorities in Egypt. Post approval, Sea Dragon will have a 55% interest in the concession, with IPR holding the remaining 45%. Sea Dragon will continue to be the operator.

Commenting, Paul Welch, CEO of Sea Dragon, said:

"This agreement is an important milestone for the development of the South Disouq concession, which in itself is a key asset for the Company, representing significant exploration upside potential in an area the Sea Dragon management team have had proven success. The farm-out will also provide Sea Dragon with the financial flexibility to continue to develop and invest resources across our wider Egyptian asset base. We look forward to working with IPR to explore for the significant potential within this concession".

About Sea Dragon Energy Inc.

Sea Dragon is an international exploration and development oil company with a focus on North Africa and the Middle East. Activities are currently concentrated in Egypt, with interest in 4 concessions with short and long term potential. For further information please see the website of the Company at www.seadragonenergy.com or the Company's filed documents at www.sedar.com.

Sea Dragon has interests in four concessions in Egypt which contain a combination of high impact and near term production growth opportunities. Sea Dragon developed a Gulf of Suez fairway providing the company with a solid production platform from which it can expand. • Production > 1,686 boepd (net) • 2P Reserves 3.75 MMboe (net) • Operation CF $15mm (2013) • Operation CF $1.3mm (1Q 2014)




The cost of caring for elderly nuclear reactors in Europe Reuters + NeewBase

Europe’s ageing nuclear fleet will undergo more prolonged outages over the next few years,

reducing the reliability of power supply and costing plant operators many billions of dollars.

Nuclear power provides about a

third of the European Union’s

electricity generation, but the 28-

nation bloc’s 131 reactors are well

past their prime, with an average

age of 30 years.

And the energy companies, already feeling the pinch from falling energy prices and weak demand, want to extend the life of their plants into the 2020s, to put off the drain of funding new builds. Closing the older nuclear plants is not an option for many EU countries, which are facing an energy capacity crunch as other types of plant are being closed or mothballed because they can’t cover their operating costs, or to meet stricter environmental regulation. Though renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power are slowly rising in

the mix, they do not produce a constant output, so other sources will always be needed for backup.

But as nuclear plants age, performance can suffer, and outages - both scheduled and unplanned - rise. With nuclear safety in the spotlight since the 2011 reactor meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima plant - which in turn prompted Germany to call time on its entire nuclear fleet - operators can take no chances with their elderly plants, but the outages get longer and more difficult.

“These reactors were designed over 30 years ago. The people involved are either retired or dead, and most of the companies involved no longer exist,” said John Large, an independent nuclear engineer and analyst who has carried out work for Britain’s Atomic Energy Authority.

Jean Tandonnet, EDF Group’s nuclear safety inspector, said in January that its French fleet last year had a series of “problematic unit outages”, and scheduled outages were extended by an average of more than 26 days. Regular maintenance and major equipment replacement jobs had increased by 60% in the last six years, he said.

“(At an ageing plant) outages take slightly longer, and there is more work to do to make sure it is in top condition. Safety comes ahead of anything else,” a spokeswoman for EDF Energy in the UK said.




France is the EU’s nuclear leader, its 58 reactors producing nearly three quarters of the country’s electricity. France’s nuclear watchdog will make a final decision on whether to extend the life of the French fleet to 50 years in 2018 or 2019. EDF has estimated the extension would cost €55bn.

“The average age of the (French) reactors is now about 30 years, which raises questions about the investment needed to enable them to continue operating, as ageing reactors increasingly need parts to be replaced,” according to the World Nuclear Industry Status report 2014.

Though the EU has conducted risk and safety tests on the bloc’s nuclear plants, environmental campaigners say the tests failed to address risks associated with ageing technology, among other things. With exposure to radiation, high temperatures and pressure, the components of nuclear plants take a battering over time.

“They can, for example, become more brittle, susceptible to cracking or less able to cope with temperature extremes,” said Anthony Froggart, senior research fellow at London-based thinktank Chatham House. “While this can be monitored, it can be problematic if ageing occurs at a greater rate than anticipated or it occurs in areas which are difficult to access or monitor,” he added.

As reactors age, there is also a risk of finding a generic design flaw that could affect all the reactors in a country if they are of the same design. Britain has 16 reactors in operation that came online from the 1970s to 1990s, and all but one will be retired by 2023 unless they get extensions.

At the Wylfa plant in Wales - Britain’s oldest, at 43 years - the one remaining operational reactor was out of service for seven months this year. It was first taken down for maintenance, but the restart was delayed as new problems were discovered. The reactor is scheduled to be taken out of service for good in September, but operator Magnox is seeking an extension to December 2015. This week, EDF Energy took offline three of its nuclear reactors at its Heysham 1 and Hartlepool plants in Britain for inspection which are both 31 years old, after a crack was discovered on a boiler spine of another Heysham 1 reactor with a similar boiler design, which had already been taken offline in June.




The boilers will be checked for defects with thermal imagery done using robotics, and the firm will know more about what caused the fault after the inspections, which should take around eight weeks, the EDF Energy spokeswoman said. EDF Energy has been incorporating extra checks into its strategy for its ageing nuclear plants since it inherited them from previous operator British Energy, she said.

British Energy was delisted in 2009 following financial collapse. Several unplanned outages had reduced its power output, and its load factor - the ratio of actual output to its maximum capacity - fell to its lowest level of 56% in 2009, Britain’s National Archives show.

This compares with EDF’s average load factor for its French nuclear fleet of 73% in 2013, which is also down from its highest level of 77.6% in 2005, the company’s 2013 results show. The fleet’s net output of electricity has declined from 429 terawatt hours in 2005 to 404 TWh last year, though this could be for a range of reasons, including weak energy demand.

Apart from reducing the reliability of Europe’s electricity supply, operators stand to lose many millions of euros from a single outage from lost electricity sales alone. Reuters calculations, based on industry estimates of lost daily electricity sales, show the outages at two EDF Energy plants could cost the firm some £155mn during the outages from when they began in June or August to October, not including the costs of inspection and maintenance work.

Industry sources say the lost revenue from the loss of output at a 1 gigawatt plant could reach 1mn pounds a day. British utility Centrica, which owns 20% of EDF Energy’s nuclear fleet, said yesterday the reduction in output would reduce its earnings per share by around 0.3 pence this year. More than half of Belgium’s nuclear capacity is offline for maintenance. The three closed reactors are 29, 31 and 32 years old.

Though it doesn’t break out the nuclear data separately, statistics from Europe’s electricity industry association Eurelectric show both planned and unplanned outages mostly increased at thermal power plants in eight European countries examined, and periods of energy unavailability increased from around 12.8% in 2002 to 18.3% in 2011. As the plants age, that can only increase.




Rosneft, Statoil begin Pingvin drilling Press Release

Russia’s Rosneft has announced that it has, together with Statoil, started exploration

operations at the Pingvin prospect in the Norwegian section of the Barents Sea.

The first exploration well Pingvin-1, located in the production license PL713, is being drilled by the

Transocean Spitsbergen rig.

The water depth is 422 meters and the drilling target total vertical depth (TVD) is 1,516 meters. The

companies expect to analyze the drilling results until the end of 2014.

RN Nordic Oil AS is partner in the license (PL713) with Statoil (that is the operator), North Energy ASA

and Edison International Norway Branch. RN Nordic Oil AS, a subsidiary of Rosneft, will be involved in

the operations on the project.

“The start of this exploration operations marks an important milestone in developing the cooperation

between Rosneft and Statoil. The companies plan to implement their experience of exploration and

development of hydrocarbon




Natural gas serves a small, but growing, portion of China’s total energy demand Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

China relies heavily on domestic coal (and to a lesser extent oil) to meet rising energy consumption. To reduce air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions, the Chinese government is attempting to replace some of the country's coal and oil use with natural gas. Natural gas accounted for only 4.9% of China's total energy consumption in 2012, but large investments in domestic natural gas production and infrastructure, along with growing imports, are likely to

underpin a significantly larger role in the future. The Chinese government anticipates increasing its natural gas share of total energy consumption to around 8% by the end of 2015 and 10% by 2020.

China more than tripled natural gas production since 2003, producing 3.8 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in 2012, and the government is targeting production to reach about 5.5 Tcf of natural gas per year by the end of 2015. Most of the anticipated production growth is from large onshore fields in the western and north central regions of China as well as from the offshore deepwater regions in the South China Sea. China's natural gas consumption has outstripped domestic supply since 2007, triggering rising imports of both liquefied natural gas (LNG) and pipeline gas. China's natural gas consumption rose at an average annual rate of 17% from 2003 through 2013, reaching nearly 5.7 Tcf in 2013.




In 2013, China imported nearly 1.8 Tcf of LNG and pipeline gas to fill the growing gap between supply and demand. Imported natural gas met 32% of China's demand in 2013, up from 2% in 2006. China is swiftly developing its LNG import capacity in the urban coastal areas and currently has 10 major regasification terminals with 1.7 Tcf/y of capacity. In 2012, China rose to become the third-largest LNG importer in the world, after Japan and South Korea, and in 2013, the country imported 870 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of LNG. Estimates for the first half of 2014 show LNG imports growing at faster levels than in previous years.

China also continues to invest in natural gas pipeline infrastructure that will link production areas in the western and northern regions to demand centers along the coast. This new infrastructure will accommodate greater imports from neighboring countries. In 2010, the first pipeline imports flowed to China from Turkmenistan through the Central Asia Gas Pipeline (CAGP), and by 2013, natural gas supplies from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan reached 974 Bcf. In 2013, China added natural gas imports from Kazakhstan through the CAGP and Myanmar through a newly built pipeline. China and Russia recently finalized a natural gas agreement that allows China to purchase and transport gas from eastern Russia through a proposed pipeline. The deal, valued at approximately $400 billion, will supply China with up to 1.3 Tcf of natural gas per year starting in 2018.

China's potential wealth of shale gas, coalbed methane, and coal-to-gas resources has spurred the government to invest and partner with foreign companies that have technical expertise to unlock these reserves. According to EIA estimates, China holds the largest reserves of technically recoverable shale gas in the world, although investors face geological, technical and water resource challenges, regulatory hurdles, transportation constraints, and competition with other fuels.




PetroChina reviews LNG in transport plan Reuters + NewBase

China’s biggest energy firm PetroChina is reviewing its multi-billion-dollar push to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) to fuel trucks and ships in place of diesel, shutting two loss-making gas liquefaction plants, sources said.

PetroChina unit Kunlun Energy Co Ltd closed the two major plants in the past month, wrong footed by rising costs for gas and China’s slower growth rate that has cooled demand, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation said.

Seen just a year ago as a fast-growing profit engine, the firm is now reviewing investment in the niche business that chills gas into liquid form, sourcing the gas from small producing fields or from pipelines tapping large inland basins, they said.

LNG is increasingly being seen as a potential transport fuel, and can nearly treble a vehicle’s driving range over rival compressed natural gas (CNG). Royal Dutch Shell last year agreed to run LNG fuelling lanes at up to 100 major truck stops along US interstate highways.

LNG is cleaner and nearly a third cheaper than diesel, China’s main transport fuel. Oil firms had an ambitious goal back in 2011 to replace 10 percent of automotive diesel consumption with gas by 2015, industry officials have said.

Led by the private sector, China has built dozens of small-scale onshore gas liquefaction facilities since 2001 to tap marginal gas fields located off the national pipeline grid, filling a supply gap as demand for lower-carbon producing LNG surged.

Kunlun, a relative latecomer, emerged as a leader of the business, having spent billions of dollars on a dozen LNG plants, mainly in the country’s west and north, and building over 600 gas refuelling stations. The company separately operates two multi-billion-dollar LNG import terminals on China’s east coast.

It also helped put nearly 80,000 LNG vehicles on the road by the end of 2013 by working with auto makers and truck fleet owners, said a Kunlun executive, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to talk to the media.

But since the second half of 2013, Kunlun has seen utilization rates at some of its plants fall below 50 percent, he said, amid a broad economic slowdown and as Beijing rolled out a gas price reform that pushed up prices of feed gas.

An anti-corruption probe of top PetroChina executives, including Kunlun’s former chairman Li Hualin - a protege of China’s ex-security chief Zhou Yongkang who is now officially under investigation - added to uncertainty about the company’s business strategy, said the Kunlun executive. A PetroChina spokesman did not respond to Reuters questions. Kunlun Energy’s investor relation chief was not available for comment.

In July, barely a month after the start of trial production, Kunlun shut down a 1.2 million tonne per year (tpy) liquefaction plant at Huanggang in the central province of Hubei, the sources said. The plant, the largest of its kind in China, had aimed to supply LNG to vessels along the Yangtze, China’s longest river.




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Your partner in Energy Services

Khaled Malallah Al Awadi, MSc. & BSc. Mechanical Engineering (HON), USA ASME member since 1995 Emarat member since 1990

Energy Services & Consultants Mobile : +97150-4822502

[email protected] [email protected]

Khaled Al Awadi is a UAE National with a total of 24 yearsKhaled Al Awadi is a UAE National with a total of 24 yearsKhaled Al Awadi is a UAE National with a total of 24 yearsKhaled Al Awadi is a UAE National with a total of 24 years of of of of experience in theexperience in theexperience in theexperience in the Oil & Gas sector. Currently working as Oil & Gas sector. Currently working as Oil & Gas sector. Currently working as Oil & Gas sector. Currently working as

Technical Affairs Specialist for Emirates General Petroleum Corp. “Emarat“ with external voluntary Energy consultation for Technical Affairs Specialist for Emirates General Petroleum Corp. “Emarat“ with external voluntary Energy consultation for Technical Affairs Specialist for Emirates General Petroleum Corp. “Emarat“ with external voluntary Energy consultation for Technical Affairs Specialist for Emirates General Petroleum Corp. “Emarat“ with external voluntary Energy consultation for

the GCC area via Hawk Energy Service as a UAE operations base , Most the GCC area via Hawk Energy Service as a UAE operations base , Most the GCC area via Hawk Energy Service as a UAE operations base , Most the GCC area via Hawk Energy Service as a UAE operations base , Most of the experience were spent as the Gas Operations of the experience were spent as the Gas Operations of the experience were spent as the Gas Operations of the experience were spent as the Gas Operations

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routes. Many years were spent drafting, & compiling gas transportation , operation & maintenance agreements along with many Mroutes. Many years were spent drafting, & compiling gas transportation , operation & maintenance agreements along with many Mroutes. Many years were spent drafting, & compiling gas transportation , operation & maintenance agreements along with many Mroutes. Many years were spent drafting, & compiling gas transportation , operation & maintenance agreements along with many MOUs for OUs for OUs for OUs for

the local authorities. He has become a reference the local authorities. He has become a reference the local authorities. He has become a reference the local authorities. He has become a reference for many of the Oil & Gas Conferences held in the UAE andfor many of the Oil & Gas Conferences held in the UAE andfor many of the Oil & Gas Conferences held in the UAE andfor many of the Oil & Gas Conferences held in the UAE and Energy program broadcasted Energy program broadcasted Energy program broadcasted Energy program broadcasted

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NewBase 19 August 2014 K. Al Awadi

new base special 19 august 2014

Economy & Finance

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kpc official

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chinas sinopec corp

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