Colder than normal weather in the US has put pressure on their heating demand, giving petroleum prices a lift. Declining rig counter and lower Saudi exports is helping to rebalance global oil inventories, which is helping prices remain elevated. Global oil demand is consistently rising, while US shale oil production is still very dynamic and moving towards record levels in 2017.
OPEC members will be meeting in Vienna next month for their semi-annual meeting, marking one year since OPEC members and Russia agreed to the oil production cut that has seen some success. Non OPEC members have also been invited to attend the meeting.
On the agenda, will be the decision to support an extension of the production cut deal beyond March 2018, which is currently the cut-off date. If the deal rolls over, Libya and Nigeria will still be excused from any production quotas, even with requests from Iran’s oil minister to join the cuts. Nigeria is forecasting a production of 1.8 million bpd in 2018 at which point they would then consider the production cut, whereas Libya has seen an increase from 300,000 bpd to 850,000 bpd with not much more than that anticipated to be seen, allowing more inclination to join the OPEC at a 850,000 bpd quota.
Oil Ministers will be waiting to see if the upswing and recent gains in the oil price will continue into November to contribute to the deal extension decision.
Technology Focus I Global
A new survey by Accenture and Microsoft Corp reported on the list of expected benefits that digital technologies can give upstream oil and gas companies. Faster and better decision-making and shorter time to first oil and gas topped the list. Rich Holsman, Digital Head of Accenture stated that “Upstream oil and gas companies are evolving from only using digital technologies in siloes to using these digital technologies and the related new ways of working to transform entire business areas.”
Recent advances in thermal-imaging technology, such as Optical-gas imaging (OGI), has resulted in learning that fugitive emission or unintentional gas leaks are happening much more than ever before with an estimated $2 billion USD of natural gas being lost each year. OGI makes gas clouds visible and works as an infrared sensor within the thermal spectrum.
Fast expanding subsea metrology procedures are providing higher than ever accuracy solutions, determining the relative horizontal and vertical distance between subsea assets. Most commonly used for pipeline connections, this allows engineers to design a connecting piece to successfully join the assets.
Africa
Oil-dependent African economies require new investments and in order to position themselves as the preferred area to potential investors, three areas are key, according to Serge Toulekima from Mabells Petroleum Advisors:
African merchandise exports sat at $346bn in 2016, just 2% of the world total. 32% of these were attributed to oil exports.
Country Focus | Algeria
Algeria saw a boost in earnings from its petroleum exports for the first nine months of 2017, according to official figures. The North African country saw a bump of 19% in earnings over the amount earned for the same period in 2016.
Oil and gas exports, which accounted for 94.6% of sales abroad, reached $24.41 billion in the first three quarters of 2017 against $20.52billion in the same period last year.
Country Focus | Angola
The new president of Angola has ordered a 30-day review of the state of the oil industry in order to face challenges that are being presented to the sector. Directing a work group, they would like to determine how to improve current conditions of investment as well as develop a framework of co-operations between the executive and oil companies. This happened after the new secretary of state for oil, Carlos Saturnino was appointed and the oil & mining ministries were merged into one.
With the focus of promoting Local Content in the 18-member oil and gas producing countries, Luanda will be host to the 2nd Africa oil & gas Local Content Conference and Exhibition taking place from the 14 – 16 June 2018. See more info here
Country Focus | Mozambique
An agreement to expedite development of the giant Rovuma gas discovery was signed between India and Mozambique . This is planned to be converted into LNG for exports. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Twitter, “Met Energy Minister of Mozambique; agreed to expedite our project of gas development where Indian companies have invested about USD 6.5 billion.”
With the excellent quality of Mozambican gas as well as their strategic location that makes it easy to respond to markets in Asia, the Pacific and the Atlantic, Mozambique has been identified as a new, emerging global focus for the supply of LNG. According the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Letícia Klemens, the government has already selected marketing in Asia to cover the expense of deep-water explorations, which is a process gaining popularity in the growing demand for cleaner energy sources.
The Government of the Republic of Mozambique & the Ministry of Mineral Resources & Energy, in partnership with AME Trade bring you the 6th Edition of the Mozambique Mining, Oil & Gas and Energy Conference and Exhibition (MMEC 2018). Request a brochure here
Country Focus | Guyana
The Guyanese government is exploring the possibility of sharing an oil processing facility with Suriname. While the private sector hasn’t yet spoken to the ministry on this, Chevron has put a proposal forward to work in Guyana.
Exxon Mobil Corporation announced earlier this month that it has made a fifth new oil discovery after drilling the Turbot-1 well offshore Guyana. This is the latest discovery, adding to Liza, Payara, Snoek and Liza Deep. The Turbot well was safely drilled to 18 445 feet in 5912 feet of water at the end of September
Company Focus| Tlou Energy
The seismic survey currently being conducted by Tlou Energy on its Lesedi and Mamba CBM Projects in Botswana is 40% complete with pleasing data obtained so far. The 2D seismic survey , which was launched on October 8th, gave Tlou 250 km’s worth of new data. The survey is expected to continue until November 2017.
Company Focus I Kosmos Energy
Kosmos Energy signed three new PSCs expanding its position as a West African competitor. The company signed with Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea, and national oil company GEPetrol, getting access to Block EG-21, Block S and Block W offshore Rio Muni. The deal marks Kosmos’ first PSCs in Equatorial Guinea.
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