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Iraq government in post-election gridlock as al-Maliki stays put

The result of April’s Iraqi parliament election may have been announced in mid-May, but there is still no sign of compromise among the deeply divided parties and blocs. Many of prime minister Nouri al-Maliki’s critics were expecting his State of Law coalition, an offshoot of the Shiite al-Daawa Party, to lose its parliamentary majority. His previous Shiite allies and today’s opponents are to form a coalition to oppose a third term for al-Maliki, who has been ruling since 2005. But al-Maliki’s opponents were disappointed. In the polls, his list still won far more seats in the forthcoming parliament than any other – but with only 92 out of 328, still came far short of anything like a majority. This forced them into another round of fraught negotiations to cobble together a coalition, just as in 2010 – and just as in 2010, it is proving to be a long […]

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China's Sinopec Doubles Oil Output At Iranian Project-Sources

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. , or Sinopec, has doubled production at its Iranian oil project, according to people familiar with the matter, a rare success as the country struggles to revive its flagging oil output. The push is part of a broader attempt by China and Iran to mend fences after the cancellation of a $2.5 billion oil-field deal with another Chinese state-owned giant, China National Petroleum Corp. Production at the Sinopec-run Yadvaran project, near the Iraqi border, has increased to about 50,000 barrels a day from 25,000 barrels a day in early April, the people said. Sinopec didn’t responded to repeated requests for comment. Sinopec is also pushing to start a new phase to boost output to 135,000 barrels a day, people familiar with the matter said. The increase will be welcomed by Iran where production has been heavily hit by international sanctions. Iranian crude output […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China’s Sinopec Doubles Oil Output At Iranian Project-Sources

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. , or Sinopec, has doubled production at its Iranian oil project, according to people familiar with the matter, a rare success as the country struggles to revive its flagging oil output. The push is part of a broader attempt by China and Iran to mend fences after the cancellation of a $2.5 billion oil-field deal with another Chinese state-owned giant, China National Petroleum Corp. Production at the Sinopec-run Yadvaran project, near the Iraqi border, has increased to about 50,000 barrels a day from 25,000 barrels a day in early April, the people said. Sinopec didn’t responded to repeated requests for comment. Sinopec is also pushing to start a new phase to boost output to 135,000 barrels a day, people familiar with the matter said. The increase will be welcomed by Iran where production has been heavily hit by international sanctions. Iranian crude output […]

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Production at Kazakhstan's Kashagan Oil Field Halted Until 2016

The full moon rises in the background over an oil rig at the Kashagan offshore oil field in the Caspian Sea in western Kazakhstan. Reuters Kazakhstan’s giant Kashagan oil field, one of the world’s largest industrial projects, won’t produce any oil until at least 2016 while workers battle against the hostile Caspian Sea to complete massive repairs, according to people familiar with the matter. The project’s partners, which include Eni SpA, Total SA, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Exxon Mobil Corp. , have concluded they must entirely replace two 55-mile pipelines before they can restart production, the people said. Replacing the two pipelines connecting an offshore artificial island to onshore facilities is estimated to cost "a few billion dollars," they said. The latest delay is a blow to the Kazakh government, which had based its economic forecasts on revenue from the Caspian Sea oil field, where output was expected […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Production at Kazakhstan’s Kashagan Oil Field Halted Until 2016

The full moon rises in the background over an oil rig at the Kashagan offshore oil field in the Caspian Sea in western Kazakhstan. Reuters Kazakhstan’s giant Kashagan oil field, one of the world’s largest industrial projects, won’t produce any oil until at least 2016 while workers battle against the hostile Caspian Sea to complete massive repairs, according to people familiar with the matter. The project’s partners, which include Eni SpA, Total SA, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Exxon Mobil Corp. , have concluded they must entirely replace two 55-mile pipelines before they can restart production, the people said. Replacing the two pipelines connecting an offshore artificial island to onshore facilities is estimated to cost "a few billion dollars," they said. The latest delay is a blow to the Kazakh government, which had based its economic forecasts on revenue from the Caspian Sea oil field, where output was expected […]

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MOL makes big oil find in Pakistan

Hungarian energy company MOL said Tuesday it made an oil discovery in an area in Pakistan close to estimated reserves of 22 million barrels. MOL, though the Ghauri joint venture, said it made an oil discovery at the Ghauri X-1 well in Punjab province in Pakistan . It reached a total test flow rate of 5,500 barrels per day and the Hungarian group said initial estimates of the oil in place could be significant. In the vicinity, the company said , the estimate of reserves in place is 22 million barrels. Oil production from the site could come on stream as early as this month. The Pakistani Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources said total oil production from 2012-13 averaged just over 70,000 bpd. The government says it needs to explore, develop and exploit its petroleum resources in order to rely less on foreign supplies to meet its energy […]

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Offshore Tunisia eyed for new oil campaign

Circle Oil, an Irish exploration company with a focus on the Middle East, said it started an offshore drilling campaign in Tunisia, its first. The company said it started drilling operations in the offshore reserves of the El Mediouni-1 exploration well. The company said the well is located in areas already producing oil and natural gas. Its primary target is dubbed the Birsa Sands. Circle Oil said Monday it estimates there may be as much as 46 million barrels of oil in the prospect, which it says is "substantially larger" than the recoverable commercial threshold of 10 million barrels of oil. Drilling operations in the company’s first-ever offshore well should take as long as seven weeks, it said. Tunisian oil production has declined steadily since reaching a peak of 120,000 barrels of oil per day. A 2014 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates Tunisia has "significant" formations […]

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Icon of Egypt's 2011 revolt sentenced to 15 years

A court on Wednesday convicted a prominent activist from Egypt’s 2011 uprising for demonstrating without permit and assaulting a policeman, sentencing him to 15 years in prison. The sentence against Alaa Abdel-Fattah is by far the toughest against any of the liberal, pro-democracy activists behind the 18-day uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak’s 29-year regime. It is also the first conviction of a prominent activist since former army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi took office as president on Sunday. In the 11 months since el-Sissi ousted the country’s first freely elected president, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi, authorities have launched a massive crackdown on Islamists, detaining at least 16,000 and killing hundreds. That crackdown has overshadowed another, albeit smaller, campaign against secular activists opposed to what they see as the return of Mubarak-era policies. Security officials said that while Abdel-Fattah was convicted and sentenced in absentia, he did turn […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Icon of Egypt’s 2011 revolt sentenced to 15 years

A court on Wednesday convicted a prominent activist from Egypt’s 2011 uprising for demonstrating without permit and assaulting a policeman, sentencing him to 15 years in prison. The sentence against Alaa Abdel-Fattah is by far the toughest against any of the liberal, pro-democracy activists behind the 18-day uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak’s 29-year regime. It is also the first conviction of a prominent activist since former army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi took office as president on Sunday. In the 11 months since el-Sissi ousted the country’s first freely elected president, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi, authorities have launched a massive crackdown on Islamists, detaining at least 16,000 and killing hundreds. That crackdown has overshadowed another, albeit smaller, campaign against secular activists opposed to what they see as the return of Mubarak-era policies. Security officials said that while Abdel-Fattah was convicted and sentenced in absentia, he did turn […]

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East African Energy-Boom Investments Take Focus in Budgets

Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania plan to allocate money in their annual budgets to spur investment in infrastructure to exploit oil and natural gas from deposits that companies including Tullow Oil Plc (TLW) are developing. Ugandan and Kenyan oil discoveries, made in 2006 and 2012 respectively, and new gas finds off the coast of Tanzania that have boosted reserves to as much as 46 trillion cubic feet have seen East Africa become a frontier for petroleum exploration. The three countries, along with Rwanda, which are all members of the East African Community , will tomorrow present their budget statements for the financial year starting July 1. “If there is one thing most EAC partner states agree upon it’s infrastructural development,” Ahmed Salim, a senior associate based in Dubai for research consultancy Teneo Intelligence, said in an e-mailed response to questions. State spending will go toward “development of their respective extractive […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple