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Yemen crisis: Saudi Arabia ‘repels Houthi border attack’

Houthi rebels launched an assault on border posts in Najran, Saudi officials say Yemen unrest Three Saudi troops and "dozens" of Houthi rebels were killed as Saudi forces repelled a major attack from inside Yemen, Saudi officials say. The rebels attacked near the town of Najran, reports say, in what would be their biggest assault on Saudi soil since a Saudi military campaign began. A Saudi-led coalition has staged air strikes against rebels since late March in support of Yemen’s exiled president. Meanwhile aid groups say a lack of fuel is threatening their operations there. Interactive video: Why my country is in a mess A statement by the Saudi Press Agency, SPA, said the overnight attack happened on its southern border. Identifying the attackers as Shia Houthi rebels and groups allied to them, SPA said Saudi ground troops exchanged fire with them and called in air strikes. The rebels […]

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Central Tunisia discovery yields 4,300 b/d

The Chouchet El Atrous-1 (Cat-1) well, drilled by Mazarine Energy Tunisia BV in the Zaafrane permit in central Tunisia, has discovered two net oil-bearing reservoirs with combined 38-m net pay. Primary objectives of the Cat-1 were to test the Ordovician El Hamra and El Atchane formations. Each zone has confirmed 19-m net pay. On test, the Cat-1 flowed 4,300 bo/d and 395,000 cu m/day of natural gas. The Cat-1 is the first of a two-well campaign, the company said. Compagnie Tunisienne de Forage drilled the Cat-1 well, which reached a total depth of 3,950 m. The DGH-1 well will follow. The Zaafrane permit spans an area of 5,168 sq km in central Tunisia. Mazarine Energy is the operator of the permit, with state-owned Enterprise Tunisienne d’Activites Petrolieres (ETAP) and Medex Petroleum (Tunisia) Ltd. as partners.

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Saudi Aramco Names Amin H. Nasser as Acting President, CEO

ENLARGE Amin H. Nasser, center, listens to Martin Craighead, right, president and CEO of Baker Hughes, during a CERAWEEK energy conference panel discussion in 2012. His appointment comes after Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz reshuffled his ministers earlier in the week. Photo: Reuters LONDON—Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company named a new chief executive following a shake-up of the country’s ministerial elite this week. Amin H. Nasser on Friday was promoted to acting president and CEO of Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Saudi Aramco. He was previously Aramco’s senior vice president for upstream operations. The appointment follows a government reshuffle by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Wednesday that saw former Aramco CEO Khalid al-Falih appointed health minister and made chairman of the oil company. Mr. Nasser has spent more than 20 years at the national oil giant, working in various roles throughout the organization, though has stayed largely behind […]

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Riyadh reshuffle reaches Saudi Aramco

Restructuring of political landscape in Saudi Arabia reaches oil market with new plan for Saudi Aramco. Photo by sakhorn/Shutterstock RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, May 1 (UPI) — The government in Riyadh sanctioned a restructuring plan that would break oil company Saudi Aramco off from the nation’s oil ministry, sources said Friday. Citing undisclosed sources, Saudi-owned pan-Arab news channel al-Arabiya reported the country’s Supreme Economic Council approved a restructuring plan offered by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. The crown prince was appointed as defense minister earlier this week amid a government shake-up. Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Khaled al-Falih was named chairman of the company and health minister, the news channel reported. Saudi Aramco said in a Wednesday briefing of its annual spring meeting the board of directors "focused on deeper re-examination of the framework and investment profile in light of what happened in the crude markets over the past nine […]

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Saudi Arabia to restructure Aramco, separate it from oil ministry: Arabiya TV

DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Economic Council has approved a restructuring of state oil company Saudi Aramco [SDABO.UL] that includes separating it from the oil ministry, Al Arabiya television channel reported on Friday, citing sources. There are no indications that the move will lead to changes in the fundamental way the world’s top crude exporter makes its oil decisions. "Saudi Supreme Economic Council agrees on Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s vision of restructuring oil-giant Aramco," Arabiya reported on its Twitter account. "Restructuring of Saudi Aramco includes separation from petroleum ministry," the channel said. The Supreme Economic Council is a new body formed by King Salman earlier this year to replace the Supreme Petroleum Council, which used to help set the kingdom’s oil policy. The new council is headed by the king’s son Prince Mohammed, a move seen by analysts as laying the ground for a generational shift […]

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Uganda: Refinery Will Take Five Years to Complete

Repairs to the railway network operated by RVR in Kenya and Tanzania. Transport infrastructure remains a challenge as Uganda readies itself for oil production. Uganda’s planned crude oil refinery will take five years to complete, a representative of the firm that won the bid to build the multi-billion 60,000 barrels per day facility has revealed. Andrey Kozenyashev, the Regional Representative of RT Global Resources in East Africa told an industry meeting convened by the Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum in Kampala yesterday that the company anticipates to complete the project in 2020 at the earliest. "After signing the agreement, it will take one and a half years to do the designs and then three years for construction of the facility," Kozenyashev said. The RT-Global Resources-led consortium beat off a challenge from another consortium led by South Korea’s SK Group to win the $2.5 billion project that will involve […]

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Nigeria: Fuel Crisis – Marketers Deny Receiving Payment From Govt, Say Strike Continues

Despite the claim by the Federal Government that N156 billion was released on Thursday to oil marketers to facilitate the quick resolution of the current fuel crisis, the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), has said normal lifting of fuel will not resume till their members’ accounts are duly credited by the banks. As at 4.35 p.m. on Thursday, the Executive Secretary, Depot & Petroleum Products Marketers Association(DAPPMA), Odufemi Adewole, told PREMIUM TIMES in a telephone interview that none of its members and their counterparts in the Major Oil Marketers Association(MOMAN), had confirmed receiving any payment. "The money government said it was paying to marketers has not yet hit our accounts. So, there is little we can do about the situation," Mr, Adewole said. "The money the Minister of Finance promised to pay us last February did not get into our hands till about four or five weeks […]

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China manufacturing business activity expands modestly in April

BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) — Chinese manufacturing activity continued to improve in April, with an important index remaining in expansion territory, official data showed on Friday. The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI), a key measure of factory activity in China, posted at 50.1 in April, unchanged from the March reading but up from 49.9 in February, according to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP). A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below 50 represents contraction. The NBS manufacturing PMI samples 3,000 enterprises of various sizes nationwide. Zhao Qinghe, a senior analyst with the NBS, said China’s manufacturing PMIs in the last three months lingered around the expansion/contraction threshold, but some PMI sub-indices in April showed encouraging signs. The production sub-index posted at 52.6, the highest monthly reading since November last year, he said. The […]

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U.S., Canada toughen oil-train safety standards

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – The United States and Canada on Friday announced long-awaited safety rules for trains carrying oil, as regulators seek to reduce risks after a series of explosive accidents that accompanied a surge in crude-by-rail shipments. The rules call for a rapid phase out of older tank cars considered unsafe during derailments, and are more aggressive than even some of the toughest proposals yet put forward. The rail and energy sectors have already expressed concern that the required speed of the phase outs is not feasible and the potentially billions of dollars in costs will be too high for the small safety improvements they deliver. Shares of railroad car and equipment manufacturers rose after the announcement. Under the rules, announced by Canada’s Minister of Transport, Lisa Raitt and U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, tank cars built before October 2011 known as DOT-111 will be phased out within […]

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North Dakota still on track for oil tax break

WILLISTON, N.D. (Reuters) – The clock kept ticking in April on a suspension of North Dakota’s oil extraction tax after a state-calculated average of the month’s crude price fell below $52.59 per barrel for a fourth straight month. The tax break, enacted in the 1980s, had the potential to be worth more than $5 billion to oil producers over a two-year period. However, sweeping tax changes signed into law late Wednesday by Governor Jack Dalrymple effectively ended that boon for the oil industry, though the new law also lowered the overall permanent tax rate. The tax break would be triggered if crude fell below $52.29 for fifth straight month, but it would only continue through November because of new legislation. The state waives its 6.5 percent oil extraction tax if the monthly price of benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude at the Cushing, Oklahoma, transport hub falls below an […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple