As demand continues to rise, Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) is looking to bolster its power infrastructure. With plans for several new power plants under way, the emirate is following a strategy that utilises both traditional and sustainable energy sources, falling in line with global trends to maintain efficiency and respecting environmental [...]
While many countries in the Gulf region slipped into recession this year, Qatar has not only avoided the financial crisis but moved straight past it at speed, gaining momentum.
Some eyebrows may have been raised when, at the beginning of the year, the government confidently predicted GDP would rise by around 9% in [...]
Uganda makes baby steps to become regional energy giant
Italian energy giant Eni S.p.A, which also owns interests in the Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Ghana, announced in late November its acquisition of stakes in six Ugandan oil fields (a 50% interest in Blocks 1 and 3A in the Albert Basin) from Canadian-based [...]
Wide-sweeping changes to Nigeria’s energy sector are under review as the federal government considers concerns from international oil companies over a reform bill meant to modernise the sector and improve transparency.
The Petroleum Industry Bill, backed by President Umaru Yar’Adua, will restructure the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as a profit-driven company to include [...]
Saudi Aramco, national oil company of the world’s largest oil producer and exporter, decided earlier this month it will drop West Texas Intermediate (WTI) as the benchmark for pricing its oil for sale in the US market.
In January 2010, Aramco will use the Argus Sour Crude Index (ASCI) to price its oil [...]
I recently received a blog post forwarded on Twitter regards a new development by Kenyan service provider Kenya Data Networks.
A private firm that I have dealt with in the recent past regards wireless networking on their Butterfly WiFi service. An astute bunch of guys, I was not overly surprised to find that they have [...]
BP, and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), announced today that they have signed a technical service contract with Iraq’s state-owned South Oil Company (SOC) to expand production from the Rumaila oilfield, near Basra in southern Iraq
The signing follows BP’s successful bid for the contract with CNPC in Baghdad in June.
The consortium [...]
Chinese interest in acquiring “strategic assets” continues unabated, with recent acquisitions & investments in a number of companies in Australia & South America.
As we saw in last weeks bullish approach regarding Nigerian oil, China is looking a little further afield & it’s all seeing eye has settled upon Africa. The latest country [...]
Anadarko Petroleum Corporation has announced a deepwater discovery at the Venus exploration well in a new block offshore Sierra Leone.
The Venus B-1 well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 18,500 feet in about 5,900 feet of water and encountered more than 45 net feet of hydrocarbon pay. Venus is the first deepwater [...]
Libya has become an attractive investment destination for UK and US companies, which are returning to the North African oil exporter to secure a share of the country’s largely under-explored gas and oil reserves.
BP (NYSE : BP) recently announced it would begin exploration activities in Libya by the end of the year. “We’ll start seismic [...]