Saudi firm plans a hydrogen-powered skyscraper for Egypt's new Capital
Saudi-controlled firm plans to start construction on 50-storey, $1 billion office tower in Egypt's capital early next year. The building will be powered by hydrogen and is the first of its type. Magnom Properties is a Saudi industrial group Rawabi Holding subsidiary. They bet that the sophisticated design and price tag will attract international clients to the new capital. A city of over 6 million people, being built in the desert east from Cairo, the new capital has been designed with a high-end look. The bet is also on clean hydrogen produced with renewable energy, which has not been proven yet at scale.
Protecting Offshore Energy Sources via USV
When most people discuss energy sources such as fossil fuel and green energy, it is from an “either-or” perspective. Some favor the former while others advocate for the latter. However, what is often lost in the arguments on both sides is that regardless of the type of energy being extracted or generated, those platforms that are offshore, especially oil rigs, oil and gas pipelines, and wind farms, are incredibly vulnerable to anyone who wants to attack these sources in wartime, or just to make a political statement.One…
Fall from Grace: Batista Gets 30-Years for Corruption
Eike Batista, the former mining and oil magnate who was once Brazil's richest man, was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison for bribing Rio de Janeiro state's disgraced ex-governor, according to a court document published on Tuesday.Batista's conviction and sentencing by federal judge Marcelo Bretas are the latest in a wave of graft investigations that have sent scores of powerful businessmen and politicians to jail.The eccentric former billionaire's meteoric rise and fall mirrored the recent fortunes of Brazil, where the commodities boom faded as his energy, mineral and logistics empire fell apart earlier this decade.His swashb
[Op/Ed] Congo and OPEC: A Marriage of Mutual Need
The Republic of the Congo has suffered dearly during the oil collapse; and Congolese President Denis Nguesso has pledged that the country would no longer be sitting on the side lines — suffering the effects of global decision-making in the oil industry without a voice. In an official communiqué announcing the bid for OPEC membership, he stated that he wished to “place our country in the rank of the world’s leaders.”In January, officials from the Republic of Congo announced the country’s application for membership of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). This is no small move.
Putin Okays Loading Start at Yamal LNG
President Vladimir Putin on Friday launched the first loading of liquefied natural gas at the Novatek-led Yamal LNG project in the Arctic, which will further expand Russia's global energy reach. The Yamal project, which required investments of $27 billion, will allow Russia to fulfil a plan to double its share of the global LNG market by 2020 from around 4 percent now. The LNG was loaded onto the ice class tanker "Christophe de Margerie", named after the former head of France's energy major Total, who died in a plane crash in Moscow in 2014. Total holds a 20 percent stake in Yamal LNG. "The loadings will be carried out all year round...
Russia: Second LNG Plant in Arctic
Russia on Tuesday started production at its second liquefied natural gas plant, Yamal LNG, with the aim of shipping the first cargo on Dec. 8 from the remote Arctic port of Sabetta. Russia's No.2 gas producer Novatek owns a 50.1 percent stake in Yamal LNG. France's Total and China National Petroleum Corp each control 20 percent, while China's Silk Road Fund owns 9.9 percent. Russia, seeking to produce more than 70 million tonnes of LNG per year in its remote Arctic regions, for now has just one operational LNG facility, run by Gazprom and co-owned with Shell on the Pacific island of Sakhalin.
Saipem Looks to Novatek Arctic LNG 2 Participation
Italy's Saipem is likely to get a sub-contractor role in a new project to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the Arctic by Russia's Novatek, one of Novatek's partners said. Novatek, Russia's largest non-state LNG producer, is aiming to produce as much LNG as the world's biggest exporter Qatar and is drawing up plans to build a second plant, known as Arctic LNG 2, on the Gydan Peninsula that juts into the Kara Sea. Production is due to start in 2022-2023. Four sources told Reuters earlier this month that Saipem was expected to be chosen to build offshore platforms for the facility.
California Wind Demand Energizes Transmission Firms
A firm controlled by Philip Anschutz, the billionaire entertainment and pro sports magnate, will soon build the largest wind farm in the United States to serve utilities in California, where officials have set ambitious green power goals. The $5 billion project, however, will be constructed 700 miles away in Wyoming, a state better known for coal mines and oil fields. The vast distance between the two states provides a different Anschutz-owned firm with another big opportunity: a $3 billion project building transmission lines to deliver the power - one of a dozen similar power-line projects by other companies across the West.
Forbes Joins Peterson Leadership Team
International energy logistics provider Peterson has appointed Sarah Forbes as director of projects and innovation. The appointment follows an investment by Peterson in Core 29, the project management and consultancy business founded by Forbes in Aberdeen in 2012. Forbes, who has been working with Peterson for a number of years, helped the company to develop its eLogistics suite, said Erwin Kooij, chief executive officer, Peterson Offshore Group. Forbes brings to the role 15 years’ industry experience in a number…
SACGASCO Acquires Equity, Control of Natural Gas Prospects
Sacramento Basin-focused conventional gas producer and developer, Sacgasco Limited confirmed the acquisition of additional equity and the securing of operatorship in its Dempsey and Alvares conventional natural gas prospects in the Sacramento Basin, California. Sacgasco has signed a letter of intent (‘LOI’) to acquire an additional 35% equity in, and Operatorship of its flagship Dempsey and Alvares Prospects through the acquisition of private company Peregrine Limited (‘Peregrine’). Peregrine and its shareholders have a track record of success investing in the oil and gas sector.
Ithaca Energy Completes RBL Redetermination
Ithaca Energy Inc. announced having successfully completed its planned semi-annual reserves based lending (“RBL”) facilities review and continues to maintain in excess of $100 million of funding headroom ahead of planned first hydrocarbons from the Greater Stella Area in the third quarter of 2016. The Company commenced deleveraging the business in 2015 with net debt reducing from a peak of over $800 million in the first half of 2015 to $630 million at 31 March 2016. Following the RBL redetermination process the Company’s available bank debt capacity is over $430 million prior to Stella start-up.
Kemp: Cheap Oil is Blunting Drive for Fuel Efficiency
Fuel consumption is not very sensitive to a small change in prices in the short run, but if the price change is large enough and lasts long enough the amount used can change significantly. The 60 percent decline in oil prices over the last two years has now been large enough and lasted long enough that it is starting to have a significant impact on the medium-term outlook for oil demand. Most crude oil is used as a transportation fuel in aircraft, ships, trains, trucks and cars, which is where the biggest impact of lower prices on consumption is being felt ("Essentials of petroleum", Frankel, 1946).
Hunt Oil Company to Slash Workforce by 10%
Hunt Oil Company will cut 10 percent of its workforce amid reduced activity in the oil and gas sector, a company spokeswoman said by email on Thursday. Dallas, Texas-based Hunt Oil is a subsidiary of Hunt Consolidated, Inc, the 92nd largest private company in the US in 2015, according to Forbes. Hunt Consolidated had 4,500 employees at the end of 2014, according to Forbes. The spokeswoman did not immediately confirm how many employees worked for the Hunt Oil subsidiary. (Reporting by Liz Hampton; additional reporting by Jessica Resnick-Ault; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)
Novatek CEO: Sanctions Hurt Yamal LNG, Upbeat on Plans
International sanctions have undermined the ability of Russia's Yamal LNG project to raise necessary funds but it will be launched as scheduled, Leonid Mikhelson, head of the plant's main shareholder, said in a televised interview on Tuesday. The company, co-owned by Gennady Timchenko, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, was placed under U.S. sanctions in 2014, soon after the final investment decision had been taken on the Yamal project in late 2013. The punitive measure makes it harder for the company, Novatek, to raise external debt.
Ithaca Completes RBL Redetermination
Ithaca Energy Inc. announced that it has successfully completed its planned semi-annual reserves based lending (“RBL”) facilities review and continues to maintain in excess of $125 million of funding headroom ahead of planned first hydrocarbons from the Greater Stella Area at the end of the second quarter of 2016. As anticipated the Company commenced deleveraging the business in the second half of 2015, reflecting the benefit of strong operating cashflow generation, lower capital expenditures and the cash received from sale of the non-core Norwegian business.
Nigeria Arrests Oil Tycoon
Nigeria has arrested the chairman of a local oil firm, a security official said on Tuesday, as part of a widening graft investigation in Africa's biggest petroleum producer that has also netted former oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke. Days after British police detained Alison-Madueke, one of Africa's most powerful women, the official said Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had arrested Atlantic Energy chairman Olajide Omokore on corruption and money laundering charges. The arrests, which follow pledges by President Muhammadu Buhari to "clean up" Africa's biggest economy…
Irving Oil Names Family Member to Senior Role
The daughter of eastern Canadian energy billionaire Arthur Irving has been hired into a senior role at the family company, Irving Oil, the company said on Thursday, in a possible hint at succession in the family business. Sarah Irving has been appointed executive vice president of the company, according to an Irving Oil statement, which also announced a new company president and chief operating officer, both family outsiders. Sarah Irving becomes the first of 85-year-old Arthur Irving's children to hold a senior position at the company, headquartered in Saint John, New Brunswick, since Arthur's son Kenneth resigned as president in 2010.
US Oil Price Manipulation Lawsuit Settled
Oil traders have reached a $16.5 million settlement of a U.S. class action lawsuit accusing Arcadia Petroleum Ltd, its Parnon Energy unit and two traders of illegally manipulating the price of crude oil in early 2008. The preliminary settlement was filed late Wednesday night in Manhattan federal court and requires court approval. It resolves charges that the companies, Arcadia trader Nicholas Wildgoose and Parnon trader James Dyer violated federal antitrust and commodities laws by using futures and options to benefit financially from an artificial crude oil shortage they created at a key hub in Cushing, Oklahoma.
UK Pressure Forces Russian's North Sea Asset Sale
Mikhail Fridman's LetterOne fund offers 11 gas fields. Mikhail Fridman's LetterOne fund is set to formally launch the sale of North Sea gas fields it had acquired from RWE, bowing to British threats to revoke the assets' licences unless the Russian tycoon relinquishes ownership. The move signals that the Russian billionaire has decided against challenging the British government's rare intervention that comes amid a standoff between the West and Moscow over Russia's actions in Ukraine. Morgan Stanley is advising the sale which is expected to fetch a total of up to $1 billion, according to several banking and industry sources.
Ithaca Energy: Extended Bank Debt Facilities
Ithaca Energy Inc. announces that it has executed extended and simplified bank debt financing facilities totaling $650 million, providing the Company with significant funding headroom ahead of first hydrocarbons from the Greater Stella Area in the second quarter of 2016. Both RBL facilities are based on conventional oil and gas industry borrowing base financing terms, with loan maturities in September 2018, and are available to fund on-going development activities and general corporate purposes. The combined interest rate of the two bank debt facilities…
