Egypt reduces renewable energy targets to 40% by 2040, but keeps natural gas as the main focus
The Egyptian government has revised the renewable energy goal for 2040 from 58% to 40%, said Petroleum Minister Karim Badayi on Sunday. He also stressed that natural gas would remain an important part of Egypt's energy mix in years to come. Egypt committed to increasing renewable energy production by 42% to its energy mix before hosting the COP27 summit in 2022. Later, this target was advanced to 2030. Then-Electricity minister Mohamed Shaker announced in June 2024 an ambitious plan for this to reach 58% by the year 2040. This target has now been abandoned.
Egypt plans to restore gas production at its gas fields to normal by the summer of 2025
Mostafa Madbouly, the Prime Minister, said that Egypt hopes to resume normal production in its natural gas fields before next summer. He also indicated that the government was moving to settle arrears it owes to production companies. Madbouly said at a press conference that the government's arrears had caused a drop in production, but he did not specify how much it owed or when the money might be paid back. In March, sources said that the government set aside $1.5 billion to pay foreign oil and gas companies in the country.
Sources say that the incoming Mexican government wants to open Pemex up to oil partnerships.
According to four sources with knowledge of the situation, the incoming Mexican government will encourage the state oil company Pemex, to form equity partnerships with private oil firms, a model that is not popular with the president. This move is to increase reserves in the face of a massive debt. These partnerships will be similar to previous Pemex joint-ventures with private oil companies, known as "farm-outs", that Mexico pursued via an energy reform implemented a decade earlier.
Chevron Pulls Staff from Northern Iraq
Chevron Corp removed its expatriate staff operating in northern Iraq as a security precaution, a spokeswoman said on Monday, joining other oil companies pulling staff following the U.S. killing of an Iranian general in the country.U.S. officials last week called for American citizens to leave Iraq hours after a drone strike killed Iranian Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.Chevron said a small contingent of expatriate employees and contractors temporarily left its Kurdistan region operations as a precautionary measure. Other U.S.
Oil Jumps After US Kills Iran's Soleimani
Oil prices jumped more than $3 on Friday after a U.S. air strike in Baghdad ordered by President Donald Trump killed the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, sparking concerns for an escalation of regional tensions and disruption to crude supplies.Brent crude rose to a peak of $69.50 a barrel, its highest since mid-September when Saudi oil facilities were attacked, and was up 3.7% or $2.43 a barrel by 1445 GMT at $68.68.West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up $2.17 or 3.5% at $63.35 a barrel…
US Oil Workers Leaving Iraq After Air Strike
Dozens of U.S. citizens working for foreign oil companies in the southern Iraqi oil city of Basra were leaving the country on Friday, the Oil Ministry said, after a U.S. air strike killed a top Iranian commander in Iraq.The U.S. embassy in Baghdad urged all its citizens to leave Iraq immediately, hours after the U.S. killed Iranian Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.Iraqi officials said the evacuation would not affect operations, production…
Majors Press Mexico to Resume Oil Auctions
Big oil companies operating in Mexico have launched a drive to convince leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to resume auctions of oil and gas contracts he has branded a failure in reviving the industry.Chevron Corp, Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, among other firms in Mexico's Association of Hydrocarbon Companies (Amexhi), say they have met output targets and investment pledges worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the initial phases of their contracts."We've been complying (with contractual obligations)…
Chevron Seeks to Shrink Nigerian Presence
Chevron is seeking to sell several Nigerian oilfields as part of a global drive to reshape its portfolio as it focuses on growing its U.S.
Shell Aims to Operate Egypt Concessions in 2020
Royal Dutch Shell is aiming to start operating in its concession areas in Egypt in the second half of 2020, a senior executive said.Shell won three oil and two gas concessions in Egypt in February.Eni, BP and ExxonMobil also won some of a total of 12 tenders as Egypt looks to sustain an investment upswing spurred by major discoveries.Shell has also applied to take part in a bidding round in Egypt for oil and gas drilling in the Red Sea, Gerald Schotman, executive vice president upstream JVs at Shell…
US DOJ Closes Eni Investigations
The U.S. Justice Department has closed its investigations into alleged corruption by oil major Eni in Nigeria and Algeria without taking any action, the Italian energy group said on Tuesday.Eni, the biggest foreign oil and gas producer in Africa, is currently on trial in Milan on graft allegations revolving round the acquisition of a giant Nigerian oilfield in 2011.In that case Eni and peer Royal Dutch Shell are accused of buying the OPL 245 offshore field for about $1.3 billion in…
Foreign Oil Workers Kidnapped in Nigeria
Gunman kidnapped two foreign workers from an oil rig in Nigeria's Delta region on Saturday, the military said - the second abduction there in less than a week.The attackers raided the rig owned by Niger Delta Petroleum Resources at around 8 a.m. (0700 GMT), the spokesman for the area's military operations, Major Ibrahim Abubakar, said.Troops were searching surrounding swamps, he added.The Niger Delta produces the bulk of Nigeria's crude.
Mexico to Invite 4 Firms to Bid on Pemex Oil Refinery
The Mexican government will invite four companies to bid in a restricted tender for work building the new Dos Bocas refinery for state oil company Pemex, Energy Minister Rocio Nahle said at a news conference on Monday.Dos Bocas would be Pemex's seventh domestic refinery and is intended to help wean Mexico off growing fuel imports, a major campaign promise of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who took office in December.Nahle said that the refinery, slated to be built in the Gulf Coast state of Tabasco…
Rising US Oil Clout on Show in Houston
A glance at the attendee list at one of the world's largest energy industry events in Houston this week left little question about the growing influence of the United States over global oil politics.Present: top U.S. diplomat Mike Pompeo. Absent: leading Saudi and Russian officials, and most OPEC nations.As the United States weans itself off foreign oil imports - thanks to booming domestic production - the complex web of politics and business interests that have shaped decades of…
Shell: Nigeria Tax Claim May Delay Offshore Field
Shell upstream boss Brown sees 'no merit' in tax claim. Separately, Shell to fast track Whale development in Gulf of Mexico.Royal Dutch Shell said on Tuesday that Nigeria's claims that it was owed billions in taxes could delay the development of a major oil field off the coast of the West African nation.Nigeria ordered several major foreign oil and gas companies to pay nearly $20 billion in taxes it says are owed to local states, industry and government sources told Reuters.Shell…
ADNOC Seals $5.8 bln Refining and Trading Deal with ENI, OMV
Italy's Eni and Austria's OMV have agreed to pay a combined $5.8 billion to take a stake in Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's (ADNOC) refining business and establish a new trading operation owned by the three partners.The transaction, which expands ADNOC's access to European markets, furthers Eni's diversification away from Africa and gives OMV a downstream oil business outside Europe. It was hailed as a "one of a kind" deal by ADNOC's Chief Executive Sultan al-Jaber."The whole oil and gas industry hasn't seen a transaction of this size and sophistication…
India Plots Exploration Licensing Round
India will start auctioning for 14 oil and gas blocks in its second exploration licensing round on Monday, giving freedom to the companies to carve out areas they want to drill.The blocks together hold undiscovered reserves of about 14,995 million tonnes of oil equivalent, according to a tweet from Directorate General of Hydrocarbon, India's upstream regulator.India, the world's third biggest oil importer, wants to unlock its vast hydrocarbon resources to cut dependence on foreign oil.India imports nearly three quarters of its energy requirement but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target of
Mexico President's Pemex Plans Rattle Debt-holders
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's declaration of war on "neo-liberal" economics has shaken investors holding Petroleos Mexicanos bonds, fueling concern about the future of the highly-indebted state oil company he has pledged to revive.Ratings agencies and three managers spoken to by Reuters at funds that either hold Pemex paper or recently sold it said proposals floated by the government to build a new refinery and give the state a bigger role in the oil industry could put fresh strain on the company…
Pemex Crude Oil Output, Exports Fall
Mexican national oil company Pemex's crude output dipped to 1.76 million barrels per day (bpd) in October, down more than 7 percent compared with the same month last year, according to company data released on Monday.October crude output marked one of the lowest monthly production levels since 1990, when publicly accessible records begin.Crude exports also fell in October to reach 1.03 million bpd, down by about a quarter compared with the same month in 2017.Since September, the ailing Mexican oil giant has only exported its Maya heavy grade to international customers…
Madagascar Opens Fresh Offshore Licensing Round
Island nation Madagascar puts 44 blocks in the Morondava Basin up for grabs, detailing exploration and exploitation periods under production sharing contracts.In the framework of the development of Madagascar's oil and gas potential, the Malagasy State through OMNIS continues to promote projects that attract new private investment in the short, medium and long term.The state regulator OMNIS, together with TGS and BGP, has worked to create an attractive environment for offshore exploration.Exploration…
Eni Strikes Deal with Total to Boost Algeria Operations
Italian oil major Eni said on Monday it had struck a deal to team up with French peer Total to look for oil and gas in Algeria and strengthen its position in the north African country.The two oil companies signed a deal with state-owned Algerian energy giant Sonatrach to pursue offshore exploration in the country while working together on exploration permits."Together with Sonatrach and Total, we will have the opportunity to explore the deep waters of the Algerian offshore, a virtually unexplored geological province…
