Qatar ///
Michele Cowart, World Oil
EnerMech has appointed Salvatore Cutino as regional director for Africa, based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Qatar Petroleum, the world’s biggest seller of liquefied natural gas, is looking to get even larger, investing $20 billion in America’s oil and gas fields at a time when rival U.S. exporters are expanding.
Qatar emerged as a major shareholder in Rosneft PJSC on Friday after a $9-billion deal to sell a stake in Russia’s state-run oil producer to China’s troubled CEFC Energy Co. collapsed.
Rosneft has opened an office of the International Center for Research and Development in Qatar, which will become a full-scale representative office of the Company, performing along with scientific and technical activities, and also functions to promote various business areas of the Company in the region.
AISUS, an offshore inspection company, has announced its first major contract win in the Middle East with North Oil Company (NOC). The six-figure agreement marks a significant milestone for the firm and provides the foundation on which the company plans to build its growing business in the Middle East.
Mark Miksa, Halliburton
Downhole turbines are a solution in hard and abrasive formations, otherwise inaccessible with conventional motors.
Tiny OPEC producer Qatar is paying the price for top member Saudi Arabia’s oil strategy in Asia.
Qatar is paying the price for top member Saudi Arabia’s oil strategy in Asia.
Qatar managed to keep liquefied natural gas exports flowing last year even under a Saudi-led embargo, passing its first test in its plans to expand LNG production.
Gulf Arab energy companies issued record debt this year as producers opted to exploit lower borrowing costs to fund expansion plans.
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Al Khalifa called for the freezing of Qatar’s Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) membership, escalating attempts by a Saudi-led coalition to deepen the isolation of the gas-rich country.
Emily Querubin, World Oil
Middle East/North Africa grapples with production cut commitment, despite urge to boost output
Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is weighing more asset sales after reducing holdings in Credit Suisse Group AG and Rosneft PJSC to support the country’s economy amid a standoff with its neighbors, according to people familiar with the matter.
Qatar, the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, is fulfilling all of its contracted shipments of oil and gas despite a regional political crisis that led to the severing of ties with some of its neighbors, the Gulf country’s energy minister said.
Qatar’s economy will expand this year at the slowest pace since 1995, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg this month, as the impact of a Saudi Arabia-led boycott is felt on trade and investor confidence.
Woodside Petroleum, Australia’s largest LNG producer, expects rival Qatar to target the emerging markets of India and Pakistan with a new wave of supply next decade.
The Saudi-led alliance that severed ties with Qatar reinstated a list of 13 demands that must be met before talks to resolve the eight-week crisis could start.
OPEC would hurt itself and help U.S. shale producers if it adopted deeper cuts, the former oil minister of Qatar warned.
Under the patronage, and in the attendance, of His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Prime Minister and Interior Minister, Qatar Petroleum held a special event to mark the inauguration of North Oil Company (NOC) as the new operator and developer of the offshore Al-Shaheen oil field, north of Qatar.
Total SA will start work this week on Qatar’s biggest oil field and is willing to make more investments in the country, which faces a trade boycott led by fellow OPEC producer Saudi Arabia.