Energy

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said on Monday he wants another American company to replace Exxon Mobil Corp when it exits Iraq. Exxon, which in 2019 had looked poised to move ahead with a $53 billion project to boost Iraq’s oil output, has been seeking to sell its 32.7% stake in one …

Iraq has signed an agreement allowing the cash-strapped Lebanese government pay for 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil a year in goods and services, helping Lebanon ease its acute power shortage, the two sides said on Saturday. Lebanon is in the throes of an economic meltdown threatening its stability. …

The United States is considering cracking down on Iranian oil sales to China as it braces for the possibility that Tehran may not return to nuclear talks or may adopt a harder line whenever it does, a U.S. official said. Washington told Beijing earlier this year its main aim was …

OPEC and the entire energy industry should thank Saudi Arabia for helping oil prices recover from negative territory last year, and the market would be best left to the Kingdom to manage, according to a senior investment banking energy commentator. “They’ve done a magnificent job of managing their production program …

United States and Germany reportedly made a wider deal over the controversial Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline. The project, which is 98 percent complete, is expected to have a negative impact on Ukraine, since the Eastern European country could stop playing the role of a regional gas hub. By …

Saudi Aramco said its operations were not affected following a data breach from one of its contractors. The Dhahran-based company confirmed a limited amount of data had been leaked from the company following reports that a cyber extortionist had demanded a $50 million ransom. “Aramco recently became aware of the …

Rising consumption in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is set to drive greenhouse gas emissions to all-time highs, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday. “We estimate that full and timely implementation of the economic recovery measures announced to date would result in CO2 emissions climbing to record levels …

OPEC+, the oil producers alliance led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, has agreed a schedule of output increases to meet growing demand as the global economy recovers from the pandemic recession. A special meeting arranged in Vienna endorsed the plans, which will see an extra 400,000 barrels a month come …

UAE is still in discussions with Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ members for better terms under the current agreement that will expire in April 2022, an informed source of the discussions told Arab News. Reuters said earlier that UAE has reached a compromise to assign the Gulf nation a quota of 3.65 …

Iran claimed on Wednesday that it had the ability to enrich fissile uranium to 90 percent purity  — the level required to build the core of a nuclear weapon. “Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization can enrich uranium by 20 percent and 60 percent and if … our reactors need it, it …

Saudi Aramco has dropped Morgan Stanley MS.N as an adviser for the sale of its gas pipelines and picked JPMorgan JPM.N and Goldman Sachs GS.N for the role, three sources familiar with matter said. JPMorgan had also advised Aramco on the sale of the oil pipeline business, which was sold to a consortium led by Washington-DC based EIG …

Saudi Arabia and Oman have called for continued cooperation between OPEC and other producers to help stabilize the market. OPEC+ last week postponed talks among producers after differences emerged between Saudi Arabia and the UAE over future output strategy. Saudi Arabia and Oman are both part of the OPEC+ alliance …

Saudi Arabia is concerned about increased nuclear activities by Iran which threaten regional security, a Saudi foreign ministry official said, after Tehran started the process of producing enriched uranium metal. The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday Iran had begun the enrichment process, a move that could help it develop …

Japan’s Inpex Corp, JERA, and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. (JOGMEC) said on Thursday they had agreed with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to explore the feasibility of producing ammonia in the UAE. Inpex, Japan’s biggest oil and gas company, JERA, Japan’s biggest power generator, and state-run …

The financial adviser to Iraq’s prime minister said that “in the absence of coordination and understandings between OPEC producers, the beginnings of a price war will be formed again,” the Iraqi News Agency (INA) quoted him as saying on Monday. Mazhar Mohammed Saleh added that “the increases in production within …

Oil held steady as tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE escalated over the weekend, leaving the market with few clues about how supply talks will proceed on Monday after discussions reached an impasse last week. The clash was unresolved just hours before Monday’s meeting was scheduled to start. The Saudis are standing …

Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said in a video posted on Saturday on the ministry’s Facebook page that BP was considering withdrawing from Iraq, and that Russia’s Lukoil had sent a formal notification saying it wanted to sell its stake in the West Qurna-2 field to Chinese companies. Abdul …

Turkey will carry on exploring for oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday in comments that may revive tensions with the European Union and Greece amid attempts to repair their frayed ties. Turkey is at odds with EU members Greece and Cyprus over energy …

The deputy head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog IAEA is to visit Iran for “routine” matters and no talks are planned, Iran’s envoy said on Saturday according to state media, as the agency awaits a reply from Tehran on an expired monitoring deal. In late June, the International Atomic …

Iran’s sole nuclear power plant is back online following an emergency shutdown two weeks ago, state TV reported Saturday. The report quoted Mostafa Rajabi Mashahdi, spokesperson for the country’s energy ministry, as saying the Bushehr plant “returned to production energy” after the completion of needed maintenance. Mashahdi did not elaborate …

Turkey’s Karpowership will resume electricity supply to Lebanon from its two power ships from Tuesday in a decision it said was a goodwill gesture against a backdrop of talks over payment arrears and a legal threat to its vessels. The company told the government in May that it would have …

Even with oil prices surging toward $75 a barrel, US shale producers are keeping their pledges to hold the line on spending and keep output flat, a departure from previous boom cycles. This year’s run up in crude prices, and oil output curbs imposed by the OPEC+ producers group, historically …

Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday repeated pledges to import Iranian fuel should shortages across the country persist, saying that all logistical steps for that possibility were complete. Nasrallah, who heads the Iranian-backed armed Lebanese group, said earlier in June Iran could supply fuel to Lebanon in local …

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said he wanted to work with the Greek government to export surplus natural gas to Europe. It is part of a wider push to boost cooperation across energy and electrical grid interconnection across the island of Crete, which lies midway between the North African country …

Iraq is in talks with Masdar to implement solar energy projects targeting an electricity capacity of up to 2 gigawatts, Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar told Asharq Business. There are also discussions with Saudi ACWA Power, to implement renewable energy projects, he added. “It is expected to sign contracts for …

Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant has been temporarily shutdown for technical overhaul, Iranian state TV said on Sunday. “It has been temporarily shutdown since yesterday for technical overhaul which will continue for a few days,” an official told state TV. Source: Euro News

A popular Persian music video from several years back features a long line of sullen-looking people waiting to be served at a cafeteria. When their turn comes to choose, we see the grim-faced chef offer them the option of maggot-filled mystery meat or slime filled with flies. Many Iranian artists …

Lebanon’s energy minister said on Thursday the country’s gasoline subsidy was unsustainable and would eventually come to an end. “We have to get used to and be convinced that this subsidy that we benefited from for a year or a year and a half …. will end,” Raymond Ghajar said …

Saudi Arabia’s oil minister is expected to address a private meeting of top US hedge fund managers today at the Robin Hood Investors Conference. The behind-closed-doors virtual gathering brings together some of the world’s top fund managers — some of them heavily invested in oil markets. Saudi Energy Minister Prince …

US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan sounded upbeat after their first face-to-face talks on Monday, although they did not announce major breakthroughs in the relationship between the two allies, at odds over Russian weapons, Syria, Libya and other issues. “We had a positive and productive meeting, much …

Turkey has shared data on its Black Sea discovery with U.S. energy majors Chevron and Exxon Mobil ahead of possible cooperation in extracting the gas, a Turkish official with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Ankara has so far insisted it would develop the estimated 540 billion cubic meters field, …

In a speech seen as an act of defiance against the Lebanese state and the US, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday insisted that Lebanon should be “negotiating with Iran to buy gasoline and diesel with the Lebanese currency if Lebanon’s shortages persist.” Seemingly unconcerned about the possibility that this …

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that “hundreds” of US sanctions will remain on Iran even if the United States rejoins a nuclear accord. President Joe Biden’s administration has been engaged in indirect talks with Iran about reversing former president Donald Trump’s exit from the 2015 nuclear accord, formally …

Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun approved an exceptional loan of up to 300 billion Lebanese pounds ($200 million) on Monday for the state electricity company to import fuel for generation before supplies run out, an official statement said. Lebanon is mired in a financial crisis, caused by a mountain of debt built …

Turkey has discovered 135 billion cubic metres (bcm) of additional natural gas in the southern Black Sea, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, raising the total discovery in the region to 540 bcm. Speaking at an opening ceremony in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak on Friday, Erdogan said Turkey had …

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that Tehran wanted action and not promises from six world powers for the revival of their 2015 nuclear deal. “I have told our negotiators that actions, not promises (by the six powers), are needed for the restoration of the nuclear deal,” …

The Pentagon and other US intelligence agencies are closely tracking two Iranian ships that Tehran claims are bound for Venezuela, CNN reported on Thursday. Officials said the current passage of the ships was not a concern, but added they were being monitored, the report said. Satellite imagery showed one of the ships …

OPEC, Russia and their allies will stick to plans for a phased easing of oil production restrictions from May to July amid upbeat forecasts for a recovery in global demand and despite surging coronavirus cases in India, Brazil and Japan. The group known as OPEC+ ditched plans to hold a …

 A cargo of 1.033 million barrels of Iranian crude oil landed on US shores in March, data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed, the second shipment of Iranian oil to be imported into the United States since 1991. The cargo was registered in EIA data released late last …

The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog agency called Iran’s uranium enrichment program “very concerning” in an interview with the Financial Times published on Wednesday. Iran was enriching uranium at purity levels that “only countries making bombs are reaching,” Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, …

Since Lebanon’s currency collapsed in October 2019 — thrusting the nation into its deepest economic crisis in recent memory — a growing number of its citizens have been forced to rely on private generators to power their homes. The alternative is to go without electricity for several hours every day. …

Iran resumed its game of cat and mouse with UN inspectors on Sunday as the US cast doubt on the revival of the deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program. Parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said a three-month agreement to preserve surveillance images taken at Iran’s nuclear research sites had ended, …

A consortium including Oman’s state-owned oil firm OQ will develop a renewable energy project in the Gulf state capable of producing millions of tonnes of zero-carbon green hydrogen per year, the developers said on Tuesday. At full capacity the project will consist of 25 gigawatts of renewable solar and wind …

As the value of bitcoin soars and concerns rise about the energy-intensive process needed to obtain it, cryptocurrency entrepreneurs in the United States believe they have found a solution in flared natural gas. Profitably creating, or mining, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies requires masses of computers dedicated to solving deliberately complicated …