ONGC Videsh strikes oil in Colombia

ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas investment arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation NSE 1.30 % (ONGC), has made a “significant” oil discovery in an onshore block in Colombia. OVL struck oil while drilling an appraisal well ‘Indico-2’ in CPO-5 block in Llanos Basin of Colombia, the company said in a statement.

OVL is the operator in the block with 70 per cent stake. Geopark Ltd, an independent oil and gas company focussed in Latin America, has the remaining 30 per cent interest.

The well ‘Indico-2’ encountered a net pay of 147 feet which during initial testing produced oil of 35.2 degrees API in commercial quantity at the rate of 6,300 barrels per day.

“Currently, the well is flowing under short term testing with multi bean study for further evaluation,” the company said.

This is the fourth commercial find in the block by OVL.

Light oil was discovered in the first well ‘Indico-1X’ in the Indico field during December 2018, and to-date it .

CPO-5 is a large onland block covering an area of 1,992 square kilometres and offers multiplay exploratory and appraisal opportunities.

“The company now plans to drill more wells to explore the other plays in the block in the immediate future. OVL is also undertaking additional 3D seismic data to map more drillable prospects in the other sectors of the block,” the statement said.

OVL has a stake in 7 exploratory blocks in Colombia. These are in addition to two producing blocks with 50 per cent in JV company, Mansarovar Energy Colombia Ltd (MECL).
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China considers buyout of Exxon’s oil assets in Iraq

(Bloomberg) –China’s oil giants China National Petroleum Corp. and CNOOC Ltd. are considering acquiring Exxon Mobil Corp.’s remaining stake in an oil field in Iraq, which could fetch at least $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Chinese state-owned firms are weighing a potential deal to buy the 32.7% stake in Iraq’s West Qurna 1 field held by Exxon, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private.

A stake sale would mark Exxon’s exit of West Qurna 1 field, where it was once the dominant player and remains the lead contractor. In 2010, it signed an agreement with a company of Iraq’s Ministry of Oil to rehabilitate and redevelop the oil field in the southern part of the country, according to Exxon’s website. Three years later, Exxon struck a deal with PetroChina, CNPC’s listed unit, and PT Pertamina for stakes in the asset.

PetroChina currently holds 32.7% of the West Qurna 1 field, while Itochu Corp. owns about 19.6% and Pertamina and Hindustan Oil Exploration Co. are also among the shareholders, according to Itochu’s website.

No final decisions have been made and there is no guarantee the deliberations will lead to a deal, the people said. Geopolitical risks in Iraq could bring uncertainties to any potential agreement, they added. Representatives for Cnooc, Exxon and CNPC declined to comment.

Iraq awarded a contract to develop the West Qurna oilfield to Exxon and Royal Dutch Shell Plc in 2009. The oilfield is one of the world’s largest with expected recoverable reserves of over 20 billion barrels, according to Itochu’s website. The site produces slightly below 500,000 barrels a day, one of the people said.

Last year, Exxon’s staff left the Iraqi field after the U.S. withdrew non-essential staff from its embassy officials in Baghdad, citing a threat from neighboring Iran, Reuters reported at the time. The staff returned two weeks later after boosting company’s security, Bloomberg News had reported.

The U.S. plans to accelerate a drawdown of U.S. troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan to 2,500 in each nation, the Acting Secretary of Defense announced Tuesday at the Pentagon, as President Donald Trump works to deliver on his longtime pledge to exit from “endless wars” before he leaves office in January. The order would reduce troops from about 4,500 in Afghanistan and from about 3,000 in Iraq.

Source: https://www.worldoil.com/news/2020/11/20

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Iran’s exports to EU growing by 13%

Tehran (IP)- In the first nine months of 2020, Iran exported 563 million euros commodities to the EU, increasing 13 percent compared to the same period in the last year.

Iran Press/Iran news: According to the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, during this time, the highest value of Iran’s exports to the EU belonged to food and live animals, which is equivalent to 222 million euros.

The report adds that Germany is the main target of Iran’s exports, which is about 36% of the total value of exports to the EU, and it shows a 7% growth.

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Read more:

Europe-Iran to run Business Forum December

Source: https://iranpress.com/content/30107

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Iran-Kazakhstan stress maritime, ports cooperation

Tehran (IP)- During the webinar on Iran- Kazakhstan maritime, ports, and road transport, the two countries stressed the expansion of maritime cooperation.

Iran Press/Iran News: In the Iran-Kazakhstan Maritime Transportation Webinar, which was attended by shipping, ports and roads officials of the two countries, the two sides stressed the need to continue cruises by Ro-Ro vessels between the ports of the two countries, and increase reciprocal facilities to offer port discounts, an increase in the volume of cargo and visa issuing facilitation.

The two sides also agreed on the reduction of loading and unloading time of the ship.

Iran’s Ambassador to Kazakhstan, Majid Saber, also stressed the importance of continuing the recent success of ship traffic between Iran and Kazakhstan, calling it a turning point in the two countries’ maritime relations.

A webinar on Iran- Kazakhstan maritime, ports, and roads transport was held on the occasion of the launch of the first Ro-Ro vessel from the Iranian port of Amirabad to the port of Kuryk in Kazakhstan so that the two countries’ cooperation continues.

 

 

Sourc: https://iranpress.com/content/30192

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Transit of commodities via railway up 220% in H1

TEHRAN- Transit of goods through Iran’s railway network rose 220 percent during the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-September 21), compared to the first half of the past year, the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (known as RAI), announced.

Saeed Rasouli also stated that the railways’ share of transit has increased from 10 percent in the past year to 30 percent this year.

While the limitations due to the coronavirus pandemic have decreased road transit significantly, transit via railways has increased, the official added.

Iran has been following new strategies for increasing the share of transit in its foreign trade basket and the country’s railway network has become the center of the government plans for achieving the said goal.

According to Transport and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Eslami, the country is capable of boosting its capacity of transit to 50 million tons per year.

“We should make an essential improvement in our logistics power to gain our share of transit”, Eslami has emphasized.

As the RAI head has said, by completing rail infrastructures like Khaf-Herat railway, Iran would be able to access transit markets with over 35 million tons of annual capacity.

Rasouli underlined Iran’s geopolitical and strategic position which has turned the country into a vital gateway for regional and international trade and said: “We must make the most of this position and these capacities.”

We only have the capacity to transit 18 million tons of goods in the region, a large part of which is transported through sea, he said, adding: “With the development of rail infrastructure, including the Khaf-Herat, Chabahar-Zahedan and Shalamcheh-Basra railway projects, we will access a market of 35 million tons in the region and we must step up our efforts to increase the share of rail transportation in transit.”

“The Khaf-Herat line has a transit potential of nearly two million tons; with the expansion of the rail network in Afghanistan, this capacity will definitely increase exponentially and we can reach much larger markets,” Rasouli said.

 

Source: https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/455251

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BP investing in Middle East oil while pledging a renewables shift

By Anthony Di Paola on 11/27/2020

(Bloomberg) –BP said it will invest more money in Middle Eastern oil and natural-gas fields even as it transitions to renewable energy and tries to lower emissions.

The company is a major producer in countries such as Iraq, where it operates the world’s third-largest oil field of Rumaila, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. It’s focusing on their low-cost oil, while also boosting output of gas, according to Stephen Willis, BP’s senior vice president for the Middle East.

“We will continue to invest in these,” Willis said in a video interview from Oman, without specifying how much BP planned to spend. Deposits in Iraq, the UAE emirate of Abu Dhabi and Oman have “world-leading operating cost, capital cost and production efficiency performance.”

European oil majors are seeking greener sources of energy to combat climate change. BP, which is selling assets and cutting its dividend in response to oil’s coronavirus-triggered crash this year, is targeting a 40% decline in hydrocarbon production by 2030 and won’t explore for crude in any new countries.

In the Middle East, several countries are beginning to exploit renewable energy resources and focus more on gas, the production and burning of which emits less carbon than oil or coal.

Iraq, the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, continues to flare large quantities of gas. BP is trying to help the Gulf country instead use it to generate power. Iraq’s oil minister has also asked BP to develop renewable energy.

Oil production at Rumaila in southern Iraq is slightly below 1.4 million barrels a day, Willis said. Output was cut to enable Iraq to comply with OPEC quotas agreed in April and for maintenance, he said. BP is working to ensure that the field, which pumped 1.47 million barrels daily in June, can raise production once the OPEC restrictions are eased.

Rumaila’s capacity would decline to 1 million to 1.2 million barrels a day without workers adding wells, maintaining pressure and separating out water, Willis said. BP and the Iraqi government don’t have a timeline for reaching the planned peak-production level of 2.1 million barrels a day, though the field’s capacity will probably be increased to 1.7 million barrels in the next several years, he said.

BP’s push in Iraq is happening as rival Exxon Mobil Corp. seeks to sell its stake in the country’s West Qurna 1 field, which could fetch at least $500 million, Bloomberg reported last week. Many Western firms have been put off by Iraq’s political instability.

Oman, UAE Push

BP can raise capacity more quickly in Oman, Willis said. The company will, depending on market demand, reach full capacity of 1.5 billion cubic feet per day by early next year from the gas fields of Khazzan and Ghazeer in Block 61, he said. It could add another 400 million cubic feet per day of output with further investment, he said.

In Abu Dhabi, BP is working with government-owned producer Adnoc to boost the capacity of onshore oil fields beyond 2 million barrels daily. BP holds a 10% stake in those fields.

It also aims to extract gas from the emirate’s Bad field, which mostly holds oil, this decade, Willis said.

BP’s third-largest region for production and reserves is Asia, which includes the Middle Eastern fields. Asia comes behind North America and Europe, which is the company’s most significant region in output terms due to a 20% stake in Russia’s Rosneft Oil Co.

Source: https://www.worldoil.com/news/2020/11/27/bp-investing-in-middle-east-oil-while-pledging-a-renewables-shift

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Aramco Kicks Off Bond Sale

(Bloomberg) — Saudi Aramco kicked off a jumbo bond sale Tuesday to help fund a $75 billion dividend, returning to the debt markets for the first time since April of last year.

The state energy firm is raising debt after slumping crude prices caused profit to fall by 45% in the third quarter. That’s left it unable to generate enough cash to fund investor payouts, almost all of which go to the Saudi Arabian government, which needs the money to plug a widening budget deficit and prop up a slumping economy.

Aramco, the world’s biggest oil company, is selling tranches maturing in three, five, 10, 30 and 50 years, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Initial spread guidance ranges from around 140 basis points above U.S. Treasuries on the shortest tranche, to plus 230 basis points for the 50-year portion, the person said.

The bond may be issued later on Tuesday.

Benchmark Brent oil has dropped almost 35% this year to around $44 a barrel, with the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns sapping demand for energy. Despite that, yields in the developed world are so low that investors have rushed to buy highly-rated emerging-market assets, including those of Aramco. The yield on the company’s $3 billion of bonds due in 2029 has dropped to 2.12% from 3.04% at the end of 2019. That’s only slightly higher than the yield of Saudi government bonds with a similar maturity.

The Dhahran-based firm, rated A1 by Moody’s Investors Service, may issue around $6 billion of bonds, Bloomberg reported Monday. That would be half the amount the company borrowed in its debut sale last year, when it attracted more than $100 billion of orders and priced at a lower yield than the government.

Emerging-market investors have become more bullish in the past two weeks following the U.S. election and pharmaceutical companies making progress on coronavirus vaccines. But the spreads on Aramco’s new bonds should still compensate any investors wary that President-elect Joe Biden might increase regulations on oil and gas companies, according to Bank of Singapore.

“Pricing looks reasonably generous, although it will undoubtedly tighten as the book builds,” said Todd Schubert, head of fixed-income research at Bank of Singapore. Investors are “concerned about oil prices, particularly under a Joe Biden presidency. However, Aramco is such a low-cost producer.”

Aramco has slashed spending, cut jobs, and is considering selling some assets as it looks to save money for its shareholder payouts. Despite these efforts to conserve cash, its gearing — a measure of debt as a percentage of equity — has increased to 21.8%, above its target range of 5% to 15%. Gearing also rose because the company took on debt to pay for a $70 billion acquisition of Saudi Basic Industries Corp., a chemical maker, earlier this year.

The company listed shares on the Saudi stock exchange last December. It pledged an annual dividend of $75 billion for at least five years after the initial public offering.

The lead banks on the bond sale are Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and NCB Capital.

–With assistance from Shaji Mathew.

© 2020 Bloomberg L.P

Source: https://www.rigzone.com/news/wire/aramco_kicks_off_bond_sale-17-nov-2020-163876-article/

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Iran, Qatar ink co-op MOU in 7th joint economic committee meeting

TEHRAN – Iran, and Qatar signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for cooperation in a variety of areas at the end of the two countries’ seventh Joint Economic Committee meeting which was held in Isfahan on Tuesday.

Based on this MOU, the two sides are going to cooperate in forming a joint trade working group between the two countries, establishing trade centers between the private sectors of the two sides, establishing commercial affiliates in the embassies of the two countries in Tehran and Doha, and using the ports of the two countries to boost the export and import of goods.

As reported by IRNA, the event which was attended by Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian and Qatar’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari as the chairs of the committee was the first meeting of the two countries’ Joint Economic Committee held after the coronavirus pandemic in Iran.

Head of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Gholam-Hossein Shafei, the Qatari ambassador to Tehran Mohammed Ben Hamad Al-Hajri, Chairman of Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry Khalifa Bin Jassim Al-Thani, as well as the representatives from the Iranian ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance, and Industry also attended the meeting.

Cooperation between the two countries’ chambers of commerce to encourage the private sectors of the two sides for joint ventures, the development of cooperation in the fields of agriculture, electricity, water and wastewater and gas, cooperation in the field of cultural heritage, handicrafts and tourism, including holding a cultural week in Isfahan, were among other provisions of the mentioned MOU.

The MOU also covered cooperation in the fields of pharmaceutical and medical equipment, higher education and scientific research, transit and transportation of goods, communications and information technology, as well as protection and maintenance of fiber optic cables (submarine).

Photo: Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian (R) exchanges signed MOU documents with Qatar’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari in Isfahan on Tuesday.

 

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/455030

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Non-oil trade exceeds $44b in 8 months

TEHRAN – The value of Iran’s non-oil trade during the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-November 20) reached $44.6 billion, according to Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) Mehdi Mirashrafi.

In the mentioned eight months, Iran imported $23.1 billion worth of goods, while the exports stood at $21.5 billion, IRIB reported.

The total volume of traded goods was estimated at about 97.7 million tons, of which over 75 million tons were related to exports and about 21.8 million tons were imported goods.

According to Mirashrafi, the imports in the said period declined one percent and 18 percent in terms of weight and value, respectively.

The exports also experienced a fall of 14 percent and 19 percent in terms of weight and value, respectively.

Noting the downward trend of the country’s foreign trade is ending and the trade is getting back to normal, the official said: “As we announced in previous months, fortunately, the downward trend of our country’s exports is approaching normal conditions month by month, and we hope to have better conditions in terms of exports by the end of the year.”

Iran’s top five non-oil export destinations during this period were Iraq with over $5.3 billion worth of exports, China with the same amount, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with over $2.7 billion, and Turkey with $1.6 billion as well as Afghanistan with $1.5 billion.

According to the IRICA head, the top five sources of imports during this period were China with $6 billion, the UAE with $5.4 billion, Turkey with $2.6 billion, India with $1.4 billion, and Germany with $1.1 billion worth of imports.

Most of the imported goods into the country in the mentioned time span were basic goods or raw materials, Mirashrafi stressed.

Also in the said period, 4,471,000 tons of goods were transited through Iran to the neighboring countries, showing a decrease of 15 percent compared to the same period last year.

Like all other countries around the world, Iran’s trade with its foreign partners has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, however, the situation is getting back to normal and the country’s trade borders are opening one by one.

 

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/454985

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Visit WIPO’s Virtual Exhibition on AI and IP

Visit the newly launched “WIPO: AI and IP, A Virtual Experience,” an immersive online exhibition using the latest 360 degree scanning technology to foster a more-comprehensive understanding of the relationship between AI and IP policy and the questions facing policymakers. Interactive elements include AI-created music, neural networks with human-like abilities and robotic artists, like the humanoid Ai-Da.

 

source: https://www.wipo.int/portal/en/index.html

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