Awl Bidness

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An Energy Giant Bigger Than Exxon Hides In The Shadow of Saudi Aramco



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...Qatar’s energy story, as with its peers in the Persian Gulf, began with oil. The desert nation of 2.6 million residents started drilling wells in 1939 and exported its first oil 10 years later. In 1971, Royal Dutch Shell Plc discovered the offshore North Field, which, together with the connected South Pars deposit in Iran, is the world’s biggest reservoir of non-associated gas. The find was a disappointment at the time because it showed no crude.

It took more than twenty years for Qatar Petroleum to partner with Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total SA and ConocoPhillips -- as well as with Japanese customers Mitsui & Co. and Marubeni Corp. -- to start building 14 plants that chill gas into a liquid for shipment to Asia and Europe. By 2006, Qatar was the biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, and it shipped 78 million tons in 2015, or 32 percent of global supply that year, according to the International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers.

By more than doubling gas and oil production since 2006, Qatar has become the world’s fourth-biggest energy supplier and wealthiest country by per capita income. Qatar Petroleum has overtaken Rosneft and Exxon in total output, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, and the company makes and sells more LNG than any other. QP ranks behind Saudi Arabian Oil Co., Gazprom PJSC and National Iranian Oil Co. for energy production...



more...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...gger-than-exxon-in-the-shadow-of-saudi-aramco




 



LUKOIL ADDED 0.7 BILLION BARRELS OF OIL EQUIVALENT TO PROVED RESERVES IN 2016

Monday, February 13, 2017

Based on the geological exploration results and the revision of previous estimates, LUKOIL (hereinafter also the “Company”) added 0.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent to its proved reserves in 2016. The reserve replacement ratio reached 81% for proved hydrocarbon reserves, including 85% for crude oil. This performance was achieved despite the average annual oil price sliding to its minimum in 13 years and an increased tax burden.

As of December 31, 2016, the Company’s proved hydrocarbon reserves under the SEC (US Securities and Exchange Commission) standards totaled 16.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent, of which 76% was crude oil. The Company’s proved hydrocarbon reserves life is 20 years based on 2016 production volume.

The increase of 556 million barrels of oil equivalent in proved reserves was due to geological exploration and production drilling. The revision of the previous estimates added another 117 million barrels of oil equivalent, reflecting the increase in the Company’s share in reserves of the projects in Uzbekistan and Iraq.

As of December 31, 2016, the Company’s 3C contingent resources under the PRMS (Petroleum Resources Management System) standards totaled 14.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent, increasing by 0.5 billion barrels mainly due to resources additions in the Caspian region. The oil and gas volumes classified as contingent resources can be transferred to reserves as the macroeconomic situation improves, the commissioning dates of the fields approach, new technologies are introduced and the pilot operations are completed.




LUKOIL Group Oil and Gas Reserves as of December 31, 2016

Oil Gas Oil + gas
million barrels billion cubic feet million barrels of oil equivalent
Proved reserves 12,482 23,493 16,398
including:
Developed 8,025 8,374 9,421
Undeveloped 4,457 15,119 6,977
Probable reserves 5,071 9,680 6,684
Possible reserves 2,358 3,738 2,981




The independent audit of the Company's proved reserves was implemented by the Miller and Lents US consulting firm based on the commercial life-of-field approach. Conversion ratio from cubic feet to barrels: 1 barrel = 6,000 cubic feet





 

Saudi Aramco and Shell Agree On Terms of Motiva Asset Breakup


➞ Saudis to take control of Port Arthur refinery, 24 terminals

➞ Shell will get 2 refineries, 11 terminals in Motiva split




Saudi Arabian Oil Co. will pay Royal Dutch Shell Plc $2.2 billion including debt to finalize the breakup of a 19-year refining partnership known as Motiva Enterprises LLC. Saudi Aramco’s Saudi Refining unit will take full ownership of the Motiva Enterprises name and legal entity, including the largest refinery in the U.S. at Port Arthur in Texas, and 24 distribution terminals, according to a joint statement. Shell will take sole ownership of the Norco and Convent refineries in Louisiana and 11 distribution terminals.

Aramco will make a $2.2 billion balancing payment, split between debt and cash and subject to adjustments including working capital, Shell said in a separate statement. Aramco will assume almost all of Motiva’s $3.2 billion of net debt, including $1.5 billion of Shell’s share.

Under the agreement, Motiva will have the exclusive right to sell Shell-branded gasoline and diesel in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., as well as the eastern half of Texas and most of Florida. Shell’s markets will be Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, a portion of the Florida panhandle, and the Northeastern region of the U.S.

Motiva, formed in 1998, was a major player in U.S. refining with capacity to process more than 1.1 million barrels of crude a day...



more...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-shell-agree-on-terms-of-motiva-asset-breakup






 


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Canada Oil Dependence on U.S. Loosens...


➞ Tankers carry Canadian crude 10,000 miles or more to Asia

➞ Canada sent 99% of its crude exports to the U.S. last year

(Bloomberg) ...For a country that sent about 99 percent of its crude exports to the U.S. last year, the recent flow to Asia is a welcome sign of diversification to many Canadian producers and political leaders...

...While some Canadian crude is shipped to the U.S. Gulf Coast for re-export overseas, Kinder Morgan Inc’s 300,000 barrel-a-day Trans Mountain is the only pipeline that links a Canadian seaport to Alberta, according to BP Plc. Still most of what flows down the line goes to U.S. refineries in Washington state. That’s poised to change by the end of the current decade when Kinder Morgan is scheduled to expand the Trans Mountain Pipeline to 890,000 barrels a day. The company forecasts that about 450,000 barrels a day of crude will go to northeast Asia, according to a market analysis it submitted to Canadian regulators in September 2015.

With the pipeline to the Pacific, heavy Western Canadian Select crude could be sold to Asia at a discount to West Texas Intermediate futures of about $8 a barrel versus more than $14 now, translating into an extra $3.9 billion a year for Western Canadian producers... As strong as the desire is to open new markets, some factors are drawing the countries closer together. In January, President Trump signed an order reviving the TransCanada Corp’s Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry 830,000 barrels a day from Alberta to Nebraska. The project was rejected by former President Barack Obama in 2015. The project doesn’t face any major remaining hurdles to U.S. approval...


more...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...endence-on-u-s-loosens-in-age-of-donald-trump






 


(cross posted in the "Alaska Is Just 15 minutes From Anchorage" thread)


The Monumentally Expensive Quest To Pull Off An Alaskan Oil Miracle


Caelus Energy and Jim Musselman are braving polar bears, bitter cold and harsh economic reality.

by Alex Nussbaum
‎March‎ ‎14‎, ‎2017‎



(Bloomberg) It’s hard to tell where the world ends here on the Alaska North Slope.

In the subzero twilight, when the Arctic winds snarl, snow and cloud stretch to every horizon in a seamless vault of spectral white. Beyond the tundra, five miles out on the frozen sea, oil workers from a tiny outfit called Caelus Energy have welded the drilling rig shut against trespassing polar bears.

“Spooky,” one of them says into the whiteness, and he’s right. The North Slope in February is beautifully, impossibly spooky.

This is where Jim Musselman hopes to save Alaska, or at least make a fortune trying.

In a shallow estuary called Smith Bay, Musselman’s flyspeck company will work to extract an astonishing 6 billion barrels of crude. The nearby tundra, Caelus says, could yield 4 billion more...



(much) more...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/feat...sive-quest-to-pull-off-an-alaskan-oil-miracle





 


Lukoil Returns to Quarterly Profit on Crude-Price Recovery


by Stephen Bierman
‎March‎ ‎14‎, ‎2017‎


➞ Capital spending dropped during 2016 while free cash flow rose

➞ Oil output fell over year on lower volumes from Iraq, Siberia



(Bloomberg) Lukoil PJSC returned to profit in the fourth quarter after crude prices rallied.

Russia’s No. 2 oil producer reported net income of 46.6 billion rubles ($786 million), compared with a loss of 65 billion rubles a year earlier. That beat the 45 billion-ruble average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Revenue held steady at 1.4 trillion rubles.

Oil prices have recovered from the sub-$30 lows of January last year after the market rout forced out high-cost producers. In Russia, drillers also benefited from a weak ruble, which curbed costs, and a progressive tax system that eased the impact of lower prices.

Lukoil’s oil production shrank 8.4 percent to 1.875 million barrels a day in 2016, the Moscow-based company said Tuesday in a statement, citing a decline in so-called compensation oil from Iraq and lower Siberian output. The drop was partially offset by the ramp-up of the Caspian Sea’s Filanovsky field, where tax exemptions boost profitability...

..The increasing free cash flow as Lukoil completes investments, including a refinery-modernization project, will be “mirrored in dividends increasing every year...”




more...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...fourth-quarter-profit-on-crude-price-recovery








 


(cross posted in "Alaska is Just 15 minutes away from Anchorage" thread)

Pipeline Built To Survive Extremes Can't Bear Slow Oil Flow



by Alex Nussbaum
‎April‎ ‎10‎, ‎2017‎


➞ Trans Alaska carrying just a quarter of its peak volume
➞ The lower the flow, the higher the risks from Arctic cold



Here at the top of the world, January brought a glimpse of the anxious future facing Alaska’s once-mighty oil pipeline.

The 800-mile Trans Alaska Pipeline System was built for extreme conditions. But as the state’s oil production has declined, the pipeline faces a new challenge: flows so sluggish operators worry the line may become unusable, cutting off access for hundreds of North Slope oil wells.

With the mercury dipping as low as -60 Fahrenheit, workers in January fired up heating units across the system. It worked, but if the brutal cold had lasted or the oil flow had slowed further, the pipeline would have been in uncharted territory. Four decades after it opened, Alaska’s pipeline -- once a symbol of independence for an oil-strapped nation -- is facing a midlife crisis. The line now moves a quarter of the volume it carried at its peak. And as the flows slow, the risks are rising.

“We’re already at the stress point," said Tom Barrett, president of the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., which operates the system. “We don’t have the kind of cushion you’d like to have."

...Lower volumes mean crude travels more slowly through the pipeline, losing heat along the way. And at low temperatures, crude behaves badly. Ice crystals form that can damage pumping equipment. Carbon molecules, meanwhile, coalesce into paraffin, a waxy residue that, if not cleared out, can gunk up the line “like a big, frozen tube of ChapStick," said Betsy Haines, Alyeska’s oil-movements director...


much more...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...gambit-shines-light-on-little-known-oil-giant


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