Ophir Energy’s newly bought Asian assets boost annual output
Oil and gas company Ophir Energy Plc said on Tuesday full-year production exceeded its own forecast, a day after it rejected Indonesian oil and gas group Medco Energi Internasional Tbk PT’s potential buyout offer. Daily production averaged 29,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in 2018, 8 percent ahead of its own forecast, boosted by output from some newly acquired Southeast Asian assets. Ophir forecast daily production for 2019 to be in line with previous outlook of 25,000 boepd.
Abu Dhabi’s National Energy Company investments at $30 bn in 2018
Abu Dhabi’s National Energy Company (TAQA) said its total investments had reached $30 billion held across 11 countries by the end of 2018, Emirates state news agency (WAM) reported on Monday. The company said it had coped with declining oil prices by reducing expenditures in 2018 by $750 million, WAM reported. It said it was currently considering development of a wind farm project in Morocco with a capacity of 100-200 megawatts.
Pakistan to seek gas payment deal with Qatar: Media report
Pakistan will seek a credit facility for liquefied natural gas payments from Qatar as part of efforts to ease its severe balance of payments crisis, the Tribune newspaper said on Tuesday, quoting Petroleum Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan. The paper quoted the minister as saying Prime Minister Imran Khan would seek a price cut on Pakistan’s existing LNG deal with Qatar as well as a one-year credit facility, enabling it to defer payments for vital gas supplies. Pakistan faces a severe strain on its balance of payments, with a current account deficit of around 5.9 percent of gross domestic product and foreign exchange reserves sufficient only to cover around two months’ of import payments. The government has been talking to the International Monetary Fund about a possible bailout and has stepped up efforts to raise funds from friendly Arab nations as well as China. At the same time, Pakistan is facing a serious energy crisis with repeated blackouts and gas supply outages that led to the sacking of the heads of two of the country’s main gas distribution utilities last week. If agreed, an LNG credit facility with Qatar would follow similar agreements enabling deferred payments on oil supplies from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have both agreed $3 billion facilities with Pakistan. On Sunday, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih announced plans for a $10 billion oil refinery in the port city of Gwadar, to be signed next month during a visit to Pakistan by Prince Mohammad bin Salman. The Tribune also quoted the petroleum minister as saying the government was considering offering tax incentives to onshore drilling to match similar incentives for offshore drilling under a new package of measures to be announced in March.