Microsoft word new base 671 special 24 august 2015

Copyright © 2015 NewBase www.hawkenergy.net Edited by Khaled Al Awadi – Energy Consultant All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, redistributed,

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NewBase 24 August 2015 - Issue No. 671 Senior Editor Eng. Khaled Al Awadi

NewBase For discussion or further details on the news below you may contact us on +971504822502, Dubai, UAE

Strong potential for rooftop solar energy in Oman Written by Oman Observer

Photovoltaic (PV) systems installed atop residential buildings across the Sultanate can offer an estimated 1.4 gigawatts (GW) of solar-based renewable energy capacity, a key study commissioned by Oman’s Public Authority for Electricity and Water (PAEW) has revealed.

Rooftop PV capacity in Muscat Governorate alone is estimated at 450 megawatts (MW), equivalent to a mid-size gas based conventional power plant, according to Khalil Alzidi, PAEW’s Senior Engineer — Renewable Energy, citing the study. The rooftop renewable energy study was undertaken in collaboration with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), a federal body that represents the German government in developmental cooperation around the world.

It explored the potential for the installation of photovoltaic systems for electricity generation atop private homes, mirroring

the current trend in parts of Europe and the Far East, where solar-based electrical energy generated by individual homes accounts for a growing percentage of national output.

A key part of the study, according to Alzidi, was to “investigate the importance of incentives (for renewable energy development) from the technical and financial standpoints”.

“One of the recommendations that came out of the study was for the introduction of a Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) mechanism, which does not exist at the moment. The absence of Feed-in-Tariffs is one of the (shortcomings) that needs to be addressed (if private investment in renewable energy development is to make headway in the Sultanate,” the official noted.

FiT allows for those who have renewable energy capacity to sell their surplus electricity to the local grid.

Tens of thousands of homes and businesses across Europe have made the most of FiT to invest in mainly photovoltaic based solar energy capacity installed atop their homes

and buildings. Surplus electricity from these investments is sold to the local grid.




The PAEW study has determined that a FiT scheme covering rooftop PV capacity should ideally be of 20 years’ duration if it is to be viable in the Sultanate.

Already a number of prominent organisations have piloted rooftop solar photovoltaic initiatives in support of renewable energy development. The first was by Majan Electricity Company, a subsidiary of Nama Group, which has installed around 40 kW of photovoltaic capacity atop its head office in Sohar, together with another 3 kW atop the car park within the complex.

Earlier, in 2010, The Knowledge Oasis Muscat (KOM) installed a 6 kW concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) on-grid system within the IT Park at Rusayl. And as part of its R&D initiatives, Sultan Qaboos University has installed a 1 kW PV system in a desert setting to test the equipment’s performance in harsh desert environments.




Morocco : San Leon Spuds Morocco Gas Well

San Leon Energy on Friday said it has spud the El Aaiun-4 well on the Tarfaya conventional licence, onshore Morocco.

The well is expected to take approximately 30 days to reach total depth (TD) of around 2000 metres below rotary table. The reservoir target is Tertiary channel sandstones, and the surface location is approximately 14 Km from a gas market (El Marsa OCP phosphate processing plant, near Foum el-Oued), the company said.

San Leon is the operator of the Tarfaya licence and holds a 75 percent net operated interest. ONHYM, the Moroccan National Bureau of Petroleum and Mines, holds the remaining 25 percent interest.

Earlier this year, San Leon said the El Aaiun-4 well is testing a potential (P50) 32 BCF of stratigraphically trapped recoverable gas.




Norway : Songa Offshore takes delivery of its second Cat D rig

Songa Endurance

Songa Offshore, an offshore drilling contractor, on Monday took delivery of the Songa Endurance rig from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in Korea.

The Songa Endurance will shortly depart South Korea en route to Norway for start of an eight-year drilling contract with Statoil, with first assignment on the Troll Field on the Norwegian continental shelf.

The voyage to Norway will take place with tow-assist and the rig will arrive with all third party equipment installed and ready for final acceptance testing. The beginning of drilling operations is expected to take place around year-end.

Songa Endurance is a sixth generation, high specification, harsh environment, midwater rig designed for efficient year around drilling, completion, testing and intervention operations in water depths up to 500 meters.

The rig is certified DP3 and is equipped with a drill-floor and an efficient layout with improved safety and working environment features. Songa Endurance is the second rig in a series of four Category D rigs specifically built for and contracted to Statoil.




China's First LNG Mobile Power Station Comes Online Gas Asia + NewBase China's first mobile LNG power station, developed by Golden Concord Holdings Ltd (GCL), began operations in Suzhou City in Jiangsu province, GCL announced early last week.

This mobile power station consists of a 200KW internal combusting generating set and a 5-cubic meter LNG supply device and generates electricity from gasification of Natural Gas , the company said.

LNG gasification rate is 300 cu. meter per hour. Compared to traditional diesel generator, the mobile LNG power station could save 30 percent power generation cost, and reduce emission of 17 tonnes of sulfur dioxide and 21 tonnes of dust each year.

ENN Energy Built 8 LNG Fueling Stations in China in First Half 2015

ENN Energy Holdings built eight LNG refuelling stations in China during the first half of 2015. The Hong Kong based firm provided this information in its half yearly results which was published Wednesday.

The company now has 249 LNG stations in the country. In the first half of the year, the Group’s gas sales volume for LNG bunkering

business amounted to 960,000 cubic meters. It successfully completed bunkering for an ocean-going vessel of Nor Lines, Norway, and an LNG-powered tugboat of CNOOC.

ENN currently has a total of 3 bunkering stations for LNG vessels. The Group said it will continue to promote the development of the industry through strategic alliances and development at key ports .




UK: DONG Energy acquires full control of one of the world’s biggest

offshore wind development zones.. Source: DONG Energy

DONG Energy has underlined its strong commitment to the UK offshore wind energy market by taking full control of the Round 3 Hornsea Zon e, which has the potential to supply the electricity needs of almost three million UK homes. The Hornsea Zone projects, off the UK east coast, form one of the world's biggest offshore wind development zones, covering an area more than twice the size of Greater London.

DONG Energy has acquired project rights for Hornsea Projects Two and Three, which have a combined potential for development of around 3GW of capacity. These projects are expected to form an important part of the business's post-2020 pipeline.

In February 2015 DONG Energy acquired the 1,200 megawatt (MW) Hornsea Project One for which it has secured a Final Investment Decision enabling contract (Contract For Difference).

Brent Cheshire, DONG Energy's UK Country Chairman, said:

'The Hornsea Zone provides us with new and exciting development opportunities, not least because of the

sheer size of the projects in terms of acreage and their high generation potential. This will also help us in our

committed efforts to reduce the cost of electricity from offshore wind. With this acquisition we have the

scope for continuing our growth within offshore wind and maintaining our position as global leader in this

field beyond 2020.'

He added: 'DONG Energy has already invested around £6 billion in the UK, most of it in offshore wind

farm development. We expect to invest a similar amount by 2020. Today's announcement underlines our

strong commitment to helping the UK deliver low carbon energy supplies while creating jobs and building a

robust local supply chain.'




NewBase 24 August- 2015 Khaled Al Awadi

NewBase For discussion or further details on the news below you may contact us on +971504822502 , Dubai , UAE

Opec emergency meet may stop oil price slide Reuters

Algeria said earlier this month that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries could hold an emergency meeting to discuss the drop in oil prices but other Opec delegates said no meeting was planned.

“Iran endorses an emergency Opec meeting and would not disagree with it,” Zanganeh told reporters in Tehran, according to Shana. US oil prices fell below $40 a barrel on Friday for the first time since the 2009 financial crisis, pressured by signs of oversupply in the US and weak Chinese manufacturing data.

Opec is not due to meet until December 4.

While Opec rules say a simple majority of the 12 Opec members is needed to call an emergency meeting before then, some Opec delegates say a meeting is unlikely unless Saudi Arabia is in favour.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, and other Gulf states pushed Opec’s strategy shift last year to defend market share rather than cut output to support prices. Relatively wealthy, they are better able to cope with low oil prices than Iran, Venezuela or African members.

Opec delegates see little chance of the exporting group diverting from its policy of defending market share, although the latest drop in prices is starting to sour the business mood even in Saudi Arabia.

Oil price special

coverage




Brent, U.S. oil mark fresh 6-1/2-year lows on China and oversupply Reuters + NewBase

Brent and U.S. crude oil futures hit fresh 6-1/2-year lows on Monday to drop below the latest supports of $45 a barrel and $40 a barrel respectively as investors fretted that a slowing Chinese economy will lead to weaker demand amid a global supply surplus.

Other commodities also hit fresh lows in early Asian trading as fears spread that a more severe slowdown in China would pull down other economies in the region, denting energy and raw material consumption.

Brent oil LCOc1 was trading down 82 cents a barrel at $44.64 as of 0425 GMT (0025 EDT), after hitting an intraday low of $44.24, its lowest since March 2009. On Friday it ended $1.16, or 2.5 percent, lower at $45.46 a barrel.

U.S. October crude CLc1 fell 93 cents to $39.52 after hitting an intraday low of $39.00, its lowest since February 2009. In the previous session it settled 87 cents, or 2.1 percent, lower at $40.45 a barrel. U.S. crude lost 13 percent compared with its close on Aug 3.

"Supply-side news continues to dominate the market ... Fears of surging Iranian oil are likely to increase further after Iran's oil minister stated the country had plans to raise oil production at any cost," ANZ said in a note on Monday.

Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Sunday that holding an emergency OPEC meeting may be "effective" in stabilizing the oil prices, Iran's oil ministry news agency Shana reported. There was a similar call by Algeria earlier this month, but other OPEC delegates said no meeting was planned.

Separately, Zanganeh was quoted by Shana on Sunday that South Korea had agreed to increase its Iranian oil purchases after a nuclear deal with world powers cleared the way for an easing of international sanctions on Tehran. South Korean government and business officials visited Iran seeking possible deals in oil and gas.




NewBase Special Coverage

Putin Hopes for Chinese Gift as Oil Slump Sours Second Gas Deal Bloomberg - Elena Mazneva Dina Khrennikova

Russia’s energy pivot toward Asia faces its sternest test early next month when President Vladimir Putin visits Beijing amid slumping oil prices and concerns over China’s economic slowdown.

While Gazprom PJSC said on Aug. 18 that talks over a second natural gas supply contract with China in less than 18 months are “showing good dynamics,” the Beijing government has damped Russian hopes that a deal will be signed on Putin’s two-day trip set to start on Sept. 2.

China and Russia aren’t targeting a deal during the visit as the more than 50 percent slump in crude over the past year complicates talks, Interfax news service reported Friday, citing Ling Ji, director of the Department of Eurasian Affairs at the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. While an accord would make China Gazprom’s largest client, the country’s economy is grappling with industrial overcapacity, the fallout from a downturn in property investment and a volatile stock market.

“It is not a favorable environment to sign off another gas deal” for China, said Keun-Wook Paik, a senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies in London.

Last year, Putin reached his first deal to supply gas to China from East Siberia after almost a decade of talks, marking a milestone in relations between the world’s largest energy exporter and the biggest importer. The accord followed a deterioration of Russia’s relations with the U.S. and Europe over the conflict in Ukraine.

First Deal

In November, Russia and China signed a framework agreement for a second 30-year gas contract, which would involve building a pipeline from West Siberia. It would deliver as much as 30 billion cubic meters of gas a year, adding to the 38 billion cubic meters from the first contract and making China Gazprom’s largest customer.

Putin valued the first deal, with supplies starting around 2019 and a price formula linked to oil, at $400 billion.

Since that deal was signed, Brent crude, the benchmark for half of the world’s oil, has dropped to less than $46 per barrel from $102.6.




The changes among the top managers of China’s energy giants and the government’s anti-corruption drive are also slowing down talks with Russia, according to Alexander Gabuev, senior associate at Carnegie Moscow Center.

“New officials are unwilling to approve risky deals,” he said in an e-mail. “And Russian deals are risky now due to the sanctions, ruble devaluation and constant changes in the tax regime.”

While maintaining good political relations with Russia is important for China, President Xi Jinping won’t sacrifice the economy for politics, Gabuev said

Any new accord signed during Putin’s visit would be “some sort of a gift,” the state-run Tass news service reported Thursday, citing Russian ambassador to China Andrey Denisov. Otherwise, the countries will continue negotiations, he said.




Mideast Stock Markets Plunge Share on Lin kedIn Share on RedditShare on Google+E-mail Share on RedditShare on Goo gle+E-mail

Dubai led a retreat in Middle Eastern stocks that drove Saudi Arabia’s index into a bear market, extending last week’s global selloff, as crude’s decline to a six-year low reverberated through a region dependent on oil and gas exports.

The DFM General Index lost as much as 7.5 percent, the most this year. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index tumbled 6.9 percent, taking its decline since 2015’s peak in April to 24 percent. Qatar’s QE Index fell 5.3 percent, while Israel’s TA-25 Index lost 4.1 percent. Egypt’s EGX 30 Index slid the most since November 2012. Gauges in Abu Dhabi and Oman declined more than 10 percent since a recent peak, the threshold for a market correction.

The slide in Brent crude, the benchmark grade for more than half the world’s oil, to the lowest close since March 2009 is piling pressure on Gulf states at a time when investors are pulling out of higher-risk assets following China’s devaluation of the yuan and growing expectations that the U.S. will increase interest rates by year-end. The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council is home to about 30 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves.

Given Saudi Arabia’s stature as “a bellwether for the region, we’ll probably see more declines,” following Tadawul’s slump into a bear market, said Tariq Qaqish, who oversees $150 million as the head of asset management at Al Mal Capital PSC in Dubai. “Saudi Arabia is going to have to cut its spending, especially if oil remains at these levels. Otherwise it’s going to impact growth of the Middle East’s biggest economy.”

The MSCI Emerging Market Index closed at the lowest level in six years on Friday as Brent fell to $45.46 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate traded as low as $39.86 per barrel before closing




at $40.45 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. WTI may decline to $32 on a persisting global surplus, Citigroup Inc. said Wednesday.

Bear Markets

The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index, which tracks 200 stocks in the GCC, sank the most since October 2008. Abu Dhabi’s ADX General Index declined 5 percent, taking losses since a peak in July to 13 percent. Muscat’s MSM30 Index lost 2.9 percent, down 12 percent from a high in February.

The bear market in Saudi Arabian equities marks the second in less than a year. Fitch Ratings on Saturday cut the outlook on the nation’s AA debt rating to negative from stable, indicating its next decision may be to lower its assessment.

“The Saudi market is taking a cue from global markets and oil prices, which fell further on Friday,” Muhammad Faisal Potrik, the head of research at Riyad Capital, said from the kingdom’s capital. “Weak economic data from China and the U.S., and Fitch revising Saudi Arabia’s outlook to negative is not helping either. The combination of those matrices will reflect negatively on Saudi stocks initially this week, but we’ll have to see how oil prices perform toward the end of it.”

All but six stocks in Saudi Arabia’s 171-member index fell, with Saudi Basic Industries Corp., one of the world’s largest chemicals manufacturers, leading the slump with a 9.5 percent loss.

Regional Selloff

“There’s indiscriminate selling across the board as regional markets follow the selloff in oil,” Ramez Merhi, a Dubai-based director at Al Masah Capital Ltd., which manages $500 million, said by e-mail. “Regional economies could slow significantly if these prices are sustained.”

Dubai stocks edged closer to a bear market after the index sank 7 percent to close at 3,451.48, bringing its loss since 2015’s peak to 18 percent. Traders exchanged about 340 million shares on the index, 14 percent more than the 12-month average. Dubai-based developer Emaar Properties PJSC led the drop with an 8.3 percent slide to the lowest level since December.

The relative-strength index of Dubai’s benchmark gauge fell to 13, the lowest since December. The indicator posted a reading of less than 30 for the rest of GCC markets, Egypt and Israel, indicating to some analysts that they’re oversold and may be poised to reverse course.

Egypt Slumps

Egypt’s benchmark EGX30 Index retreated 5.4 percent, led by Commercial International Bank Egypt SAE’s 5.2 percent drop. The company accounts for about 35 percent of the gauge.

“The weakness in global markets is hitting us, much like the Gulf,” said Ashraf Akhnoukh, the manager for Middle East and North Africa at Cairo-based CI Capital. “But you have to add to that Egypt’s own set of problems, including repatriation of foreign funds, no parliament and a declining likelihood of getting aid from the Gulf as oil drops.”

The North African country’s central bank has limited access to foreign currency and placed restrictions on outward transfers since the onset of the 2011 Arab Spring in order to cope with a shortage of dollars resulting from the slump in tourism and foreign investment.

The Egyptian pound is one of the world’s most vulnerable currencies to a possible devaluation following Kazakhstan’s decision Thursday to weaken its tenge, according to John-Paul Smith, the ex-Deutsche Bank AG strategist who predicted Russia’s 1998 crisis and this year’s China rout.




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Khaled Malallah Al Awadi, Energy Consultant MS & BS Mechanical Engineering (HON), USA Emarat member since 1990 ASME member since 1995 Hawk Energy member 2010

Mobile: +97150-4822502 [email protected] [email protected]

Khaled Al Awadi is a UAE National with a total of 25 years of experience in the Oil & Gas sector. Currently working as Technical Affairs Specialist for Emirates General Petroleum Corp. “Emarat“ with external voluntary Energy consultation for the GCC area via Hawk Energy Service as a UAE operations base , Most of the experience were spent as the Gas Operations Manager in Emarat , responsible for Emarat Gas Pipeline Network Facility & gas compressor stations . Through the years, he has developed great experiences in the designing & constructing of gas pipelines, gas metering &

regulating stations and in the engineering of supply routes. Many years were spent drafting, & compiling gas transportation, operation & maintenance agreements along with many MOUs for the local authorities. He has become a reference for many of the Oil & Gas Conferences held in the UAE and Energy program broadcasted internationally, via GCC leading satellite Channels.

NewBase : For discussion or further details on the news above you may contact us on +971504822502 , Dubai , UAE

NewBase 24 August 2015 K. Al Awadi




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