Latest news with #OilPrice
Shafaq News
26-06-2025
- Business
- Shafaq News
Iraq eyes first LNG imports from US
Shafaq News – Baghdad Iraq is moving closer to launching its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal as it advances negotiations with US-based Excelerate Energy, a senior Iraqi official confirmed on Thursday. According to OilPrice, the state-run South Gas Company is overseeing the project, which centers on establishing a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) at the Khor Al-Zubair port in Basra, southern Iraq. The proposed facility would enable the country to receive, store, and convert LNG into natural gas for use in its power sector. Excelerate Energy, which develops and operates floating LNG terminals and infrastructure, is one of the top bidders for the project, and discussions are reportedly in an advanced phase.
Telegraph
13-06-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Britain will regret abandoning the North Sea now Israel has attacked Iran
Dozens of air strikes have been launched against nuclear sites in Iran. Retaliation has already begun against Israel. And the oil price has spiked sharply upwards as the Middle East once again edges closer to the brink of a major conflict. We will see how the crisis unfolds over the next few days and whether it is resolved or escalates into a full-scale conflict. One point is surely clear, however. With the energy market in chaos, the short-sighted folly of Britain running down its own energy resources in the North Sea will be painfully exposed – and the fragility of our public finances will be clearer than ever. No one yet knows what will happen in the Middle East. Israel has already launched attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, designed to stop its major regional adversary from developing its own nuclear weapons. Iran has responded with drone strikes against Israel. The situation remains tense. As we might expect, the oil price has already spiked upwards. Brent crude initially rose by 12pc and was settling 6pc higher on Friday, while West Texas Intermediate, the American benchmark, was up by 6pc in early trading. Sure, oil was cheap by historical standards, but those are still major increases. We are a long way from the $120 a barrel seen at the start of the Ukraine war, but if the conflict escalates we may very quickly get back to those kinds of prices. Against that backdrop, you might think the UK would be grateful that we had plenty of domestically produced oil and gas to fall back on. After all, the Middle East sea lanes may soon be disrupted, cutting off crucial trade routes that keep the UK supplied with oil, petrol and electricity. Yet as Simon French, the Panmure Liberum economist, pointed out on X: 'If Iran retaliates by disrupting the Strait of Hormuz it will bring into sharp relief for the UK the folly of not maximising its domestic gas supply from the North Sea.' That is surely true. The UK has been rapidly running down what are still abundant energy resources in the North Sea in a pig-headed pursuit of global leadership on climate change. According to the industry association Offshore Energies UK, output from the North Sea has averaged a 9pc annual decline since 2020. We all know the reasons for that. The Government has failed to licence new fields and, even where they have been approved, the courts have sided with climate change activists in using existing legislation – which could easily be amended if Parliament wished to do so – to block even those developments that have been approved. Meanwhile, windfall taxes have been pushed up to record levels and threaten to go even higher, making investment very unattractive even if the Government does permit it. Put those two factors together and it is hardly surprising that output from what was once one of the UK's major industries is in steep decline. It was of course always, to put it politely, a little unclear why it was better for the environment to burn Qatari or American instead of British gas. It costs jobs, tax revenues and it makes the trade deficit even worse than it already is. Still, all those points aside, it is the threat to the security of supply that is really critical. If the shipping lanes in the Middle East get closed down, as they well might over the next few days, supplies will dry up and the UK, which relies on imports for more than 40pc of its energy consumption, will be left very exposed. In a crisis, it would be good to have your own energy. But even though there is still plenty of gas underneath the sea bed, we have thrown away the capacity to extract it. It gets worse. The UK is also in a perilous position financially. With Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, confirming yet more huge rises in spending only this week, the deficit is soaring out of control. The economy has stagnated and taxes have already been pushed up to levels where little more can be squeezed out of an economy where entrepreneurs are already feeling stung and where companies are shifting bases abroad. The deficit is already forecast at more than 5pc of GDP for this year, and the state is already set to consume 44pc of output, and that is if everything goes to plan. And yet if oil prices spike upwards, the Government will have to find more money to pay for its own energy bills, and will be pressured into funding a bail-out for businesses and households, just as it did after the Ukraine crisis. It might be largely forgotten now, amid the chorus of complaints from Labour ministers about how Liz Truss crashed the economy, but it was actually the spike upwards in energy prices and the subsidies demanded in response that triggered the sterling and gilt market crisis in 2022 far more than the modest tax changes in the mini-Budget of that year. If oil goes above $100 a barrel and drags the price of gas up with it, we will be right back in the same position, except that the UK's finances are now in significantly worse shape than they were three years ago. The blunt reality is this. It was always criminally reckless to run down the UK's domestic reserves of oil and gas, at least until we had wind, solar and nuclear power that was cheap, plentiful and reliable. It destroyed jobs, eroded the tax base and, most critically of all, left the UK exposed to the volatility of the international energy markets instead of allowing us to rely on our own domestic resources. We all hope the latest crisis in the Middle East is quickly resolved and peace restored. But if it isn't, the huge strategic error the UK has made by running down the North Sea will be painfully exposed – and we will all pay a very high price for the idiocy of a policy establishment that allowed it to happen.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What Are Iran And Russia Really Up To In The Caspian Sea?
Iran is making 'good progress' on its first concerted oil drilling operation in the Caspian Sea in 30 years, a senior energy source who works closely with the Islamic Republic's Petroleum Ministry exclusively told over the weekend. 'The signs are promising in the block ['18' in the Roudsar formation from 70-metre waters around 15 kilometres from the northern Iranian coastline] and if it continues to be so then there is great potential there,' he said. 'Official estimates are that this small area could have around 600 million barrels of oil and around two trillion cubic feet of gas in it,' he added. This is not surprising, as across the wider Caspian basins area, including both onshore and offshore fields, there are a conservatively estimated 48 billion barrels of oil and 292 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas in proved and probable reserves. Around 41% of total Caspian crude oil and lease condensate and 36% of natural gas exists in the offshore fields, with an additional 35% of oil and 45% of gas estimated to lie onshore within 100 miles of the coast, particularly in Russia's North Caucasus region. The remaining 12 billion barrels of oil and 56 Tcf of natural gas are believed to be variously located further onshore in the large Caspian Sea basins, mostly in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. The area accounts for an average of 17% of the total oil production of the five littoral states that share its resources, on average totalling 2.5-2.9 million barrels per day (mbpd). Given these numbers, two natural questions emerge: why has Iran not resumed drilling activity here earlier, and why is it doing so now?On the first point, several factors have conspired to keep Iran from focusing on drilling in the Caspian Sea, despite its vast potential resources, but one in particular has prevented it from doing so in recent years. Of the broader reasons, a great degree of the engineering, technology, know-how, and money required for Iran to develop its Caspian reserves, much of which are located in challenging geological areas, has been denied it through the various sanctions regimes in place since its 1979 Islamic Revolution. Given this, Iran has focused instead on its multitude of oil sites offering easy development opportunities, with the lifting cost in many of these equalling the lowest rate in the world – around $1-3 per barrel – along with some sites in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. This is one part of the explanation as to why Iran dug the last shallow-water well in its Caspian Sea region in 1997 and stopped developing the deep-water wells in 2014. The other – special – reason why it has done nothing to restart these operations more recently dates back to the 2018 signing of the stunningly dull-sounding 'Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea', which in reality surely figures as one of the biggest – but least well known -- swindles in recent years in the global oil industry, as analysed in full in my latest book on the new global oil market order. The officially published papers on the agreement refrain from going to details about share allocations in the Caspian Sea resource and talk only vaguely about giving the area 'a special legal status'. However, the Iran source exclusively told at that time in 2018 that there was a second part to the deal, never officially released, that has proven explosive for the perennially-fractious relations between the Caspian states -- in particular Iran's with every other partner -- and its genesis lies in what happened when the USSR collapsed and fractured into its constituent independent states. Prior to this, Iran and the USSR had struck the original agreement in 1921 to split all 'fishing rights' in the Caspian area 50-50. This was amended in 1924 to include 'any and all resources recovered', meaning in practical terms that all hydrocarbons resources would be shared equally between Russia and Iran. However, following the dissolution of the USSR, three new independent countries adjoining the Caspian Sea were created – Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan - to add to the original partnership of Russia and Iran. 'Iran should have said back then that Russia should have shared its Caspian stake with the three former USSR states, but it [Iran] was content to wait for the official legal dispute to be settled,' underlined the Iran source. Iran's trust in Russia's fair play was of course misplaced, and by changing the legal definition of the Caspian from a 'lake' – its original designation in the original agreement – to a 'sea' (because Russia had opened up the channel from the Volga River into the Caspian to prevent the levels dropping), the original even share distribution of oil and gas profits for the region no longer held good. Instead, Russia was effectively able to divide up the shares as it saw fit, and the way it saw fit was to benefit its existing ally, Kazakhstan (which was assigned a 28.9% share), and its wished-for ally, Azerbaijan (which secured a 21% stake), while Russia saw a slight increase (to 21%), Turkmenistan's share went down (to 17.225%), and Iran's share plummeted to just 11.875%. This switch from 50% to just over 11% meant that based on hydrocarbons values at that time Iran was set to lose at least US$3.2 trillion in revenues from the disputed and lost value of energy products going forward. Unsurprisingly, then, Iran's appetite to start drilling again in its Caspian region was further diminished. So what has changed now? The answer in part is financial necessity – not just on Iran's part given the parlous state of its economy, but also on Russia's for the same reason. The Islamic Republic's development efforts will provide it with 11.875% of the value of the oil and gas drilled but it will give Russia 21%. The other part of the answer is that even Iran's relatively paltry share is increasingly required to service the terms of the ongoing multi-layered oil-for-arms swaps taking place between it and Russia. These swaps are of an altogether greater complexity than those between Iran and North Korea, for example, which were characterised by the latter sending personnel, information, and technology (much of which first came from China) relating to its nuclear weapons programme to Iran in return for oil being sent back to it. The swaps between Russia and Iran, according to the Iran source, involve oil-only (designed to reduce transport and distribution costs on both sides), weapon-only (Iranian drone and ballistic missiles in exchange for Russian assistance on nuclear weapons development), and a combination of oil for weapons in each direction. All of this was agreed as part of the 20-year comprehensive cooperation deal between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Russia, agreed by Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, on 18 January 2024, as exclusively revealed at the time by In several key respects, this new deal – 'The Treaty on the Basis of Mutual Relations and Principles of Cooperation between Iran and Russia' – mirrored key elements of the all-encompassing 'Iran-China 25-Year Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement', as first revealed anywhere in the world in my 3 September 2019 article on the subject and analysed in full in my latest book on the new global oil market order. It is no secret now that Iran has been supplying Russia with munitions, artillery shells, drones and ballistic missiles since the onset of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Iran has also long been promised Suhkoi-35 fighter jets, Mig-28 attack helicopters, and the S-400 missile defence system, although several of these assurances remain unfulfilled by Russia. However, according to a senior figure in the European Union's energy security complex spoken to exclusively by in the past two weeks: 'Verified reports show that Iran is becoming ever more active in the Russia-Belarus campaign of eroding NATO's eastern flank defences particularly along the vulnerable northern and southern border defences that are most vulnerable.' He added: 'In the last delivery of mid- and long-range missiles from Tehran to Moscow, for the first time the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps] included as they had promised in February in a meeting a visit to Moscow, Etemad [a late generation ballistic missile], and Fath 360 [a multi-lunch ballistic missile launching system], with most of the latter to be positioned by Moscow near the Belarus border with Poland.' Consequently, Russia for its part has increased the assistance it is giving to Iran on its nuclear programme, for which it is charging Iran much more than for any such assistance previously given, so Iran now needs more money, which means developing its Caspian resources too. By Simon Watkins for More Top Reads From this article on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
African Manager
03-04-2025
- Business
- African Manager
Rise of intercontinental energy networks, Tunisian-European ELMED at forefront
Many countries worldwide already have interconnected energy infrastructure, leveraging their respective natural resources to enhance power capacity. At the same time, numerous nations are pursuing an ecological transition by heavily investing in renewable energy development. However, some regions have far greater renewable energy potential than others, highlighting the need for new energy-sharing networks. There is enormous potential for cross-border and intercontinental energy sharing, which could accelerate the global green transition. Yet, developing interconnected energy transmission grids remains complex due to varying regulatory standards and other challenges. Despite this, some regions are already advancing new networks to strengthen energy security in the coming decades. Europe and Africa: A strategic energy partnership Europe and Africa are beginning to forge energy links to expand access to clean power in regions where climatic conditions are less favorable for renewable generation. Much of North Africa enjoys abundant year-round sunshine, making it ideal for large-scale solar farms. In contrast, Central and Northern Europe are less suited for such projects, prompting some European countries to explore ways of importing clean energy via undersea cables—a key focus in a recent Oil Price analysis. Notable projects under development include: – GREGY Initiative (Greece-Egypt): In the works since 2008, Greek firm Copelouzos has allocated €4.2 billion to build a bidirectional submarine cable capable of transferring 3 GW of electricity annually. – ELMED-TUNITA (Tunisia-Italy): Italian grid operator Terna and Tunisia's state-owned STEG plan a 220-km undersea link across the Strait of Sicily, with a 600 MW capacity at depths of up to 800 meters. Large-Scale solar and wind projects Nivedh Das Thaikoottathil, Senior Renewable Energy Analyst at Rystad Energy, notes: 'North Africa's renewable potential aligns well with Europe's goal to reduce reliance on Russian natural gas. The region's geographic proximity makes it a prime location for buyer-seller partnerships, driving large-scale solar and wind projects—and submarine cables spanning the Mediterranean, even reaching the UK.' The UK is advancing the Morocco-UK Power Project, spearheaded by Xlinks, which aims to supply millions of British homes with North African renewable energy via a 4,000-km submarine cable. Xlinks plans to build a 1,500-square-mile solar, wind, and battery complex in Morocco's Tan-Tan province—where solar intensity is twice that of the UK—with operations expected in the 2030s. Morocco is already connected to Europe via two 700 MW high-voltage cables to Spain. The Future of cross-border energy sharing Several countries have begun discussions on cross-border or transcontinental energy links to facilitate clean power sharing. While some short-distance projects are already operational, more ambitious long-distance ventures—with greater technical complexity—may take years to materialize. Nevertheless, energy sharing will be critical for a global green transition, as some nations boast abundant renewable resources while others require significant investment to scale up green energy capacity.
See - Sada Elbalad
23-03-2025
- Business
- See - Sada Elbalad
Germany Launches Europe's Largest Green Hydrogen Facility
Israa Farhan Germany is constructing Europe's largest green hydrogen facility, aiming to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide a sustainable chemical feedstock. According to Oil Price, the project has the potential to cut emissions by up to 72,000 metric tons annually. However, the green hydrogen sector continues to face challenges, including high production costs, insufficient offtake agreements, and the need for stronger policy support. While green hydrogen is widely considered a key element in the transition to clean energy, debates persist over whether it is the most efficient use of renewable resources. Germany's latest initiative reinforces its commitment to sustainable energy solutions and its ambition to lead Europe's hydrogen economy. read more Gold prices rise, 21 Karat at EGP 3685 NATO's Role in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict US Expresses 'Strong Opposition' to New Turkish Military Operation in Syria Shoukry Meets Director-General of FAO Lavrov: confrontation bet. nuclear powers must be avoided News Iran Summons French Ambassador over Foreign Minister Remarks News Aboul Gheit Condemns Israeli Escalation in West Bank News Greek PM: Athens Plays Key Role in Improving Energy Security in Region News One Person Injured in Explosion at Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid News Egypt confirms denial of airspace access to US B-52 bombers News Ayat Khaddoura's Final Video Captures Bombardment of Beit Lahia News Australia Fines Telegram $600,000 Over Terrorism, Child Abuse Content Lifestyle Pistachio and Raspberry Cheesecake Domes Recipe Videos & Features Bouchra Dahlab Crowned Miss Arab World 2025 .. Reem Ganzoury Wins Miss Arab Africa Title (VIDEO) News Ireland Replaces Former Israeli Embassy with Palestinian Museum News Israeli PM Diagnosed with Stage 3 Prostate Cancer Lifestyle Maguy Farah Reveals 2025 Expectations for Pisces News Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly Inaugurates Two Indian Companies Arts & Culture New Archaeological Discovery from 26th Dynasty Uncovered in Karnak Temple
