AUSTRALIA AND MENA OIL & GAS


Lamprell operations in the United Arab Emirates.


Australia has had a long, modest but rapidly expanding engagement with the MENA oil and gas sector. n Ensign International (previously ODE), has been a drilling contractor in Oman since 1988 and more recently in Libya.


ABOVE: The Khursaniyah processing towers in Saudi Arabia.


LEFT: A supertanker moves into mooring position at Ras Tanura’s Sea Island terminal. Saudi Aramco’s Terminals on both coasts of the Kingdom load almost 2000 tankers annually – millions of barrels of oil per day – for consumers around the globe.


Libya getting more attractive From production of just 1.3 million bpd in 2003, Libya has succeeded in increasing crude output to a little over 1.8 million bpd currently and hopes to reach a target of three million bpd by 2013. A growing number of major international oil companies, including Woodside Australia, are drawn to Libya as it is considered to be one of the few places left in the world where large field discoveries onshore and offshore are still possible. However, while Libya has begun a wider-ranging, though often slow-moving, reform of its moribund economy, lengthy delays still deter many firms from doing business there.


Iraq hopeful… After decades of dictatorship, war and international sanctions, Iraq’s massive oil reserves look set to be tapped properly. If oil projects awarded to foreign oil companies develop as planned, within eight years Iraq will see its oil production capacity leap to more than 12 million bpd from the current production of 2.4 million bpd. A new oil law is required to replace current oil governance.


Legal cover has been as much of a concern to foreign oil companies as physical security. Iraq needs to upgrade refineries, build more storage units


and create a larger capacity transport infrastructure. In expectation of an improved operating environment, four of the world’s top oilfield contractors are building or expanding their bases in Iraq.


Domestic demand for gas increasing GCC demand for gas is growing faster than the region’s demand for oil as industrial development and electricity


n BHP Billiton has oil and gas interests in Algeria.


n WorleyParsons has some 2200 staff in oil and gas engineering, mining and infrastructure working on projects in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain.


generation expand. However, in the short term, world markets are seeing a glut as US imports have dropped because its gas from shale production has expanded and Qatar’s huge expansion of LNG has created over supply. Current gas production in Saudi Arabia is used domestically


n Woodside is a partner in major producing gas and condensate fields in Algeria and has exploration activities in Libya.


n Oil Search has exploration activities in Iraq, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen.


n Transfield Services has maintenance contracts in the UAE and Qatar.


and is insufficient for future economic growth. It ranks fourth in the world in terms of volume of natural gas reserves and through intensive exploration aims to raise reserves by 40 per cent by the end of 2018. Dubai’s demand for gas is rising by 15 per cent a year, but


in spite of possessing significant gas reserves, the UAE does not supply enough gas domestically to power its electricity and desalination plant requirements. The UAE’s main oil producer, Abu Dhabi, also uses almost 2 billion cubic feet per day (cf/d) of its gas to re-inject into oilfields to maintain reservoir pressures. Abu Dhabi-based Dolphin Energy is supplying gas from


Qatar through a sub-sea pipeline to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, as well as an independent water and power project in Fujairah. Oman also hopes to receive gas from Dolphin this year. Kuwait has plans to produce more than 500 million cf/d


of gas following the discovery of 34 trillion cubic feet of non- associated gas in 2006. Bahrain, which needs to double its gas supply in the next


10 years, is at the forefront of those in the Gulf calling for a regional gas network, as power and feedstock requirements for a growing industrial base increase dramatically. p


AUSTRALIA AND THE ARAB COUNTRIES | 2010 87


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