Libya’s Financial Black Hole
MEES, 17 August 2018 Libya near-balanced its budget in 1H 2018. But this was ‘thanks’ to chronic state weakness that left spending 21% under budget. Revenues were up with higher oil prices, but non-oil revenue remains abysmal. The UN plans an audit of Libya’s finances in a bid to help tackle corruption. But, if the [...]
South Sudan: China Oil displaces Unipec in Dar Blend marketing
African Energy, 26 July 2018 China Oil has displaced Unipec as the dominant marketer of South Sudan’s Dar Blend crude, lifting cargoes in all but two months of 2018. China Oil has been contracted to lift 9.2m bbls of crude so far this year, almost a third of the country’s 29.6m-bbl production, and 43% of [...]
South Sudan Coffers Empty Amid Crippling Crude ‘Diversions’ To Khartoum
South Sudan has diverted crude worth $1.6bn to Sudan in the past three years to pay off arrears in transit and compensation levies. Despite claims to the contrary there appears to be no end in sight to such transfers. MEES, 11 May 2018 More than four years into a civil war that seems as impervious [...]
Algeria Gas Set For Record 2018 With Start-Up Of Key Southwest Fields
MEES, 2 March 2018 Algeria’s 2017 gas output was only just shy of record levels set the previous year. With the second of two key ‘Southwest Gas Project’ components starting up this week, the country can expect new records in 2018. The 24 February start-up of output at the Timimoun gas field makes it the [...]
Delayed Projects To Shave Cumulative 80bcm From Algeria’s Gas Output By 2020
MEES, 14 July 2017 If the Timimoun and Touat projects had come on stream in early 2014, Ahnet at the beginning of 2015 and Reggane North at the beginning of 2016 – targets that back in 2010 looked conservative – and assuming they maintained plateau rates until the end of June this year, they would [...]
MENA Countries Hike Defense Spending For 2013
MEES, 18 April 2014 MENA military spending has more than doubled since 2004, rising 4% to $150bn for 2013, according to a report released this week by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Saudi Arabia was the world’s fourth biggest spender, and the highest in the region in 2013, spending an estimated $67bn on [...]
