New base energy news 13 april 2020 issue no. 1330a senior editor eng. khaled al awadi

Copyright © 2020 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 Energy News 13 April 2020 - Issue No. 1330 Senior Editor Eng. Khaled Al Awadi
NewBase For discussion or further details on the news below you may contact us on +971504822502, Dubai, UAE
UAE: Emicool starts testing of new Command Control Centre
Trade Arabia + NewBase
Emirates District Cooling (Emicool) said it has begun testing its command control centre, which will
provide operations and performance data from all its district cooling plants.
A leading district cooling service provider in the region and a subsidiary of Dubai Investments,
Emicool has also started testing its unmanned machinery space (UMS) - associated with artificial
intelligence (AI) Smart Systems, which has come in handy amid the outbreak of Covid-19.
This initiative is part of Emicool’s plans to apply digital transformation to its operations and the
advanced technology is designed to play a role in creating a sustainable economy in the UAE.
On the new CCC, Emicool said it will draw data from points across the company - ranging from
upstream to the downstream distribution network - visualising it on a state-of-the-art video wall and
providing a single access point to its plants and network performance.
Moreover, the centre will grant decision-makers, operations performance indicators and track them
against agreed production and strategic targets, it stated.
www.linkedin.com/in/khaled-al-awadi-38b995b

CEO Dr Adib Moubadder said: "The testing phase of the CCC represents a proud moment for
Emicool as it cements our position as a company that is steadily progressing towards digital
transformation by using advanced technology to support its operations and enhance its
performance."
"The centre will help Emicool become
more agile, efficient, and responsive by
unlocking production capacity,
maximising downstream value, and
adapting to shifting market dynamics,
while reliably meeting changing
customer needs," explained
Moubadder.
"With 18 district cooling plants across
Dubai and a total operating capacity of
355,000 TR, Emicool will start testing
other plants soon, making it one of the
first district cooling companies in the
region to do so," he added.-

Oman: Tethys oil firm set to drill well in Oman Block 49
Oman Observer - Conrad Prabhu
Having just announced modest cutbacks in its planned investments in its Oman operations during
2020 in response to the sharp drop in international oil prices, Swedish energy firm Tethys Oil says
it is pressing ahead nonetheless with its ambitions to drill its first exploration well in its wholly-owned
Block 49 located in the southwest of the Sultanate.
The Stockholm-based company, which is presently the largest player in Oman’s upstream Oil &
Gas sector by acreage, is preparing to accelerate efforts to unlock the hydrocarbon potential of the
15,439 sq km license.
“After two years of seismic work, including
reprocessing of older seismic data, and
processing
and interpretation of seismic data from a new
campaign, Tethys Oil is ready to spud an
exploration well in 2020,” said the company in its
newly released Annual Report for 2019.
For Tethys Oil, which acquired the concession in
2017 as a 100 per cent operator-owned license,
Block 49 represents an opportunity to showcase
its capabilities as an independent upstream
player with the resources and wherewithal to go
it alone in Oil & Gas exploration and
development.
The company’s presence in Oman’s
hydrocarbon sector goes back nearly a decade.
It holds a 30 per cent non-operated interest in
Blocks 3&4, where CC Energy Development
SAL (Oman branch) is the operator. More
recently, it acquired a 20 per cent interest in the
Exploration and
Production licence covering Block 56 onshore
Oman, operated by a subsidiary to Medco Energi.
Block 49, as Tethys Oil first wholly operated license in the Sultanate, also holds special significance
for Oman’s Oil & Gas industry because it is home to Dauka-1, the first well ever drilled in Oman in
1955. Eight other wells were drilled by subsequent operators within the block, some of which
encountered oil shows.
In the two years since it acquired the Block, Tethys Oil reprocessed 2D seismic data acquired by
previous operators, as well as launched its own 2D and 3D seismic campaigns. It has since zeroed
in on an area called Thameen.
“After processing and completion of the first phase of the seismic interpretation in second half of
2019, a drillable prospect was identified in the north eastern part of the Block. The prospect, known
as Thameen (“Precious”) has been further delineated and the drilling of a well is being planned to a
depth of close to 4,000 metres to evaluate three potential reservoir targets,” the company said,
noting that it is actively looking for a suitable rig in this regard.

Oman: PDO’s transition to Energy Development Oman gets nod
Oman Observer + NewBase
Social media was abuzz with news the last days of an impending announcement by Petroleum
Development Oman (PDO) – the biggest player in the Sultanate’s hydrocarbon sector by far – of its
keenly awaited transition into a broad-based energy development holding company with an
enlarged mandate to cover investments in, among other areas, renewable and alternative energy
resources.
Energy Development Oman (PDO), the concept behind which was first unveiled by Managing
Director Raoul Restucci (pictured) nearly three years ago, centres on a vision to reposition PDO
from an essentially fossil fuels-based producer to a “fully fledged energy company”.
The strategy envisions PDO’s diversification into, among other areas, solar and alternative energy
development, energy management, low-carbon technologies, oil and gas consultancy services, and
water management. The Omani government is a 60 per cent shareholder in PDO, which accounts
for a predominant share of the country’s oil and gas output
In an online address to company employees last week, Restucci outlined, among other things, the
company’s strategy to weather the crisis unleashed by the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the
collapse in international oil prices. A notable part of the strategy, he said, is the establishment of
Energy Development Oman designed to diversify the company’s activities and thereby reduce its
vulnerability to upheavals of the kind that the global Oil & Gas industry is currently undergoing.
Plans for the creation of EDO now have the “full endorsement” of the Omani government, said the
Managing Director. “What that means is twofold: One, EDO will be a holding company of PDO and
a number of investments.
For PDO, it will enable us to corporatise the entity and thus enable us to secure the funding and
resources which the government at the moment is securing for us at very high cost. We will be able
to deconsolidate that debt and secure it at substantially more attractive terms; Second, EDO is also
about to transition as well. We have a number of businesses, a number of investments that are very
keen to partner with us.”

In a statement to the Observer, PDO noted: “We are progressing plans aimed at corporatising PDO
and developing renewable energy opportunities in close coordination with the Government and
enabled by the establishment of Energy Development Oman (EDO).“
In recent years, PDO has embarked on a number of initiatives that champion energy efficiency in
oilfield operations, use of renewables and low-carbon emission technologies, and environmental
sustainability.
PDO is a global pioneer in the use of solar energy to generate steam necessary for its Enhanced
Oil Recovery (EOR) operations. To this end, PDO is collaborating with GlassPoint Solar in the
implementation of a 1-gigawatt Miraah project that harnesses solar energy to produce heavy oil
from the Amal oilfield instead of natural gas for steam generation.
Last year, the company brought into operation its maiden utility-scale solar PV project — a 100-MW
installation at Amin in the southern part of its concession — under a long-term Power Purchase
Agreement (PPA) reached with investors in the Independent Power Project (IPP).
Furthermore, PDO is exploring avenues for investment in solar and wind resources for power
generation and water desalination, power to ‘X’, solar to hydrogen, and other opportunities. The
company has also expressed an interest in bidding for large-scale solar power schemes procured
by state-run Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP).

Egypt considers implementing 6.3GW renewable energy projects
© 2020 Daily News Egypt. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
The New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) is studying requests to build power plants at a
total capacity of 6.34GW, of which 2.75GW projects are by the private sector.
NREA Head Mohamed Al-Khayat told Daily News Egypt that the potential projects include
photovoltaic power plants with a capacity of 170MW and wind farms of 250MW by the public sector
on one hand, and other 1,950MW wind farms and 800MW photovoltaic power plants by the private
sector.
Al-Khayyat said Egypt’s total electricity production capacity amounted to 20.782bn KWh in 2019,
including 14.597bn KWh from hydroelectricity plants, 3.270bn KWh from wind farms, and roughly
2.403bn KWh from solar parks. In addition, traditional thermal power plants produced 4.7m KWh.
The country’s total fuel savings reached about 4.3m tonnes of oil equivalent.
He added that the state aims to up the contributions of renewable energy to the electricity generation
mix to about 20% by 2022, with the possibility of doubling it by 2035. This would be undertaken by
adopting a package of flexible policies and models to encourage private investments, such as build–
own–operate (BOO).
Al-Khayat said that the feed-in tariff
strategy resulted in the implementation of
the solar energy complex in Benban,
Aswan, at a capacity of 1,465MW.
Aside from the NREA’s government wind
farms in Zafarana and Gabal El Zeit that
produce over 1,100MW, private sector
projects come with almost double the
annual growth rates. Future projections
expect a faster implementation of
renewable energy projects depending on
their competitiveness.
Al-Khayat noted that using solar energy to
operate irrigation wells in the 1.5m feddan
project is a must, not a luxury. The use of
solar energy for these wells reduces the
pressure on the electricity grid, whilst
exploiting renewable energy available.
It also ensures that no wells operate
except during periods of sunshine,
allowing maximum utilisation of the
underground reservoir and its
preservation for a long period.
He stressed that Egypt is ready for continued cooperation and to exchange experience and
knowledge in the electricity and renewable energy fields in Africa. This comes especially as NREA
is currently implementing renewable energy projects in about 15 countries across the continent,
through Egyptian grants and joint cooperation agreements.

US drives North America’s refining industry
https://www.oilandgasproductnews.com/
The US is expected to lead the refining industry in North America, pushing the total crude oil refining
capacity in the region from 24.6 million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2019 to approximately 25.8 mbpd
by 2024, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
The company’s report,‘Global Refining Industry Outlook to 2024 – Capacity and Capital Expenditure
Outlook with Details of All Operating and Planned Refineries’, reveals that the US’s refining capacity
additions will come from active and upcoming projects between 2020 and 2024, accounting for 57
per cent of the total capacity growth in the region.
In North America, 416.5 thousand barrel per day (mbd) capacity additions are likely from expansions
of active refinery projects, while the remaining 833 mbd is from new-build planned and announced
projects.
Adithya Rekha, Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “In North America, the US leads
refinery capacity growth by 2024, with almost similar contributions from the expansions of active
refinery projects and new-build projects with 376.5mbd and 340.5 mbd, respectively. The Beaumont
refinery expansion is expected to account for majority of the capacity additions in the country with
250 mbd.”
GlobalData expects Mexico to be the second largest country in terms of crude oil refining capacity
additions in North America. Two new-build refineries – Dos Bocas refinery and Soto la Marina – are
expected to account for entire capacity additions in the country, with 340mbd and 60mbd
respectively. Both the refineries are likely to start operations in 2022.
Rekha adds: “Canada accounts for the rest of the refinery capacity additions in North America with
about 132.5 mbd by 2024. Most of the capacity additions are though new-build projects with 92.5
mbd, while expansions of the active refineries account for the rest with 40 mbd”.

U.S: Gasoline prices are at multi-year lows, but no one is driving
CNBC’s Patti Domm, Michael Bloom and Nate Rattner contributed reporting.
KEY POINTS
 The national average for a gallon of gas — $1.883, according to the latest data from AAA —
is the cheapest in more than four years.
 But with at least 42 states under stay-at-home orders, Americans can’t take advantage of
cheaper fuel.
 “The outbreak is causing a meaningful shift in the consumer basket and lower oil prices are
unlikely to be the jet fuel for consumption that they would be in a more normal environment,”
Bank of America said in a recent note to clients.
A detailed view of a Shell gas station sign showing the low price of $1.69 per gallon, the result of the coronavirus (COVID-
19) outbreak on March 31, 2020 in Jacksonville, Fl.
With gas prices this low, Tracie Brocket would usually hit the open roads on the weekend
around her home in Sweet Grass County, Montana. But she’s one of many Americans
who can’t take advantage now of cheaper fuel, as the majority of the country stays home
in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The national average for a gallon of gas — $1.883 as of Friday, according to the latest
data from AAA — is the cheapest in more than four years. The coronavirus outbreak has
sapped demand for both crude oil and gasoline, just as a price war between Saudi Arabia
kicked off as each sought to gain market share in the global oil market. This has
translated into dramatically cheaper prices at the pump. In the last month the national
average per gallon has dropped 48 cents, and current prices are 32% below what

consumers paid a year ago. With only guesswork as to when stay-at-home ordinances
might be lifted, gas prices could have even further to fall.
“We are seeing major destruction to gasoline demand which could push the national
average below $1.70 or cheaper this month,” AAA spokesperson Jeanette Casselano
told CNBC.
And some believe it won’t stop there. Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis
at GasBuddy.com, sees the national average dropping below 2016′s low of $1.66. Prices
could get all the way down to $1.49, he said, depending on “how quickly the situation
[coronavirus] improves — if it does at all.”
Brocket, a receptionist at All Creatures Veterinary Service in Big Timber, said she still
drives between 25 miles and 35 miles per day to and from work, but finds it frustrating
that she can’t benefit from gas that’s “a lot cheaper than usual” for activities outside of
her job. The same holds true for millions in the current national lockdown.
Gasoline demand in “free fall”
Demand for gas is at its lowest level since 1968, according to Tom Kloza, head of global
energy analysis at Oil Price Information Services.
Data from the Energy Information Administration shows that for the week ending April 3,
gas usage fell 48% year-over-year, to 5.065 million barrels per day.
DeHaan said that the speed of the decline, which has essentially sent demand into “free
fall” is “truly remarkable.”

“We’ve seen prices plummet consistent with something that we have almost never
seen...By all metrics we really are in some unprecedented times for retail gasoline and
certainly oil prices as well,” he added.
With at least 42 states under stay-at-home orders, Gigi McKelvey, who lives in
Greenville, South Carolina, is just one of millions of Americans to drastically cut down on
driving.
During normal times, McKelvey typically drives around 300 miles per week. “Now, I
mean, I’ve literally driven four miles in three weeks,” she said.
A small business owner with three kids aged 14, 13 and 8, she said she’s seen a “huge
decrease” in gas prices. She recently filled her tank for $20. Usually, it costs between
$38 and $40.
Not the same boon to the economy
President Donald Trump has cheered low gas prices, tweeting in March: “Good for the
consumer, gasoline prices coming down!”
Cheaper fuel typically acts as a boon to the economy, since consumers have extra
money in their pockets. But this time around, the areas where Americans would spend
— dining out or going to the movies, for example, and driving to either —are not options.

“The outbreak is causing a meaningful shift in the consumer basket and lower oil prices
are unlikely to be the jet fuel for consumption that they would be in a more normal
environment,” Bank of America said in a recent note to clients.
Chris Gales, a musician in Memphis who also drives for Uber Eats, said that the
coronavirus has all but shut down the usually bustling city. “On a Friday or Saturday night
where Beale Street [in downtown Memphis] will be jumping and booming, I mean it’s
almost tumbleweeds rolling down the road,” he said.
Gales said he wished gas prices were perpetually this low. “It cuts into the bottom line of
any industry. Music industry, us musicians trying to get to our shows, the Uber Eats
industry trying to deliver food, and of course you know the bigger businesses.”
With extra disposable income Gales would typically pay down debt as well as save up
for travelling. McKelvey said added income typically goes to extracurricular activities for
her children.
Good for truckers
There is, however, one group that’s very much still hitting the road: truck drivers.
Consumers are buying staples and packaged goods in record numbers, and the
transportation industry is responding.
“Diesel consumption showed a surge in the month of March, as manufacturers rushed
to get essential products to market,” Jenny Vander Zanden, chief operating officer
at energy and supply chain management company Breakthrough, told CNBC in an email.
According to data from Breakthrough, which tracks roughly 60,000 freight movements
daily, at the end of March transportation networks operated as much as 18% above the
same period in 2019.
“Lower prices and increased freight volumes have allowed many manufacturers and
retailers to capitalize on this low fuel price environment,” Vander Zanden added.

NewBase April 13-2020 Khaled Al Awadi
NewBase For discussion or further details on the news below you may contact us on +971504822502 , Dubai , UAE
Oil climbs more than 4% as OPEC+ agree record output cut
Reuters + NewBase
Oil prices jumped more than $1 a barrel on Monday after major producers finally agreed their
biggest-ever output cut, but gains were capped amid concern that it won’t be enough to head off
oversupply with the coronavirus pandemic hammering demand.
After four days of wrangling, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia
and other producers, a group known as OPEC+, agreed on Sunday to cut output by 9.7 million
barrels per day (bpd) in May and June to support oil prices, representing around 10% of global
supply.
Brent crude LCOc1 futures rose $1.29, or 4.1%, to $32.77 a barrel by 0519 GMT after opening at a
session high of $33.99. Later at 8.25 GMT prices setilled at 31.82 a barrel .
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures were up $1.01, or 4.4%, to $23.77 a barrel,
after hitting a high of $24.74.
“What this deal does is enable the global oil industry and the national economies and other
industries that depend upon it to avoid a very deep crisis,” said IHS Markit Vice Chairman Daniel
Yergin.
“This restrains the build-up of inventories, which will reduce the pressure on prices when normality
returns – whenever that is.”
Leaders of the world’s top three oil producers, Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President
Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, all supported the OPEC+ deal to cut global crude
output, the Kremlin said on Sunday.
Trump praised the deal, saying it would save jobs in the U.S. energy industry.
Oil price special
coverage

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates volunteered to make cuts even deeper than
those agreed, which would effectively bring the OPEC+ supply down by 12.5 million bpd from
current supply levels, the Saudi energy minister said.
Still, demand concerns capped oil price gains. Worldwide fuel consumption is down roughly 30%,
due to the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus that has killed more than 100,000
people worldwide and kept businesses and governments on lockdown.
“After an initial positive reaction in oil prices, we expect the OPEC+ decision at best to establish a
floor under the market,” BNP Paribas’ Harry Tchilinguirian said in a note, adding that oil price gains
could also be capped by hedges from producers.
“We do not expect a sustained recovery in the oil price until pent-up demand is released in Q3,” he
said.
The deal had been delayed since Thursday after Mexico balked at the production cuts it was asked
to make. The OPEC+ group met on Sunday to hammer out the agreement, resulting in an output
cut four times deeper than the previous record reduction in 2008.
OPEC+ has also said it wanted producers outside the group, such as the United States, Canada,
Brazil and Norway, to cut a further 5% or 5 million bpd.
Canada and Norway signalled a willingness to cut. The United States, where antitrust legislation
makes it hard to act in tandem with groups such as OPEC, has said its output would already fall by
as much as 2 million bpd this year without planned cuts because of low prices.
“We’re going to see a significant drop in production anyway from producers who can’t make
money producing,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures group.
However, optimism over the longer term impact of the OPEC+ cuts have lifted prices for future
months, widening Brent’s contango, the market structure when later dated prices are higher than
prompt supplies. LCOc1-LCOc7
“By 3Q, these cuts should make a difference and result in induced inventory draws for most of the
rest of 2020,” Citi analysts said, prompting the bank to raise its Brent price forecasts for third and
fourth quarter to $35 and $45 a barrel, respectively.
Morgan Stanley has also raised its forecasts by $5 for the second half of the year to $30 to $35 a
barrel.

The world’s top oil producers pulled off a historic deal to cut global petroleum output by
nearly a 10th, putting an end to the devastating price war that brought the energy industry
to its knees.
After a week-long marathon of bilateral calls and video conferences of ministers from the
OPEC+ alliance and the Group of 20 nations, an agreement finally emerged to tackle the
impact of the pandemic on oil demand.
Prices rose about 1% to around $32 a barrel in London after swinging wildly in the first few
minutes of trading following the deal. The focus now shifts to whether the cut will be enough
to dent the massive glut that keeps growing as the virus shuts down the global economy.
The talks had almost fallen apart late last week -- amid resistance from Mexico -- but came
back from the brink after a weekend of urgent diplomacy. President Donald Trump
intervened, helping broker the final compromise.
“Unprecedented measures for unprecedented times,”said Ed Morse, a veteran oil watcher
who is head of commodities research at Citigroup Inc. “Unprecedented in historical
discussions of production cuts, the U.S. played a critical role in brokering between Saudi
Arabia and Russia for the new OPEC+ accord.”
OPEC+ will cut 9.7 million barrels a day -- just below the initial proposal of 10 million.

OPEC and allies finalize record oil production cut after days of
discussion….. CNBC – Pippa Stevens
KEY POINTS
 OPEC and its oil producing allies on Sunday finalized a historic agreement to cut production
by 9.7 million barrels per day, which is the single largest output cut in history.
 The group, known as OPEC+, initially proposed cutting production by 10 million barrels per
day on Thursday, but Mexico opposed the amount it was being asked to cut, holding up the
final deal.
 Under OPEC+’s new agreement, Mexico will cut 100,000 barrels per day, instead of the
400,000 barrels per day it had initially been asked to cut.
 On Friday President Donald Trump said the U.S. would cut production in an effort to get
Mexico “over the barrel.”
An Iraqi labourer works at an oil refinery in the southern town Nasiriyah.
OPEC and its oil producing allies on Sunday finalized a historic agreement to cut
production by 9.7 million barrels per day, following multiple days of discussions and back-
and-forth between the world’s largest energy producers. The cut is the single largest
output cut in history.
Sunday’s emergency meeting — the second in four days — came as oil-producing
nations scrambled to reach an agreement in an effort to prop up falling prices as the
coronavirus outbreak continues to hammer demand. The agreement also ends a price

war that broke out between Saudi Arabia and Russia at the beginning of March, which
further pressured oil prices as each sought to gain market share.
The group, known as OPEC+, initially proposed cutting production by 10 million barrels
per day — amounting to some 10% of global oil supply — on Thursday, but Mexico
opposed the amount it was being asked to cut, holding up the final deal.
Talks continued on Friday when energy ministers from the Group of 20 major economies
met, and while all agreed that stabilization in the market is needed, the group stopped
short of discussing specific production numbers.
Under OPEC+’s new agreement, Mexico will cut 100,000 barrels per day, instead of the
400,000 barrels per day it had initially been asked to cut.
The 9.7 million barrels per day cut will begin on May 1, and will extend through the end
of June. The cuts will then taper to 7.7 million barrels per day from July through the end
of 2020, and 5.8 million barrels per day from Jan. 2021 through April 2022. The 23-nation
group will meet again on June 10 to determine if further action is needed.
“This is at least a temporary relief for the energy industry and for the global economy,”
Rystad Energy’s head of analysis Per Magnus Nysveen told CNBC in an email. “Even

though the production cuts are smaller than what the market needed and only postpone
the stock building constraints problem, the worst is for now avoided.”
President Donald Trump, who has been heavily involved in brokering a deal between
Saudi Arabia and Russia since a price war broke out between the two powerhouse
producers, said in a tweet that it’s a “great deal for all” that “will save hundreds of
thousands of energy jobs in the United States.”
The big Oil Deal with OPEC Plus is done. This will save hundreds of thousands of energy
jobs in the United States. I would like to thank and congratulate President Putin of Russia
and King Salman of Saudi Arabia. I just spoke to them from the Oval Office. Great deal
for all!
On Friday, when the deal was in jeopardy, Trump said the U.S. would cut production in
an effort to get Mexico “over the barrel.”
At a White House press briefing, Trump said he spoke to Mexico’s President Andrés
Manuel López Obrador and had agreed to “pick up some of the slack” by cutting
production on behalf of Mexico. He did not elaborate on how the cuts would be enacted,
and said Mexico would reimburse the U.S. at a later date.
OPEC+ is hoping that nations outside of the group, including the U.S., Canada and
Norway, will also cut back on production in an effort to shore up prices. While Trump had
previously stopped short of saying the U.S. would scale back production, he has noted
that market forces would naturally curb output.
U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette reiterated this point on Friday, saying that about
two million barrels per day of U.S. production would have been taken offline by the end
of the year, with the number potentially as high as three million.
“Today’s crisis transcends the interests of any one nation and requires a swift and
decisive response from us all. Failure to act has far reaching consequences to each of
our economies,” he said Friday in prepared remarks at the G20 meeting. “This is a time
for all nations to seriously examine what each can do to correct the supply/demand
imbalance,” he added.
10th (Extraordinary) OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting starts under the chairmanship of
HRH Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy, co-Chair HE Alexander
Novak, Russia’s Minister of Energy..

“Unprecedented measures for unprecedented times,” Ed Morse, Citi’s global head of
commodities, wrote in a note to clients Sunday. “Unprecedented in historical discussions
of production cuts, the US played a critical role in brokering between Saudi Arabia and
Russia to induce them to negotiate the new OPEC+ accord,” he added.
Despite the record size of the cut, some fear that it’s still not large enough to combat the
drop-off in demand. On Thursday West Texas Intermediate crude dropped more than
9%. The market was closed on Friday.
Both Brent and WTI futures are in bear market territory, down 53% and 63% respectively
since climbing to a January peak.
Chris Midgely, S&P Global Platts’ global head of analytics, said that the cut isn’t enough
“to plug the 15- to 20-million b/d near-term imbalance in the marketplace and avoid tank
tops in May.” The cut “won’t be enough to bring sustainable, restorative support to oil
prices, not unless OPEC goes further,” he added.
That said, Ann-Louise Hittle, vice president of macro oils at Wood Mackenzie, noted that
the deal “will make a difference to the market,” even if “poorly implemented.”
“We expect the second half of 2020 to show an implied stock draw, in contrast to the
record-breaking oversupply of the first half of 2020,” she said.

NewBase Special Coverage
The Energy world - Special 13- April-2020
Tesla Sets Sales Record In China Despite Coronavirus Crisis
By Tsvetana Paraskova + NewBase
Tesla has just had its best month in China, selling a record high number of electric vehicles in March
despite a 41-percent plunge in overall car sales in the world’s biggest car market.
According to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), Tesla sold 10,160 vehicles
in China last month, despite the fact that total Chinese vehicle sales plummeted by 40.8 percent
year on year, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tesla’s sales in China in March were up from 3,900 vehicle sales in February, and up from 2,620
vehicles sold in January, according to CPCA data cited by Reuters.
Tesla’s newly operational Shanghai Gigafactory was temporarily closed for a few weeks between
the end of January and February due to government-mandated temporary shutdowns of industrial
production because of the coronavirus outbreak. The Gigafactory resumed production in the second
week of February.
To boost sales in the world’s top car market, Tesla has increased home delivery services to
encourage more potential buyers to buy a Tesla, Business Times reports.
At the beginning of 2019, Tesla started the construction of a production facility in the world’s top EV
market—China—in order to be able to compete on a level playing field with a growing number of
local EV manufacturers. As a U.S.-made vehicle, Tesla’s cars in China have been subject to steep
tariffs, and sales have suffered due to the U.S.-China trade war.
In early January this year, Tesla delivered its first cars to customers from its newly built Gigafactory
in Shanghai, just a year after it broke ground on the site for the construction.
Last week, Tesla reported its “best ever first quarter performance” as it produced almost 103,000
vehicles and delivered around 88,400 vehicles globally.

Tesla’s Shanghai factory “continued to achieve record levels of production, despite significant
setbacks,” the EV maker said in a statement.
Our coverage of Tesla has sometimes been criticized as being too bullish, as believing Tesla’s
forecasts too much without criticism, as being optimistically unrealistic. The people throwing around
such critiques have often presumed that Tesla vehicle demand would drop, that Tesla would run
out of money in a burning flame of cash bonfires, and that the company could (or would) go bankrupt
by 2020. I think Tesla’s latest quarterly sales update shows that CleanTechnica has been quite
realistic over the years.
Comparing Tesla’s Q4 2012 sales (deliveries, not orders) to Tesla’s Q4 2019 sales, we can see that
Tesla vehicle sales grew 47× in 7 years. Anyone going along with Elon Musk’s forecast of such
growth back in 2012 or subsequent years (even up through 2018 and a large portion of 2019) was
frequently seen as unrealistically optimistic or “biased.”
Anyone who agreed that such growth was possible, or even probable, was stuck into a corner of
the room for Tesla fanboys and fangirls. However, we can see now that such bias was a bias toward
reality, a bias toward a realistic future that has now come true.
(Note that the interactive charts above may not work on all devices. If they do not work on your
phone, I recommend taking a look on a larger computer.)
To be fair to actual skeptics, this level of growth in an industry as complex and difficult as the auto
industry is a stunning accomplishment, perhaps a once-in-a-century feat. This was not simply a
software company (though, it is also a software company) that could grow so fast with relatively little

capital investment. It is a high-capex industry and a single vehicle model takes years of planning
and often years of sales before it recoups its R&D costs.
However, while covering this tremendous sales increase since 2012, I think it’s important to
recall why Tesla sales have grown so much and why this Q4 2019 result was not a surprise to many
of us.
In short, the Tesla Model 3 is the quickest, safest, most high tech car anywhere in its price range.
Its total cost of ownership could be better than that of the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Nissan
Maxima, or even Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic for many buyers despite the fact that it’s a much
higher performance, safer, and high tech car.
One problem with much of the mainstream media coverage of the Model 3 and Tesla as a business
is they have not taken this into account. They have not made these comparisons and have not
understood why a premium-class car can see so many sales, consistently putting it in the top 10 of
US car sales in terms of unit sales and #1 in terms of sales revenue.
(Note: that last line does not include SUV & other “light duty truck” sales.) They have not considered,
it seems, that the Tesla Model 3 is a “10” despite being the cost of a “5” (using an age-old 1–10
ranking comparison). When you have a “10” that has the cost of a “5,” very many consumers find
out and decide to buy one.
There are two or three major remaining barriers to Model 3 sales, in my opinion. The first is simply
lack of awareness about the Model 3, including poor understanding or even dramatic
misunderstanding of the car and the company.
Many people still don’t know about the benefits of a Model 3, don’t even know about the car, or have
dramatically false impressions of the car in their minds. Relatively few consumers know about the
Model 3’s safety scores, autonomous-driving tech, expected low cost of ownership (including high
long-term value retention), and even the fact that the base Model 3 has a price under $40,000 (many
consumers still think that all Tesla models are much more expensive than that, including the Model
3).

Despite the expected low cost of ownership, another factor that limits sales is that the upfront price
of the Model 3 is indeed too high for many consumers — you have to either have that much cash
or be able to get a loan to cover the cost, and most Americans are unable to stretch enough for that.
The third potential reason that even more consumers don’t buy the Model 3 is that many people
prefer a crossover design (which is what the Tesla Model Y will have).
Oh, also, we should recognize that Tesla basically sells every vehicle it can produce. Net orders
routinely surpassed quarterly production in 2019. We haven’t heard yet if that was the case in the
4th quarter, but various clues indicate that it was.
Furthermore, Tesla is on the verge of beginning production of the crossover version of the Model 3,
the Model Y. This car is widely expected to have greater consumer demand than the Model 3. Elon
Musk thinks the vehicle could see more annual sales than the Model 3, Model S, and Model X
combined. And not a single one has been sold to a consumer so far.
That implies that Tesla vehicle demand and delivery growth will not slow anytime soon. And we
haven’t even mentioned the Tesla Cybertruck or robotaxis yet.
I continue to be bullish on Tesla. Many of our writers continue to be bullish on Tesla. If you think
that makes us a suspect source of information, I think that’s unfortunate, because so far, those of
us who have been bullish on Tesla have proven much more accurate when it comes to our
conclusions regarding the tech, the company, and the future.
If being ambivalent on Tesla or providing “both points of view” on it in an equal manner means being
unbiased, it also means being wrong. Having opinions on technologies or companies is natural if
you investigate them deeply.
Failing to provide those opinions doesn’t mean you are being unbiased — it means you’re
concealing information. And if you investigate a company and determine the most important things
to note (write or talk about) are “burning of cash,” short-sighted financial extrapolations, and
unsubstantiated claims of demand cliffs, then don’t expect for people to see you as the best
reporters on the company when it turns out cash wasn’t burnt (it was used for growth), simple
financial extrapolations are not wise when they include absurd assumptions (anyone who
embedded the right assumptions didn’t predict that Tesla would go bankrupt), and years-long
warnings about demand cliffs are humorous at this point if not boring or suspect.
What kind of growth can we expect for Tesla from 2020 to 2030? We don’t know, but suffice to say,
the future looks bright.

NewBase For discussion or further details on the news below you may contact us on +971504822502, Dubai, UAE
The Editor :”Khaled Al Awadi” Your partner in Energy Services
NewBase energy news is produced daily (Sunday to Thursday) and
sponsored by Hawk Energy Service – Dubai, UAE.
For additional free subscription emails please contact Hawk
Energy
Khaled Malallah Al Awadi,
Energy Consultant
MS & BS Mechanical Engineering (HON), USA
Emarat member since 1990
ASME member since 1995
Hawk Energy member 2010
www.linkedin.com/in/khaled-al-awadi-38b995b
Mobile: +971504822502
khdmohd@hawkenergy.net or khdmohd@hotmail.com
Khaled Al Awadi is a UAE National with a total of 28 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 2020 K. Al Awadi

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