New base energy news 26 may 2019 issue no 1248 by khaled al awadi

Copyright © 2018 NewBase www.hawkenergy.net Edited by Khaled Al Awadi – Energy Consultant All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, redistributed,
or otherwise copied without the written permission of the authors. This includes internal distribution. All reasonable endeavours have been used to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this
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NewBase Energy News 26 May 2019 - Issue No. 1248 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: Masdar to build 800MW solar project in Morocco
The National - Deena Kamel
An international consortium including Abu Dhabi's clean energy company Masdar won a tender to
construct an 800-megawatt solar power plant in Morocco.
The Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (MASEN) awarded the tender to France's EDF
Renewables, UAE's Masdar and Casablanca-based Green of Africa for the design, financing,
construction, operation and maintenance of the first phase in the Noor Midelt project, Masdar said
in a statement on Thursday.
"We expect this project to further raise the profile of renewables as a provider of reliable and cost-
effect clean power in the Middle East and North Africa region," Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, chief
executive of Masdar, said.
The 7.57 billion Moroccan dirham (Dh2.85bn) project is the first phase in a bigger solar power facility
located in the country's Atlas Mountains, as the country targets 42 per cent of renewable energy in
its national energy mix by 2020 and 52 per cent by 2030 - up from 35 per cent presently. Morocco,
which imports more than 90 per cent of its energy needs, was one of the early adopters of renewable
energy in the Middle East and North Africa.

Construction of phase one in the Noor Midelt plant, located 20 kilometers north of the town of Midelt
in central Morocco, is expected to start in the end of 2019, according to the statement. Delivery of
the first electricity to the grid is planned from 2022.
The project, dubbed Noor Midelt 1, will be a hybrid system of concentrated solar power (CSP) and
photovoltaic (PV) technologies.
The project is funded by European Investment Bank, the French Development Agency, the
European Commission, the World Bank, the African Development Fund and the Clean Technology
Fund, according to Masen.
The new plant will be bigger than the already operating 580 MW Noor Ouarzazate CSP plant in
southeastern Morocco.
Morocco is aiming
to attract around $30 billion
(Dh110bn) in investments
to its energy sector by 2030
and is looking for investors
from China, South Korea,
Japan, Germany, Italy,
Spain, France, Morocco,
UAE, Saudi Arabia and
India.
Noor Midelt is the third
project that EDF
Renewables and Masdar
will be working on together
following the Shua’a Energy
2 project in Dubai and the
Dumat Al Jandal wind farm
in Saudi Arabia.
In Morocco, Masdar
announced last year it
equipped 20,000 homes
with solar panels and
household appliances. The
Morocco Solar Home
Systems (SHS) project, led
by the Office National de
l'Electricité et de l'Eau
Potable (ONEE), extended
renewable energy to more
than 1,000 villages.

Saudi Aramco starts fuel trading from Fujairah Port UAE
Bloomberg + NewBase
In this Feb. 26, 1997 file photo, Khaled al-Otaiby, an official of the Saudi oil company Aramco,
watches progress at a rig at the al-Howta oil field near Howta, Saudi Arabia.Image Credit: AP
Saudi Aramco hired two Singapore-based traders and began dealing in fuel at the Middle East’s
main bunkering port as the world’s biggest oil exporter expands further into the trading business.
Aramco’s trading unit started doing deals earlier this month at its new office in the United Arab
Emirates port of Fujairah, according to people with knowledge of the situation. It hired five people,
including Avyay Saxena who formerly worked at BP Plc and Trafigura Group and Max Moran who
worked at the trading unit of Mexico’s Pemex, they said.
The company also hired a specialist in blending different products, according to the people, who
asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak to the media. Aramco Trading
media officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Aramco Trading’s expansion plans would propel it into the top tier of global fuel-trading companies.
It opened an office in Fujairah as part of a global push into new markets to secure buyers for oil
products as well as crude. It already has a Singapore branch, plans to open an office in Europe and
has started trading liquefied natural gas.
Saudi Aramco aims to double its refining capacity to about 10 million barrels a day over the next
decade and is set to start a new 400,000 barrel-a-day oil-processing plant this year at Jazan in
southwestern Saudi Arabia. It also plans to tap the U.S. gas market, agreeing Wednesday to buy a
stake in a Sempra Energy LNG project in Texas and to buy fuel from the plant in a 20-year contract.

Aramco Trading, known officially as Saudi Aramco Products Trading Co., targets trading 6 million
barrels a day of crude and products by 2020 compared with about 4 million barrels last year.
If it reaches its goal, Aramco Trading would rival Vitol Group, the world’s largest independent trader,
which trades about 7 million barrels a day of crude and products.
Fujairah has been a scene of regional tension this month after four ships, including two Saudi oil
tankers, were damaged in alleged sabotage attacks while offshore from the port.

Oman; Tanweer plans 200MW of solar-diesel hybrid projects
Oman Observer - Conrad Prabhu
The Rural Areas Electricity Company (Tanweer) — member of Nama Group — hopes to award
contracts before the end of this year for the development of around 200 megawatts (MW) of solar
and diesel based hybrid power capacity to meet the growing electricity requirements of Omani
communities that fall outside of the coverage of the nation’s two main grids.
According to Tanweer CEO Saleh Nasser al Rumhi (pictured), as many as 11 hybrid projects,
offering up to 200 MW of
combined solar and diesel
capacity, are envisioned
for implementation at key
locations across the
company’s sprawling and
geographically diverse
licence area.
“We are currently finalising
a Request for Proposals
(RfP) inviting interested
developers to submit
detailed proposals for
these 11 hybrid projects.
Hopefully, by the end of
this year, we will award
contracts for Power
Purchase Agreements
(PPA) with the successful bidders,” he stated.
Speaking at the annual media briefing hosted by Nama Group earlier this week, Al Rumhi noted
that developer interest in Tanweer’s hybridisation programme is expected to be strong. As many as
95 local and international firms had responded to an Expression of Interest (EoI) issued by the
company seeking to assess the strength of investor interest in the programme.
Almost all of RAECO’s electricity output comes from diesel-based generation — a trend that the
company is looking to change to either 100 per cent renewables based small-scale capacity or a
combination of solar photovoltaic and conventional diesel-power hybrids.
Of the 11 sites identified by Tanweer for the establishment of hybrid power plants, five are located
in Dhofar Governorate, two in Al Wusta, two in South Al Sharqiyah, and one each in Al Dhahirah
and Musandam governorates.
While solar will account for around 80 MW of the 200 MW hybrid capacity planned for development
under the programme, the rest will be based on diesel-power generation. Significantly, Tanweer is
also studying the potential for Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) — a cost-competitive and low-
carbon alternative to diesel — in the hybrid schemes in the future. Opportunities for energy storage
will be explored as well, according to the official.
Tanweer says its pursuit of renewables is inspired by the success of its maiden hybrid project — a
307kW Solar PV plant that came into operation at Al Mazyona in Dhofar Governorate in 2015. The
facility, operated by Bahwan Astonfield Solar Energy Company, was built with an investment of
around $1 million.

Oman LNG to supply NGLs to Oman Oil and Orpic Group
Oman Observer -Conrad Prabhu
Oman LNG has signed an agreement committing its output of Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) — a
byproduct of its gas liquefaction operations — to Oman Oil and Orpic Group.
The Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA), covering the supply of NGLs for a six-year period, was
signed on Thursday by Harib al Kitani, CEO — Oman LNG, and Ahmed al Jahdhami, CEO —
Downstream, at Oman Oil and Orpic Group.
“The six-year agreement is buoyed by the existing robust partnership between both national
companies to further harmonise the existing synergies,” stated Oman LNG in a tweet.
The pact builds on a longstanding arrangement between the two strategically vital entities centring
on the supply of Oman LNG’s natural gas liquids output to Oman Oil and Orpic Group’s refinery and
petrochemicals complex in Suhar. These liquids have typically been added to the Group’s crude
feedstock for refining and processing.
NGL output from the three-train LNG complex in Qalhat topped around 240,000 tonnes in 2018,
which was delivered in a total of 36 shipments to Oman Oil and Orpic Group. Yearly NGL output
has stabilised around this level.
Oman Oil and Orpic Group is building its own NGL extraction plant at Fahud as part of its mammoth
Liwa Plastics complex currently at an advanced stage of execution at Sohar Industrial Port with an
investment of around $6.4 billion.
The NGL will be processed at the Sohar complex into polyethylene and polypropylene plastics. A
pipeline is being constructed to transport the NGL from Fahud to the Sohar complex. Liwa Plastics
is slated for commissioning in 2020.

U.K: To ban plastic stirrers, straws and cotton swabs from Apr-2020
CNBC - Anmar Frangoul
A ban on plastic drinks stirrers, straws, and plastic-stemmed cotton swabs will come into force in
England next April. “Urgent and decisive action is needed to tackle plastic pollution and protect
our environment,” Environment Secretary Michael Gove said in a statement Wednesday.
“These items are often used for just a few minutes but take hundreds of years to break down,
ending up in our seas and oceans and harming precious marine life,” he added.
The ban follows on from a consultation which found that more than 80% of respondents supported
a ban on the distribution and sale of plastic straws, with 90% backing a ban on drinks stirrers and
89% in favor of a ban on cotton swabs. The consultation ran from October 22, 2018 to December
3, 2018, and had 1,602 respondents.
Outlining details of the ban, the U.K. government said there would be exemptions to make sure that
people with a disability or medical requirements could continue using plastic straws. In practice,
this means that while restaurants and bars will not be allowed to display plastic straws or
“automatically hand them out” they will be able to provide them upon request.
Another exemption will apply to the use of plastic-stemmed cotton swabs for “medical and scientific
purposes” where such items are “often the only practical option.”
The CEO of Surfers Against Sewage, Hugo Tagholm, said the charity welcomed the ban. “Stopping
the production and distribution of these single-use plastic menaces will prevent them from polluting
beaches nationwide,” he added. “It’s a really positive and bold step in the right direction in the battle
against plastic pollution.”
Several major businesses are already looking to move away from using plastic in their stores. Fast
food giant McDonald’s is rolling out paper straws to stores in the U.K. and Ireland, while upscale
supermarket Waitrose now only offers paper straws in its cafes. The issue of plastic pollution is a
big problem. Europeans produce 25 million tons of plastic waste per year, according to the European
Commission. Less than 30% of this is collected for recycling.

NewBase 26 May 2019 Khaled Al Awadi
NewBase For discussion or further details on the news below you may contact us on +971504822502 , Dubai , UAE
Oil Slumps to Worst Weekly Loss of Year as Trade Fears Linger
Oil limped to its worst weekly loss of the year as tensions lingered over how the trade feud between
the world’s top economic super powers will hit demand.
Futures in New York rebounded somewhat on Friday but still ended the week down 6.6%, the
biggest decline since late December, after days of escalating rhetoric between China and the U.S.
Chinese envoy Cui Tiankai said the Asian nation was committed to striking a deal on Friday but said
it’s ready to apply countermeasures to American sanctions.
Oil price special
coverage

U.S. crude was pressured by climbing inventories, which are at their highest nationwide since July
2017 and at the highest since December 2017 at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for the U.S.
benchmark.
Economic worries fed by U.S.-China trade tensions have hit global markets, with the MSCI All
Country index headed for a weekly fall exceeding 1%, its third week in the red. [.N]
“U.S. businesses affected by the increased tariffs will be making decisions regarding purchases,
inventories, etc., that are apt to force some downshifts in the U.S. economic growth path that could
have implications for U.S. oil demand,” Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates,
said.
“A decline below our expected next support level of $56 (for WTI) will likely associate with a further
plunge in equities that would be heavily related to unresolved trade issues between the U.S. and
China ... volatility across all markets will be heightened until some significant trade progress is seen.”
Markets will be closed on Monday in Britain for the Spring Bank Holiday and in the United States
for the long Memorial Day holiday weekend, start of summer vacation driving season. Motorist group
AAA expects the second-highest Memorial Day weekend travel volume since it began keeping track
in 2000.
“Despite a rising national gas price average that is inching closer to the $3 per gallon mark, the vast
majority of holiday travelers will drive to their destinations,” AAA said last week.
Rising U.S. crude production has also weighed on oil prices. A shale boom has helped make the
United States the biggest oil producer in the world, ahead of Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Weekly U.S. rig count data, an indicator of future output, showed U.S. energy firms this week
reduced the number of oil rigs operating for a third week in a row.
But the United States is still projected to reach the 13 million barrels per day (bpd) milestone in the
fourth quarter, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Broadly, supply cuts - both voluntary and those resulting from U.S. sanctions - have kept a floor
under prices and some analysts expect the market to recover.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, an alliance
known as OPEC+, has been cutting supply to tighten the market and support.
U.S. sanctions on OPEC members Iran and Venezuela have curbed their crude exports, reducing
supplies further.
Brent’s price structure remains in backwardation, with prices for prompt delivery higher than those
for later dispatch, suggesting a tight balance between supply and demand.
“It is reasonable to doubt whether Saudi Arabia will be willing to step up its output given the latest
decline in prices,” analysts at Commerzbank said. “We therefore expect to see higher oil prices
again in the near future.”
U.S. oil drillers cut rigs for third week in a row: Baker Hughes
U.S. energy firms this week reduced the number of oil rigs operating for a third week in a row as
weaker oil prices encourage drillers to follow through on plans to cut spending.
Drillers cut five oil rigs in the week to May 24, bringing the total count down to 797, the lowest since
March 2018, General Electric Co’s Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed
report on Friday.
That compares with 859 rigs operating during the same week a year ago.
The rig count, an early indicator of future output, has declined over the past five months as
independent exploration and production companies cut spending on new drilling as they focus more
on earnings growth instead of increased output.
Pioneer Natural Resources Co, one of the largest producers in the Permian Basin of West Texas
and New Mexico, announced on Tuesday that it had cut about a quarter of its workforce to save
costs and boost shareholder value.

U.S. crude futures were trading around $58 per barrel on Friday, putting the contract on track for its
biggest weekly drop of the year, due to rising inventories and concern over an economic slowdown.
[O/R]
Looking ahead, crude futures were trading around $58 a barrel for the balance of 2019 and $56 in
calendar 2020.
U.S. financial services firm Cowen & Co this week said that projections from the exploration and
production (E&P) companies it tracks point to a 5 percent decline in capital expenditures for drilling
and completions in 2019 versus 2018.
Cowen said independent producers expect to spend about 11 percent less in 2019, while major oil
companies plan to spend about 16 percent more.
In total, Cowen said all of the E&P companies it tracks that have reported will spend about $81.9
billion in 2019 versus $86.4 billion in 2018.

NewBase Special Coverage
News Agencies News Release 06 May 2019
U.S. gasoline prices are increasing as near as last year
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update
Heading into the 2019 Memorial Day weekend, regular gasoline prices averaged $2.85 per gallon
(gal) nationally on May 20, slightly lower than last year’s price of $2.92/gal before the holiday
weekend.
EIA expects U.S. regular retail gasoline prices will increase in the coming months and average
$2.92/gal during the 2019 summer season (April through September), 7 cents/gal higher than last
summer, according to EIA’s May Short-Term Energy Outlook. Although crude oil spot prices are
expected to remain lower than price levels from last year, higher gasoline demand, lower gasoline
inventories, and higher gasoline refining margins will likely result in higher retail gasoline prices this
summer.
Gasoline prices typically increase during the spring because of the mandated switch from winter-
grade gasoline to more expensive summer-grade gasoline. This year, the average price for regular
gasoline has increased by 16 cents/gal (6%) since the start of April, lower than last year’s increase
of 22 cents/gal (8%).
Higher gasoline consumption is putting additional upward pressure on prices. As of May 10, 2019,
the four-week average U.S. gasoline demand was 9.4 million barrels per day (b/d), about 0.5%
higher than last year’s levels. AAA (in association with IHS Markit) expects more than 37 million

Americans will travel by car this weekend, 3.5% more travelers than last year and the highest travel
volume since 2005.
Decreasing gasoline inventories, including finished gasoline and gasoline blending components,
are also contributing to the increase in gasoline prices. Although gasoline inventories started the
year higher than normal (based on the range of seasonal values in the previous five years), they
have since decreased to below-average levels.
U.S. petroleum product price movements tend to follow the international benchmark Brent crude oil
spot price.
Although the Brent price has increased since the beginning of 2019, it remains below its value at
this time last year. Brent crude oil averaged $71.25 per barrel (b) the week of May 10, 2019, or 7%

lower than the same week in 2018. EIA expects Brent crude oil prices during the 2019 summer
season to average near $73/b, or $2.31/b lower than last summer. When converted from barrels to
gallons, this amount equals an almost 6 cent/gal decrease in crude oil prices.
Note: Retail prices include state and federal taxes.
The U.S. Gulf Coast region, defined as Petroleum Administration for Defense District (PADD) 3,
generally has the lowest retail gasoline prices in the country. This year to date, Gulf Coast gasoline
prices have averaged 30 cents/gal lower than the national average.
By contrast, the West Coast (PADD 5) region typically has the highest regional average gasoline
prices, averaging 67 cents/gal higher than the national average so far this year. The West Coast
has recently seen a sharper increase in retail gasoline prices than the rest of the United States,
pulling up the national average.
West Coast retail gasoline prices are typically the highest in the country because of the region’s
tight supply and demand balance, isolation from additional supply sources, and gasoline
specifications that are more costly to meet. This year, planned and unplanned refinery outages and
relatively low gasoline inventories have also affected West Coast gasoline prices.
California gasoline prices & refinery outages and declining inventories

In early May, the California retail gasoline price averaged $4.01 per gallon (gal), surpassing the
$4/gal mark for the first time since 2014. By comparison, the U.S. retail gasoline price averaged
$2.90/gal. Much of the recent increase in California’s gasoline prices is attributable to refinery
outages—both planned and unplanned—and falling gasoline inventories in the region.
Since the beginning of 2019, the price of gasoline in California has increased by $0.75/gal. During
the same period, the price of Brent crude oil, the primary driver of U.S. gasoline prices, has only
increased by $0.52/gal, implying that other factors specific to California and the West Coast region
have contributed to price increases.
Beginning in March 2019, gross refinery inputs in the West Coast (the Petroleum Administration for
Defense District (PADD) that includes California) began to rapidly decline. By mid-April, the four-
week average of regional refinery runs reached 2.37 million barrels per day (b/d), a rate 9% lower
than the previous five-year average. Weekly refinery runs have increased slightly since mid-April,
possibly indicating that some refineries in the region are returning to operation.
Planned refinery outages typically do not drive large price increases, but unplanned outages can,
especially in tightly balanced markets such as the West Coast.
According to trade press reports, unplanned outages in the West Coast region include a shutdown
in March as a result of emissions issues at a Valero refinery in Benicia, California, and shutdowns
in March and in May as a result of two separate fires at a Phillips 66 refinery in Carson, California.
Withdrawals from regional inventories of gasoline are being used to compensate for lower refinery
production of gasoline.

West Coast gasoline inventories fell to 26.4 million barrels, or 8% lower than the five-year average
for the week ending May 10. West Coast gasoline inventories typically decline in the spring, but this
year’s decline was greater than normal.
As of May 15, 2019, West Coast gasoline inventories were within about 600,000 barrels of their
lowest point in the previous five years. Inventories increased by 1.3 million barrels in the following
week.
The West Coast is isolated by both geography and a lack of petroleum infrastructure connections to
the rest of the United States. In addition, California requires a different gasoline specification than
the rest of the country, further narrowing resupply options. These restrictions mean that after
drawing down in-region inventories, the next available resupply is through imports from refineries in
Asia or Europe.
For the week of May 3, 2019, the four-week rolling average of West Coast imports of total gasoline
reached 120,000 b/d, the highest level since EIA began tracking this data in May 2008. This method
of resupply is costly, and wholesale prices in the region have increased to cover these associated
costs.

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
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For additional free subscription emails please contact Hawk
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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
khdmohd@hawkenergy.net
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 2019 K. Al Awadi

New base energy news 26 may 2019 issue no 1248 by khaled al awadi

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New base energy news 26 may 2019 issue no 1248 by khaled al awadi