Newbase 27 february 2020 energynewsissue 1320 by khaledalawadi compressed

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NewBase Energy News 27 February 2020 - Issue No. 1320 Senior Editor Eng. Khaled Al Awadi
NewBase For discussion or further details on the news below you may contact us on +971504822502, Dubai, UAE
U.A.E: Adnoc's carbon capture programme on track to increase
five-fold by 2030
The National - Jennifer Gnana
State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is on track to expand its carbon capture programme
by five-fold by 2030 as it looks to lower emissions from its activities, its chief executive said. The
company, which accounts for much of the hydrocarbon activity in the UAE, plans to capture 5 million
tonnes of carbon dioxide annually over the next decade.
"Adnoc's CCUS [carbon capture utilisation and storage] programme reinforces our position as the
least-carbon intensive oil and gas producer in the world. It is also an important enabler of our holistic
2030 sustainability goals, specifically our target to reduce greenhouse gas intensity by 25 per cent,"
said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, UAE minister of state and Adnoc group chief executive.
The UAE, which accounts for 4 per cent of global oil production, has been looking to lower the
carbon intensity of its fossil fuel activities. (Add a line here on how carbon capture helps cut
emissions)Adnoc is currently one of the top five lowest greenhouse gas emitters in the oil and gas
industry and has one of the lowest methane intensities in the world of 0.01 per cent.
Efforts in the UAE by state-backed Adnoc come as global investors become increasingly conscious
about the impact of fossil fuels. BP pledged earlier this month to become carbon neutral in its
upstream activities and other operations by 2050 or sooner. Meanwhile, the International Energy
Agency noted in its report that global emissions relating to energy flatlined for the first time in 2019.
Adnoc is looking to scale up its carbon capture, utilisation and storage programme, from 800,000
tonnes of captured CO2 to 5 million tonnes by 2030.
Harvesting CO2 to be used as agent in the fields has become popular among upstream operators
looking for more sustainable ways to coax more production out of maturing fields.
Adnoc has been pumping carbon captured by the Al Reyadah Company, which sources the gas
from industrial facilities in Mussafah to help with enhanced oil recovery.
www.linkedin.com/in/khaled-al-awadi-38b995b

The state-owned oil giant also has plans to harvest 2.4 million tonnes of carbon from the Shah gas
plant, while the Habshan and Bab plants could allow for the capture and utilisation of nearly two
million tonnes of CO2.
As part of its adoption of sustainability goals, Adnoc also plans to limit its freshwater consumption
ratio to below 0.5 per cent of total water use.
Speaking at the same conference, Saudi Aramco’s chief executive, Amin Nasser, said that the
company also has a carbon capture project aimed at capturing and injecting large amounts of CO2
in the ground.
Scientists in one research project, operated jointly by Aramco and the Korea Advanced Institute of
Science & Technology, also recently announced they had discovered a viable path for carbon
reclamation.
“In our efforts to reduce CCUS cost, our scientists are developing some of the world’s highest
capacity CO2 capture materials for large scale applications”, said Saudi Aramco’s chief technology
officer Ahmad Al-Khowaiter.
The company is also working with its partners in developing and scaling up novel utilisation
technologies to use captured carbon in polymers and to capture CO2 generated in cement
production.

Saudi Arabia to Develop B$110 Jafurah Shale Gas Field
Bloomberg + NewBase
Saudi Arabia plans to invest 412 billion riyals ($110 billion) to develop unconventional natural gas
reserves in the eastern Jafurah field, according to the kingdom’s official Saudi Press Agency.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman presided over a meeting of the Saudi High Commission for
Hydrocarbons on Thursday during which the development plans were reviewed, the agency
reported late Friday.
The field is estimated to hold 200 trillion cubic feet of wet gas (about 5.7 trillion cubic meters) and
its phased development is expected to begin production in 2024, gradually increasing output to 2.2
trillion cubic feet by 2036, it added.
Saudi Arabian Oil Co. Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said in a separate statement on
Saturday that the development of the Jafurah field is meant to support the state-run company’s
“diverse resources and the kingdom’s economic development.”

Jafurah will be able to produce about 130,000 barrels a day of ethane, representing about 40% of
the kingdom’s current production and about 500,000 barrels a day of gas liquids and condensates,
representing about 34% of the country’s output.
Development of the field over 22 years would provide the government a net income of about 32
billion riyals annually and contribute 75 billion riyals annually to the kingdom’s gross domestic
product, the agency said.
Aramco, as the state-run company is known, is expanding its search for gas as a potential export
to help reduce the nation’s reliance on sales of crude. Saudi Arabia also wants to use gas at home
as fuel in power stations and as feedstock for the production of petrochemicals, a high-priority
industry for the government in its strategy to diversify the economy.
Jafurah is located between Ghawar, the world’s largest oil field, and the Gulf, near the hub of the
Saudi energy industry. Aramco says received approval for Jafurah gas field development ..Saudi
Aramco said on Saturday it had received regulatory approval to develop Saudi Arabia’s Jafurah
non-associated gas field and expects production to start in early 2024.
It said output would reach around 2.2 billion cubic feet per day of sales gas by 2036, with an
associated 425 million cubic feet per day of ethane. The field would produce some 550,000 barrels
per day of gas liquids and condensates. Gas resources in the Jafurah, the largest unconventional
non-associated gas field in the kingdom, are estimated at 200 trillion cubic feet of raw gas, the
company said in a statement.
Aramco plans to invest $110 billion to develop Jafurah, state news agency SPA said on Friday, and
cited Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as saying the field’s development would provide
the state with annual net income of $8.6 billion.
Jafurah is southeast of Ghawar, the world’s largest conventional oilfield. Unconventional gas refers
to reserves requiring advanced extraction methods, such as those used in the shale gas industry.

Non-associated gas is not a by-product of oil production. Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter,
aims to become a gas exporter by 2030.
Now, the country has adopted the techniques developed in US fields — which started with gas — for
the huge $110 billion Jafurah shale gas field project. Aramco said it received the go ahead for the project
on Saturday.
If Aramco hits its targets for development of the field, Saudi Arabia would become the world’s third
largest gas producer by 2030. The world’s top two gas producers are the United States and Russia.
Nasser said Aramco had developed fracking using seawater, which will remove the obstacle that a
lack of water supply represents to fracking in the desert.
“A new shale revolution is taking place (in Saudi Arabia), it’s commercial and we are using
seawater,” in the fracking process, Nasser said in an interview in Saudi Arabia’s oil-producing
Eastern Province.
“A lot of people said it doesn’t work outside the US… because fracking uses a lot of water and we
are not rich with water. But we are using seawater.” Aramco has drilled 150 wells since 2013 in the
Jafurah shale gas field to prepare the development plan, he said.
The Saudi state oil group has worked with international oil service companies such as US-based
Schlumberger, Halliburton Co and Baker Hughes Co on the field and to develop the technology to
fracture the rock and release the oil and gas it holds, a technology known as fracking. Those firms

are active in US shale fields. Aramco will hold bidding rounds for work on the fields, and these and
other firms are likely to be involved, Nasser said.
Outside the United States, oil firms have had limited success developing shale reserves for a variety
of reasons- either due to lack of expertise, a scarcity of water or other resources, lack of
infrastructure, or proximity to large population centres.
The Jafurah field is near the Gulf coast, so has relatively easy access to seawater, which will have
to be lightly treated before using in fracking, Nasser said. It is also close to the world’s largest oilfield,
Ghawar, so has easy access to existing energy infrastructure. Aramco has also identified local sand
that can be used for fracking.
The process requires pumping water, sand and chemicals into the fields at high pressure. “It is very
economical, we were able to really cut the cost significantly to make it commercial,” Nasser said. “It
is the biggest unconventional (development) outside North America.”
The new shale gas development would help the country to reduce burning an average of 800,000
barrels per day of crude and fuel for electricity, Nasser said. That would free up more crude for
export if needed, he said, and reduce emissions.
The priority will be to supply domestic demand, Nasser said.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman issued an order on Friday for Jafurah’s gas
to be used primarily by domestic industries such as petrochemicals to support the kingdom’s Vision
2030 development plan, the prince’s economic reform strategy to diversify away from oil.
Listing Aramco last year was one of the pillars of the plan. The Saudi energy giant went public in
December by floating a stake on the local stock exchange.
The development may also position Saudi Arabia as a gas exporter, Nasser said. The preference
for exports would be through pipelines to nearby countries rather than developing costly liquefied
natural gas export terminals, he added.
“The minute we satisfy the local requirement we will export,” he said.
Gas exports could help Saudi Arabia’s Gulf region allies to avoid dependency on Qatar for gas
supply. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed political, trade and
transport ties in 2017 with top gas exporter Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism, which Doha
denies.

Oman: FID on Sohar LNG by year-end: Total Oman
Oman Observer + NewBase
A Final Investment Decision (FID) by French energy major Total on its plans for an LNG bunkering
hub at Sohar Port — the first such facility in the Middle East — is anticipated before the end of this
year.
The project, representing one of the downstream components of a wider integrated gas
development, will add considerable value to Oman’s gas sources, said a high-level executive of the
energy giant.
“The Sohar project is part of a fully integrated project from upstream to downstream,” said Sophie
Nasser (pictured), Business Development & Asset Management, Total. “On the upstream side, we
are partnering with Shell and (Oman Oil Company Exploration & Production — part of OQ Group)
to produce gas from a concession — basically two blocks (Blocks 10 and 11) which were (carved
out) from PDO’s assets. The gas is from the Barik and Amin reservoirs, which are unconventional
tight gas resources.”
Speaking at the International Gas Research Conference (IGRC) 2020, which concluded in Muscat
on Wednesday, Nasser said Total is “working hard to finalise all of the agreements” with the
respective partners concerned. “Hopefully, from our side, we will take an FID before the end of this
year,” she noted.
Natural gas from central Oman, where Blocks 10 and 11 are located, will feed an LNG plant that
will be set up by Total at Sohar Port as part of a first-ever bunkering facility providing clean-burning
LNG as a transportation fuel for ships.
“On Total’s side, we will have roughly 150 million standard cubic feet per day of gas that will be
(pumped) to Sohar for the LNG plant, which will have a capacity of roughly 1 million tonnes per year.
On Shell’s side, they will bring the rest of the gas to Duqm for a Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) plant.”
Total, said Nasser, is also working closely with Sohar Port which will host the LNG project on a

piece of land that is proposed to be reclaimed from the sea. The Sohar South Zone, she said, will
have to be built first before construction commences on the LNG project.
Asked by a member of the audience about Total’s reasons for selecting Sohar Port for the siting of
its LNG bunkering facility, the executive noted that Sohar’s geographical location — outside the
Strait of Hormuz — would make it attractive for ships to call at the port for LNG bunker without
having to digress too far from their original routes.
Furthermore, LNG bunkering barges will be deployed to Mina Sultan Qaboos to serve cruise ships,
among other vessels, calling at Muscat, she said, adding that Duqm and Salalah ports could be
potentially covered as well.

U.S: Wind has surpassed hydro electricity generation source
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly
In 2019, U.S. annual wind generation exceeded hydroelectric generation for the first time, according
to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Electric Power Monthly. Wind is now the top
renewable source of electricity generation in the country, a position previously held by
hydroelectricity.
Annual wind generation totaled 300 million megawatthours (MWh) in 2019, exceeding hydroelectric
generation by 26 million MWh. Wind generation has increased steadily during the past decade, in
part, because the Production Tax Credit (PTC), which drove wind capacity additions, was extended.
Annual hydroelectric generation has fluctuated between 250 million MWh and 320 million MWh in
the past decade, reflecting a stable capacity base and variable annual precipitation.
Annual changes in hydroelectric generation are primarily the result of variations in annual
precipitation patterns and water runoff. Although weather patterns also affect wind generation in
different regions, capacity growth has been the predominant driver of annual changes in wind
generation.
Both hydroelectric and wind generation follow seasonal patterns. Hydroelectric generation is
typically greatest in the spring when precipitation and melting snowpack increase water
runoff. Seasonal patterns in wind generation vary across the country, but wind generation is usually
greatest in the spring and fall.

Wind capacity additions tend to come online during the fourth quarter of the year, most likely
because of tax benefits. Wind capacity additions totaled 10 gigawatts in 2019 (3.8 GW installed in
the fourth quarter), making 2019 the second-largest year for wind capacity additions, second only
to 2012.
As of the end of 2019, the United States had 103 GW of wind capacity, nearly all of which (77%)
were installed in the past decade. The United States has 80 GW of hydroelectric capacity, most of
which has been operating for several decades. Only 2 GW of hydroelectric capacity has been added
in the past decade, and some of those additions involved converting previously nonpowered dams.

Although total installed wind capacity surpassed total installed hydroelectric capacity in 2016, it
wasn’t until 2019 that wind generation surpassed hydroelectric generation. The average annual
capacity factors for the hydroelectric fleet between 2009 and 2019 ranged from 35% to 43%.
The average annual capacity factors for the U.S. wind fleet were lower, ranging from 28% to 35%.
Capacity factors are the ratio of the electrical energy produced by a generating unit for a specified
period of time to the electrical energy that could have been produced at continuous full power
operation during the same period.

NewBase February 27-2020 Khaled Al Awadi
NewBase For discussion or further details on the news below you may contact us on +971504822502 , Dubai , UAE
Oil falls for fifth day on demand concerns as coronavirus spreads
Reuters + NewBase
Oil prices fell for a fifth day on Thursday to their lowest since January 2019 as a growing number of
new coronavirus cases outside of China fuelled fears of a pandemic which could slow the global
economy and lower crude demand.
Brent crude was down 88 cents, or 1.65%, at $52.55 a barrel at 07.44 GMT, the lowest since Jan.
2, 2019. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures fell by 86 cents, or 1.76%, to $47.87 a barrel. , the
lowest since Jan. 4, 2019.
In the five trading sessions through Thursday, Brent has dropped 11%, while WTI has declined
10.6%, their biggest five-day percentage losses since August 2019.
Oil price special
coverage

On Wednesday, for the first time ever, the number of new coronavirus infections outside China, the
source of the outbreak, exceeded the number of new Chinese cases.
The spread to large economies including South Korea, Japan and Italy has caused concerns that
fuel demand growth will be limited. On Wednesday, consultants Facts Global Energy forecast oil
demand growth will only 60,000 barrels per day in 2020, or “practically zero”, because of the
widening outbreak.
U.S. President Donald Trump assured Americans on Wednesday evening that the risk from
coronavirus remained “very low”. However, Asian share markets fell on Thursday morning, as
investors fear the coronavirus spread will disrupt the global economy as quarantines and other
measures taken to halt its advance slow trade and industry.
“Speculations that coronavirus may spread in the United States prompted a series of fresh selling,”
said Kazuhiko Saito, chief analyst at Fujitomi Co.
If an outbreak “continues to worsen in the United States, oil prices will likely decline further,
especially with U.S. gasoline prices already plunging,” Saito said.
The United States is the world’s largest oil producer and consumer.
Gasoline stockpiles dropped by 2.7 million barrels in the week to Feb. 21 to 256.4 million, the Energy
Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday, amid a decline in refinery throughput. Distillate
inventories fell by 2.1 million barrels to 138.5 million.
U.S. crude oil stockpiles increased by 452,000 barrels to 443.3 million barrels, the Energy
Information Administration said, which was less than the 2-million-barrel rise analysts had expected.
The crude market was also watching for possible deeper output cuts by the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+.
OPEC+ plans to meet in Vienna over March 5-6.

GCC Economies Oil and Trade impact of Coronavirus
Bloomberg - Abeer Abu Omar
Gulf economies will grow at a slower pace than estimated this year as the coronavirus hurts oil
demand, trade and tourism, Standard Chartered PLC said.
“The Gulf Cooperation Council is exposed to the slowdown in global growth – and China growth in
particular – via two main channels: softer oil demand growth (with lower prices underpinning the
need for ongoing production cuts by OPEC producers) and weaker trade and tourism,” economists
Bilal Khan and Carla Slim wrote in note dated Feb. 25.
More than 80,000 people globally have been infected with the coronavirus which has spread from
China. In recent days, the number of cases has risen across the oil-rich Middle East prompting
many airlines to restrict flights.
The bank reduced expectations for Brent crude prices to an average $64 per barrel this year, down
from an initial estimate of $70. The revision also takes OPEC’s December decision to deepen oil
cuts into account, Khan said.
Growth Cuts
Growth projections in the Gulf were revised this year
Source: Standard Chartered
OPEC’s curbs will be shouldered by Saudi Arabia, the economists said, pushing growth to 1% this
year from an earlier forecast of 2.3%. Oman sells large amounts of its oil to China.
“The United Arab Emirates’ --and in particular Dubai’s --position as a trade and transport hub makes
the economy particularly vulnerable to the impact of coronavirus disruption to flights and global
supply chains,” Khan and Slim wrote in Tuesday’s note.
They expect growth in the U.A.E. at 1.1% down from 2.1%.

NewBase Special Coverage
The Energy world - Special Feb-27-02-2020
Climate and Coronavirus Dominate Oil Industry’s Biggest Summit
By Mathew Carr and Laura Hurst
Two dark clouds loomed over the oil industry’s biggest gathering of traders and producers this year:
climate change and the coronavirus. Last year, protesters glued their hands to the doors of the
conference venue complaining of record winter heat. This year, climate experts were invited in and
given the floor.
Industry executives were given a blunt warning. Continued production of fossil fuels was a path to
the industry’s own “obsolescence and destruction,” said Bob Ward, a policy and communications
director at a climate unit of the London School of Economics.
Climate Ambition
Estimated global greenhouse gas emissions and temperature increases by 2100 under various
scenarios
Notes: “Baseline” refers to the Business-as-usual scenario of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report.
Figures as of December 2019.
Source: Climate Action Tracker

The energy transition, lowering carbon emissions and accelerating toward a greener future
dominated the first day of discussions at the conference. Global emissions may flatline around
current record levels, putting the world on track for a temperature increase of about 3 degree
Celsius, International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol told delegates.
Virus Fears
Big Oil heads were also notably absent from the event. In what’s normally a week of lavish parties,
deal-making and networking, events were canceled and some executives didn’t travel at all amid
fears of the spread of coronavirus.
The Kuwait Petroleum Co. party on Monday evening maintained its usual high standard of catering,
although the attendance level did fall far short of previous years.
The company’s party signature dishes were on display: an entire lamb carved by waiters, trays of
exotic fruit juice, a generous dessert stand and a fountain of molten chocolate. But the crowds were
much thinner than normal, with a notable absence of executives from the world’s biggest oil
companies. On arrival, visitors received a physical reminder of why: they were presented bottles of
hand sanitizer.
Demand Hit
Oil consumption set to fall in first three months of 2020
Source: IEA
The empty seats and uneaten party food at IP Week are a stark reminder of an epidemic that
began thousands of miles away in China and is having an increasingly serious impact on public
health and oil consumption globally.
Vitol Group, the world’s biggest independent oil trader, estimates that the virus is currently reducing
China’s crude demand by about 4 million barrels a day, about 4% of global consumption. Fears that

the virus will continue to curb consumption in the world’s biggest petroleum consumer, and
elsewhere, have been pummeling prices.
Climate Pressure
The outbreak is the short-term challenge, but on a longer timescale the main pressure on Big Oil is
under increasing pressure to demonstrate how it will not only curb carbon emissions from its
operations but also to align its business model with the Paris agreement. Pension funds and
other investors are bearing down on fossil fuel
producers and even dumping funds not seen to
be compatible with climate goals.
“You go to a dinner and say you’re the CEO of
an energy company and immediately you’re
under attack,” Energean Oil & Gas SA boss
Mathaios Rigas told delegates at the
conference on Tuesday.
BP Plc’s Bernard Looney is the only Big Oil
chief due to speak at the event, at a dinner on
Thursday marking the end of the conference.
The company set out the boldest climate
plan of any oil major this month, pledging to
eliminate almost all carbon emissions from its
operations and the fuel it sells to customers. It
followed a pledge in December by Spanish oil
major Repsol SA to cut carbon emissions
to net-zero by 2050.
Norway’s Equinor ASA said Tuesday it
has dropped plans for oil drilling deep in the
ocean off Australia’s south coast following a
sustained campaign from environmentalists.
While industry executives didn’t outline on
Tuesday how they were going to curb their
emissions, they called for much higher carbon
prices and incentives to ramp up clean energy
investments.
“We are the industry that has the people, the
projects, the cash flow and the motivation to
take on this global challenge,” Al Cook, a global
strategy executive at Equinor, said in an
interview.

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
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
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