The New Oil Minister
Doing very well:
YO The Ministry of Oil and Minerals has delayed awarding the 14 blocks on offer in its current licensing round amid changes to production sharing agreement terms aimed at raising the entry bar for foreign companies.
The Petroleum Exploration & Production Authority (Pepa) has set a new 1 November deadline for the submission of bids, while winners will be named on 30 November.Pepa had been scheduled to award the blocks by mid-July. The pre-qualified companies have been given until 14 September to review data on the concessions. The delay comes after Yemen’s new appointed Oil Minister Khalid Bahah said Pepa was crafting a new production sharing agreement terms that would benefit the country at the expense of foreign explorers.
This step aims at increasing revenues for Yemen and attracting more experienced upstream players. The minister told reporters that the ministry is trying to review the terms and to benchmark them with neighboring countries. He said that the ministry is working to introduce new terms that contain the minimum requirements that satisfy the government. It is supposed to apply to the new round. The present round has attracted intense interest from companies worldwide, with many bidders applying for the same blocks.
20 companies are now bidding, including Total of France, Canada’s Nexen, US-based Occidental, Norway’s DNO and OMV of Austria, all of which already have a presence in Yemen. The open blocks on offer are: 11, 79, 80, 82, 83, 84, 2, 30, 29, 17, 19, 23, 28 and 57 across the country. Other bidders include US independents Anadarko and Apache, Malaysian state oil company Petronas, Brazil’s Petrobras, Japex of Japan, Algeria’s Sonatrach, Australian players Woodside and Oil Search, Spain’s Repsol YPF and UK independent Burren Energy.
The oil minister also stated to a press report that Yemen’s total oil production has now fallen to 380,000 bpd, but predicted output will increase to 400,000 bpd over the next year as a number of development plans bear fruit. He said exploration is expected to go into overdrive in the coming months as Yemen’s parliament moves to ratify 13 previous PSAs with foreign companies.
also recently, the OM spoke about corruption and Yemenization, and cancelled one contract.
New oil minister continues to move against corruption, blasts oil companies on Yemenization.
Yemen to join EITI, the first Arab country to do so, just when all hope seemed lost, a hugely beneficial step. Also it should play well with the donors.
YemGas subcontracts to an Indian Company.
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Construction firm Punj Lloyd Ltd. said on Thursday it had won a contract worth 3.21 billion rupees ($69.2 million) for work on a LNG project in Yemen.
Punj Lloyd said in a statement the contract — secured from Yemgas, a joint venture between French oil rig maker Technip, Japan’s top energy contractor JGC Corp. and Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root — would be its first project in the Middle Eastern country.
Yemen LNG Company Ltd., formed by French oil major Total SA, Hunt Oil, ExxonMobil, Sunkyong and South Korea’s Hyundai, is developing a LNG liquefaction and export terminal at Belhaf in Yemen.
The project involves the construction of “civil, mechanical, piping, electrical and instrument, insulation and painting work for off-sites and utilities … of the Yemen LNG project,” the statement said.
Yemgas gives a contract to an Indian company for….painting?
Egyptian-Yemeni cooperation, a good way to gain technical expertise:
Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmy and Yemeni Minister of Oil and Minerals Khaled Mahfouz Bahah signed two cooperation protocols last month, establishing an equally owned Egyptian-Yemeni petroleum joint venture.
The new company will benefit from Egypt’s expertise in oil and natural gas exploration, project execution, design, drilling, maintenance, refinery upgrading and mine exploration and exploitation.
Lessons learned by Egypt’s top petroleum companies including Geisum, General Petroleum and Tharwa Petroleum will form the building blocks for oil and gas exploration in Yemen and marketing Yemeni oil and gas exploration blocks.
The agreement will also pave the way for Egyptian petroleum services companies including Petrojet, Enppi, and Petroleum Marine Services Company to offer their services to Yemen.
The protocol includes sharing Egypt’s expertise in exporting liquid natural gas, along with cooperation on establishing a geological museum in Yemen and implementing technical services for its governmental and non-governmental institutions.
