Energy Boost Success - IN CYPRUS / CYPRUS WEEKLY

April 22, 2017
Charles Ellinas

With the collapse of global oil prices, the question just over a year ago was ‘is this the end of the shale boom?’ A year later, technology and OPEC’s production cuts have breathed new life into the US shale oil industry.

This revival has a global impact and is one of the factors keeping global oil and gas prices low, which also impacts development of East Med hydrocarbons.

A period of low oil prices forced the US shale industry to cut costs and boost efficiency. Over the last two years US shale companies re-organised and reshaped themselves into more efficient and fitter, lower cost, companies, precisely in response to the difficult times they went through.

RPT-BUZZ-Rosneft buys Egyptian crude for first time in tender - REUTERS

Wed Mar 8, 2017 6:08pm GMTReporting By Julia Payne; Editing by Susan Fenton

The trading arm of Russia's state oil firm Rosneft bought three cargoes of Egypt's heavy sour Ras Gharib grade, the first time the company has bought Egyptian crude, trading sources familiar with the matter said.

Geneva-based Rosneft Trading won the cargoes loading in April, May and June via a sell tender by Egypt's state owned EGPC that closed on Feb. 24.

EGPC sold a total of seven cargoes, Swiss trader Petraco won the remaining four.

Rosneft is now sourcing light crude grades for its German refinery after a deal with partner BP expired last year.

Libya: OPEC gives go ahead to double oil production - ECOFIN AGENCY

Thursday, 17 November 2016 - 09:14Anita Fatunji

(Ecofin Agency) - The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has given Libya the green light to increase its crude oil export regardless of a deal being set up to cut production to manage the oversupply of crude oil and bolster prices.

According to the chairman of the National Oil Corporation (NOC), Mustafa Sanalla, Libya’s production currently stands at 600,000 barrels of oil per day and has Africa’s largest crude oil reserves.

He added that the goal is to increase oil production to 900,000 barrels per day by the end of this year and target 1.1 million barrels of oil per day in 2017.

Sanalla said Libya is heading toward economic revival but ongoing clashes still put oil facilities at risk of being attacked again.

Libya to resume oil exports from biggest ports within a week - WORLD OIL

By HATEM MOHAREB on 7/7/2016

TRIPOLI (Bloomberg) -- Libya will resume crude exports from two of its biggest oil ports within one week after clashes that forced Islamic State militants to pull out of the area, according to the commander of the petroleum guards in the region.

Crude exports will resume from Es Sider, the country’s biggest oil port, and Ras Lanuf, the third-largest, and which have been closed since 2014, Ibrahim al-Jedran, a regional commander of Libya’s Petroleum Facilities Guard, said in a phone interview. The exports will be under the authority of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord, which is seeking to reunify the divided country, he said.

Some “minor technical problems” related to the transportation network between the oil storage tanks and the Es Sider and Ras Lanuf oil ports due to damage, inflicted during clashes since last year, will be fixed within a few days, al-Jedran said.