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Copyright © 2015 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 publication. However, no warranty is given to the accuracy of its content. Page 1 NewBase 01 June 2015 - Issue No. 616 Khaled Al Awadi NewBase For discussion or further details on the news below you may contact us on +971504822502, Dubai, UAE Solar Impulse to make history by crossing the Pacific Ocean Solar Impulse took off for its seventh flight from Nanjing to Hawaii on Saturday May 30th at 18:39 UTC. André Borschberg will attempt to cross the Pacific on solar energy only, a first in history! To celebrate this historic moment, Solar Impulse initiated the #futureisclean campaign, to promote clean technologies. Discover the exciting challenge on www.futureisclean.org/paperplane. The Swiss pilot of a solar-powered plane has embarked on the longest leg of the first attempt to fly around the world without a drop of fuel. André Borschberg took off from Nanjing, China, early on Sunday morning in the Solar Impulse 2 for a flight across the Pacific Ocean expected to last six days and five nights. If he succeeds it will also be the longest a solo pilot has ever flown an aircraft. The plane’s journey started in March in Abu Dhabi, and the solar plane has stopped in Oman, India, Burma and China. The 5,079-mile flight from Nanjing to Hawaii – almost all of it over the sea – is the seventh of 12 flights and the most dangerous, as well as six times longer than any single leg so far. “This is the moment of truth,” Mr Borschberg, 62, said before take-off. He has been taking it in turns with another Swiss pilot, Bertrand Piccard, to fly the single-seater plane in a journey that will eventually take around five months to complete. After Hawaii, the plan is for Mr Piccard to fly the aircraft on to Phoenix, Arizona. Mr Borschberg is in no doubt how tough the flight will be. “It’s more in the end about myself; it’s going to be an inner voyage,” he told the BBC before departure. “It’s going to be a discovery about how I feel and how I sustain myself during these five or six days in the air.”

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Page 1: NewBase 616 special 01 June 2015

Copyright © 2015 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

publication. However, no warranty is given to the accuracy of its content. Page 1

NewBase 01 June 2015 - Issue No. 616 Khaled Al Awadi

NewBase For discussion or further details on the news below you may contact us on +971504822502, Dubai, UAE

Solar Impulse to make history by crossing the Pacific Ocean

Solar Impulse took off for its seventh flight from Nanjing to Hawaii on Saturday May 30th at 18:39 UTC. André Borschberg will attempt to cross the Pacific on solar energy only, a first in history! To celebrate this historic moment, Solar Impulse initiated the #futureisclean campaign, to promote clean technologies. Discover the exciting challenge on www.futureisclean.org/paperplane.

The Swiss pilot of a solar-powered plane has embarked on the longest leg of the first attempt to fly around the world without a drop of fuel. André Borschberg took off from Nanjing, China, early on

Sunday morning in the Solar Impulse 2 for a flight across the Pacific Ocean expected to last six days and five nights. If he succeeds it will also be the longest a solo pilot has ever flown an aircraft.

The plane’s journey started in March in Abu Dhabi, and the solar plane has stopped in Oman, India, Burma and China. The 5,079-mile flight from Nanjing to Hawaii – almost all of it over the sea – is the seventh of 12 flights and the most dangerous, as well as six times longer than any single leg so far.

“This is the moment of truth,” Mr Borschberg, 62, said before take-off.

He has been taking it in turns with another Swiss pilot, Bertrand Piccard, to fly the single-seater plane in a journey that will eventually take around five months to complete. After Hawaii, the plan is for Mr Piccard to fly the aircraft on to Phoenix, Arizona. Mr Borschberg is in no doubt how tough the flight will be.

“It’s more in the end about myself; it’s going to be an inner voyage,” he told the BBC before departure. “It’s going to be a discovery about how I feel and how I sustain myself during these five or six days in the air.”

Page 2: NewBase 616 special 01 June 2015

Copyright © 2015 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

publication. However, no warranty is given to the accuracy of its content. Page 2

Mr Piccard said: “The pilot needs to do everything on his own. And it’s a very large aeroplane, big wingspans, sensitive to turbulence, flying quite slow... But we have an auto-pilot, we have toilets on board, we have food for days, water reserves and everything, and we are well trained.”

The carbon-fibre aircraft is covered with solar panels which drive the four propeller engines. During daylight hours, when it is designed to climb to 27,800ft, spare energy from the 17,000 solar cells is used to charge lithium batteries. These power the plane at night as it glides down to 5,000ft. The two-ton aircraft’s 236ft wingspan is longer than a Boeing 747’s and it has a top speed of 86 mph.

The pilots learned meditation techniques to maintain their concentration throughout the journey, and take regular, 20-minute naps.

The plane’s departure from China was delayed for about a month as the pilots waited for the necessary conditions: favourable winds to shorten its flying time and clear skies enabling it to absorb maximum solar energy.

Page 3: NewBase 616 special 01 June 2015

Copyright © 2015 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

publication. However, no warranty is given to the accuracy of its content. Page 3

UAE: Westinghouse sees Abu Dhabi as its base for regional nuclear energy expansion. The National + NewBase

Westinghouse plans to use its Abu Dhabi office as a base to expand its nuclear business in the region, according to a top executive. The American company is one of the largest subcontractors for the UAE’s nuclear power project at Barakah in Al Gharbia, about 50 kilometres west of Ruwais.

That Westinghouse is setting up a base in Abu Dhabi underlines the fact that demand for electricity in the Arabian Gulf – and the Middle East in general – is among the fastest-growing in the world.

There are dozens of potential nuclear power projects on the drawing board, with advanced planning for 16 new reactors in Saudi Arabia alone, where electricity

demand is growing at 8 per cent a year.

“We knew we wanted a strong position here in the Middle East, and we’ve been looking at the establishment of this office for some time,” said Jeff Benjamin, Westinghouse’s head of new plants and major projects.

“I see it as the Middle East base as other countries in the region consider their plans. It makes perfect sense to use our operations here as a focal point for examining those projects and determining which of those we want to be a part of.”

The Barakah project – the first of its kind in the region and one of the largest in the world – is being closely watched by the industry and nuclear security authorities worldwide as setting a benchmark for civilian nuclear projects in the Middle East.

“This is one of the iconic new-build construction projects in the world today,” said Mr Benjamin. It is proving to be the “gold standard” of nuclear projects worldwide and is one of the few to stay on schedule, according to him.

The Barakah project, which was commissioned at the end of 2008 by Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp, is led by Korean Electric Power Corp. The first of four of its APR1400 reactors is due to start operating at the end of 2017, with the annual addition of the rest through 2020, when the project is expected to supply about 25 per cent of the UAE’s electricity needs.

Westinghouse is building the coolant pumps for the plant, as well as its digital control centre, “the brains of the plant”. The company is also conducting a large-scale training programme for Emirati engineers and other staff, including those who will be the most senior operators of the reactors.

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At the opening of Westinghouse’s office in Abu Dhabi, Ethan Goldrich, deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy, commended the company’s commitment to developing a safe civilian nuclear industry in the UAE and the region.

Toshiba of Japan has since 2006 been the majority owner of the Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse, which has a long industrial history in the United States. Kazakhstan’s nuclear

company holds a passive minority stake. However, Westinghouse works in close cooperation with the US government to ensure that national security goals are met.

“We’re in constant dialogue with the US government over all of the potential projects globally, and obviously take their input as part of our consideration and continually assess where they are in terms of bilateral agreements,” said Mr Benjamin.

Westinghouse’s extensive training programme enables it to meet the goals that Enec set, he said. It also ensures that the safety and security benchmarks set by the International Atomic Energy Agency are met.

Page 5: NewBase 616 special 01 June 2015

Copyright © 2015 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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Syria’s dismantled economy, oilfields and gasfields

Robin Mills + NewBase

Around Palmyra in Syria, seized by ISIL on May 20, are not only the ancient treasures of a great trading city, but valuable natural resources. ISIL took the Arak and Al Hail gasfields to add to the oilfields they control in the east of the country. This marks another blow to the Assad regime and another step in Syria’s economic disintegration.

Al Hail and Arak, east of Palmyra, are important for supplying remaining regime-held parts of Syria around Homs and Damascus with gas for electricity generation. A pipeline also runs from the Arak field north-west to Aleppo, where the electricity supply has been wrecked by fighting, sabotage and overloads. Trees have been cut down for firewood during the cold winter, and residents die of electric shocks from jury-rigged cables.

Attempts by the US-led coalition to reduce ISIL’s financing by destroying makeshift oil refineries in eastern Syria may have had some success, but they worsened shortages of diesel and heating oil across the country.

Persistent fighting has centered on Al Shaer gasfield, west of Palmyra. ISIL first captured it in July last year and again in October, but were driven out both times by counter-attacks from Assad’s forces, with many killed on both sides. With the capture of Palmyra, the gasfield may again be ISIL’s next target. A number of other fields in this area, such as Al Mahr and Jihar, just north of the Homs-Palmyra road and gas pipeline, were taken and retaken in November. Pipelines to western Syria have frequently been blown up.

While the fields east of Palmyra yielded about 40 million cubic feet of gas per day, the ones to the west are much more important – they may be producing between 250 million and 300 million cubic feet per day, enough to generate 1,500 megawatts of power. Without gas, the power plants

Page 6: NewBase 616 special 01 June 2015

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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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around Homs and Damascus will have to either shut down or run on expensive fuel oil – another financial burden on the Assad regime and its Iranian backers.

ISIL already controls the Tabqa, Baath and Tishreen dams on the Euphrates, with 1,535MW of capacity. This compares to Syria’s entire pre-war generating capacity of about 8,500MW, though of course demand has also fallen because of refugee flight and economic collapse.

Unless they cut a deal with the Assad regime in return for funds, the fields are useless to ISIL, which cannot sell the gas without the requisite infrastructure.

Such arrangements have apparently been reached for oil, gas and electricity supplies from other opposition-held areas – the British researcher David Butter suggested that Jabhat Al Nusra was selling gas last year to regime areas in central Syria.

Despite such shadowy deals, and some ingenious makeshift repairs, Syria’s energy infrastructure will continue to disintegrate from war damage, the severing of links and lack of maintenance. For now, the loss of the gas fields around Palmyra will be a further blow to a regime already reeling from a series of military defeats.

In oil- and gas-rich Iraq, with much less war damage, the electricity sector never properly recovered after 2003. Power shortages have been a crippling burden on economic recovery and quality of life, with some evidence that better electricity supplies may have reduced insurgent violence. The task in Syria will be much harder.

The country’s oil and gas resources are not large enough to have been a cause of war, but they do play a part in sustaining it. Syria’s geography also makes it a key thread in networks of oil, gas and electricity that could weave the Levant together. Rebuilding a possible post-war Syria, or even de facto autonomous and relatively peaceful areas within it, will require piecing together the torn energy tapestry.

Page 7: NewBase 616 special 01 June 2015

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Iran: To spend all of post-sanctions gain at home to lift growth

Reuters+ NewBase

Iranians will demand their government spend a windfall from the lifting of economic sanctions on improving the quality of life at home, limiting the degree to which a future nuclear deal could fund Tehran’s allies on Middle East battlefields. Since 2012, Iran has given support worth billions of dollars to regional allies, funding and arming its allies in conflicts that have taken on a sectarian dimension. Its rivals say lifting sanctions will provide it with the means to do even more.

Within months of financial sanctions being lifted, Iran will be able to collect debts from overseas banks that may exceed $100bn, mostly from oil importers whose payments have been blocked, diplomats and analysts said. But with the budget strained by last year’s heavy fall in oil prices, and public expectations of improved socio-economic conditions in the event of a deal, the authorities will face pressure to invest new funds at home. “The idea that Iran is going to have its pockets full of cash that it can use for discretionary purposes, I think is exaggerated,” Charles Hollis, managing director for the Middle East at FTI Consulting, said. Infrastructure in the vital oil sector has fallen into disrepair during years of mismanagement and isolation, and the oil ministry has lobbied for huge cash injections that will be necessary to bring production back to pre-sanctions levels. Deputy oil minister Mansour Moazzami said in February that the oil industry needed $30bn of investment a year in order to maintain production and develop new projects, in comments carried by the ministry’s news agency Shana. Iranian officials have not speculated in public about how much money they might receive from a nuclear deal, or how it would be distributed. Analysts said any cash windfall would probably be

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deposited initially in the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), making it relatively difficult for the country’s secretive security officials to spirit it away to foreign battlefields.

“As soon as there is a sense that the money is there, every government department is going to start looking for flows,” said David Butter, a Middle East economic analyst and associate fellow at Chatham House. The establishment will also face pressure from Iran’s large and vocal middle class, which turned out in force to elect President Hassan Rouhani in 2013, hoping his agenda of better management at home and pragmatic diplomacy abroad could improve their economic fortunes. “I have to support a family of four. I don’t have time to think about politics or the nuclear issue. What people like me need is an

improved economy,” said teacher Gholamreza Behrad in Tehran. “Hopefully it will happen when the sanctions are lifted.” Despite facing economic hardship under sanctions, Iran has ramped up support to allies such as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Iraq’s Shia militias, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and, Tehran’s foes say, Houthi rebels who have taken over much of Yemen. Gulf countries have expressed alarm at Iran’s activities in the region, which they portray as aggressive and destabilising. The argument is also made in the US, where the administration of President Barack Obama faces opposition to its decision to offer to lift of sanctions in return for a nuclear deal. “If Iran gets major sanctions relief... that will mean more money flowing into Iranian coffers and a windfall Iran can use to step up its influence in the region even more,” Matthew Kroenig, a fellow at the Atlantic Council, said. Administration officials downplay those fears. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said in April that most of the money Iran received from sanctions relief would not be used to support regional proxies and activities. “Iran will be under enormous pressure to use previously blocked resources to improve its domestic economy,” Lew said. Iran’s most costly intervention is in Syria, whose government last week requested a new credit line worth $1bn from Tehran after months of setbacks on the battlefield. Matthew Levitt, a fellow at the Washington Institute and former Treasury official, said Iran’s support for regional allies did not depend on whether a nuclear deal is signed, since the leadership would fund them anyway. “Iran has plenty of money right now to be able to fund those foreign policy projects that it considers to be of core interest, even if it doesn’t have all the funds in the budget,” he said.

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Iranian paramilitary activities are run by the secretive Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and funded outside the budgetary framework, meaning there are no definitive reports on quite how much money Iran has spent, or how much it has left. Reuters reported in late 2013 that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei controls a holding organisation with assets of around $95bn. The state news agency denounced those reports as “disinformation”. Emile Hokayem, an analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London, estimated Iran gave between $15bn and $19bn worth of support to Syria alone in the two years to the end of 2014.

That figure includes the cost of keeping IRGC commanders in the field, probable shipments of arms and ammunition, and financing such as lines of credit and soft loans, he said. The IRGC is used to operating under sanctions and knows how to pursue its goals without relying heavily on Iran’s limited foreign exchange reserves. Obama said in an interview with the Atlantic magazine last week that the IRGCs most effective activities in the region actually do not cost very much. A significant portion of Iran’s support to allies, including the salaries of IRGC agents, is paid for in rials. Other aid is provided in kind, such as ammunition. Trade deals are negotiated without hard currency changing hands, a Western diplomat said.

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Essar Oil Plans to Boost CBM Output in India by Four Times Press Trust of India + NewBase

Mumbai based private sector energy firm Essar Oil plans to boost coal bed methane (CBM) production in India by four times, news agency Press Trust of India reported Sunday.

"While 120 wells have been already placed on gas production, additional 142 wells have been drilled and presently are at various stages of the hydrofracking- completion-dewatering cycle for gas production increase up to 1.2 million scmd(standard cubic meters per day) over the next few months and 2.5-3 million scmd finally," Essar Oil CEO (E&P) Manish Maheshwari told Press Trust. In April the company said it has become India's biggest CBM producer when output from its Raniganj block crossed 0.5 million standard cubic metres per day (scmd). Located in West Bengal state, Raniganj block, which is company's flagship asset, has already achieved production of 0.62 million scmd.

Maheshwari remained optimistic on completing the development programme ahead of the May 2016 deadline as per the contract with the government, Press Trust added.

Page 11: NewBase 616 special 01 June 2015

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Tanzania awards $9 bln rail projects to Chinese companies REUTERS + NEWBASE

Tanzania has awarded contracts to build new railway lines worth about $9 billion to Chinese firms, its transport minister said, expanding Beijing's presence in East Africa's second-biggest economy.

Transport Minister Samuel Sitta told parliament on Saturday a Chinese consortium had been awarded a contract to build a 2,561 km (1,536 miles) standard gauge railway connecting Dar es Salaam port to land-locked neighbours at a cost of $7.6 billion.

"A consortium of Chinese railway companies led by China Railway Materials (CRM) has been picked to help us build the railway line," he said. The consortium will provide 10 percent of the funding for the project while financial adviser Rothschild is finalising procedures for financing of the project through banks, Sitta said.

The minister said construction of the railway line was expected to start in June.

He said Tanzania had signed a framework agreement with another Chinese company, China Railway No.2 Engineering Group Co. Ltd., to build a railway line linking coal and iron ore mine projects, also under development by a Chinese group, to the southern port of Mtwara near big offshore natural gas discoveries.

The 1,000 km standard gauge railway line is expected to cost at least $1.4 billion, according to the Tanzanian government estimates.

Tanzania said in March it planned to spend $14.2 billion to construct a new rail network in the next five years financed with commercial loans, as the country aims to become a regional transport hub.

Tanzania, like its neighbour Kenya, wants to profit from its long coastline and upgrade existing railways and roads to serve growing economies in the land-locked heart of Africa.

Oil discoveries in Kenya and Uganda and gas finds in Tanzania have turned East Africa into an exploration hotspot for oil firms but transport infrastructure in those countries has suffered from decades of under-investment.

Tanzania last year signed an agreement with China Merchant Holding International (CMHI) to build a new mega port and economic zone at Bagamoyo expected to cost at least $10 billion.

China is also financing a $1.2 billion, 532 km (330 mile) natural gas pipeline in Tanzania.

Page 12: NewBase 616 special 01 June 2015

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Netherlands: Dutch court rejects request to cut gas output at Eemskanaal. Source: Reuters + NewBase

A Dutch court on Friday rejected an application to have gas production halted

at Eemskanaal due to concerns that continued extraction is causing earth tremors, saying

complainants had not proved that stopping output would improve their safety.

The provisional decision by the court, the Council of State, is the second to be made in two months regarding complaints over continued production fromGroningen, Europe's largest gas field, which has been blamed for an increasing incidence in recent years of small earthquakes which have damaged homes and buildings across the region. The Eemskanaal region of the gas field is named after a nearby canal, which is already being strengthened for better earthquake resistance. The court's ruling noted that production was already reduced by 23 percent from 2013 levels in 2014, and that did not lead to fewer earthquakes.

The Eemskanaal section of the field produced around 2 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas in 2014, or a little more than 5 percent of the total 39.4 billion cubic metres theoretically allotted for

the entire Groningen gas field this year. The actual amount Groningen produces will almost certainly be much lower, as Economics Minister Henk Kamp is due to review production on July 1 under strong political and legal pressure to lower the cap.

In February Kamp ordered production from Groningen to be cut back to an annualised rate of 33 bcm for the first half of 2015 after the country's Safety Board said gas companies, regulators and the government had all failed to take the threat of earthquakes seriously enough. That move sent gas prices surging in Northern Europe.

Point Carbon analyst Oliver Sanderson said regional prices did not move after Friday's court decision. Even if Eemskanaal had been ordered shut, production could be made up from other areas to keep Groningen's entire production at between 30 and 35 bcm in 2015, he said.

A majority of Dutch parliament members have said they oppose any production above current rates, implying annual production of no more than 33 bcm.

Regardless of Kamp's decision, challenges to his plans at the Council of State -- a court that hears citizen complaints about government decisions -- are set to continue. The court will review a provisional stoppage ordered at nearby Loppersum, as well as its denial of the complaint at Eemskanaal, after the case gets a full hearing, scheduled for Sept. 10-11.

Page 13: NewBase 616 special 01 June 2015

Copyright © 2015 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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Oil Price Drop Special Coverage

Oil prices fall as OPEC output seen staying high Reuters +NewBase

Crude oil prices dropped on Monday on expectations that OPEC output would remain high after rising in May, stoking worries of oversupply despite declining U.S. rig operations. Crude oil prices jumped almost 5 percent on Friday, their biggest rally in over a month, as a bigger than expected fall in U.S. oil rigs in operation set off a renewed rush of bullish bets.

But prices eased on Monday due to near-record production in most oil-producing regions, especially the Middle East. Front-month Brent crude futures LCOc1 had declined 35 cents to $65.21 per barrel at 1.23 a.m. ET on Monday. U.S. crude futures CLc1 were down 45 cents at $59.85 a barrel.

Oil output by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) likely hit a two-and-a-half year high of 31.22 million barrels per day (bpd) in May and production is not expected to be cut during a meeting of the group this Friday.

U.S. bank Morgan Stanley said that prices could fall in the second half of the year, although it said it was unlikely they would drop back to their six-year lows from January.

"We have growing concerns about crude fundamentals and prices in 2H15 and 2016 after the quick recovery (since January) ... The market appears complacent about rising OPEC production and upcoming Iran discussions, both of which could more than offset U.S. declines," Morgan Stanley said on Monday.

"The drop in the U.S. oil rig count resumed last week with 13 rigs idled ... Despite this decline, we believe that should WTI prices remain near $60/bbl, U.S. producers will ramp up activity given improved returns with costs down by at least 20 percent and producers increasingly comfortable at the current costs/revenue/funding mix," Goldman Sachs said.

The bank said that it expected U.S. oil production growth of 155,000 bpd in the fourth quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2014.

Page 14: NewBase 616 special 01 June 2015

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Taper tantrum victims make way for new trio of fragile countries By Ye Xie and Lyubov Pronina/Bloomberg Business + NewBase

Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa and Turkey were the quintet of countries that suffered through a market rout two years ago after the Federal Reserve initially signalled it would reduce monetary stimulus - the so-called taper tantrum.

As the first US interest-rate increase in almost a decade approaches, the health of emerging-market economies has become more of a mixed picture. The Fragile Five won’t necessarily rise and fall together. India reduced its trade deficit and slowed inflation under new political leadership. Economic initiatives in Indonesia have had varied success, while progress in the remaining three countries has been limited. Colombia, Russia and Peru have seen their growth slow since the taper tantrum. Morgan Stanley ranked them last month as the next group that’s most vulnerable to rising rates.Here’s a look at how things have changed in emerging markets since the turmoil of May 2013. Current accounts: India has cut its deficit to 1.4% of gross domestic product from 5% in 2013, the biggest reduction among the major emerging markets. While the deficits in the broadest measure of trade in goods and services in Turkey and South Africa also declined, they still stand at more than 5% of GDP. The shortfalls in Brazil and Colombia widened as commodity prices fell, and Indonesia still has the largest deficit in the region. ``India has made the most progress,’’ said Ed Parker, head of the Europe, Middle East and Africa sovereign group at Fitch Ratings. ``In other countries, it has been more mixed.’’

Borrowing costs: Higher interest rates help lure foreign capital. On this front, Colombia, Russia and Turkey are less attractive with inflation- adjusted benchmark rates below zero. Peru’s real cost of borrowing dropped to 0.2% from 1.8% in May 2013. That compares with South Africa and India, where rates have turned to positive, while the benchmark for Brazil stands out at 5.1%, the highest.

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Growth: With exports languishing, emerging-market growth is failing to gain momentum as Brazil and Russia slip into recession and China is growing at the slowest pace since 1990. Developing-nation economies are set to expand 4.3% this year, the least since 2009, according to the International Monetary Fund. ‘’Emerging markets are not healing well,’’ said Bhanu Baweja, UBS London-based head of emerging-market cross-asset strategy. “There’s no improvement in earnings, exports and foreign direct investment. It’s not clear they’re moving towards promoting more productivity growth.’’ Debt exposure: Turkey’s foreign-currency debt is almost four times its dollar reserves, the highest among major economies, according to Morgan Stanley. Malaysia comes second, followed by South Africa.In the local-currency bond market, foreign investors hold 59% of Mexico’s outstanding debt, the most among developing economies, according to Bank of America, Peru, Malaysia, Poland and Indonesia are also exposed with investors holding at least 39% of their credit. A combination of weak current accounts, high foreign ownership in local debt markets and a large debt burden can “destabilise a country very quick,’’ said Sergey Dergachev, a money manager at Union Investment Privatfonds GmbH.

Page 16: NewBase 616 special 01 June 2015

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U.S. Oil Drilling Retreat Drags on for 25th Straight Week Oil explorers idled rigs in U.S. fields for the 25th straight week, drawing out an unprecedented retreat in drilling that has curbed the country’s shale oil boom and helped crude prices rally.

Rigs targeting oil in the U.S. declined by 13 to 646, the lowest since August 2010, field services company Baker Hughes Inc. said on its website Friday. Most of the losses were outside of major basins, with drilling subsiding in states including California and Louisiana.

U.S. energy producers sidelined more than half of the rigs drilling for oil after crude prices collapsed in the second half of last year. The retreat brought production growth from the nation’s biggest shale formations to a halt, suspending a boom that turned the country into the world’s biggest fuel exporter.

“The major basins aren’t bleeding as much as they were, so we’re near the bottom,” James Williams, president of energy consultant WTRG Economics, said by phone from London, Arkansas, on Friday. “We should see a moderate upward move in rigs sometime next month.”

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate oil for July delivery jumped $2.62 Friday to end the week at $60.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 43 percent from the 52-week low of $42.03 reached March 18.

U.S. Production

The U.S. pumped 9.57 million barrels a day in the seven days ended May 22, the most in weekly Energy Information Administration data going back to 1983. Output jumped 3.3 percent, the biggest single-week increase since October 2013.

Texas’s Eagle Ford formation, one of the most productive U.S. shale plays, gained an oil rig this week. The Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, the country’s biggest oil field, and the Williston Basin, home of North Dakota’s prolific Bakken shale, each lost one.

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“Most service companies we speak with feel that ‘the bottom is in’ for U.S. drilling,” Raymond James Ltd. energy analysts including Andrew Bradford said in an e-mailed research note Thursday. “Our estimates had forecast a bottoming in mid-June followed by a painstakingly slow recovery until mid- to late fall, at which point the recovery pace picks up modestly.”

California’s producers idled three oil rigs, dragging the state’s total count to 10, the lowest since at least 1991 when Baker Hughes began releasing state-by-state data. Louisiana also lost three.

OPEC Target

U.S. oil drilling is subsiding as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which accounts for about 40 percent of the world’s oil, resists calls to curb its own output. OPEC will maintain its production target when ministers meet in Vienna on June 5, according to Libya, which joined Kuwait this week in predicting no change in policy.

“While the recent data suggests a bullish environment due to strong gasoline demand and decreasing crude oil inventories, potentially increasing domestic production and the OPEC meeting on Friday June 5th will certainly weigh on the wider energy complex,” strategists from Toronto-Dominion Bank including Michael Loewen wrote in a research note Thursday. “At current prices and growing tight oil production, there is little incentive for the group to cut quota.”

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NewBase For discussion or further details on the news below you may contact us on +971504822502, Dubai, UAE

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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

Mobile: +97150-4822502 [email protected] [email protected]

Khaled Al Awadi is a UAE National with a total of 25 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 01 June 2015 K. Al Awadi

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