By Walid Khadduri | – Major international oil companies have submitted bids to participate in Cy­prus’ third licensing round for three southern offshore blocks adjacent to Egypt’s northern waters. The three Cypriot licensing rounds have encountered a number of challenges. Turkey’s threats to operating firms overshadowed the first licensing round. It threatened to boycott IOCs operating in Cypriot waters. It did not allow the IOCs to take crude oil from Turkish ports. The IOCs were also not allowed to distribute petroleum products in the Turkish market. …

By Colin Chilcoat | – 2015 was a surprisingly good year for British oil production; it was up on the year for the first time in more than 15 years. Global production wasn’t too shabby either, growing some 2.5 percent on the backs of headstrong Russian, Saudi, and US producers. Of course, with building global inventories, this is all occurring amid precipitously and steadily falling prices. Sustainability – though impressive to date – remains a key question in 2016 for major and marginal producers alike. Among the latter …

Álvaro Fernández | – Around 55%, or 3 Tbbl, of the world’s total conventional oil resources have so far been left untouched as current technologies are not advanced enough to reach them. At the same time, the rate of replacement of the produced reserves by new discoveries has declined steadily over the last decade. As a result, optimizing mature oil fields through the use of EOR technologies presents a profitable opportunity for oil companies. In this study, different chemical EOR techniques (such as polymers, surfactants and low-salinity waterflooding) have been tested in a turbiditic oil …

The head of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has warned that maintaining the country’s position as a leading oil producer depends on lawmakers passing a long-delayed petroleum industry bill (PIB) to “remove the uncertainty surrounding the future fiscal framework in the oil and gas sector”. NNPC group managing director Andrew Yakubu said the PIB “will promote transparency, accountability, good governance and see a level playing field for players in the Nigerian oil industry”. The PIB will “doubtless attract the much needed investment in the …

According to a report issued in 2013 by the International Energy Agency, Mexico is compromised to use five percent of bioethanol in their gasoline since 2012. However, it has failed due to lack of incentives and technologies to produce it on an industrial scale. Therefore, Mexican researchers are working to design a process platform that will be able to achieve it. “Producing biofuels (bioethanol, biogas or hydrogen) in a laboratory scale and from almost any agro waste is technically feasible. The challenge is to do …

By Simon Allison – There aren’t many people who can raise enough money to build a $9 billion oil refinery in Nigeria. Fortunately, Aliko Dangote is one of them. His new project, when it gets off the ground, could revolutionise the Nigerian economy – and, for the first time, allow oil-rich Nigeria to stop importing all its petrol. Nigeria’s oil paradox is one familiar to many African countries, where an abundance of resources often swamps the ability to use these natural gifts effectively. Nations may …

By  Jen Alic – Kenya is moving forward incrementally with its massive $24 billion regional infrastructure project, the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transit Corridor (LAPSSET), awarding a key tender to a Chinese company. In early April, a consortium led by China Communications Construction Company won the tender to build the first three berths at Kenya’s Lamu Port—the first step towards an overall plan that will link South Sudan and Ethiopia—both landlocked—to the Indian Ocean port and create the infrastructure necessary to bring East African hydrocarbons to international markets. …