APS Review Downstream Trends

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Qatar's Energy Base.
The fastest growing economy in the world, Qatar has invested heavily in its energy sector which depends mostly on natural gas. Domestic energy consumption in 2009 is expected to average 17m t/y of o . . .

Qatar - Problems Over.
Technical snags at power plants belonging to RLPC, Qatar Power Co (QPC) and Kahraba on May 30, 2007, left residents of Doha without power for several hours and highlighted a problem for the state as . . .

Qatar - GCC Grid's Phase-1 Completed.
The first phase of GCC power grid was completed on July 26, 2009, with the linking of the networks of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. GCC Inter-Connection Authority (GCCIA) Chairman Yusuf J . . .

Qatar - The Nuclear Option.
After six successive years of rapid economic and population growth in the GCC region, the frantic battle by state-run utilities to ensure demand does not outpace supply has proved to be a great chal . . .

Qatar - The Economic Base.
The country's gas-fuelled economy is one of the few in the world forecast to grow, between 7-9% in 2009, while that of most of the other GCC states is projected to contract amid a slump in crude oil . . .

Qatar - Housing Shortage Turns To Over-Supply.
A significant milestone in Qatar's real estate sector was reached in May when the first residents of The Pearl were handed the keys to their new homes. The $14bn man-made island is the first real es . . .

Nigeria - The NNPC Structure.
NNPC was formed in 1977 from a merger of the state-owned Nigerian National Oil Corp. and a former version of the ministry of petroleum resources. NNPC is to be restructured and turned into a commerc . . .

Nigeria - Billy Agha.
Yar'Adua on Jan. 13, 2009 put Billy Agha, a geologist and former NNPC executive, at the head of DPR to oversee its dissolution and its replacement by the NPI under himself. Chukwueke had become head . . .

Nigeria - Emmanuel Egbogah.
A presidential adviser, Egbogah chairs a committee which examines the fiscal element of PSAs in the country's deep-water fields signed in 1993. An official audit made public on Aug. 11 showed that E . . .

Nigeria - Basil Omiyi.
Shell Nigeria Chairman Omiyi heads the Oil Producers Trade Section, which represents foreign oil companies operating in the country. This has become a powerful lobby for the IOCs, with Shell being t . . .

Nigeria - Malam Lamido Sanusi.
The new Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi on Aug. 6 said about $12bn were being spent annually on various activities in the petroleum industry. He said this sector accounted for . . .

Nigeria - Bello A. Suleiman.
The CEO of Power Holding Co. of Nigeria (PHCN), Suleiman in early 2009 said a drop in power generation in the country from over 3,200 MW to less than 2,819 MW was due to inadequate gas supply. He ad . . .

Nigeria's Political Leadership.
The political situation in Nigeria changed after the sudden death of military dictator Gen. Sani Abacha on June 8, 1998. Abacha, a tyrant, was replaced on the following day by Gen. Abdulsalami Abuba . . .

Nigeria - The Government.
President Yar'Adua on July 26, 2007, officially inaugurated his new cabinet, nearly two months after he took over from Obasanjo. The Senate approved the cabinet nominees on July 24. Consisting of 39 . . .

The Nigerian Petrochemical Sector.
The petrochemical sector in Nigeria has suffered considerably since 2006 due to rebel attacks affecting the country's four oil refineries. Only one of these plants, the Warri refinery, is operating . . .

Nigeria - The Existing Plants.
Phase One of the nation's master plan was funded entirely by the government, through a combination of soft and commercial loans. Finance for the second phase involved both government funding and a c . . .

Nigeria - Phase Two.
Originally scheduled for completion in 1987, the 330,000 t/y ethylene complex under Phase Two came on stream in June 1995, together with a unit with the capacity to produce 90,000 t/y of propylene a . . .

NIGERIA - Phase Three.
The next step by NNPC was to begin work on Phase Three projects, originally set to be completed by 1990. Related ventures have been on the drawing board since the 1970s. The objective of Phase Three . . .

NIGERIA - Fertilisers.
The National Fertiliser Co. of Nigeria (NAFCON) has four plants at Onne, Rivers State, producing 1.2 million t/y of urea and ammonia. This is below their design capacity - 750,000 t/y of ammonia and . . .

NIGERIA - Proposals.
For years Nigerian planners have been promoting new projects in the petrochemical sector. Apart from those under Phase Three, ventures envisaged since the early 1990s have included methanol and MTBE . . .

Nigeria - The Oil Refining Sector.
Nigeria has four oil refineries with a combined nominal capacity of 438,750 b/d. But they are only running at 87,750 b/d and their proposed privatisation - they have been on offer for several years . . .

Nigeria -Failed Privatisations.
The controversial sale of the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries to the local Blue Star Oil Services consortium collapsed in mid-July 2007 because of objections by NNPC and powerful petroleum labou . . .

Nigeria - Lukman's Intervention.
Powerful Petroleum Minister Rilwanu Lukman, a former OPEC chief and veteran of Nigeria's decision-making mechanism for this sector, in May 2009 announced a plan to overhaul and privatise the refiner . . .

Nigeria - Port Harcourt - Alesa-Eleme.
The refinery at Alesa-Eleme near Port Harcourt is the oldest in Nigeria. Shell-BP Petroleum Refining Co. was formed in 1960 to build and operate the plant. In 1962, the state acquired 50% in this an . . .

Nigeria - Port Harcourt - Rivers State.
Originally conceived as an export refinery, this plant has a capacity of 150,000 b/d and is relatively the best in the sector. It came on stream in 1989. Normally fuel oil produced at the plant is p . . .

Nigeria - Warri.
The Warri refinery, located in the centre of the oil-producing region to the west of the Niger Delta, is the second oldest plant in Nigeria and is in the worst condition. The decision to build it wa . . .

Nigeria - Kaduna.
With a capacity of 110,000 b/d, the Kaduna refinery was closed down in late July 1997 due to an accident. Total in late August 1997 won a three-year contract worth about $200m to repair the plant, p . . .

Nigeria - Distribution & Marketing.
Distribution of oil products in Nigeria is done through more than 7,000 stations. The transport facilities which bring the products to these outlets are managed by PPMC. Storage and distribution d . . .

The Nigerian Energy Base.
Nigeria, the seventh largest oil producer in the world and rich in natural resources, suffers from a chronic fuel shortage. Its poor energy base is compounded with huge economic problems. The countr . . .

Nigeria - The Local Oil Market.
Domestic consumption of petroleum liquids and biofuels during the week to July 31, 2009, averaged about 408,000 b/d of crude oil equivalent, up from less than 300,000 b/d in mid-2007. This is due ma . . .

Nigeria - Biofuels.
Biofuels were introduced into Nigeria's energy mix in 2007 by NNPC. In July 2007, the then NNPC group managing director, engineer Funso Kupolokun, said the biofuels were being produced by specialise . . .

Nigeria - The Natural Gas Sector.
Very rich in natural gas, both associated with oil production and free gas being the main sources of methane and ethane, Nigeria should have being on of the main gas consumers in the developing worl . . .

Nigeria - Gas E&P Offering.
The Petroleum Ministry on Dec. 4, 2008, said it had offered several gas-rich E&P blocks to IOCs and domestic energy companies. It said 48 firms had expressed interest in working with NNPC's E&P arm, . . .

Nigeria - New Gas Flaring Deadline.
The federal government in March 2009 proposed pushing back its deadline to end gas flaring in the country to 2010 to allow time for the development of its gas sector. Oil companies were supposed to . . .

Nigeria - The Power Sector.
The CEO of Power Holding Co. of Nigeria (PHCN), Bello A. Suleiman, in January 2009 said there was a drop in the country's power generation from over 3,200 MW to less than 2,819 MW, due to inadequate . . .

Libya - Hanniba'l al-Qadhafi.
The ruler's youngest son, Hanniba'l is a shrewd businessman. He heads the state-owned oil and gas liquids carrier, the General National Maritime Transport Co. (GNMTC). GNMTC has a fleet of 18 crude . . .

Libya - 'Abdullah Salem Al-Badri.
Chosen as OPEC's Secretary-General in late 2006, Badri until March 2006 used to be chairman of NOC and of its governing council. He had taken up the NOC position in March 2004 from Abdul-Hafith Mahm . . .

Libya - 'Umar Al-Badri.
OPEC secretary-General in the early 1970s and now an oil consultant in Tripoli, Dr Badri often advises the decision-makers in Libya's petroleum sector. In early 2009, he warned of a new wave of reso . . .

Libya - Qadhafi On Oil Wealth Distribution & Nationalisation.
Speaking through a satellite link from Libya to students at Georgetown University in Washington, Col Qadhafi on Jan. 21, 2009, had said: "Libya and perhaps other oil producing countries may move tow . . .

Libya - Farhat 'Umar Bin-Gidara.
The Governor of the Central Bank, Ben-Gidara in October 2008 got his institution to begin buying shares in ENI - with a plan to build up a stake of up to 10% in the Italy's energy giant, which is on . . .

Libya - 1st S&P Rating.
Libya on March 18, 2009, received its first-ever credit rating by a big agency - Standard & Poor's, which assigned the country an A-, putting it in the same category as Greece and Poland. That was a . . .

Libya - Government & Qadhafi Family Interests.
Libya is administered by a 500-member General People's Congress (GPC), equivalent to a national assembly which in March 1977 replaced the once ruling Revolution Command Council (RCC). The executive . . .

Libya - Al-Baghdadi 'Ali Al-Mahmoudi.
The Secretary-General (PM) since March 2006, Dr. Mahmoudi was in March 2006 promoted to the top job to succeed Dr. Shukri Ghanem (who became chairman of NOC see his profile in omt4LibWhoJul27-09). U . . .

Libya - Muhammad Al-Layas.
A public servant since before Qadhafi's Sept. 1, 1969 coup, Layas is CEO of the LIA, a $70 bn SWF which is also known as Libyan Investment Corp (LIC) and was set up in late 2006. The LIA is an umbre . . .

Libya - 'Abdul-Hafith Mahmoud Zlitni.
Head of the powerful General Planning Council, Dr Zlitni once served as PM, head of the energy sector and chairman of NOC. A key technocrat, he has held various top positions during the past decades . . .

Libya's Trans-National System's Majority Sold To US Firm; Focus Shifts To Africa.
Libya has had major assets overseas which have helped raise its share of the world's oil market. They have included downstream operations in Europe where two formerly Lebanese-controlled companies a . . .

Tamoil Africa In Uganda.
TAH in March 2009 got Uganda's fuel reserve and a permit to have a 150m-litre fuel terminal/depot installed in Kampala to deal with emergencies. TAH is also having a $250m Eldoret-Kampala oil pipeli . . .

Tamoil In Kenya.
TAH's local unit Libya Oil Kenya on Nov. 7, 2007, launched its retail outlet's brand OiLibya, signing off the exit of Mobil outlets after it brought out ExxonMobil's interest in the country. Under a . . .

The Financial Background.
Before the US lifted unilateral sanctions against Libya and normalised ties with Tripoli in 2004, billions of dollars worth of liquid and semi-liquid assets had been the subject of constant re-deplo . . .

The Oilinvest Origin.
Oilinvest as a group emerged in the 1980s after Libya's acquisition of the two formerly Lebanese-controlled companies, Tamoil and Gatoil. Now Tamoil is the biggest unit of Oilinvest. Tamoil, movin . . .