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Energy in Middle East

  • Iran to upgrade Arak heavy water reactor by 2022

    IRAN, 2017/08/26 Project on re-designing of Iran’s Arak heavy-water reactor will be completed by 2022. Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), told local media that the operations to re-design Arak heavy water reactor is proceeding in accordance with the schedule, adding that the project would finish before 2022. He added that the re-designing of Arak reactor – which was renamed to Khandab heavy water reactor – had by presently entered the second phase, Press TV reported on August 25.

  • Utilities privatisation in Saudi Arabia forges ahead

    SAUDI ARABIA, 2017/07/31 Moves to privatise utilities assets in Saudi Arabia and expand the reach of its networks through increased investment should create new opportunities for private operators and service providers. Near-term asset sales The government is gearing up to sell a state-owned power generation firm and a water desalination company by the end of this year, according to Mohammed Al Tuwaijri, the vice-minister for economy and planning, who said each would be a multi-billion-dollar deal.

  • Ambitious federal targets set to reshape Sharjah’s long-term energy mix

    UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, 2017/04/16 Sharjah is looking to improve energy efficiency and increase renewable power production as part of a UAE-wide drive towards cleaner energy. In early January Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice-president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, unveiled the UAE Energy Plan 2050, which aims to increase clean energy usage by 50% and improve energy efficiency by 40%. Moves to boost the use of renewable sources, nuclear power and clean fossil fuels in power generation will be funded by a federal government investment of Dh600bn ($163.4bn) over the next 33 years, equating to an annual spend of additional than Dh17bn ($4.6bn). This is expected to translate to a 70% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and savings worth Dh700bn ($190.6bn).

  • Low oil prices push Kuwait into budget deficit

    KUWAIT, 2016/08/30 Lower oil prices have pushed Kuwait into a rare budget deficit, ending 16 straight years of surpluses for the energy-rich Gulf national, the finance minister said. The OPEC member recorded a budget shortfall of 4.6 billion dinars ($15.3 billion) in the fiscal year which ended on March 31, Anas al-Saleh said in a statement carried by the KUNA news agency late Monday. It was the initial shortfall since the fiscal year to March 1999.

  • Georgia Ships High Enriched Uranium To Russia

    GEORGIA, 2016/01/03 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has announced “an extra succcess in world nuclear non-proliferation efforts”, with the shipment of high enriched uranium (HEU) from Georgia this week. The 1.83 kg of HEU was removed from the Breeder-1 Neutron Source at Tbilisi National University in Georgia to a fasten storage facility in Russia. The Georgian government in June requested assistance from the IAEA for the HEU removal operation. The IAEA subsequently contracted LUCH, a subsidiary of Russian national nuclear corporation Rosatom, and the Tbilisi National University’s Andronikashvili Institute of Physics in Georgia for the removal.

  • Bahrain ramps up energy spending

    BAHRAIN, 2015/12/29 Against a backdrop of weaker hydrocarbons prices, Bahrain is stepping up counter-cyclical downstream investments aimed at boosting energy and economic security. In mid-October Abdul Hussain bin Ali Mirza, minister of energy and chairman of Tatweer Petroleum, said a contract for a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal to handle and process gas imports on the island would be awarded by the end of the year. Specifications According to the minister, the $400m terminal – which will be located near Khalifa Bin Salman Port, the country’s main maritime hub – will be brought online by early 2018, helping to ensure Bahrain’s long-term energy security.

  • SOCAR eyes more oil from new offshore platform

    AZERBAIJAN, 2015/11/22 Azerbaijan’s energy giant SOCAR will build a new stationary offshore platform No.140 on the Chilov field for additional 18,250 tons of oil per year. The company reported that the platform is designed for drilling 10 wells with a daily output of five tons each. “The facility will be installed at a depth of 5-6 meters,” the message said. “A residential block for 40 people will be built, inclunding modern drilling equipment, a crane, fire alarm system, lifeboats, reservoirs for drinking water and fuel with a volume of 80 and 50 cubic meters and other necessary equipment will be installed.” “Five diesel generators will be installed on the platform to ensure uninterrupted power supply,” according to the message. “In addition, the platform will meet all environmental requirements.”

  • Azerenergy to ensure uninterrupted electricity supplies this winter

    AZERBAIJAN, 2015/09/24 Azerbaijan’s biggest power producer, Azerenergy JSC, will ensure uninterrupted supplies of electricity this winter throughout Azerbaijan, according to Press Secretary of the Azerenergy Tanriverdi Mustafayev. To achieve these results, specialists at the company have made evolution not only in Baku, but as well in country's regions in replacing the outdated wooden electric poles, transformers, and substations, said Mustafayev. Furthermore, the company has constructed roughly 700 new transformer substations, and 700 additional will be built by end of the current year. In addition, as a lot of as 34 substations and power transmission lines with a total length of 50 kilometers are under construction, while about 100,000 wooden power transmission poles have been restored with iron.

  • Energy projects not affected by tense situation in Turkey

    TURKEY, 2015/09/15 Turkey continues to implement energy projects in the country’s southeast, the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources told Trend Sept. 14. The ministry said the tense situation in the southeast of Turkey has in no way affected the implementation of energy projects in that region. In particular, this concerns the project for construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP). The TANAP project envisages the transportation of gas of Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field from the Georgian-Turkish border to the western borders of Turkey.

  • Kurds to support oil companies in Iraq with regular payments

    IRAQ, 2015/08/30 A move to issue regular payments to oil companies operating in the Kurdish north of Iraq should help them endure the market downturn, the government said. The Ministry of Natural Resources of the semiautonomous Kurdish government said it would issue the initial batch of regular payments to oil companies by the middle of next month. The decision came next a Kurdish oil council approved the allocation of between $75 million and $100 million of the revenue generated from direct oil sales. The Kurdish government said it recognized that international oil companies are struggling to maintain normal operations because of the lack of payments during a depressed oil economy.
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