New base special 24 april 2014

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NewBase 24 April 2014 Khaled Al Awadi

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Saudi commissions world's biggest desalination plant By Beatrice Thomas , arabianbusiness.com

Saudi Minister of Water and Electricity Abdullah Al Hussayen has commissioned the first phase of world’s largest desalination project, it was reported. The plant, located in the Ras Al Khair Industrial City, 75km north-west of Jubail, is expected to generate 15,000 jobs.

Al Hussayen, who is also chairman of the SWCC board, said the SR27bn ($7.2bn) project has a daily production capacity of 1.025 million cubic metres of desalinated water and 2,600MW of electricity. “The plant will supply 1,350MW of electricity to Maaden, and 1,050MW to Saudi Electricity Co, in addition to 200MW to be used within the plant,” he said.

A total of 800,000 cubic meters of water will be supplied to Riyadh city while another 100,000 cubic meters to Al Washm, Sudair, Majma, Al Zulfi and Al Ghat regions, the Gazette reported. Also, a total of 100,000 cubic meters will be supplied to the regions located north of the Eastern Province, including Hafar Al Batin, Qaisoomah, and Qaryat Al Olya.




Top 12 plants by capacity - DesalData.com

About desalination Plants (�� by : NewBase research )

Desalination plants are going to be increasingly necessary to provide potable water to the worlds populations. As the worlds population continues to grow exponentially, the strains on our potable water supplies increase. Currently water is derived from underground aquifers, aboveground reservoirs such as lakes and rivers, and some is currently taken form the ocean. Currently only 1% of the worlds water is available for consumption, by increasing the desalination plants we will be increasing the percentage of water available to humans. A desalination plant is a plant which removes salt and other impurities from sea water to make it potable. This can either be done by Reverse Osmosis or Multi-Stage Flash plants.

Population is one of the major factors influencing the need for desalination plants worldwide. The worlds population is growing exponentially, therefore exponentially increasing the demand for water. As seen in Figure 3 the worlds population is expected to reach nine billion by the year 2050. This is an additional 3 billion people to the current population, or a fifty percent increase in only 46 years.

Desalination can be the answer to the worlds water resource problems. A desalination plant is a plant which removes salt, and other substances from a water source. These plants can draw either from the ocean or underground saline aquifers as seen in Figure 10. All desalination plants involve three liquid streams; the saline/brackish feedwater, the low salinity product water, and the brine (byproduct-high salinity). The feedwater is supplied from oceanic or underground sources, and is separated by the desalination process into the product water and brine water streams. The product water from desalination plants has less than 500mg/1 dissolved solids. This is suitable for domestic, agricultural, and industrial applications. The brine is very concentrated with a more than 35,000 mg/1 dissolved solids. This brine can be discharged into deep saline aquifers, diluted with effluent, or discharged into surface waters. Desalination plants can be used to tap into the vast oceans, and use them as a viable water source, suitable for human consumption. Over seventy-five percent of the world is covered by water, but water is not an endless resource. 97.2 percent of




the water in the world is salt water, unfit for human consumption. 2.38 percent is frozen in icecaps, or glaciers and is also unavailable. 0.397 percent is in ground water, 0.022 percent in surface water, and 0.001 percent in the atmosphere . By introducing desalination plants we can gain access to 231 times as much water as is presently available. there are different methods of desalination. There are Reverse Osmosis, Distillation, and Electrolysis. The most widely used in the world today is reverse osmosis, however as the others become more economically feasible there use will increase.

Reverse Osmosis (RO) is one of the ways that water is cleaned in desalination plants. The RO process uses water permeable membranes to remove dissolved salts from the feedwater. The feed water is pressurized and pushed through the membrane. 250 - 400 pounds per square inch (psi) is required for brackish water and 800-1000 psi is required for seawater. The water that gets through the membrane is the product water, and the rest of the feedwater continues through the pressurized side of the reactor as brine. The incoming feedwater is pretreated to make it more compatible with the membrane. Suspended solids are removed, the pH is adjusted, and a threshold inhibitor. The feedwater is then pressurized to the proper psi depending on the waters salinity. The feedwater is then pushed through the permeable membrane. There are a variety of membranes that can be used for the RO process. The most popular are spiral wound and hollow fine fiber membranes made of cellulose acetate, aromatic polyamides, or thin polymer composites. Fresh water comes out of the membrane and the brine is discharged. The membrane used in RO is not perfect and some dissolved salts do pass through but at an acceptable level. The product water must now be stabilized. The product water is passed through a aeration column, where the pH is raised from approximately 5 to 7. The water is then piped to a storage tank for later use. A good RO system will remove 99 percent of the bacteria, and 90 percent of the organic solids.

Distillation (Multi-stage flash systems): The multi-stage flash evaporator is another device used to desalinate water. The seawater or brine is heated until it is ready to flash, this flashed vapor is then drawn into the cooler tube where it is condensed and collected. Distillation is the oldest form of desalination with the first plant being put into operation in Curacao, Netherlands, in 1928. Filtered raw seawater is introduced into the system as cooling water for the condensation process, the majority of this cooling water is discharged, however a portion of this seawater is introduced into the system for distillation. This feedwater is deaerated and mixed with the recirculating brine water at the end of the process. This mixture of deaerated seawater and recycled brine (Fig. 12.) is pushed through the heating stages, this brine is heated more in each stage of the heat recovery process. After passing through the last of the heat recovery stages the brine is heated to it's hottest temperature of 110 degrees Fahrenheit in the brine heater, this brine is heated using an external stream of low pressure steam. Next the feedwater is passed through the stages where flashing occurs. Flashing is also called flash boiling. The flashing occurs when heated brine is turbulated in a chamber that has a lower vapor pressure than the heated brine. The brine gives up heat and a portion of it is given off as vapor, until the brine reaches the saturation temperature that correlates with the pressure in the chamber. Basically the heated brine is flashed due to pressure reduction. The pure vapor condenses in the condenser tubes and are piped to the distillate storage




area. Brine droplets are removed from the vapor by entrainment separators. This entire process operates under a vacuum condition and moves from a low vacuum to high vacuum conditions from start to finish. The pressure differential between stages is the key to the multiple flashing . Figure 14 shows the largest current MSF desalination plant in operation, it is in Shuaiba, Saudi Arabia. It was completed on March 17, of 2003. The plant puts out 150 million m^3/year of water and cost $1.06 billion to build.

Costs of Desalination: The cost of desalinated water is dropping rapidly. In 1970 the average cost of desalinated water was $9.3/K gallons, this fell to $2.9/K gallons in 2002, and is projected to fall to $1.50/k

gallons in the year 2015. This reduction in price per thousand gallons can also be seen in the Figure , which shows the decrease in price in plants. Desalination costs are directly related to: Plant capacity, feed water quality, pretreatment,

process/technology, and energy cost. The plant capacity plays in to the idea of

economies of scale, the larger the plant and the greater the output, the cheaper the finished product is because there is a cheaper unit cost for the input. Large plants which are over 10 million gallons per day (MGD) operate at cost of $1.52-3.80/K gallons. Medium plants, 1-10 MGD produce desalinated water at $3.80 - $5.70/K gallons and small plants under 1 MGD operate over $5.70/K gallons. The feed water which is used in these plant is also directly related to the operation costs. For example when brackish feedwater is used the unit cost falls to $0.40 - $3.80/K gallons. Furthermore dirtier water may need more extensive pretreatments which drives up the costs. All of these plants run off of energy, whether it is to run the pumps, or create the heat to generate steam, this means they are subject to the current energy prices. If they can run more efficiently they can produce lower cost per unit.

Conclusion: Desalination plants can be the answer to the world's water woes. The increase in technological advances and the decrease in prices are leading to clean affordable desalination. Although desalination can provide us with potable water not previously available we must be be careful. We cannot look at desalinated water as free water that can be wasted. We must continue to conserve water. We currently have a problem with inefficient irrigation processes because the water for agriculture is subsidized. If this was not subsidized and was more expensive, more efficient means such as drip irrigation would be used. Desalination plants could lead to population booms in areas and development of previously inhabitable areas. We also must be careful where we place the intake pipes of our desalination plants. Desalination intake pipes should not be placed in estuaries where they can affect the ecosystem. Offshore intake pipes will have much less affect on the surrounding area. We must be careful, encourage smart growth, and conserve water. One way to ensure this is to not subsidize the water. Money makes people act.




BP mulls over world-scale petrochemical complex in Oman 2b1stconsulting.com

The UK-based international oil company BP is considering to build a greenfield acetic acid plant at Duqm in the south of Oman using newly developed SaaBre technology.

For years BP is well known to have concentrated its capital expenditure and technical expertise on the upstream sector considering that downstream activities do not return same profitability. But low standing prices on gas and technology may change the name of the game. End of last year BP and its local partner, the Oman Oil Company (OOC) decided to invest $16 billion capital expenditure in the exploration and development of the Khazzan and Makarem tight gas project in the famous Block 61. With this project, Oman will become a large producer of natural gas.

But the Sultanate strategy is to primarily to monetize this gas locally through a still-to-be developed petrochemical industry. Since the Block 61 is located right in the center of the country, Oman is planning a large pipelines system to supply future industrial cities. As the nearest main city with deep water access to the sea Duqm has been selected as the first location to convert this gas. Due to become one of the largest industrial city in Oman with multiple projects including refineries, petrochemical complex and import-export terminal of hydrocarbon products, Duqm offers the best opportunity to BP settle its greenfield acetic acid project. BP to test at world-scale its SaaBre Acetic Acid patent. Acetic acid is one of the fundamental building block of the petrochemical industry as it

is used for adhesives, paints, solvents and to produce purified terephthalic acid (PTA), one of the most common polymers at the source of the multiple forms of polyesters.

As all the other countries in the Gulf looking for jobs creation industries the petrochemical sector is strategic for the Sultanate of Oman. Each $ billion invested in the downstream sector is generating four times more jobs than the same $ billion spent upstream in the oil and gas exploration -production.

In proposing such a project BP is optimizing the local value of its investment in Oman. In addition, BP will introduce with this Duqm Acetic Acid project its proprietary technology called Duqm Acetic Acid project . Presented in November 2013, the SaaBre patented process is able to convert synthetic gas into acetic acid without requiring methanol and saving the carbon monoxide (CO) purification operation.

Based on three-phases process, the BP SaaaBre technology avoids the conventional methanol carbonylation operation and related costs. Overall BP SaaBre patent is reducing the capital intensity in the production of a critical petrochemical product as acetic acid can be. In introducing it in Oman where it can benefit from a competitive price of the natural gas as feedstock, BP provides Oman with the guarantee of a long standing competitive advantage all along its downstream petrochemical industry, in beginning with this $1 billion Duqm Acetic Acid project expected to come on stream in 2019.




Rosneft considers Angolan upstream market entry? Press Release.

Rosneft delegation undertook a working visit to the Republic of Angola yesterday, April 22.

The delegation, led by the Company’s Vice-President Andrey Shishkin, held talks with Minister of Petroleum José Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, administration of Ministry of Electricity and Water represented by João Baptista Borges, and President of the National Oil Company Sonangol Francisco de Lemos José Maria. Among other things, potential scenario of Rosneft entering Angolan upstream market was discussed during the visit.

Angola is the second largest producer of oil in Africa, after Nigeria. Proved oil reserves are 1.7 billion tons, and liquid hydrocarbons prevail in the resource portfolio (up to 3.5 billion tons). The blocks are mostly distributed under Production Sharing Agreement, and Sonangol has stakes in most projects.

Nearly all developed fields of Angola are offshore (75% of production is from offshore projects), and concentrated in Bas-Congo basin, and the largest fields are located at great depths. In recent years, following the discovery of large fields, such as Kizomba, Khikomba, Zhirasol, Jasmine, Dakhlia, Great Plutonio etc., the most prospective area for search of hydrocarbon reservoirs is represented by deep water and ultra deep water territory of Congo and Cuanza basins (water depth from 600 to 2500 meters).

According to Rosneft, Cuanza basin ranks among the three largest explored oil and gas bearing complexes. Yet no major discoveries have been made in the Cuanza basin.




Rosneft in Gas Talks with Mozambique Press Release, April 23, 2014; Image: Rosneft

Rosneft President Igor Sechin and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mozambique Oldemiro Julio

Marques Baloi, held a meeting in Moscow on Tuesday.

“The parties discussed a wide range of issues, including possible involvement of Rosneft in production

projects in Mozambique,” Rosneft said in a statement.

A number od major shelf gas resources in the Republic of Mozambique was discovered in 2010-2011. Gas prevails in the hydrocarbon portfolio of the Republic: shelf resources – 3.7 trillion m3, and proved reserves as of the beginning of 2014 – 1.03 trillion cubic meters.

The key gas potential of the country is concentrated in the Rovuma basin, which resources are estimated at 2.2 trillion cubic meters, and in the basins of the Mozambique river (3 continental deposits with proved gas reserves up to 95 billion cubic meters, and one shelf deposit with resources up to 56 billion cubic meters).

Current production in the country is carried out at two fields in the south of Mozambique, the Pande field and the Temane field. The production volume is 4 billion cubic meters per annum.




Norway: TGS announces two new projects in the Norwegian Barents Sea Source: TGS

TGS has commenced new 2D and 3D multi-client projects in the Norwegian Barents Sea. Both surveys will provide customers with high quality data prior to the closing of the 23rd Norwegian Licensing round.

The HFCE14 is a 3,100 km2 3D multi-client survey, extending TGS' existing multi-year 3D Hoop

coverage to more than 20,000 km2. The survey will be acquired by the M/V GECO Eagle towing 10 streamers and will cover similar Jurassic targets as the new Wisting light oil discovery.

NBR14 is an extension of TGS long offset 2D grid in the Barents Sea, adding 6,600 km to the existing data library. The survey will cover the Eastern part of the Norwegian Barents Sea, including the newly opened area in the former disputed Norway-Russia zone. M/S Academik Shatskiy will acquire the data utilizing broadband technology.

Data processing will be performed by TGS using its Clari-FiTM broadband processing technology and final data will be available to clients from Q4 2014. The surveys are supported by industry funding.




Gas supply for Austria: OMV and Gazprom strengthen partnership Source: OMV

The CEOs of Gazprom and OMV, Alexei Miller and Gerhard Roiss, met Tuesday at OMV head office to discuss the challenging current market environment for gas. Apart of the ongoing gas supply contract negotiations, the parties also discussed the current political situation, making it clear that Austria’s gas supply is a top priority. Despite the actual situation the import levels for Russian gas are according to the seasonal habits. The partners also discussed optional alternative supply routes for Russian gas for example via “Nord Stream” through OPAL to the center of Europe.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller: 'We appreciate the ongoing dialogue with business partners like OMV to secure the supply of gas. Gazprom was praised as a reliable supplier contributing significantly to Austria’s energy security. Furthermore it was pointed out that the current geopolitical situation proves the importance of alternative routes for Russian gas supplies to European consumers.'

OMV CEO Gerhard Roiss: 'In Europe we live in a society with shared resources, products and services. With this in mind, I believe that the economic integration of Europe and our partners in Russia is the way to preserve the stability of our continent. Today’s meeting underlines our partnership with Gazprom, which has been in place for more than 50 years.' This meeting strengthens the business relations between the two companies and contributes to Austria’s energy supply.

NewBase Additional ;-

For over 40 years, the largest company in Austria – OMV AG, was the Russian gas industry’s main

business partner. Until 1994, the government owned 100% of this company’s shares. The state

currently remains its largest shareholder (via the Austrian Industrial Holding) owning 31.5% stake in

OMV.

In April 2004, OMV Gas GmbH (a 100% subsidiary of OMV AG) became the legal successor on contracts signed between Gazprom Export and OMV AG. In 1968, OMV became the first Western company to sign a long-term natural gas-purchasing contract with the former Soviet Union. Until September 2006, Russian gas deliveries to Austria were carried out under four long-term contracts that stretched till 2012. By January 1, 2012, Austria has received a total of around 175 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas — including 5.43 billion cubic meters received in 2011.

Gazprom Export, the Austrian company RAG and Germany’s WINGAS are involved in the joint exploitation of the Haidach underground gas storage facility (UGSF) in Austria.

Gazprom Export annulled its existing contracts with OMV AG and GWH on 28 September 2006. These were replaced with new contracts, which Gazprom Export signed with EconGas, GWH and Centrex for Russian natural gas deliveries to Austria (from November 1, 2006 to December 31, 2027). In addition, GWH and Centrex earned the right to make their own direct gas sales on the Austrian market, particularly in the provinces of Carinthia, Styria and Salzburg (with the two companies signing corresponding contracts with the final consumers). Thus, Gazprom Export was able to achieve its strategic goal of penetrating the Austrian end-user market.

In April 2010, Gazprom and OMV signed a Framework Agreement on cooperation on the South Stream project in Austria. Additional natural gas deliveries by OMV company totaling 2 billion cubic meters in the long term are envisaged as part of the implementation of the South Stream project in the territory of Austria.




Pakistan: Jura Energy commences development drilling in the Badar lease Source: Jura Energy

Jura Energy has announced that the drilling of the Badar-2 development well has commenced in the Badar

lease. The projected depth of the well is 1,445 meters, which will target the Sui Main Limestone formation of Eocene age. Anticipated future incremental production from Badar lease after drilling of development well Badar-2 is expected to be entitled to a gas price of US$ 6 per MMBtu under Pakistan’s Petroleum (Exploration & Production) Policy, 2012.

The Badar lease covers an area of 122 sq km and is located in the Middle Indus Basin of Pakistan, close to major industrial gas markets and infrastructure. Jura holds a 7.89% working interest in the Badar lease, which is operated by Petroleum Exploration (Pvt.) Limited.

Jura holds interests in nine concessions onshore Pakistan - including Badar




BP sells Alaska oilfields to Hilcorp Source :- BP , 23/04/2014

BP today announced that it has agreed to sell interests in four BP-operated oilfields on the North Slope of Alaska to

Hilcorp. The sale agreement includes all of BP’s interests in the Endicott and Northstar oilfields and a 50 percent

interest in each of the Liberty and the Milne Point fields. The sale also includes BP’s interests in the oil and gas

pipelines associated with these fields.

“This agreement will help build a more

competitive and sustainable business for BP

in Alaska” said BP Upstream Chief Executive

Lamar McKay. “It will allow us to play to

two of our great strengths, managing giant

fields and gas value chains. We will now

concentrate on continuing development and

production from the giant Prudhoe Bay field

and working to advance the future

opportunity of Alaska LNG.” The agreement does not affect BP’s position as operator and co-owner of the Prudhoe Bay oilfield nor its other interests in Alaska. BP also expects to submit a development plan for

Liberty, located on federal leases about six miles offshore in the Beaufort Sea and east of the Prudhoe Bay, by the end of 2014. As a result of the sale and subject to approval, Hilcorp is expected to become the operator of the Endicott, Northstar and Milne Point oilfields and their associated pipelines and infrastructure.

“There are some big benefits from this transaction,” said Janet Weiss, President of BP’s Alaska Region. “BP will be able to focus on maximizing production from Prudhoe Bay and advancing the Alaska LNG

opportunity. Hilcorp takes ownership of two mature oil fields ready for new investment and activity and it

will operate a third field that is primed for accelerated production. And, the state gets another accomplished

operator working the North Slope. Thanks to tax reform, Alaska is now on course for increased investment

and production and even the possibility of LNG.”

BP said it remained committed to its plans for increased investment at Prudhoe Bay, which have resulted from recent oil tax reform by the State of Alaska. The plans include adding two drilling rigs, one in 2015 and a second in 2016, for a total incremental $1 billion investment over five years. These activities are expected to account for 200 Alaska jobs and 30-40 additional wells being drilled each year, bringing a boost to both the company’s operations and the state’s economy.

Approximately 250 employees are associated with the assets included in the agreement and the company is committed to providing clarity about their future as soon as possible. The majority of those BP employees at or supporting Milne Point, Endicott and Northstar are expected to be offered positions with Hilcorp with no break in employment. Endicott is located about three miles offshore. Endicott started production in 1987 and was the first continuously producing offshore field in the Arctic.

Together the assets included in the sale represent approximately 19,700 barrels of oil equivalent a day (boe/d) of net production for BP, less than 15 percent of BP’s total net production on the North Slope. The sale, which will be subject to state and federal regulatory approval, is anticipated to be complete by the end of the year. Financial details of the transaction are not being disclosed.




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Khaled Malallah Al Awadi, MSc. & BSc. Mechanical Engineering (HON), USA ASME member since 1995 Emarat member since 1990

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Khaled Al Awadi is a UAE National with a total of 24 yearsKhaled Al Awadi is a UAE National with a total of 24 yearsKhaled Al Awadi is a UAE National with a total of 24 yearsKhaled Al Awadi is a UAE National with a total of 24 years of experience in theof experience in theof experience in theof experience in the Oil & Gas sector. Currently working as Oil & Gas sector. Currently working as Oil & Gas sector. Currently working as Oil & Gas sector. Currently working as

Technical Affairs Specialist for EmiTechnical Affairs Specialist for EmiTechnical Affairs Specialist for EmiTechnical Affairs Specialist for Emirates General Petroleum Corp. “Emarat“ with external voluntary Energy consultation for rates General Petroleum Corp. “Emarat“ with external voluntary Energy consultation for rates General Petroleum Corp. “Emarat“ with external voluntary Energy consultation for rates 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 the GCC area via Hawk Energy Service as a UAE operations base , Most of the experience were spent as the Gas Operations the GCC area via Hawk Energy Service as a UAE operations base , Most of the experience were spent as the Gas Operations 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 EmaratManager in Emarat , responsible for EmaratManager in Emarat , responsible for EmaratManager in Emarat , responsible for Emarat Gas Pipeline Network Facility & gas compressor stations . Through the years , he has developed Gas Pipeline Network Facility & gas compressor stations . Through the years , he has developed Gas Pipeline Network Facility & gas compressor stations . Through the years , he has developed Gas Pipeline Network Facility & gas compressor stations . Through the years , he has developed

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routes. Many years werroutes. Many years werroutes. Many years werroutes. Many years were spent drafting, & compiling gas transportation , operation & maintenance agreements along with many MOUs for e spent drafting, & compiling gas transportation , operation & maintenance agreements along with many MOUs for e spent drafting, & compiling gas transportation , operation & maintenance agreements along with many MOUs for e 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 andthe local authorities. He has become a reference for many of the Oil & Gas Conferences held in the UAE andthe local authorities. He has become a reference for many of the Oil & Gas Conferences held in the UAE andthe local authorities. He has become a reference for many of the Oil & Gas Conferences held in the UAE and Energy program broadcasted Energy program broadcasted Energy program broadcasted Energy program broadcasted

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NewBase 2 April 2014 K. Al Awadi

Economy & Finance

New base special 24 april 2014