:: Middle East’s first energy trading platform to be in Qatar
Posted: 23 March 2006
Qatar is to set up the International Mercantile Exchange (IMEX), the Middle East ’s first dedicated energy trading platform.

:: Energy City Qatar launched
Posted: 23 March 2006
Sheikh Abdullah Bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Prime Minister of The State of Qatar presided the launch of Energy City Qatar on Tuesday.

:: $100 per barrel oil price unfounded
Posted: 22 March 2006
A. F. Alhajji, George Patton Chair of Business and Economics at Ohio Northern University and a former energy programme moderator at the Gulf Research Centre said: “ It is unlikely that Iran will reduce its oil exports. It is not in its interest to decrease exports, let alone to halt them. However, domestic pressure, a sense of nationalism, and the need to improve its bargaining power with western countries might force the Iranian government to retaliate.

:: New license in Yemen
Posted: 22 March 2006
DNO has secured a 35 per cent working interest and operatorship in Block 47 in Yemen.

:: Oil price to provide liquidity in the dropping financial market
Posted: 21 March 2006
The drop in the GCC stock market points the need for the region to diversify its assets, financial experts told Pipeline Magazine.

:: Keppel and Qatar Gas Transport to develop shipyard
Posted: 21 March 2006
Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M) has signed a letter of intent with Qatar Gas Transport Company Ltd. (Nakilat) to jointly develop and manage a new facility in the Port of Ras Laffan, Qatar for the construction, repair and maintenance of ships.

:: Oman’s oil and gas potentials at biennial exhibition
Posted: 20 March 2006
The latest developments in the region’s oil and gas industry and Oman ’s role as a major producer will be highlighted this month with the holding of the Oil & Gas West Asia (OGWA) Exhibition and Conference on April 9-11 in Muscat.

:: First Innovation in Energy Awards in Oman
Posted: 20 March 2006
Pipeline Magazine , in conjunction with Oil & Gas West Asia 2006, will hold the first Innovation in Energy Awards-Oman at the main ballroom of Grand Hyatt Muscat on April 9.

:: Halliburton to sell KBR production services group
Posted: 20 March 2006
KBR said it has reached an agreement to sell the Production Services group, part of the company's Energy and Chemicals division, through a transaction which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2006. KBR is the engineering, construction and services subsidiary of Halliburton.

:: All Saudis won Saudi Aramco contracts
Posted: 20 March 2006
Hadi Al-Hammam Group for Contracting, Trading and Maritime Agencies was commissioned to build and operate nine boats: two drilling-platform tugs and seven well-services boats.

:: Borouge awards four contracts
Posted: 20 March 2006
Borouge has awarded four contracts for the proposed major expansion of its world scale petrochemical complex in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates.

:: Diversity first step to security
Posted: 20 March 2006
The issue of energy policy and security has to be has to be international and inclusive, according to Nick Butler, BP's Group Vice President for Strategy and Policy.

:: Hamworthy to supply five LNG reliquefaction systems to Daewoo
Posted: 20 March 2006
Hamworthy has won an order from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co (DSME) to supply five liquid natural gas reliquefaction systems, with a total value between $18 million to $24 million.

:: ADNOC to present its steel pipe insulation in Moscow
Posted: 20 March 2006
Borealis together with Borouge, its joint venture in the Middle East and Asia with the Abu Dhabi national Oil Company (ADNOC), will present its steel pipe protective coating solutions and thermal insulation systems at the International Pipeline Transport 2006 Exhibition April 25-27 in Moscow.

:: Cannonball achieves first gas
Posted: 20 March 2006
The $250 million facility is expected to be brought up to full production rates over the next few weeks when gas output will be about 800 million standard cubic feet of gas per day or 140 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, about 25 per cent of the company's overall production, the company said in a statement.

:: Emerson acquires Bristol Babcock
Posted: 20 March 2006
Emerson announced on Friday that it has acquired Bristol Babcock from FKI plc of Loughborough, England, for $121 million.

:: ExxonMobil, Ampolex and Pertamina to explore Indonesia
Posted: 20 March 2006
ExxonMobil’s subsidiary Mobil Cepu and Ampolex have signed a Joint Operating Agreement with P.T. Pertamina EP Cepu, a subsidiary of P.T. Pertamina, for the Cepu Contract Area located in East and Central Java, Indonesia.

:: Honeywell’s Experion PKS R300 demonstrated
Posted: 20 March 2006
Honeywell held its annual users group on 14-15 March. The conference, now in its third year has achieved a record of over 150 customers in the Middle East, the company said.

:: Intel to open energy lab in Saudi Arabia
Posted: 20 March 2006
Intel Corporation said it will open an innovative research facility in Saudi Arabia. As part of its Digital Transformation Initiative for the Middle East, the company will inaugurate the Intel Energy Competency Laboratory at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in Dhahran in May this year.

:: Intelligent spectrometers launched
Posted: 20 March 2006
Thermo Electron’s has launched its new Intelligent Atomic Absorption Spectrometers that can automatically test and confirm hardware performance prior to any analytical run.

:: Intelsat appoints chief financial officer
Posted: 20 March 2006
Intelsat has appointed Jeffrey P. Freimark as Executive Vice Pr esident and Chief Financial Officer, effective on the resignation of Robert Medlin. Medlin has been serving as Acting Chief Financial Officer of Intelsat since June 2005, and is expected to resign his post in April 2006.

:: New flowmeter cuts installation cost
Posted: 20 March 2006
Emerson Process Management has introduced a new mass flow transmitter that reduces process variability and decreases installation costs.

:: New operating licenses in the Gulf of Mexico
Posted: 20 March 2006
The blocks were awarded by the Minerals Management Service (MMS), a bureau in the US Department of the Interior, awarded the blocks on 15 March.

:: OMV enters Turkey
Posted: 20 March 2006
OMV, Central Europe’s leading oil and Gas Company, has agreed with the Turkish company Doğan Holding to acquire a 34 per cent stake in Petrol Ofisi, Turkey’s leading company in the retail and commercial business.

:: PETRORabigh’s final financing documents signed
Posted: 20 March 2006
Representatives of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) and Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. (Sumitomo Chemical) broke ground on the PETRORabigh project yesterday and signed the final project financing documents to develop a large, integrated refining and petrochemical complex in the Red Sea town of Rabigh, on the Kingdom’s west coast.

:: READ appoints QHSE advisor
Posted: 20 March 2006
READ Well Services (RWS), a North Sea-based technology provider to the upstream oil and gas industry, has appointed Andy Jones as its first full-time staff QHSE Advisor.

:: Reducing the cost of carbon capture
Posted: 20 March 2006
New technology could reduce the costs of carbon dioxide capture substantially. Statoil’s metering and technology laboratory (K-Lab) at Karsto, north of Stavanger, will soon be testing such technology.

:: Total enters Bangladesh E&P
Posted: 20 March 2006
Total has acquired 60 per cent interest in the exploration blocks 17 and 18 offshore southeast Bangladesh, from Tullow Bangladesh Ltd. (operator, 32%), Okland Bangladesh Ltd. (4%) and Rexwood Offshore Holdings Ltd. (4%). The purchase is currently undergoing approval by the Bangladesh government.

:: Yukos president confirmed
Posted: 20 March 2006
Amidst reports questioning the authority of Steven Theede as President of Yukos Oil Company because he does not possess a Russian Work Permit, Yukos Oil said: ““Theede carries out his duties as President of Yukos Oil Company outside of Russia and Russian law does not prevent such an arrangement.”

:: Zamil Steel awarded $9.2 million KOC contract
Posted: 20 March 2006
Zamil Steel was awarded a $9.2 million to supply Kuwait Oil Company’s OL2K Ethylene Pr oject (Olefins 2 Kuwait) with fabricated structural steel products and process equipment.