:: Borouge awards $1.3 billion contracts
Posted: 04 December 2006
Linde Engineering has won the contract to build Borouge’s new ethylene cracker. The cracker will have a capacity of approximately 1.5 million tons per annum, and is considered to be the world’s largest gas cracker.

:: The GCC Energy Fund led consortium acquires 46% Stake in Dhofar Power Companys
Posted: 04 December 2006
A consortium of investors led by Dubai based GCC Energy Fund has acquired a controlling interest in Oman ’s Dhofar Power Company (DPC).

:: TAQA to acquire BP’s Dutch E&P Business
Posted: 04 December 2006
The newly acquired BP E&P business is composed of onshore and off-shore production assets, including the Piek Gas Installatie (PGI) facility in Alkmaar. It is expected that the sale will be completed by the end of January 2007.

:: TAQA Eyes Energy Development in India
Posted: 04 December 2006
The Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) announced its intention to enter into joint development, financing, and implementation of Indian energy sector projects, together with India ’s Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. (IL&FS).

:: Oman studying merging its refineries
Posted: 04 December 2006
Oman is considering merging the operations of the country's two state-owned oil refineries, an official at Oman Refinery Company (ORC) said.

:: Petrofac wins gas plant contract in Egypt
Posted: 04 December 2006
Petrofac was awarded an additional lump sum engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) scope by Khalda Petroleum Company (KPC) to build its fourth gas processing train at Salam area in Egypt 's Western Desert .

:: Middle East first
Posted: 04 December 2006
A landmark project to turn waste into energy is underway in Qatar . Singapore ’s Keppel is making steady progress on a contract it secured recently for the first integrated solid waste treatment facility in the Middle East .

:: SK Corp seeks stronger oil cooperation with UAE
Posted: 04 December 2006
UAE Energy Minister Mohammed bin Dhaen Al Hamili received in Abu Dhabi, Chief Executive Officer of South Korea's SK Corp Chey Tae-won.

:: Gulf Welding Expertise Soars as Institut de Soudure Joins Qatar Science & Technology Park
Posted: 04 December 2006
Institut de Soudure, the national French welding institute, said it will establish a centre of excellence in welding technology at Qatar Science & Technology Park. The centre will undertake research, training and expert services to help safely build the region’s many coming oil and gas projects, where welding and metallurgy can account for more than half of the project cost.

:: LG International to begin oil production in Oman in 2008
Posted: 04 December 2006
LG International Corp. , the energy exploration and trading arm of South Korean conglomerate LG Group, said Monday it will likely start commercial production from an oil field in Oman as early as 2008.

:: Miskar construction awarded
Posted: 04 December 2006
Acergy, a seabed-to-surface engineering and construction contractor, will do the construction work on the Miskar field offshore Tunisia for BG.

:: Moving to offshore seismic
Posted: 04 December 2006
Compagnie Generale de Geophysique (CGG) is to acquire 3,000km of 2D seismic data over the Nabeul Block offshore Tunisia for Plectrum. The vessel MV CGG Princess will acquire the data in Q2 of 2007.

:: Modec acquires FMC Technologies Floating Systems
Posted: 04 December 2006
MODEC USA is to purchase FMC Technologies Floating Systems Inc. from FMC Technologies Inc. for $54.4 million. FMC Technologies Floating Systems Inc., among other things, develops and manufactures SOFEC turrets and mooring systems for floating production storage and offloading vessels (FPSOs), floating storage and offloading vessels (FSOs) and offshore marine loading systems. MODEC Inc. indicated the transaction is expected to close by December 31, 2006.

:: OMV awarded exploration acreage in Egypt
Posted: 04 December 2006
OMV Aktiengesellschaft, the leading oil and gas group in Central Europe, strengthens its North African E&P core region with an expansion to Egypt.

:: Maurel & Prom enters Syria
Posted: 04 December 2006
The Syrian Petroleum Company, the Petroleum Ministry and Maurel & Prom signed an exploration permit covering block XI, called Alasi, in Syria.

:: Nakilat appoints Shell to manage company’s new lng carriers
Posted: 04 December 2006
Qatar Gas Transport Company Ltd. (Nakilat) has appointed Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (Shell) to manage its fleet of at least 27 new LNG carriers in a 25 year deal. Under this arrangement it is expected that Operational Management will be transferred to Nakilat within 12 years.

:: Indago reports promising test results offshore Oman
Posted: 04 December 2006
Indago Petroleum, which operates in Oman and the UAE, said that that its subsidiary Indago Oman Limited (IOL) has successfully flowed hydrocarbons from the Misrif formation, the primary target of the West Bukha-2A (WB2A) well located in Block 8. Indago is operator of Block 8 with 40% interest. Other companies in the joint venture include Eagle Energy ( Oman ) Limited (10%) and LG International (50%).

:: Jacking system failures addressed
Posted: 04 December 2006
Det Norske Veritas (DNV) said it has started to develop a proposal on how to address the problems related to jacking system failures on ageing self elevating jack-up rigs for offshore. The proposal will be forwarded to relevant rig owners for their comments and suggestions prior to implementation.

:: Apache to build fourth gas train in Egypt
Posted: 04 December 2006
Apache said that the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) have approved construction of a fourth processing train at the Salam natural gas plant on Apache's Khalda Concession in Egypt 's Western Desert .

:: Emirates Airline joins the development of first jet fuel futures contract
Posted: 04 December 2006
The Dubai Mercantile Exchange Limited (DME), a joint venture between Tatweer, a member of Dubai Holding and the New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. (NYMEX) said Emirates Airline has joined the working group established by the DME and ENOC Supply & Trading (L.L.C.) in August 2006, in order to explore the development of the world’s first physically delivered jet fuel futures contract, which will be traded on the DME.

:: Emarat receives ExxonMobil international safety award
Posted: 04 December 2006
Emojet, the aviation fuels arm of Emarat at Dubai International Airport , has been presented with the Exxon Mobil International Safety Award for the year 2006. The award is in recognition of Emojet's outstanding performance in fueling jets with a 100% incident free record for the last three years.

:: Fosroc Nukote to triple polyurea sales in 2007
Posted: 04 December 2006
Fosroc, a premier supplier of materials and coating solutions to the construction industry, announced its aims to triple sales into the construction and oil and gas sectors next year. The announcement comes on the back of positive business results year to date and the fact that Al-Gurg Fosroc, the company’s Dubai based entity, completed an impressive 100,000 square meters of polyurea coating this year in the Middle East .

:: ADIPEC 2006 a huge success
Posted: 04 December 2006
The 12th Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) staged earlier this month at Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Centre is being proclaimed “the best ever”.

:: Improved wellhead outlet introduced
Posted: 04 December 2006
AnTech Limited, a leading UK design engineering and manufacturing company serving the upstream oil and gas industries, announced that is introducing the next generation of Wellhead Outlet. AnTech has upgraded the Wellhead Outlet to improve reliability and reduce delivery times.

:: Hydrolink opens new headquarter
Posted: 04 December 2006
Hydrolink FZE announced the opening of their new Corporate Headquarters and Logistics, Engineering, Assembly and Development (LEAD) Facility at Jebel Ali.

:: Halliburton sells Irish Sea Pioneer Lift Boat
Posted: 04 December 2006
Halliburton has closed a deal to sell the Irish Sea Pioneer, a self-elevating workover platform, to a BHP Billiton Petroleum Limited, for an undisclosed amount.