MENA upstream month in brief: 5 April 2016

In March Israel’s High Court rejected the proposed “stability clause” in the government’s Natural Gas Outline Agreement. There was an attack on one of Algeria’s key gas project, In Salah. Sonatrach announced it was looking for IOC help in developing new fields, bypassing ALNAFT, yet at the same time keeping investment levels very high in Algeria, bucking the global trend.   Elsewhere in the region, Eni appraised its super-giant Zohr discovery offshore Egypt and farmed into Moroccan acreage. Total made tentative steps into Iran while President Rouhani visited Pakistan. In Iraq, condensate exports started with first loadings at Um Qasr whilst at the same time North Oil Company withheld crude exports from fields under its jurisdiction to Ceyhan. Finally, OMV joined Occidental in a TEA with ADNOC in the UAE while EGAS received four applications from companies seeking to import gas for sale to the Egyptian domestic market.