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Middle East and North Africa upstream: 2015 in review

01 February 2016

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01 February 2016

Middle East and North Africa upstream: 2015 in review

Report summary

2015 was another eventful year in the Middle East and North Africa. Various conflicts across the region impacted upstream operations, particularly in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen. Middle East's OPEC members, led by Saudi Arabia, maintained production levels, and this impacted the global oil price. The Iranian Nuclear Deal was reached in July and is set to transform Iran's upstream sector. Zohr, the biggest discovery of 2015, was made offshore Egypt. However, lower exploration activity led to a steep decline in discoveries. Capital investment remained robust across much of the region, but some countries started to respond to the low oil price and M&A activity remained low. Iran announced new fiscal terms through the Iranian Petroleum Contract (IPC). The IPC aims to encourage investment in Iran's upstream sector. Elsewhere, Oman’s Shura council voted to increase its LNG corporate tax rate. This was in response to the government's growing budget deficit caused by low oil prices.

OPEC policy, geopolitical events and civil unrest dictated the state of play
Egypt’s giant Zohr gas discovery dominated regional and global exploration results
Capital expenditure remained robust across the region, but spend in some countries declined
MENA accounted for < 1% of global M&A activity
Iran and Oman propose new fiscal changes