Andrew Torchia News

State-run Qatargas on Wednesday agreed a sale and purchase deal with Austrian oil and gas group OMV to deliver up to 1.1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas annually for five years. From January 2019, the gas will be provided by Qatar Liquefied Gas Co, a venture between Qatar Petroleum and Shell . It will be delivered to the Gate LNG Terminal in the Netherlands on board Qatargas’ chartered LNG vessels. Facing threats to its market share in Europe from a wave of new U.S. supply and in Asia from new Australian plants, Qatar has sealed similar deals with Uniper, RWE Supply and Trading, Centrica and Petronas UK to secure access to northwest European import terminals.

Major Qatari shipping conglomerate Qatar Navigation (Milaha) is launching a direct service between Qatar and Karachi in Pakistan, the company said on Sunday, as it seeks to counter economic sanctions against Doha by other Arab States. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and transport links with Doha on June 5, ending the use of Dubai's Jebel Ali port as a trans-shipment centre for goods flowing to and from Qatar. As a result, imports into Qatar plunged by more than a third from year-earlier levels in June and July…

Saudi Aramco said it has awarded the first major contract in the planned construction of a $5.2 billion shipyard complex designed to reduce Saudi Arabia's dependence on oil exports. The national oil company said on Tuesday it awarded the contract for dredging, reclamation and marine structures to a consortium comprising Saudi Archirodon Co and Huta Hegerfeld AG Saudia Co. Aramco, which is leading construction of the shipyard, did not reveal the value of the contract but said it would be completed by 2020. Among other things, it includes building 4,500 metres of concrete quay walls and wharves, as well as breakwaters, at Ras Al Khair on the east coast.     (Reporting by Andrew Torchia)

Qatar Navigation (Milaha), a top Doha-based shipping and logistics group, said it was shifting its regional trans-shipment hub from Dubai to the Omani port of Sohar after a diplomatic crisis in the region disrupted Qatar's trade. Milaha is setting up a warehousing and logistics operation at Sohar, on Oman's northern coast, and is exploring other opportunities to expand in that country, the company said on Monday. The plan suggests Qatar is making long-term preparations to cope with sanctions imposed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, which cut diplomatic and transport ties on June 5, accusing Doha of backing terrorism.

Bahri, Lamprell, Hyundai Heavy are partners and will build VLCC's starting in 2019. Saudi Aramco plans to build the Gulf's largest shipyard through a joint venture with three companies that it announced on Wednesday, a $5.2 billion project aimed at helping reduce the economy's reliance on oil. Low oil prices have drastically slowed Saudi Arabia's economy so it is trying to create manufacturing jobs and produce goods and services which traditionally it has imported. Its strategy is to use large amounts of government money and the procurement budgets of big state-run enterprises, such as national oil firm Aramco, to attract foreign expertise to develop strategic industries.

The London Court of International Arbitration has cleared DP World, one of the world's biggest port operators, of all charges of misconduct over a concession to operate a container terminal in Djibouti, Dubai's government said on Tuesday. In 2014 the government of the East African country lodged claims accusing DP World, majority-owned by the Dubai government, of illegal payments to secure a 50-year concession for the Doraleh Container Terminal, the Dubai government said. On Tuesday the court dismissed the claims and ordered the claimants to bear the costs of the arbitration, Dubai said.

Oman's crude oil exports will drop by about 50,000 barrels per day when new refining capacity comes onstream in the northern city of Sohar by early 2017, Minister of Oil and Gas Mohammad bin Hamad al-Rumhy said on Wednesday. Rumhy said the refinery project had been due to be commissioned by the end of 2016, but there had been a delay so the commissioning date would be in the first quarter of next year. The project would increase the Sohar refinery's capacity by between 65 and 70 percent. "It will take an additional 70 to 90,000 bpd. And with the increase in Oman's average oil production to exceed a million bpd, we expect the drop in our oil exports to be 50,000 bpd compared to last year," Rumhy said in an interview.

Stock markets in the Gulf may be weighed down by soft oil prices and the aftermath of a mediocre corporate earnings season on Sunday, while Egypt's index may be boosted slightly as its currency strengthens on the black market. The September Brent oil contract settled at $42.46 a barrel on Friday, down 0.6 percent on the day and 14.5 percent lower on the month. It was the biggest monthly drop for Brent since December. Earnings season is now over in Saudi Arabia and mostly finished in the rest of the Gulf. In general, earnings were mediocre and in line with analysts' expectations. Many Saudi petrochemical companies beat expectations because of higher operating margins, but retail and consumer-focused firms were sluggish, a sign of weak economic growth.

World No.1 container liner Maersk, Swiss peer MSC and 13 other shipping firms are set to escape possible penalties as EU antitrust regulators plan to accept their offer to end a five-year probe, three people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The European Commission is likely to announce its decision next month, which means no fine or finding of wrongdoing against the companies, the sources said. Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso declined to comment. The case, which focuses on the way the companies announce price increases…

World No.1 container liner Maersk, Swiss peer MSC and 13 other shipping firms are set to escape possible penalties as EU antitrust regulators plan to accept their offer to end a five-year probe, three people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The European Commission is likely to announce its decision next month, which means no fine or finding of wrongdoing against the companies, the sources said. Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso declined to comment. The case, which focuses on the way the companies announce price increases, could have repercussions for other sectors such as supermarkets and chemical firms, which use similar methods and are keen to stave off any suspicion of collusive behaviour.

Kuwait's government plans legislation that will let the private sector manage commercial ports and the country's international airport, with the government retaining its ownership of the assets, a senior government official told Reuters on Tuesday. Like other Gulf states, Kuwait is under heavy pressure to cut costs and improve the efficiency of its economy as low oil prices cause it to run a state budget deficit. There is an urgent need "to revitalise the ports, whether sea or air…

Saudi Arabia's Sadara Basic Services, fully owned by Sadara Chemical Co, has signed agreements covering storage facilities and port services, it said on Sunday as the firm prepares to start producing petrochemicals by the end of this year. Sadara Chemical is a $20 billion petrochemical joint venture between national oil giant Saudi Aramco and U.S. firm Dow Chemical. The partners have said the venture will go ahead on schedule despite slumping global oil and petrochemical prices. Sadara will sell some tank storage facilities to Jubail Chemical and Storage Services Co (JCSSC) at cost for around 1.76 billion riyals ($470 million), it said in a Saudi bourse statement.

Qatar Navigation (Milaha) reported a 1.8 percent rise in third-quarter net profit on Sunday, in line with analysts' estimates. The shipper's net profit was 308 million riyals ($84.6 million) for the three months to Sept. 30, up from 302.5 million riyals in the year-ago period, according to Reuters calculations based on its financial statements. QNB Financial Services had forecast Qatar Navigation would make a third-quarter profit of 307.6 million riyals. The firm made a net profit of 959 million riyals in the first nine months of this year, compared with 820.8 million riyals in the year-ago period. The shipping firm in September appointed Abdulrahman Essa Al-Mannai as president and chief executive. (Reporting by Hadeel Al Sayegh; Editing by Andrew Torchia)

French oil and gas giant Total has pulled out of a deepwater block in offshore Oman after failing to make commercially attractive discoveries, a senior Omani official told reporters on Monday.   Nasser Al Aufi, undersecretary at the Ministry of Oil and Gas, did not provide details regarding Total's decision.   The company signed an exploration and production-sharing agreement in December 2013 for Block 41, which lies off the Omani coast northwest of Muscat and covers almost 24,000 square kilometres of seabed with depths of up to 3,000 metres.   Aufi also said that last year Hungarian oil group MOL had pulled out from Block 34, and Norwegian oil firm DNO from Block 31.     (Reporting by Fatma Alarimi; writing by Andrew Torchia; editing by Jason Neely)

Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura port, a major oil operations centre for Saudi Aramco, was shut on Monday because of bad weather, two shipping industry sources told Reuters.   "The port is closed completely - today at 11.30 a.m. (local time) there is fast wind, poor visibility and no movement," said one of the sources, who declined to be identified under briefing rules.   Another source said loading had stopped. There was no immediate comment from Saudi Aramco.   Ras Tanura is in the east of Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter.   Saudi Arabia's Border Guard in the Eastern Province told state news agency SPA that it had suspended shipping in the areas as a precautionary measure because of a sandstorm.     (Reporting by Reem Shamseddine; Editing by Andrew Torchia)

Gulf of Oman port bids to become transhipment centre for region; to more than double container capacity by 2017. Part of Oman's drive is to industrialise, diversify beyond oil. An advertisement by the highway outside Dubai's massive Jebel Ali Port tells firms they don't need to ship goods through the Strait of Hormuz, the traditional gateway to the Gulf. Instead they can have goods delivered to a port in Oman, outside the Gulf, and bring them into the region by road. "Why go through the Strait when you can go straight to the Gulf," the billboard reads, in a challenge to Jebel Ali, which has become one of the biggest ports in the world by handling many of the region's imports via Hormuz.

The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) has named Ibrahim Abdulrahman al-Omar as its chief executive, effective on Oct. 1, a bourse filing said on Wednesday. Omar has worked in several senior positions at firms including Saudi Telecom and its affiliate Viva Bahrain, the statement added. He replaces Mohammad Omair al-Otaibi, who was appointed acting CEO last month after the departure of Saleh bin Nasser al-Jasser at the end of July. (Reporting by David French; Editing by Andrew Torchia)

DP World , one of the world's biggest port operators, said on Thursday that its gross container volumes rose 10.7 percent from a year earlier in the first half of 2014. Volumes totalled 29.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), boosted by new business at its London Gateway facility and Embraport in Brazil. Consolidated volumes, at terminals over which DP World has control, rose 8.5 percent to 13.9 million TEU. (By Andrew Torchia)

Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), one of the world's largest petrochemicals groups and the Gulf's largest listed company, reported a 7 percent rise in second-quarter net income on Sunday, matching analysts' forecasts. It earned 6.46 billion riyals ($1.72 billion) in the quarter, compared to 6.04 billion riyals in the year-earlier period, SABIC said in a bourse statement. SABIC, which is 70 percent state-owned, attributed the rise in profits to higher production and sales volumes as well as higher sales prices. This was in line with the average forecast of analysts polled by Reuters, who had predicted a quarterly profit of 6.42 billion riyals. (Reporting by Nadia Saleem; Editing by Andrew Torchia) ($1 = 3.7502 Saudi Riyals)

Japan's Mitsubishi Corp and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have acquired a 38.4 percent stake in water and wastewater project developer Metito Holdings for an undisclosed sum, the United Arab Emirates-based firm said. In addition, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation will provide up to $92 million in funds to Metito to help finance its expansion plans. Japanese firms' global network and expertise will help Metito develop its operations, said Metito chief executive Rami Ghandour. "We have outgrown the region and we need to position ourselves for the next stage of our growth," Ghandour said in a telephone interview. While Metito could look to bid for projects in collaboration with its new stakeholders…

DP World took advantage of strong market conditions and scarcity value to raise a $1 billion convertible bond with a ten year lifespan on Thursday, in order to fund growth opportunities and diversify its funding sources. The issue is a rare example of an international convertible bond from a Middle Eastern company and comes at a time when convertible bonds have drawing investors' attention following a spate of issuance by European firms. Pricing for DP World's debut convertible…

Profit at Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), one of the world's biggest petrochemical firms, slipped 1.8 percent in the first quarter of this year as lower product prices offset rises in production and sales volumes. SABIC made a net profit of 6.44 billion riyals ($1.72 billion) between January and March compared to 6.56 billion riyals a year earlier, it said in a statement on Sunday. The result was slightly below the average forecast of analysts polled by Reuters, who had predicted a quarterly profit of 6.79 billion riyals. <ID:nL6N0N80UP> (Reporting by Mirna Sleiman; Writing by Andrew Torchia)

Qatar Gas Transport Co (Nakilat) said on Tuesday that a joint venture between it and Dutch shipbuilder Damen had won orders worth 3.1 billion riyals ($850 million) to build seven vessels for the Qatari armed forces. The vessels to be built by Nakilat Damen Shipyards Qatar comprise six high-speed patrol ships and a diving support vessel. They will be built in Qatar, Nakilat said without giving a timeframe. (Reporting by Andrew Torchia)