EOG Newspaper May 2021 Issue by Egypt Oil & Gas

EDITOR’S LETTER EGYPT’S LEADING OIL & GAS MONTHLY PUBLICATION

EOG’s New Look Our May issue includes brand new sections. Egypt Oil and Gas team has been working for months to enhance both content and design of the newspaper. The new sections are top 5, technology, number of the month, a blast from the past and a choice of words. We are also planning to increase the number of interviews conducted with high profile experts in the industry. Moreover, new sections will be added in the next issues.

years anniversary and latest updates. We also had the chance to talk to Mostafa Othman, HR Manager at Maridive about the HRM in the oil and gas industry in the light of the new norm. The issue includes a variety of features tackling the HRM in the industry, especially in Egypt. In the research and analysis section, we provide our readers with a complete legal guide to to Egypt’s oil and gas market.

The issue is rich with exclusive interviews. We talked to Mohamed Shindy, Managing Director of Methanex Egypt about the company’s 10

Managing Editor IHAB SHAARAWY Senior Editors RANA AL KADY SHAIMAA BEHERY Senior Writer JASMINE SHAHEEN Staff Writers FATMA AHMED LOBNA HEFNY Research Analysts AMINA HUSSEIN REHAM GAMAL TASNEEM MADI

Eid Mubarak! Egypt celebrates this month, the Labor Day. This day is mainly to celebrate the achievements made by workers in different fields. Thus, in this issue we discuss human resources management (HRM) from different perspectives.

Research & Analysis Manager MAHINAZ EL BAZ

Stay Home, Stay Safe!

MAHINAZ EL BAZ Acting Editor-In-Chief Research & Analysis Manager

Statistician NADA ABBAS Chief Reporter WAEL EL-SERAG Business Development Director AYMAN RADY

PROUDLY THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION

Marketing Manager TAMARA EWISS Creative Art Director OMAR GHAZAL Art Director MAGED KHATTAB Graphic Designers MARIAN WAEL

CONTENTS

3D Visualizer TAMER GAMAL Photographer AMIR WILLIAM

INTERVIEW WITH MOHAMED SHINDY, MANAGING DIRECTOR, METHANEX EGYPT

Operations & Financial M. ABDALLAH ELGOHARY

YOUR COMPLETE LEGAL GUIDE TO EGYPT OIL & GAS MARKET

AN INTERVIEW WITH MARIDIVE OFFSHORE PROJECTS HR MANAGER, MOSTAFA OTHMAN

HUMAN RESOURCES: JOB NICHE SHIFT

HR GOLDEN ROLES: THE RESPONSE TO THE NEW NORMAL

CLIMATE CRISIS: A WILD CARD IN US-CHINA RELATIONS

ASTER & FUZZY LOGIC: NEW METHODS IN HYDROCARBON EXPLORATION

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MAY 2021 - ISSUE 173 | 3

EGYPT UPDATES

TOP 5 GPC STRIKES OIL IN ABU SENNAN CONCESSION The General Petroleum Company (GPC) achieved a new oil discovery in Abu Sennan concession at the Western Desert after drilling DSWS-1X exploration well with investments worth $1.5 million. The oil discovery has been realized after finding petroleum evidence on Abu Rawash E and middle Bahria reservoirs. The results of the well-testing conducted on middle Bahria reservoir showed initial production rate of 1,200 barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil, and 1.2 million cubic meters (mmcm) of natural gas. GPC noted that it will continue to complete the test to evaluate the well and put it on the production line.

EL MOLLA PARTICIPATES IN UN’S ECOSOC FORUM Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, has participated in the 2021 United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN-ECOSOC) forum under the title ‘Financing for Sustainable Development’. El Molla stated that the implementation of the economic and legislative reforms since 2014 contributed to sustain and attract investments and new international oil companies (IOCs) to the Egyptian market such as ExxonMobil and Chevron. He also mentioned that the number of IOCs operating in Egypt has reached 60, referring that the sector has constituted 24% of Egypt’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020. El Molla added that the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) is a model of cooperation among member states to achieve optimal economic benefit, noting that EMGF’s Gas Industry Advisory Committee (GIAC) has been formed, including 29 members from IOCs and international organizations.

EGYPT’S LNG EXPORTS RISE BY 1.6 BCM IN Q4 2020 Egypt’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports increased by a total of 1.6 billion cubic meters (bcm) of equivalent natural gas, reaching about 17 shipments during Q4 of 2020 compared to six shipments during Q1 of 2020. Egypt’s exports of LNG shipments have reached about eight to nine shipments per month since the beginning of 2021

A BLAST

FROM THE PAST In May 2018, Eni announced an oil discovery in the A-2X exploration prospect located in South West Meleiha in the Western Desert. The well’s location was about 103 kilometers (km) north of the oasis of Siwa and was the first well to be drilled by Eni to explore the deep geological sequences of the Faghur Basin. The exploratory well SWM A-2X was drilled to a total depth of 5,090 meters where it encountered 18 meters of light oil in the Paleozoic sandstones of the Dessouky Formation of Carboniferous age. Not only that, but the well also encountered other hydrocarbon levels in the Alam El Bueib sandstones of the Cretaceous Age. The well delivered 2,300 barrels of oil per day (bbl/d) of light oil (32° API) and 0.4 million standard cubic feet of associated gas per day (mmscf/d). This discovery encouraged Eni to plan for further exploration in nearby prospects, and months later, Eni could make a second oil discovery in the B1-X exploration prospect in the Faghur Basin. Well SWM B1-X was drilled at a total depth of 4,523 meters and delivered 5,130 barrels of light oil per day bbl/d (37° API) with low associated gas.

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The operation of the Damietta LNG plant will enhance Egypt’s ability to export LNG to European markets and to make it a regional energy hub in the Eastern Mediterranean. The plant is expected to produce about 4.5 million tons (mmt) of natural gas annually, which will boost export capacity to 12.5 mmt.

GASTEC LAUNCHES FIRST MOBILE NATURAL GAS STATION IN EGYPT Gastec has launched, for the first time in Egypt, a mobile station to supply cars with compressed natural gas. The station can reach remote spots and can be used during emergencies and in areas with high seasonal consumption such as tourist regions. The station has the capability to transport and store about 5,000 cubic meters of natural gas. The company also announced that it has converted 18,500 cars to run on natural gas during 2020, and plans to double this rate to be 45,000 cars in 2021. Gastec implemented and operated 15 new stations, supplying natural gas for cars during 2020. Accordingly, the total numbers of stations and converting centers have reached 117 and 39 respectively. Gastec also established two integrated stations in different governorates to get the total number of such stations up to 14 stations.

EGYPT TO ESTABLISH A $100 MM BIOETHANOL COMPANY Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, has chaired the founding assembly meeting of the Egyptian Company for Bioethanol which will be established on the Egyptian Petrochemical Holding Company’s (ECHEM) ground in Damietta Port at a cost of about $100 million. The company is expected to produce bioethanol with a capacity of 100,000 tons annually to meet the local needs and export the surplus. Bioethanol is used to manufacture a myriad of materials in different fields including but not limited to medical and chemical products. It can also be used as a raw material in the production of many chemicals such as acetic acid, acetaldehyde, and others.

NUMBER

OF THE MONTH

Car Conversion into Natural Gas Since 1985 until March 2021

330,000 Cars The recent presidential initiative to replace and convert cars to operate using natural gas, drove the total number of converted vehicles to reach unprecedented numbers. Repricing fuel products also motivates citizens to take advantage of the price difference between natural gas, gasoline and diesel fuel; where the cost of gas reaches 50% of that of gasoline. Within the same context, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources has a target to convert 200,000 cars and replace 250,000 others over the coming 3 years.

INE G AR

UP RO

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EGYPT UPDATES

AGREEMENTS

PETROJET SIGNS TEAMING AGREEMENT WITH KOREAN COMPANIES Petrojet signed a teaming agreement with South Korean nuclear power companies consist of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), KEPCO E&C, Hyundai E&C, and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction (Doosan) to participate in the Egyptian first Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) project, El Dabaa. In this respect, Chung Jae-hoon, the CEO of KHNP, expressed his gratitude for the high level of the Egyptian construction market and ongoing mega projects. He also affirmed his commitment to localization while highlighting

that KHNP plans to support training for Egypt’s local nuclear power technicians who have no previous experience with nuclear power plant construction.

DOWNSTREAM

MIDOR REFINES 36.5 MMBBL IN 2020 MIDOR refined 36.5 million barrels of oil (mmbbl) in 2020 and produced 4,600 tons of highquality petroleum products; 86% of which is directed to the local market. Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, stated that the new expansion project in MIDOR refinery targets increasing productivity by 60% and to be put on production in Q1 2022, with $2.3 billion of investments.

Gamal El Kareish, MIDOR’s Chairman, mentioned that the company maximized the production of diesel and gasoline with an increase of 30% and 22% compared to 2019, which resulted in an increase of MIDOR refinery contribution in the local market with 19% for the diesel product, and 17% for the gasoline product.

EGYPT TO HAVE ONE MILLION NGV WITHIN THREE YEARS: EL MOLLA Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, announced that Egypt will have about one million vehicles running on natural gas within the coming three years. This will be achieved through converting 200,000 cars and replacing 250,000 others. This announcement came during the ceremony of launching and delivering the first batch of natural gas vehicles (NGVs) under the President’s initiative for replacing and converting cars to run on natural gas.

PETROLEUM ARROWS TRANSPORTS 11 MM LITER OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS DAILY IN 2020

During the ceremony, El Molla reviewed the process of implementing the ministry’s program to provide enough stations and centers for natural gas conversion and supply across the country. He noted that the ministry targets to double the number of the stations to 1,000 in one year in comparison with the 250 stations that were launched since the beginning of the initiative.

Petroleum Arrows Company announced that it has transported about 11 million liters of petroleum products per day during 2020, representing 25.5% of transported quantities inside Egypt. According to the Chairman of Petroleum Arrows, Ahmed Abdel Motaleb, these shipments were transported by the company’s fleet of 427 vehicles, equipped with high technical efficiency. He also noted that the company transported around 2,800 tons of butane and about 960,000 tons of gas, in addition to chemical products including ammonia and propane gas to different companies. Abdel Motaleb also pointed out that a training center has been established with a simulator to train drivers on safe driving and handling of petroleum products.

EL MOLLA INSPECTS DAHSHOUR GAS COMPRESSOR STATION PROJECT

TOWN GAS CONNECTS 230,000 UNITS TO NATURAL GAS IN 2020

The Egyptian Company for Natural Gas Distribution (Town Gas) connected 230,000 housing units with natural gas in 2020 where some areas had natural gas for the first time such as Al Badrashin, Atfih, Abu Anomros, and Nazlet Asamman in Giza governorate and Nafisha in Ismailia governorate.

This announcement was made during the company’s general assembly with Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla. About 77,000 units of the state’s housing projects were also connected to natural gas in Cairo and Port Said governorates. Alongside the natural gas delivery project, the company installed more than 10,000 pre-paid meters in the same areas. Natural gas was delivered to about 14 fuel stations as well as to 237 bakeries. Town Gas also completed the design works for additional 113 fuel stations and completed the required adjustments for natural gas routes and pipelines that clash with road and subway developments.

EL MOLLA FOLLOWS UP ON NATURAL GAS STATIONS EXPANSION DEVELOPMENTS Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resource, Tarek El Molla, reviewed the executive procedures of the expansion project of natural gas stations, and natural gas car conversion during the current fiscal year (FY) 2020/2021 in the light of presidential initiative to replace, and convert cars to run on natural gas.

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El Molla affirmed the necessity to continue the implementation of natural gas stations, and centers to provide natural gas car services to meet the needs of citizens. He underlined the necessity to adhere to the set time schedule and to coordinate with the relevant authorities to reach the desired objectives of this national project to serve all citizens.

Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, inspected the gas compressor station project in Dahshour, which secures natural gas fuel for Upper Egypt in light of the state’s strategy for sustainable development which targets increasing investment in Upper Egypt. The minister urged the acceleration of implementing the project which will increase the station’s capacity by more than two-thirds. This will be through adding two new units at a capacity of 18 million cubic meters of natural gas per day (mmcm/d), which will raise the total capacity of the station to 46 mmcm/d. He described the compressor station of the Egyptian Natural Gas Company (GASCO) as one of the leading projects in the region acknowledging the company’s role in managing the network and securing natural gas supply all over Egypt.

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NOCS PERFORMANCE

EPROM ACHIEVES HIGHEST PERFORMANCE RATES IN 2020 The Egyptian Projects Operation and Maintenance (EPROM) Company achieved the highest rates of performance and assets’ preservation in its various sites during 2020. Amgad El Ahmady, EPROM’s Chairman, demonstrated the company’s successes in operating the Egyptian refinery project and raising the efficiency of several production units in the Middle East of Oil Refinery (MIDOR) and the Egyptian Linear Alkyl Benzene (ELAB). That is in addition to providing technical support for Alexandria Mineral Oils Company

(AMOC), Sternex, and the expansion projects for MIDOR. El Ahmady added that the company has supervised and managed the offshore platforms in the ports of El Dekheila, Alexandria, and Al Sokhna (Sonker). Plus, the company could provide support and technical services for some companies inside and outside the sector such as Alexandria Petroleum Company (APC), Amreya Petroleum Refining Company (APRC), Suez Oil Processing Company, Assiut Oil Refining Company (ASORC), and Chevron.

REGAS REVENUES AMOUNTS TO EGP 801 MM IN 2020 grid around the company’s work domains to 602,000 customers.

Gas Region company’s (Regas) revenues in 2020 amounted to EGP 801 million, hitting an increase of 10% in comparison to 2019. Regas connected natural gas to 115,532 customers in several governorates including Sohag, Qena, Marsa Matrouh, Sharkia, and Alexandria. This brings the total number of customers connected to the natural gas

As for agreements, Regas signed an EGP 316 million protocol with the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) to deliver natural gas to 2,880 factories in West Tahta and West Gerga in Sohag Governorate. They also signed another protocol to connect natural gas to 1,696 factories in Ho and Qaft in Qena Governorate with a total cost of EGP 325 million. A new protocol with the New Urban Communities Authority is also underway to increase the number of natural gas customers to reach 95,000 customers, with costs estimated at EGP 362 million.

PHOSPHATE MISR SALES RISE BY 9% IN 2020 PhosPhate Misr Company sales of phosphate amounted to 2.4 million tons in 2020, a 9.2% rise over 2019, despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. PhosPhate Misr’s Chairman, Mohamed Abdel Azim, added that the company is the major supplier of phosphate in Egypt where one million tons per year (mmt/y) of phosphate is used for manufacturing of fertilizers. Abdel Azim pointed out that the company’s exports represent about 70% of the Egyptian exports of phosphates. Abdel Azim affirmed that the efforts to maximize phosphate ore stocks are continuing successfully, stating that reserves and stocks have been verified in seven sectors in the Red Sea, Sebaiya, and El Wadi El Gedid regions. Azim further added that the company is currently working to sustain 60 mmt of reserves to meet the needs of the new phosphoric acid project in Abu Tartour in El Wadi El Gedid Governorate.

SIDPEC STARTS PHASE 2 OF SER PROJECT

SAN MASR REVENUES INCREASE 30% IN 2020 The Egyptian Maintenance Company (San Masr) has achieved a growth in 2020 of roughly EGP 6.6 billion, indicating an increase of 30% compared to 2019. Mohamed Shimy, Chairman of San Masr, reviewed some of the company’s projects in Egypt including providing comprehensive maintenance and development activities as well as providing technical support and maintenance of turbines, marine wells, facilities, specialized workshops, and fixed equipment.

In addition to constructing greenhouses in cooperation with Enppi, the company could offer asset rehabilitation at its workshops in the cities of Badr and Suez for a number of petroleum sector companies. The company also completed the electrical maintenance works for substations of Cairo International Airport’s Terminal 1. He also demonstrated San Masr’s work abroad, noting that it managed to provide maintenance of production facilities stations, gas separation stations, wells, turbines, and liquefied gas plants.

PETROMAINT’S PROFITS LEAP 24% IN 2020 Al exan dria Petro l e um M ainte n an c e Company’s (Petromaint) net profit increased by 24% for the first time during 2020, as it was able to sign contracts of EGP 4.4 billion. Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, affirmed that it is important for comprehensive maintenance companies

to focus on the specified activities that suit their capabilities and potentials in order to achieve sustainability and diversity and to increase the added value. The Minister also noted that Petromaint has many opportunities and capabilities that enable it to increase its capacities and to focus on several projects.

EDC’S ONSHORE MARKET SHARE INCREASES 80% IN 2020 The Egyptian Drilling Company (EDC) managed to increase its market share of the onshore drilling market by 80% during 2020 despite the challenges of the pandemic compared to 60% in 2019. EDC also increased its share in the well maintenance market by 44% during 2020 versus 34% in 2019. The company now owns 69 equipment for drilling, onshore, and offshore

well maintenance. Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, affirmed the importance of the continuous implementation of programs for developing drilling equipment by using the latest technologies to cope with the ministry’s plan for exploring, discovering, developing and producing oil and gas in offshore and onshore sites.

Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals Company (Sidpec) started Phase 2 of its Strategic Energy Review (SER) Project with KBC, a whollyowned subsidiary of Yokogawa Company, on March 14, 2021. The project aims to develop a site-wide utility model, apply a BT benchmarking, perform a gap analysis, and identify improvement opportunities to close the gap. The first week of Phase 2 saw remarkable savings realized on the ground. The phase is scheduled to continue for about 12 more weeks until developing a roadmap for achieving the identified i m p rove m e nt o p p o r t u n i t i e s . T h e company also plans to capitalize on these opportunities to achieve savings and accomplish more economic production in Sidpec plants.

MAY 2021 - ISSUE 173 | 7

CORPORATE NEWS

UNITED OIL AND GAS COMPANY (UOG) UOG RECORDS 24% INCREASE IN ABU SENNAN RESERVES United Oil and Gas Company (UOG) has recorded 24% increase in its Gross 2P reserves in Abu Sennan to reach 16.8 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) from 13.5 mmboe at the beginning of 2020.

This represents a near 200% reserves replacement ratio, before the recent drilling success at the ASH-3, and ASD-1X wells.

Gross 1P reserves increased by 59% to 6.7 mmboe, and Gross 3P reserves increased by 21% to 34.7 mmboe from 4.2 mmboe and 28.6 mmboe respectively at the beginning of 2020.

ENI ENI SUPPORTS HEALTH SECTOR IN EGYPT WITH 20 VENTILATORS Eni Company has delivered 20 ventilators to the Egyptian health sector worth $600,000 in the light of the anti-Covid medical supply initiative organized by the petroleum sector and the international oil companies (IOCs) to support efforts of the Ministry of Health against the pandemic.

The delivery process was witnessed by Hala Zayed, Minister of Health and Population and Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources who praised the endeavors of the health minister as well as the medical calibers during the time of the pandemic. On this occasion, El Molla affirmed the keenness

of the petroleum sector to fully support the health sector of Egypt referring to the initiatives the sector has organized previously; including blood donation campaigns, and anti-Covid medical supply donations.

ENI MAKES NEW OIL DISCOVERY OFFSHORE ANGOLA Italian Eni has made a new light oil discovery in Block 15/06, offshore Angola, with an expected production capacity of about 10,000 barrels of oil per day (bbl/d).

The well (Cuica-1 NFW) has been drilled on the Cuica exploration prospect located inside the Cabaça Development Area and close to the Armada Olombendo FPSO (East Hub), in a water depth of 500 meters, and a total vertical depth of 4100 meters.

The new discovery well is going to be sidetracked updip to be placed in an optimal position as a producer well and it is estimated to contain between 200 and 250 million barrels of oil in place (mmbbl).

ENI, SONATRACH SIGN UPSTREAM AGREEMENT Eni, and Sonatrach have signed an upstream agreement to relaunch exploration and development (E&D) activities in the Berkine basin and to establish an oil and gas development hub through a synergy with existing MLE-CAFC installations. This agreement is part of the new hydrocarbon contract finalization process in the basin and

it is planned to be signed under the support of the new Algerian oil law which came into force in December 2019. Both parties have signed other agreements in fields of research and developments and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop new technologies with focus on renewable energy and biofuels and hydrogen sectors to support a low carbon future.

Eni and Sonatrach managed to agree on collaboration in sectors such as staff training through Eni Corporate University, and the Institut Algerien du Petrole to implement training programs in the upstream and new technologies related to the energy transition fields.

ENI, CDP EQUITY FORM JOINT VENTURE TO PRODUCE ELECTRICITY FROM RENEWABLE SOURCES Eni and CDP Equity have formed GreenIT, a new joint venture (JV) with cumulative investments amounting to over € 800 million in five years, for the development, construction, and management of plants, targeting the production of electrical power from renewable sources in Italy.

GreenIT, 51% of which owned by Eni, and 49% owned by CDP Equity, will produce energy mainly from photovoltaic and wind power plants to reach an installed capacity of approximately 1,000 MW by 2025.

GreenIT is to support Italy to increase renewable energy generation, in line with the objectives set by the 2030 Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan.

ENI, BRIDGESTONE SIGN AGREEMENT FOR SYNTHETIC RUBBER Eni’s subsidiary chemical company Versalis, and Bridgestone EMIA signed a joint development agreement for the research, production, and supply of synthetic rubber with advanced properties. The Research and Development divisions of the two organizations will work together to

develop technologies and new elastomer grades, including Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR), for the production of high-performance tyres. Versalis will use its research center at Ravenna and Ferrara, while Bridgestone will use its Technical Center Europe near Rome.

Versalis’ elastomers are used in the premium, consumer market segment and are designed for high performance in tyres including dry handling and wet grip. They also reduce abrasion, increasing tyres’ lifespan, resulting in a more sustainable tyre that reduces consumption of raw materials in the long-term.

ENI, FNM COLLABORATE TO ACCELERATE ENERGY TRANSITION IN TRANSPORTS Eni, and Ferrovie Nord Milano (FNM), Italian public transport company, signed a letter of intent to accelerate the energy transition and to promote the decarbonization of transport in Lombardy through the new energy sources.

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Both partners will focus on introducing fuels and energy vectors which can reduce CO2 emissions in transport vehicles, working on capture, storage, and using of CO2 produced during hydrogen production processes. This in addition to introducing hydrogen distribution points for private road mobility.

The collaboration is a part of the H2iseO project of FNM and Trenord, a company owned by FNM. The project targets making Sebino and Valcamonica the first Italian ‘Hydrogen Valley’ to achieve decarbonization targets for the transport sector.

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ENI LAUNCHES OPEN-ES DIGITAL PLATFORM Eni launched Open-es the new digital platform to develop sustainable industrial supply chains, which will be open to all companies involved in the energy transition process. The platform can be accessed at www. openes.io. It will be open to all companies that

want to play a leading role in the growth of the industrial ecosystem in terms of sustainability, both in Italy and worldwide and will raise awareness throughout the value chain The Open-es ESG data model will be based on the core metrics defined in the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Stakeholder Capitalism

Metrics initiative with a clear and flexible approach. It will allow all companies from Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to big corporations to align themselves with growth and development that focused on sustainable values.

ARAMCO ARAMCO’S PRODUCTION AVERAGES AT 12.4 MMBBLOE/D IN 2020 Saudi Aramco achieved an average production of hydrocarbon of 12.4 million barrels per day of oil equivalent (mmbbloe/d) in 2020, of which 9.2 million barrels per day (mmbbl/d) were of crude oil. The company reached a couple of milestones in 2020 despite a low capital expenditure

(CAPEX) of $27 billion. The first was in April when the company achieved the highest single-day crude oil production in its history of 12.1 mmbbl/d. The second was in August when Aramco reached its second milestone of producing a single-day record of 10.7 billion standard cubic feet per day (bscf/d)) of natural

gas from its conventional and unconventional fields. The company’s upstream carbon footprint was limited to about 10.5 kilograms (kg) of carbon dioxide (CO2) per barrel of oil equivalent (boe) in 2020. The Company’s estimated upstream methane intensity was 0.06%.

ARAMCO, EIG SIGN INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT DEAL Aramco signed infrastructure investment agreement with a consortium led by EIG Global Energy Partners (EIG) through a lease-andlease-back agreement involving Aramco’s stabilized crude oil pipeline network with about $12.4 billion.

As part of the agreement, Aramco’s subsidiary, Aramco Oil Pipelines Company, will lease usage rights in Aramco’s stabilized crude oil pipelines network for a 25-year period. Aramco Oil Pipelines Company will acquire a tariff payments for oil transported through Aramco’s crude oil pipeline network, backed by minimum volume commitments.

Aramco will own a 51% majority stake in the new company, while the EIG-led consortium will own the remaining 49% stake. Aramco will also retain complete ownership and operational control of its stabilized crude oil pipeline network.

ADNOC ADNOC, PETRONAS SIGN AGREEMENT TO COLLABORATE IN ABU DHABI’S PETROLEUM SECTOR Emarati Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) signed a strategic framework agreement with Malaysian Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS), to explore opportunities for collaboration across Abu Dhabi oil and gas sector.

Such agreement between both firms builds on the strong bilateral ties between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Malaysia and highlights ADNOC’s approach to expand strategic partnerships, which allows maximizing value across its entire portfolio while implementing the 2030 strategy.

As per the agreement, both companies will jointly assess strategic opportunities for domestic and international collaboration across the downstream sector. They will also explore potential partnership opportunities in trading including optimization of crude and feedstock supply and refined products offtake.

ADNOC STARTS TO TRADE MURBAN OIL AS FUTURES CONTRACTS The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) along with the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) have celebrated the start of trading UAE’s Murban oil as Futures contract on the new

ICE Futures Abu Dhabi (IFAD) commodities exchange. The statement elaborated that by freely trading Murban, customers will have better price transparency, flexibility to hedge and manage

risks and increased access to Murban crude. Nine major energy companies and traders are joining IFAD as founding partners including BP, GS Caltex, INPEX, ENEOS, PetroChina, PTT, Shell, Total and Vitol.

ADNOC L&S SECURES TWO NEW VLCCS Abu Dhabi National Oil Company Logistics & Services (ADNOC L&S) acquired two more Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC), bringing the total number of VLCCs added to its fleet in 2021 to eight.

One of the new VLCC is equipped with dualfuel technology and expected to be delivered in Q1 2023. The other one is scheduled to join the fleet in Q2 2021. With the new VLCC acquisitions, total crude oil cargo capacity of ADNOC L&S is increased by 16 million barrels (mmbbl) in 2021.

The VLCC fleet expansion is to align with ADNOC’s strategy to increase its crude oil production capacity by 25% to 5 million barrels per day (mmbbl/d) by 2030. It will also play a significant role in boosting trade of the UAE’s flagship Murban crude oil.

MAY 2021 - ISSUE 173 | 9

RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

YOUR COMPLETE LEGAL GUIDE TO

EGYPT OIL & GAS MARKET BY: AMINA HUSSEIN, REHAM GAMAL, AND TASNEEM MADI

gypt is not only considered as a wealthy country due to its abundant oil and gas resources and discoveries; but also, it is fortunate to have continuous government legislative pro-market reforms, especially between 2014 and 2019. Focusing on the legislative improvements, there were a number of laws, amendments and issuances. For instance, the Gas Market Activities Law No. 196 of 2017 aims to liberalize the natural gas sector and attract investments.

As a result of these reforms, the oil and gas sector in Egypt became more stable and prominent, with a spark for a brighter future. This report is a brief outlook for the legal and regulatory framework of the Egyptian oil and gas market.

1. OIL & GAS EGYPTIAN MARKET GENERAL REGULATORY OVERVIEW A. OIL & GAS ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MoP) is the entity responsible for issuing and reviewing general policies and regulations in the sector. The Ministry was established after the Presidential Decree No. 409 of 1973. The Ministry continues its role in issuing policies and regulating through its affiliated entities, according to a study titled “A General Introduction to Oil and Gas Law in Egypt” published on November 17,2020.

I. EGPC Under Law No. 135 of 1956, before the Ministry’s establishment, the General Petroleum Authority (GPA) was formed. In 1962, the GPA’s name was changed to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), established under the Law No. 20 of 1976.

II. EGAS By the issuance of Prime Ministerial Decree No. 1009 of 2001, the MoP established a subsidiary for the EGPC, which is the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS). EGAS’s main role is to manage and organize natural gas activities to efficiently support the Egyptian economy.

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III. GANOPE GANOPE was previously known as South Valley Development Company (SVDC). It was established under the Prime Minister Decree No. 1755 of 2002 in accordance with Law No. 203/1991, to supervise the oil and gas various activities in Upper Egypt.

B. LEGAL & REGULATORY FRAMEWORK According to the Egyptian Constitution of 2014 (Article 32), all natural resources are owned by the state, represented in the Ministry. Accordingly, the MoP has the right to allow interested investors to invest in oil and gas explorations and exploitations within a concession, according to two studies titled “A General Introduction to Oil and Gas Law in Egypt”, and “The Oil And Gas Review” published in 2014.

2. LICENSING As an initial step, a license is granted to oil and gas companies for the purpose of conducting geological surveys, where the results lead to further oil and gas prospecting. Then, a concession agreement is signed to grant exclusive rights to explore and ultimately exploit oil and gas, either onshore or offshore. Since all concession agreements are laws, they are published and follow a standard format, subject to some amendments.

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EGYPTIAN PETROLEUM SECTOR MAIN ENTITIES

A. PROCEDURES I. NATURE OF OIL & GAS RIGHTS

MOP EMRA

EGPC

The related authority (either the EGPC or EGAS) has the power to apply the provisions and conditions regarding the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas under the Mining and Quarries Law No. 66 of 1953, as amended by law No. 86 of 1956 and its Executive Regulations issued by Ministerial Decree No. 758 of 1972 (referred to as the Fuel Materials Law). Obtaining a legally binding concession agreement include 2 processes: issuance of concession, followed by sources ownership. First: Issuance of Concession

ECHEM

EGAS

Ganope

Second: Sources Ownership

EGPC’S ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Subordinates

Holds

into

Shares in

12 NOCs

41 JVs 87

Investment Law Companies

EGPC’S ROLE Manage the government’s oil interest Enhance exploration activities

Explore extra oil potentialities

Increase petroleum exports revenues Fulﬁll local demand of petroleum products Implement & review main policies in the petroleum sector

EGAS’S ROLE Upstream

The authority leads negotiations on the draft concession agreement until reaching a mutual approval with the contractor; the draft will then be submitted to the Minister of Petroleum and the parliament for approval and issuance of the relevant law. The law delegates the Minister to represent the Government in entering a concession agreement with the EGPC or EGAS and the contractor.

The EGAS or EGPC announces a bid round to all the companies interested in oil and gas activities. The bidding companies are required to submit to these authorities two separate stamped envelopes. The first envelope embraces the technical qualifications of the bidding company, while the second one involves the commercial criteria. After one of these companies wins, negotiations on the draft concession agreement will commence. The government gives contractors a specified discovered amount of resources, complying with a production sharing scheme. Then, the contractor can sell and export his share at the price determined in the concession agreement. During the initial exploration terms, if the contractor proclaims any commercial discoveries, a percentage of the exploration area (usually 25%) must be relinquished. If a proposed withdrawal happens after a discovery, both the contractor and the EGPC must mutually agree on the area that will be relinquished, as stated in a report entitled “Oil and gas regulation in Egypt: overview”, published in 2014.

II. TERMS OF CONCESSION Concession activities are divided into two phases: the exploration and the exploitation phases. During the exploration phase, the contractor has the right to only explore the land subject to the concession for oil or gas without extracting any material from the ground. The concession agreement shall be terminated if neither oil nor gas is worth being commercially produced. The duration of the exploration phase is differently determined under each concession and is usually three years with the option of extension. In the exploitation phase, following a commercial oil or gas discovery, the area will be approved to be converted into a development lease without the issuance of any additional legal act or permission. Usually, the exploitation phase for each development lease is 20 years from the date of the discovery and could be extended, as stated in “The Oil and Gas Law Review” study. The Mining and Quarries law sets the terms and criteria required for the issuance and renewal of licenses.

Downstream

III. RELATED TAXES AND ROYALTIES

Offer bid rounds Issue concessions licenses Increase exploration, development & production of gas reserves

Supply, distribute, & transport natural gas domestically

Taxes and royalties are payable by oil and gas interest holders to the government. Generally, the contractor is subject to 40.55% of Egyptian income tax and must submit returns, tax assessments and bookkeeping, which will be collected as determined in the concession agreement.

MAY 2021 - ISSUE 173 | 11

RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

APPLICABLE LAWS REGULATING OIL & GAS SECTOR Law

Official Decree

Mining & Quarries Law No. 66 of 1953

Ministerial Decree No. 758 of 1972

Gas Market Activities Law No. 196 of 2017

Prime Ministerial Decree No. 239 of 2018

Oil Pipelines Law No. 4 of 1988

Ministry of Petroleum Decree No. 292 of 1988

Environmental Law No. 4 of 1994

Prime Minister Decree No. 338 of 1995

New Public Procurement Law No. 182 of 2018

Egyptian Income Tax Law No. 91 of 2005

2 Extensions

In addition to the royalty, payable by the EGPC in cash or in kind (10%), the contractor has to pay specific bonuses to the EGPC or GANOPE, such as signature bonuses, payable bonuses on the approval of each development lease and production bonuses. The amount of the bonuses can vary from one concession to another, according to “The Oil and Gas Law Review” study & “Oil and gas regulation in Egypt: overview” report.

I. JVS FORMATION

7 - 9 years

Initial Term

In the franchise agreement, the contractor and the operating companies are exempted from custom duties, effective taxes, levies and fees related to the import of machinery, appliances, vehicles and other items used in their operations as long as they are not manufactured locally at comparable prices. There is also recovery of costs and expenses for the contractor (about 35- 40%).

B. COMPANIES REGULATION

TERMS OF EXPLORATION AGREEMENTS

Period

The EGPC pays the tax on behalf of the contractor and provides him with a receipt of payment.

Divided Into

During the development phase of the contract, after achieving a commercial discovery, a joint venture (JV) is formed between the contractor company and the concessionaire, including the EGPC, the EGAS, and GANOPE, to operate as a special joint stock company. Each party holds 50% of the JV’s stakes, and has the right to nominate four members in the board of directors, as stated in a report, published in 2016, entitled “Conducting oil and gas activities in Egypt” . The JV acts as an agent company to carry out exploration, development, and exploitation operations for the commercial discovery, while the contractor company funds these operations. As the JV is only an agent, the decisions, actions, and proposals concerning the concession are taken by the concessionaire and the contractor jointly.

II. TERMINATION & TRANSFER OF INTERESTS OF CONCESSION

FOR COMMERCIAL DISCOVERY

Period

25 YEARS

Extension

35 YEARS

TERMS OF CONCESSIONS

Required ﬁnancial & technical criteria

The concession agreement is terminated by the end of the contract’s duration. In addition, the government has the right to revoke the agreement. This occurs if the contractor fails to meet the obligations under the agreement. For example, if the contractor becomes bankrupt or assigns one of his rights in breach of the concession agreement. The contractor is given 90 days’ written notice to remedy the violation, otherwise the concession agreement may be terminated by a presidential decree, according to “The Oil and Gas Law Review” study. The transfer of interest occurs through farm-in-out agreements. The farm-in agreement is a way of acquiring a license interest. Conversely, farming-out is a way of disposing a license interest.

Duration of the license

The transfer of interest is subject to the executive regulation of law No.66 of 1953 (Articles 67-68), and Law No.198 for 2014 (Minerals Law) (Article 7). The regulatory approvals are required for the acquisition of interests held under a license.

III. STABILIZATION & DISPUTE RESOLUTION In case of any changes in the regulations that significantly affect the economic interest of concession agreement, the parties can possibly negotiate modifying the agreement terms. If these modifications cannot be agreed within a certain limited period, the dispute resolution provisions will apply.

Requirements for renewal

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Rental fees during the exploration phase

Disputes between government and agreement parties are settled before the Egyptian courts. Other disputes between the concessionaire and contractor company must be settled by arbitration.

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3. TRADE, TRANSPORTATION & PRICING A. DISTRIBUTION, SALE, AND TRADE Oil and gas trade is only allowed with the permission of the relevant authorities. Following a discovery, the contractor company has a share in the production. However, the EGPC and EGAS have the right to purchase part of the contractor's share for domestic demand. Hence, the sale of oil and gas must be performed by the EGPC, EGAS or the contractor in accordance with the terms of the concession agreement. Transportation through pipelines is regulated by specific laws that set the terms and conditions needed to construct, maintain, and operate pipeline networks. For natural gas, the EGAS governs all transportation operations to all residential areas, industries and power stations. With the EGAS approval and supervision, private companies can incorporate the process of transportation. Furthermore, a third party, other than the EGPC and the EGAS, can agree to have its oil and gas transported through existing pipelines networks.

and directive regulation supported the Ministry and the whole economy to harvest the benefits of the continuing success in the oil and gas activities, and attract more investments in the different market segments. Accordingly, there are more than 50 IOCs currently operating in Egypt. Furthermore, in 2020, there were 22 signed agreements with major IOCs that work in the Egyptian petroleum sector domain, such as ExxonMobil and Chevron, with investments of about $1.6 billion and 12 petroleum agreements are still in the issuance phase, according to the Minister’s Interview.

GAS PRICES SET BY MINISTERIAL DECREES Industry

Gas Price ($/MMBtu)

Cement

B. PRODUCTS PRICING The pricing of the produced oil and gas is determined by the formula stipulated in the concession agreement. Hence, the agreement parties can agree on a revaluation process to change the price. As for the petroleum products, in June 2018, Egypt’s Prime Minister approved a new pricing mechanism to efficiently regulate the fuel market. According to this mechanism, the price will be set according to the global price of Brent crude, the US dollar exchange rate, and other relevant costs including transportation costs. However, the changes will be kept within a ±10% band. The prices are set on a quarterly basis by the “Automatic Fuel Pricing Committee”, which decided in April to increase prices by EGP 0.25 per liter for Q2 2021, according to the Committee statement. Natural gas is priced by two mechanisms, either by pricing formula or by ministerial decrees. Both mechanisms are considered to be long-term contracts between the EGAS, distributors, and consumers, according to the GasReg website. The MoP and its affiliates are taking fierce steps to achieve financial sustainability and resources self-sufficiency and to convert Egypt into an oil and gas regional hub. The restructuring of the legal framework

Iron/Steel

4.5

Petrochemicals

Electricity Households Use

2.8

Other Industries

LATEST FUEL PRICES (EGP/ LITER) Octane-95

Octane-92

Octane-80

8.75

7.75

6.50

MAY 2021 - ISSUE 173 | 13

INTERVIEW

10 YEARS OF SUCCESS,

COLLABORATION AND GROWTH Interview with Mohamed Shindy, Managing Director, Methanex Egypt METHANEX IS CELEBRATING ITS 10TH ANNIVERSARY IN EGYPT THIS YEAR, HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE THE COMPANY’S JOURNEY IN EGYPT THROUGHOUT THE PAST YEARS?

various destinations around the world, mainly in Europe, providing revenues that further contribute to the country’s economy. Methanex also exports methanol through the Damietta Port, generating economic benefits to the Port as well, and needless to say, Methanex’s presence in Damietta generates direct and indirect economic opportunities in and around Damietta.

I believe that Methanex has been on a continuous journey of learning, collaboration, and growth over the past years, and since we started operations in 2011. In Egypt we are a joint venture (JV) of Methanex Corporation, the world’s methanol leader, Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP) and Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum partners Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company (ECHEM), Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) and Egyptian Natural Gas Company (GASCO) , representing a successful model of partnership that delivers value to our employees, partners, customers, shareholders and the community at large whether on the national level or around our plant in Damietta.

On the sector level, and through our ongoing collaboration and partnership with the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and other key holding companies such as ECHEM, EGAS and Ganoub El Wadi Petroleum Holding Company (Ganope), we were able to start a rich dialogue around Process Safety Management (PSM) within the sector and to take real steps on the ground towards turning our joint PSM vision of safer processes, assets, and operations, into a reality through creating the three-year roadmap to guide all petrochemical, oil and gas companies on their PSM journeys, aligning with HE the Minister of Petroleum’s vision for the modernization of the sector.

Through our power of agility, strong culture, and commitment to the Responsible Care ethics, Methanex Egypt has been able to establish a safe methanol plant with a strong experienced and trained team supplying both the local and global markets. We were also able to create impact beyond our walls through aligning with Egypt’s Vision 2030, United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030, and the Ministry of Petroleum’s modernization project, empowering members of our community in Damietta towards a brighter future, and driving significant transformation within the Egyptian oil, gas and petrochemical sectors towards safer processes.

We also provide training programs to graduates from different Egyptian universities to enrich the pipeline of talent available to Egypt’s oil & gas and petrochemicals sector through an intensive training program with Methanex, the country’s only methanol production company.

HOW DO YOU SEE METHANEX’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE COUNTRY THROUGH ITS POSITION AS THE SOLE METHANOL PRODUCER IN EGYPT AND THE LARGEST EXPORTER IN THE PETROCHEMICAL SECTOR AND THROUGH ITS DIFFERENT PARTNERSHIPS? Our contribution to the country comes through three key positions: being a large investor in the country ‘the biggest Canadian investment in Egypt’, being a strong player in the sector, and being a responsible neighbor. Our $1 billion Methanex JV operation is one of the achievements of the Egyptian petroleum sector, realized through the national petrochemical sector’s plan and the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources’ strategy for substituting exports with domestic products. Throughout the past 10 years, our domestic methanol marketing and sales agreement with ECHEM has been key to meeting the growing local demand, and supporting local industries dependent on methanol as a key feedstock as we reserve up to 15% of our production to the local Egyptian market. ECHEM is also building a Formaldehyde plant next to our plant in Damietta which we will be supplying with methanol and utilities essential for the production of formaldehyde products and thus supporting the government’s vision of maximizing the value of the country’s oil and gas resources. Of equal importance areour exports which represent about 85% of our production and exported via ships to

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As a responsible neighbor, since the start of our plant operations in 2011, we have been strongly committed to bringing positive change to Damietta communities through grassroot and sustainable initiatives in different fields including health, education, empowerment, training and many others. We have supported the community through offering university scholarships to high school students, renovating local nurseries, supporting the main Damietta hospitals with much needed medical supplies and devices, having annual medical caravans and supporting families with food boxes throughout the pandemic. Then comes our latest partnership with the UN’s International Labour Organization(ILO) to extend the full-scale of their successful project, Decent Jobs for Egypt’s Young People to Damietta, which represents the core of our social responsibility strategy and program and focuses on empowering Damietta youth and women with the needed entrepreneurial skills and knowledge, creating better and decent employment opportunities for them. This project is aligned with Egypt Vision 2030 and UN’s SDGs 2030.

WHAT ARE THE KEY FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTED TO THE SUCCESSES ACHIEVED BY METHANEX EGYPT? I believe the key factors contributing to our success over the last 10 years are our agility, our people, our successful partnerships in Egypt and our commitment to safety. The power of agility is our key differentiator and one key contributor to our success over the years. Being agile and rapidly adapting to external and internal changes has always ensured that our team safely and reliably delivered a secure supply of methanol to global and local customers despite challenges such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.

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Our employees are central to everything we do. It is through their hard work, resilience, and perseverance that we were able to build an asset we can all employees, contractors, partners, lenders, customers, community, and national industry be proud of. This was achieved through building upon the solid foundation of Methanex’s Core Values of Trust, Respect, Integrity, and Professionalism that have always guided how our team works. We can also attribute our success on the different fronts to our successful partnerships in Egypt whether on the industry or community levels. Our success as a Methanol producer and supplier and a process safety champion in the sector would not have materialized without the support of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, our partnership with ECHEM and the holding companies in the sector. On the community level, our long and ongoing collaboration with local partners within the community and our recent partnership with the International Labor Organization have been essential for protecting our license to operate and have always ensured we bring positive change to Damietta communities through sustainable initiatives that stem out of real community needs. Last but not least is our commitment to safety; our number one priority. We design and manage our occupational safety and process safety programs to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our people as well as the integrity of our operating plant and processes to ensure the safety of our people, community environment and assets and thus the sustainability and reliability of our operations. This is followed in all phases of methanol production and distribution and we work hard on promoting it with our customers, distributors, partners, employees and other stakeholders.

WHAT IS THE COMPANY’S STRATEGY AND PLANS TO MAINTAIN ITS PRODUCTION RATE TO MEET THE LOCAL AND GLOBAL DEMAND ESPECIALLY AMIDST THE CURRENT PANDEMIC? Our strategy remains the same, yet what has changed is the way we work and operate. With a pandemic like this, it all comes down to safety which is no stranger to us at Methanex as it has always been the company’s number one priority. We were one of the first companies to respond to the rising number of infected countries in January 2020 and started working on response plans, guidelines and internal communications materials, while closely monitoring the evolving situation worldwide. After COVID-19 was announced as a pandemic and as the number of infections significantly rose globally, we immediately activated our response plan and shifted to minimum manning and working from home starting March 15, 2020 to ensure maximum safety of our team while maintaining our full operations to meet market’s and customers’ obligations and needs.

METHANOL IS A KEY FEEDSTOCK FOR MANY INDUSTRIES. WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS TO ENABLE A MORE SOLID FUTURE FOR METHANOL LOCALLY? As the only methanol production business in the country so far, this means that our joint venture substantially provides most of the country’s methanol needs. In alignment with this, we have signed an agreement with the Suez Methanol Derivates Company (SMD), an ECHEM affiliate, to provide them with methanol feedstock and utilities for the production of formaldehyde products. The project is the first of its kind in Egypt with total investments of ca. $50m and aims to produce 18,000 tons of urea-formaldehyde, and concentrate 85, 34,000 tons per year of urea formaldehyde 65 and 26,000 tons of sulphonated naphthalene formaldehyde per annum. We have always expressed our readiness and willingness to supply the local industries with methanol and to support the ministry’s vision in order to maximize the value of the country’s oil and gas resources and set up a chain of synergetic petrochemicals industries that further contribute to Egypt’s economic growth. Our agreement with SMD aligns with this strategy and is considered the first step in our vision to create a more robust and informed local market for methanol.

FROM A WORKSHOP TO A THREE-YEAR ROAD MAP FOR THE WHOLE SECTOR, TELL US MORE ABOUT METHANEX’S EXPERIENCE WITH REGARDS TO LEADING AND PAVING THE ROAD TO EMBED PROCESS SAFETY MANAGEMENT IN THE INDUSTRY AND BEING PART OF THE EGYPTIAN PSM STEERING COMMITTEE AND HOW YOU SEE THE PSM FUTURE MOVING FORWARD? We have always been very proud of being a member of the Egyptian petrochemicals’ industry and have always been keen to share our knowledge to enable a step-change towards safety within the oil, gas and petrochemicals industry as part of our commitment to Responsible Care ethics and to safety in particular. In 2018, we saw an opportunity through our partnership with ECHEM to share and extend our PSM vision towards safer processes, assets and operations with other companies in the Egyptian Oil and Gas sector. We reached out to Saad Helal, the Chairman of ECHEM, with the proposal to partner in launching the first PSM

workshop and conference. His enthusiasm matched ours,there was a clear need to start a wide dialogue about this critical topic. We hosted, in partnership with ECHEM, two conferences in 2018 and 2019 that brought a total of 800 representatives from across Egyptian Petrochemicals, and Oil & Gas sector companies where world renowned speakers ran PSM focused workshops introducing PSM, sharing case studies and starting a wide discussion about the topic. This allowed for establishing a common understanding of PSM within the industry catering to the huge appetite within the sector to establish and implement PSM systems. As a result of the rich dialogue started through the two PSM events, a committee from all holding companies of the Egyptian Oil & Gas and Petrochemicals sector and Methanex Egypt was formed to lead a three-year roadmap towards the adoption of PSM within all the companies operating under the umbrella of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources’ holding companies aimed at institutionalizing PSM within the industry in accordance with the ministry’s Modernization Program and international best practices, guidelines and standards. This was formalized during the Egypt Petroleum Show (EGYPS 2020) conference, through the signing of the MoU between Methanex Egypt and EGPC. The MoU was a truly crowning achievement of two years’ worth of collaborative work between multiple organizations who formed the founding core for creating an Industry PSM Committee and is a part of our strong commitment to PSM. After signing the MOU, COVID-19 was declared as a pandemic, however, meetings of the PSM committee continued to take place online as scheduled over the past year despite the challenges of COVID-19, thanks to the dedication of the committee members and their commitment to expediting the journey towards safer processes within the sector, ensuring adherence to the timeline proposed within the MoU. In February 2021, we were able to hold a webinar titled “Modernizing Process Safety Management: From Vision to Reality”, in which the Egyptian PSM Steering Committee shared the three-year roadmap and provided an update on the progress delivered during a challenging year in 2020 as well as presented the recent and newly launched website – www.PSMEgypt.com – providing the sector with credible information about PSM. With the huge interest and appetite we felt from the different companies working in the sector towards PSM and the outmost dedication felt and received from all the PSM Steering Committee members as well as the support of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, in addition to the real steps actually are being taken on the ground following the three-year roadmap, I am very optimistic and confident about the future of PSM in Egypt. I believe that we as a PSM committee will be able to not only impact our sector but also embed PSM and Asset Integrity in all process and manufacturing industries in Egypt, in accordance with the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources’ vision for modernizing the sector.

METHANEX’S AGREEMENT WITH ILO IN 2019 TO EXTEND THE “DECENT JOBS FOR EGYPT'S YOUNG PEOPLE” PROJECT TO DAMIETTA REPRESENTS A SHIFT OF FOCUS IN METHANEX’S SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY STRATEGY. CAN YOU ELABORATE MORE ON THIS SHIFT AND YOUR COOPERATION WITH THE ILO? Since our first production 10 years ago, Methanex Egypt has been committed to making a difference to its neighboring communities in Damietta, through a focus on Social Investments in health, education, empowerment, and training. Over the years, we have accelerated our company’s social responsibility journey through strengthening its sustainability and maturity, and ensuring that positive impacts experienced by the community and local partners are enhanced and meaningful to their existence. The ILO partnership signed in 2019 was one of the key milestones in this journey and constitutes a significant shift in the way we deliver Social Responsibility projects. This partnership ensures we invest in developing and empowering members of our surrounding community through successful, tried and tested interventions that have delivered proven results all over the world. In that way, we continue to honor the true spirit of Responsible Care, the governing ethic that drives our Social Responsibility work. We are very proud of this partnership as it aligns our Social Investment strategy with Egypt’s Vision 2030 and the UN SDGs) extending the full-scale of the International Labor Organization’s Decent Jobs for Egypt’s Young People project to Damietta, and addressing one of Egypt’s most pressing challenges, that of youth unemployment and underemployment. The project aimed to create decent employment opportunities for youth in Damietta, through promoting entrepreneurship and facilitating job matching processes. It also aimed to building capacities of local partners on the ground for improved services to support unemployed youth and job matching processes and should address key cross cutting themes including occupational safety and health (OSH), the inclusion of people with disabilities and gender mainstreaming. This partnership is a unique example of Public Private Partnership which enables the creation of over 500 jobs in Damietta over the duration of the project. Under the agreement, we have trained more than 650 men and women from Damietta so far. In recognition of this work, Methanex Egypt received the International Council for Small Business (ICSB) Humane Entrepreneurship Award, presented at the UN HQ in New York, in recognition of its contribution to the enrichment of micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) culture in Damietta.

MAY 2021 - ISSUE 173 | 15

INTERVIEW

POSITIVE COMMUNICATION W I T H E M P L OY E E S K E Y F O R A N Y C O M PA N Y ’ S S U C C E S S

AN INTERVIEW WITH MARIDIVE OFFSHORE PROJECTS HR MANAGER, MOSTAFA OTHMAN BY SHAIMAA BEHERY

he workforce is the core engine that pushes the propulsion systems of any company to work and actually its role is doubled when it comes to the oil and gas industry due to the people-involved offshore and onshore operations that are more like a naval fleet in a national mission. From this vantage point, Egypt Oil and Gas (EOG) was keen to shed the light on the human element while Egypt is celebrating the Labors’ Day on May 1st and conducted this interview. .

How the Human resources management (HRM) role in the oil and gas companies is different than in other companies, especially in terms of those employees whose missions are in the field (onshore, offshore) and others who normally work in-house? HRM as a function should not be different at any industry, however, in the Oil & Gas services, it is more involved in business as a business partner to most of employees, especially those who work offshore in a very tough environment and remote areas. Thus, working from home is not an option for our technical employees who constitute 80% of our manpower. Our office employees like HR, Marketing, Supply chain, Admin, Crewing, etc. are the support teams to the offshore employees, so they should be available 24/7 to support and find solutions for any problem as quick as possible.

How did the Covid-19 pandemic crisis affect the HRM strategies and what are the corresponding plans set to keep employees motivated and productive during such critical time? Covid-19 affected the Oil & Gas industry as a corollary to the measures attended with the pandemic. Most of offshore works were achieved in a time longer than usual due to air travel suspension and other measures attended with the COVID-19 crisis. When you are in the sea, there is no room for mistakes, so we have applied many strategies to keep our employees motivated through studying our their performance motivators and then providing the drivers notably marked capable of pushing all employees everywhere forward in such critical phase.

Do you see constant communication between the HRM department and employees is necessary for keeping the company’s performance up? Why? Sure, positive communication is the key to any company success. I believe HRM involvement with employees to know about their needs and aspirations and the open door policy are best ways to inevitably increase employees’ productivity and to level up their performance.

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In the light of the internal transformation policy that is being applied in Maridive, how this is reflected on the HRM approach in the company? Maridive Offshore Projects is a business success case that should be taught. We indeed have a vision that the change is necessary, so we have started the transformations three years ago and this is reflected on the HRM policies as new positions were opened to support the transformation with a new business ideas and to expand our business to new markets. We have set a plan to get these positions and ideas linked with the company’s balances score cards and succession plan.

As Maridive is currently optimizing its performance to reach a structure more adaptable to the new norm, what are the corresponding plans set by the HRM department to cope with the new norm as well? Yes, we actually have a set of new strategies and procedures to cope with the new norm, for instance, we are applying a Hay Guide Chart that involves talent acquisition and Talent Management strategies to help support our business

From an HRM perspective, what are the main factors required to build a creative, fully engaged, and agile team capable of delivering sustainable profitable growth? In my opinion, building a team work environment is harder than establishing a corporate. We here in Maridive call our employees and managers as “Maridive Family” and we here as HRM believe communication, discussions, open door policy, contribution, and loyalty are the main keys to build a strong reliable team and also to manage performance upon clear job descriptions and key performance indicators. These indicators are interfaced with the company strategic plan. In this regard, we are applying Balanced ScoreCard Strategy that implies four perspectives as follows; learning and growth, internal process, customer and stakeholders, and financial. Improvement with the internal capacity through learning drives to improved internal process, which in turn drives to improved satisfaction in both sides of customers and stakeholders. This finally leads to improved financial situation and thus profitable growth.

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The National Champion of MENA

The 1st NASDAQ - listed company from MENA Hiring & developing top local talents Investing in research and development

Solving oil & gas challenges

MAY 2021 - ISSUE 173 | 17

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

HUMAN RESOURCES: JOB NICHE SHIFT BY RANA AL KADY

any companies around the globe have had to transition to new methods of operation in order to comply with social distancing and COVID rules as a result of the global pandemic. Workers in the oil and gas industry believe that the events of 2020 have now ushered in a new standard for the industry, with 86% claiming that this is the current case or will be in the immediate future.

As per the 5th annual Global Energy Talent Index (GETI), approximately 78% of oil and gas employees are less confident in their employment than they were a year ago. Furthermore, two-thirds believe the COVID-19 pandemic is to blame for the unease. Additionally, 77% of hiring managers are concerned that their workers' positions are less available than they were a year before. Such concerns emerge in the context of predictions that global oil demand will grow in 2021, but not enough to exceed 2019 levels. The oil and gas industry is no stranger to economic downturns, but COVID-19's effect, combined with a shift in job demand, puts an emphasis on the jobs that are currently sought after.

OVERVIEW While the media may concentrate on the lack of employment in conventional oil and gas jobs, we have seen how the energy revolution presents not only obstacles but also opportunities for people of all ages to help businesses evolve, innovate, and succeed. Oil and gas experts have transferable capabilities that are crucial in planning the energy grid of the future, thanks to their extensive technological training, on-the-ground organisational know-how, and experience collaborating with a dynamic group of professionals. An HR specialist in the oil and gas field, who preferred anonymity, stated that “it is now more popular for oil and gas employees to have new skills that make them more flexible and have the ability to work in new jobs or new departments. It is not about hiring new experts for new jobs, but about having [existing] employees develop their skills and switch from a job that is not needed anymore to a more popular job in these [changing] times.”

Oil and gas engineers will have more opportunities as the energy transition accelerates. The energy revolution is moving at a quicker pace than any market watcher might have predicted. Pandemic-driven growth and pricing fluctuations, as well as the climate issues, have placed the oil and gas market under a lot of pressure to move to a climate-friendly future model. There are evident fluctuations in the oil and gas job market, especially over the past year or so. As a matter of fact, here are several reasons as to why there are shifts in the job market; such as the advances in technology, HSE procedures, financial limitations, etc.

NEW NICHES There are 6 new job niches that are hiring, despite the fact that the oil and gas industry is letting go of various employees. These eagerly sought-out oil and gas job niches include: methane management, decommissioning oil and gas wells, carbon capture and storage, converting refineries, new materials innovations, and the geothermal sectors. With regards to methane management, the annual methane emissions from the oil and gas industries are identical to the climate impact on all of the world's road vehicles and freight vehicles in a year, with 84 times more efficacy in the immediate future. As a result, reducing methane emissions is one of the most important aspects of reducing climate change's impacts. Through increased control and examination of methane emissions, environmental engineering will be in high demand, as will methane field experts for on-the-ground analysis and tracking, and computer scientists who can interpret data from ongoing analysis and build prediction models to quantify requirements and to prevent flaring.

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In the field of decommissioning wells, multitudes of unofficially registered orphan oil and gas wells are currently posing environmental hazards to communities around the world. Orphan wells are wells that have been financially unviable over time and have been left unattended to. The need to effectively fix orphan wells allows operators' and oilfield service companies' well-engineering and well-decommissioning expertise to be very useful. Furthermore, to make carbon capture and storage viable at large and resolve questions about the stability of capture and leakage, a great deal of ingenuity is needed. Geologists and well engineers have the advanced expertise and knowledge gained from previous research and development work that would be crucial in solving technological difficulties and lowering the cost of stable carbon storage in reservoirs. Additionally, firms are looking at upgrading refinery activities and transforming refineries to develop new resources, such as green diesel and hydrogen; this is as a result of the transition to electric vehicles and need for alternative fuels in automobiles, aircraft, and residential and commercial heating. Engineers can assist with process efficiency and quality management in potential refineries to guarantee that refining goods have a low environmental and health impact. Consequently, with a rise in awareness of the life cycle environmental and health impact of such petroleum products, demand for bio-based materials and other substitutes that have smaller environmental emissions and can be reused or recycled more effectively is increasing. Material science experts facilitate health and safety tests to make sure that modern components not only meet performance expectations but also avoid pollution. Finally, drilling and reservoir engineering are highly technical oil and gas expertise that cost businesses thousands to educate a single engineer in. Such skills are generally useful in the rising field of geothermal energy, offering an alternative for businesses to focus their engineering workers in this path.

THE WAY FORWARD As investors and government institutions alike search for safer and environmentally friendly fuel options, the pandemic has signalled a significant change for the oil and gas industry. Many would find jobs that take advantage of their expertise, experience, and expertise with generations of oilfield technology growth and advancement outside of conventional oilfield operations. Not only will these graduates be able to secure decent, steady careers, but they will also be able to put their talents to use in innovative unique ideas to help drive the energy transformation.

In the near future, energy transformation policies will depend heavily on digitalization. Engineering technologies and strategies are improving, allowing for more remote operations and technological coordination, as well as actively participating in establishing near-term pollution targets, monitoring transparency through industries, and more. Employees in the oil and gas sector are now among the best paying in the region, but the number of those polled say they are less confident in their positions than they were a year earlier, as the transition to low-carbon renewable resources has reduced expenditure in the industry. To conclude, the oil and gas industry and the predicted job niches are expected to outlast other job niches.

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OVERVIEW

HR GOLDEN ROLES:

THE RESPONSE TO THE NEW NORMAL BY FATMA AHMED The world has passed through an unprecedented challenging time as a result of Covid-19. It had a negative impact on most of the industrial sectors, particularly the oil and gas sector. This pushed many companies to rethink about how to improve their performance to keep their long-term sustainability as well as manage their workforce. The Human Resources (HR) department is the key player in this regard. Accordingly, HR mangers changed their mindset towards the workers and the conventional ways of working to cope with the new situation. This came by adopting the concept of working remotely (at least for the workers who are able to do so). Such a concept includes retaining highly skilled operations and maintenance workers onsite, attracting top talent and reducing costs. Working remotely seems to be easy, but needs flexibility and facilities from HR departments.

WORKING FROM DISTANCE: THE NEW NORMAL Avoiding the spread of the pandemic, many companies in the oil and gas sector, shifted their work to be online. According to an article entitled “HR Managers Rethink Their Role During the Coronavirus Pandemic”, face-to-face collaboration is replaced with e-mails as well as video and audio conferences. File sharing applications are used more broadly. The article stated that some companies had sent laptops to their new employees’ homes. HR departments offered flexibility regarding the implementation of tasks through providing different working hours. The focus becomes to accomplish the target whenever and however the employees wish.

Additionally, HR mangers are trying to keep their personnel productive, motivated, engaged and connected. This could happen by inducing the mangers to organize daily touch point meetings, virtual coffee breaks and more frequent meetings. Under the leadership of the technology departments, many companies worked quickly to develop solutions and buy equipment to facilitate remote working. Also, some companies allowed their mangers to create their own schedules that become suitable for new virtual work situations.

In the oil and gas sector, many oil companies adopted new technologies to facilitate working from distance, not only for the safety issue, but also to reducing costs at the time of the oil prices drop that resulted from the lockdowns. An article, published on Wall Street Journal, entitled “Drillers Go Remote as Pandemic Reshapes Oil Business” mentioned that the three major oil-filed service providers have been adopted new technologies enabled on-site drilling, inspection, maintenance and fracking operations to be implemented remotely; these companies include Baker Hughes, Schlumberger and Halliburton,.

THE BLACK POINT Every new emerging concept should accompany its challenges that need to be observed and overcome. The new normal is not achieved without some obstacles. An article entitled “HR to Play a Bigger Role During and After Covid-19” declared that employees adapted to work for longer hours. Data was released stating that there was a significant drop in absenteeism during the crisis. Moreover, despite the fact that employees showcased agility and resilience to adapt this new way of working, this may be brought upon only from fear of losing their jobs during a difficult time; especially since employees may not have the necessary skills to successfully work remotely for a long time.

Relying mainly on the internet is considered another key challenge for working remotely. This is because some energy companies have inadequate technology infrastructure in addition to the lack of organizational efficiency. Also, many remote areas may face certain limitations such as insufficient internet bandwidth. For oil and gas industry, many executives and analysts said that the shift to work remotely will urge the workers to adapt to new technologies. This, in turn, will push companies to focus more on hiring data-analytics specialists and subject-matter experts to remotely support multiple operations. This means that some traditional roles will gradually disappear until they eventually become redundant.

ADJUSTING TRANSFORMATION After the experience of remote working, HR should modify multiple factors such as: recruitment policies, rewards and recognitions practices, and engagement initiatives. This can be done by keeping the workforce updated and enhancing their capabilities to work remotely. They have to provide learning and development programs to make employees ready for the future. The Hire Hive blog suggested that talent acquisition is a new critical role for HR departments. Companies may need new talents that they wouldn’t have hired before to cope with the new normal.

Additionally, recruitment might be done online as well. Hiring could be done through virtual interviews rather face-to-face. Paperwork can be prepared with e-signatures. What’s more, HR mangers should develop new legal compliances according to the current situation such as paid time off, sick leave, and family leave. They, also, need to make sure that the remote working policies are consistent with the local labor requirements.

THE NEXT OF THE NEW NORMAL Mckinsey suggested that companies need to find ways to make the new roles permanent solutions. Mckinsey described five critical qualities for business leaders in this regard: resolve, resilience, return, reimagination and reform. Mckinsey explained that energy companies have to reimagine their operating models across four dimensions; structure people, processes and technology to come back stronger than before. As per the Structure, companies have to asses if the project operation needs could be shifted online or if it should return to the previous operation model. As for the People aspect, team leaders determine what is more efficient for their teams (i.e. whether to work remotely or work conventionally onsite). Regarding the Process, companies should assess which established processes have reduced the risk of misalignments, increased operations transparency and improved productivity. As for Technology, companies have to arrange the priorities in providing and modernizing the needed technologies.

At the end, we conclude that the challenge situation of covid-19 may lead to a total transition of how work is being implemented thanks to new technologies which is emerged quickly in response to the crisis. It also proved that changing mindsets of working environment and collaboration could transform the loses to profits.

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POLITICS

CLIMATE CRISIS:

A WILD CARD IN US-CHINA RELATIONS BY JASMINE SHAHEEN

he US and China, two of the most economically powerful countries in the world, have been going head to head over the years. Under the Trump administration, the US-China ties have been greatly impaired on many fronts, however, now under the recently-elected US President Joe Biden's administration, both sides came back to the table for discussions on the climate issue, which raises the questions if a joint climate action can bring back the relations to normal or rather deepen the tension and further complicate the climate crisis.

CLIMATE SUMMIT The climate crisis brings a new area of competition between the US and China, but it could also be a common ground for agreement and potentially even joint leadership on the world stage. After its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in 2017, the US rejoined when Biden came to power. As two of the world’s biggest emitters, China and the US account for almost 45% of global fossil fuel emissions that are harming the atmosphere. Getting back into the game, Biden held a virtual two-day climate summit on April 23. The summit was attended by 40 other world leaders, including China’s President Xi Jinping. The summit was the first gathering between Xi and Biden since Biden took office. Ahead of the event, John Kerry, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, met with his Chinese counterpart in Shanghai, where the two parties concurred on a collaboration to undertake the climate crisis with urgency. At the summit, the US announced ambitious targets pledging to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52% by 2030. He also emphasized in a speech that the climate issue cannot be an individual mission and a joint action is needed. “America represents less than 15% of the world’s emissions… No nation can solve this crisis on [their] own, as I know you all fully understand. All of us — and particularly those of us who represent the world’s largest economies — we have to step up.” Meanwhile, Xi reaffirmed China’s previous pledge promising to peak emissions by 2030 and eventually achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. As tensions remain high between the two countries, Xi subtly referenced the US’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement under the Trump administration. He commented that the world "must maintain continuity, not reverse course easily; and we must honor commitments, not go back on promises."

PIPE DREAMS? After a year of COVID-19 induced economic stagnation, many countries are putting economic growth in the forefront. Which begs the question whether these countries make good on their promise towards climate change? "China has committed to move from carbon peak to carbon neutrality in a much shorter time span than what might take many developed countries, and that requires extraordinarily hard efforts from China," Xi declared during the summit. Though China is already one of the few economies that are recovering rapidly from the outbreak, it came with a price on the climate crisis as China’s air pollution levels began soaring as well. This brings up another point as China has completed a majority of its coal plants in 2020 in addition to being responsible for 85% of the world’s new coal plant proposals. Thus, instead of shifting the focus away from coal power and limiting emissions, China is doubling down. In the grand scheme of things, it is essential to understand China’s connection to coal as it will play a major role in whether the world can meet global climate targets or not.

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Coal power plants in the poorer provinces in China are a way to increase Gross domestic product (GDP) especially after the economic crunch from the pandemic. This approach to coal power plants deviates from the Paris Agreement goals to phase out coal completely by 2030 and to keep temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. In addition, it contradicts President Xi's call for a global green recovery from the pandemic-caused economic recession. The climate problem remains a collective concern and one country’s backsliding could postpone a clean future for the rest of the world. While China is moving forward with coal power plants, the rest of the countries are rerouting their power strategies to clean energy. Biden’s economic vision centers on an economy that will be powered by wind, solar, nuclear, and other renewables. Biden promised that 100% of the US energy will be carbon-free by 2035. His infrastructure and jobs plan entails a clean electricity standard, tax credits to expedite wind and solar development, and $174 billion to be put into electric vehicle infrastructure alone. During the summit, he stated that the climate response will be a locomotive for providing and creating jobs. Despite the grandiose promises by world leaders, the concern persists in whether these countries will stand by their promises on the long term when they already seem skeptical. Zhao Lijian, the Spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, stated that “the US chose to come and go as it likes with regard to the Paris Agreement… Its return is by no means a glorious comeback but rather the student playing truant getting back to class.”

POWER PLAY The climate crisis brings a new sort of tension between China and the US to an already heightened and aggravated situation due to the build up by the Trump administration. The tension increased during the former US President Donald Trump’s term has led to a trade war as the US imposed a first of many sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports, in which China retaliated by announcing plans to increase tariffs on $60 billion worth of American goods. The pandemic only increased the tensions with Trump’s xenophobic references to COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus”. The back and forth between the two countries has led to the closure of both countries’ respective embassies as well as expelling several journalists from the US and China. Biden’s administration promised to restore relations with other countries, however, up to this point the US has not taken any concrete actions to undo the damage or reverse the ferocious attacks and sanctions that Trump imposed. The lack of action by the new administration suggests a power struggle between the two largest economies in the world as well as the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, which inevitably suggests a belated solution for the climate crisis.

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TECHNOLOGY

ASTER & FUZZY LOGIC:

NEW METHODS IN HYDROCARBON EXPLORATION BY JASMINE SHAHEEN In the world of exploration and production (E&P), new technologies are always on the rise looking for a way to maximize hydrocarbon production with efficiency. Remote sensing techniques have been used in the oil and gas industry for quite some time, but not as extensive as geological and/or geophysical surveys. A new study presented by Reza Taheri, Assistant Instructional Professor at the University of Wyoming, and Alan Tait, Adjunct Research Fellow, at the University of Monash, provides a new remote sensing technique, specifically Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), to be used in hydrocarbon production.

THE METHODOLOGY This study examines the use of ASTER on existing petroleum reservoirs intending to uncover diagnostic trends that could be used to evaluate virgin territory in the future. Even though oil and gas reserves are deep underground, they have certain markers that can be observed on the surface. Previously, hazy patches on the Landsat Multispectral Scanner (MSS) photos were viewed as a hint to look for oil because of their strong association with current oil and gas fields. The phenomenon, however, fell out of favor because it was never clarified. This study, however, attempts to classify the surface phenomena, specifically surface temperature, based on ASTER satellite data in the Thermal Infrared (TIR) region of the electromagnet spectrum and examine its relationship with the presence of hydrocarbons

in place. The study took place in Iran on 53 onshore fields that produce from the Early Miocene Asmari Limestone and the Cenomanian Sarvak Limestone formations which contain more than 350 billion barrels (bbl) of original oil in place and 250 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of associated gas. The study depended on two axes; ASTER images which were processed to minimize temperature variations caused by any sources other than the underlying hydrocarbons. That is to illustrate subsurface contributors to geothermal anomalies observed at the surface. The second axis and the main processing approach is Fuzzy logic, which was used to assign weight to the role-playing variables based on their degree of control on the final Land Surface Temperature (LST).

THE RESULTS The processed maps showed that after the removal of all the contributors to LST, the underlying hydrocarbons could be linked to the remaining thermal anomalies, which were reduced by up to 80% in some of the study areas. Even after all of the contributors to LST have been excluded from the equation, the final results have shown that 67.9% of the pixels inside the buffer zones of petroleum reservoirs in the study area are thermally anomalous. Variograms were also deployed to investigate the continuity of thermal anomalies in different directions within the buffer zones of each of the petroleum reservoirs. The variogram analysis detected the

direction of thermal anomalies strongly follows the northwest-southeast (NW-SE) direction, which is the direction along the trend line of elongation axes of petroleum reservoirs. The research results have shown that by employing ASTER TIR data and removing thermal noises using fuzzy logic, thermal anomalies over the existing oil reservoirs could still be detected. According to the paper, this method proves to be an economically efficient tool to utilize in the early stages of hydrocarbon reconnaissance. The thermal inertia and emissivity of oil-bearing surfaces reflected on the final LST were proved to be direction-oriented. Additionally, a strong spatial correlation between the presence of oil and the detected thermal anomalies was evident in directions along the trend line of elongation axes of petroleum reservoirs.

MAY 2021 - ISSUE 173 | 21

ADVERTORIAL

METHANEX EGYPT: BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

ethanex Egypt has been running a robust social responsibility program since the company began operations in Damietta in 2011. Over the years, the company has been committed to making a difference to its neighboring communities, through a focus on social investment in health, education, empowerment, and training. In 2019, Methanex decided to do a shift in the way it approached social responsibility to ensure more mature initiatives are implemented that can help build a more sustainable future for the community.

ILO-METHANEX PARTNERSHIP

institutions that deal with enterprise development. Through the program, Methanex managed to successfully train 294 women from Damietta so far. Methanex Egypt also provided the Get Ahead for Women in Enterprise Training the Trainers (ToT) program which offered the training to women from Damietta in collaboration with the National Council for Women (NCW) to ensure the sustainability of the program in the future by trainers from the community.

START AND IMPROVE YOUR BUSINESS

in vocational and technical schools through an innovation and entrepreneurship curriculum delivered as part of a partnership between the ILO and the Egyptian Ministry of Education, funded through DJEP Methanex.

ICSB AWARD In 2019, Methanex signed a partnership with the United Nations' International Labor Organization (ILO); a key milestone in the company’s sustainable development journey, aligning its Social Investment strategy with Egypt’s Vision 2030 and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by extending the full-scale of the ILO’s Decent Jobs for Egypt’s Young People (DJEP) project to Damietta addressing one of Egypt’s most pressing challenges, that of youth unemployment and underemployment. The project would enable the creation of over 500 jobs in Damietta over the course of the project through a $1,000,000 donation to the ILO. The ‘Decent Jobs for Egypt’s Young People– Tackling the Challenge in Damietta’ project aims to build on the wealth of experience and success of the ILO Canadian-funded DJEP project to create decent employment opportunities for youth in the governorate of Damietta, through promoting entrepreneurship and facilitating job matching processes. In addition to building capacities of local partners on the ground for improved services to support unemployed youth and job matching processes, the project will address key cross-cutting themes including occupational safety and health (OSH), the inclusion of people with disabilities and gender mainstreaming. Through this agreement, Methanex, in partnership with ILO, will deliver four of the DJEP project main programs, these are: Get Ahead Program for Women in Enterprise, Start and Improve Your Business, Job Search Clubs and Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Technical Schools.

GET AHEAD FOR WOMEN IN ENTERPRISE

Get Ahead for Women in Enterprise program is designed to promote enterprise development among low-income women, who want to start or are already involved in small-scale business. The program addresses women’s practical and strategic needs by strengthening their basic business and people management skills. The program also helps women develop their entrepreneurial traits and obtain support through groups, networks, and

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Partnering with ILO and Egypt’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA), Methanex also provides the Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) program. The training program focuses on launching small businesses as a means to create more and better employment to young men and women in the community, thus narrowing the unemployment gap in the Damietta. The SIYB program aims to enable potential entrepreneurs to develop concrete, feasible and bankable business ideas to start their own small business. By the end of the training, these potential entrepreneurs will have completed a basic business plan that will serve as a blueprint for starting up their businesses. So far, the program trained 238 people in Damietta.

JOB SEARCH CLUBS

As a result of its myriad initiatives and projects that had a tangible positive impact on its surrounding communities, in 2019, Methanex Egypt received the International Council for Small Business (ICSB) Humane Entrepreneurship Award, presented at the UN HQ in New York, in recognition of its contribution to the enrichment of micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) culture in Damietta. The award is given by the ICSB to organizations that successfully attain business excellence, while also making a positive impact on their communities. It also offers the award to businesses that are able to harmonize economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental protection together and meet at least one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Another key ILO DJEP program, conducted in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Youth and Sports, is the Job Search Clubs. This program provides an enriching environment where young people gather and share resources and contacts while searching for jobs in various fields under the supervision of trained facilitators. The program plays a major role in bettering youth chances of employment as well as providing them with intensive coaching on job hunt skills.

MOVING FORWARD

By employing specific methodologies, the program allows the youth to engage in searching for jobs, find means to seek hidden job markets, create a support group for individuals with similar needs, and build a network that cultivates successful job hunting. Such methods help job hunters find suitable employment in a short time. So far, the program trained 109 people in Damietta.

The ILO Decent Jobs for Egypt’s Young People in Damietta project remains active as one of Methanex’s social investment projects as it has recently launched its first activity for 2021 in March through the Business Development Services (BDS) clinic. The BDS clinic was a result of collaboration between the ILO, MSMEDA, and the Chamber of Wood Working & Furniture Industries (CWWFI). Through the clinic, the SIYB beneficiaries from 2018 until 2020 were provided with free consultation and sessions to assess their projects’ status, understand factors affecting their performance, and provide solutions to the challenges they face ensuring the sustainability of their projects beyond the initial training provided to them. Methanex is currently preparing new intakes of the different training programs under its ILO funded project to empower more individuals from the community building on its successful partnerships with the different local entities and authorities that have positively impacted the program delivery over the past couple of years.

INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR TECHNICAL SCHOOL TEACHERS In alignment with Methanex commitment to investing in education and in line with its sustainable approach, Methanex Egypt is also planning to raise awareness about entrepreneurship among the youth in Damietta through a program centered and focused on training teachers and trainers

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HEADING FOR THE HYDROGEN ECONOMY

he hydrogen economy is still in its infancy, and it’s true that hydrogen has been overhyped in the past. However, a recent report from DNV reveals that hydrogen has surged up the priority list of many oil and gas organizations, taking a primary position in the sector’s decarbonization efforts.

Societies globally are aligning on the need to act faster to fight climate change, with several nations already committing to net zero targets for CO2 emissions. Many oil and gas majors have also committed to reducing or eliminating their emissions. DNV’s recent industry survey, based on a global survey of more than 1,000 senior oil and gas industry professionals, suggests a more certain future for hydrogen and that the time is right to begin scaling the hydrogen economy, despite recent oil market shocks: One in five (21%) senior professionals revealed that their organization has already entered hydrogen market actively, while more than half (52%) expect gas to form a significant part of the energy mix within a decade. The future of hydrogen energy is wrapped up with the future of natural gas, renewable energy, and carbon capture and storage (CCS). This does not yield only useful synergies, but political, economic, and technical complexity as well.

A LONG TERM PROJECT As the energy transition moves at pace, hydrogen can be noticed quite rightly in the spotlight. However, to realize its potential, both governments and industry curators will need to make bold decisions. The challenge now is not in the ambition, but in changing the timeline: from hydrogen on the horizon, to hydrogen in our homes, businesses, and transport systems. Hydrogen can be produced in several ways, but if it is going to help in the battle with climate change, the process will have to be decarbonized. While hydrogen gas produced from renewable energy (green hydrogen) is the industry’s ultimate destination, analysis shows that the sector can only realistically scale up to large volumes and infrastructure with carbon-free hydrogen, produced from fossil fuels and combined with CCS technology (blue hydrogen). Exploiting the synergies with natural gas is just one of the ways to make the hydrogen economy a

THE FOUR HYDROGEN “ENABLERS”

reality. To get to the stage where societies and industry can enjoy the benefits of hydrogen at scale, all stakeholders will need to focus on four hydrogen “enablers”: safety, infrastructure, CCS and policy. The first enabler is to prove the safety case of hydrogen. For hydrogen to gain broad acceptance and adoption in domestic settings and to track new applications beyond current industrial uses, industry and regulators will need to establish robust safety standards for each specific use case. The public perception must be addressed, and stakeholders must take steps to ensure people trust hydrogen being safe for use in domestic and other settings. At DNV, we are helping governments and gas operators to demonstrate safe hydrogen production, transmission and consumption. One example is the Hy4Heat programme in the UK, which aims to establish whether it is technically possible, safe, and convenient to replace methane with hydrogen in residential and commercial areas. Tests on three specially constructed houses are proving the safety of switching from natural gas to hydrogen in a domestic setting at DNV ’s Spadeadam Testing and Research site, the world’s first comprehensive hydrogen testing facility. The second enabler is to develop efficient hydrogen infrastructure. Countries with natural gas infrastructure can continue to use those assets in a hydrogen economy. Even in the places where existing infrastructure can be reused or repurposed, still, there will be issues to resolve. Our experts are helping companies across the global oil and gas value chain to develop hydrogen-fit infrastructure. One operational constraint to overcome is the fact that hydrogen pipeline networks may need to be operated at different pressures (or velocity) than natural gas/biogas. Further research may be needed into whether hydrogen could have an adverse effect on materials (e.g. in pipes and valves) and finally, various appliances would need to be converted or replaced (e.g. water heaters, compressors, pumps and sensors). An interesting example is the project DNV has been undertaking in the Netherlands, the Power2Gas programme being led by Stedin, a Dutch gas and power grid operator. We have been managing and providing expert support to test that homes can be heated by 100% hydrogen, replacing natural gas in an existing pipeline for the first time in the country. The third enabler is the need to scale CCS technology. All major routes to successfully decarbonize gas rely on the large-scale uptake of CCS. More than half of those we surveyed (55%) said that the oil and gas industry cannot decarbonize

without greater uptake of CCS. CCS struggles to gain traction because there is a cheaper option for industry: emitting carbon into the atmosphere costs virtually nothing. DNV’s 2020 Energy Transition Outlook report finds that CCS will not scale until the 2040s without changes to government policy. However, if policymakers make bold decisions, the types of bold decisions that stimulated other clean technologies like solar and wind at largescale can happen. Industry can also play a role by finding ways to reduce the cost of implementing CCS. Some 62% of senior oil and gas industry professionals think the sector should drive adoption forward immediately, and not wait for government policies/incentives. The final enabler for the growth of hydrogen relates to the need to incentivize value chains through policy. The faster governments incentivize industry to adopt technology, the quicker the technology goes down the cost-learning curve and becomes independently and financially viable. Use cases will create demand for hydrogen, and demand will lead to further investment, lower costs, greater acceptance, and momentum which in turn can build sustainable supply chains. But to make use cases a reality, governments and intergovernmental organizations must make more long-term policy commitments. DNV works with policymakers in many countries around the world to help establish sound, sustainable hydrogen adoption strategies and realistic roadmaps to realize their ambitions. DNV delivers broad technical expertise and experience to enable hydrogen to play a key role in the energy transition. Together with industry operators and governments, we are exploring how we can change the timeline from hydrogen on the horizon to hydrogen in our homes, businesses, and transport systems. Contact us to hear more about our hydrogen capabilities and how we can help you to realize your hydrogen ambitions. Find out more at dnv.com/oilgas/hydrogen

Vice President & Area Manager North Africa, DNV Email: hisham.el-grawany@dnv.com

MAY 2021 - ISSUE 173 | 23

OPINION COLUMN

ENERGY STRATEGIES & THE EGYPTIAN NATIONAL SECURITY

nergy is essential for bringing about comprehensive development in all societies and is considered the artery of development of various fields of economic and social life. It is also a crucial issue for restoring macroeconomic stability and strengthening foreign exchange reserves. Even on the Egyptian national security level, energy is one of the most important pillars as sustainable development plans are linked with the ability of the country to secure the energy resources needed to implement these plans, and the state strives to preser ve energy resources and maximize their utilization.

The political leadership developed Egypt's vision 2030, with the aim to elevate Egypt to the ranks of developed countries, by doubling the urban area to accommodate the expected population increase. Thus, the vision has dealt with the problems resulting from the increase in population densities in many cities, through the establishment of a group of major national projects.

Despite the great challenges that Egypt faced in providing energy to the local market during a previous stage, the Egyptian state was able, as before, to convert challenges and difficulties into opportunities and gains on the ground, and a number of reform measures and policies have been taken in the energy sector within the framework of a new strategy that guarantees securing supplies, sustainability and good governance. In the field of petroleum and mineral resources, Egypt has succeeded recently in achieving self-sufficiency in gas and returning to export. The petroleum sector has made distinguished achievements locally and internationally and is still on its way to achieving more research, and more discoveries. We have also achieved unprecedented rates in gas, oil, and gold production. The petroleum sector is also witnessing huge transformations in refining, petrochemical projects, and the expansion of the home gas delivery, as well as the expansion plan to use gas as a fuel for cars. Not only that, but the Egyptian petroleum sector also gained a distinguished international status through the launch of the Egyptian Initiative to establish the East Mediterranean Gas Forum with headquarters in Cairo. The Egyptian petroleum sector has also succeeded in reducing the late dues of foreign partners in the search for oil and gas to the lowest level since 2010, which confirms the credibility and commitment of the Egyptian state in the current period, and supports the foreign investor’s confidence in the Egyptian economy, and thus a remarkable resurgence was made with the volume of investments injected in the industry. The Egyptian government has set a national goal to transform Egypt into a hub for energy trade and circulation, while the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources continues its steps towards implementing Egypt's national project to transform into a regional center for trade and circulation of gas and oil, by activating the role of the Supreme Committee formed upon the Prime Minister’s decision issued in 2016 to transform Egypt into a regional energy hub. In addition to these efforts and within the framework of diversifying the sources of electric energy production and benefiting from Egypt's natural resources, especially new and renewable energy sources, and in cooperation with one of the international expertise houses and with the participation of the ministries of oil and electricity, a strategy has been developed to maximize the usage of renewable energy in the energy mix, to reach more than 42% by 2035. Indeed, energy is the most valuable resource in a person’s life and the most important of his rights and we should be aware that the path of construction is difficult, cumbersome and costly, and moving on it requires determination and will.

MOHAMED EL HAYTHEM, M.PHIL., DBA, MBA General Manager, Foreign Companies’ Control, Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC)

24 | EGYPT OIL & GAS NEWSPAPER

BIRTH OF EGYPT PETROLEUM INDUSTRY IN GEBEL EL ZEIT DISTRICT

n 1886, the first documented wells to produce oil in Egypt were drilled using a steam-driven rig in Ras Gemsa, Southwest Gulf of Suez region that has a special historical value for witnessing the first oil production in Egypt. That time saw the primitive exploration concept to consider the oil seepage as a direct indication of the subsurface occurrence of hydrocarbons.

Oil seeps can be simply defined as a natural leak of crude oil and gas that migrate up through the rocks to the surface. If the overpressure continues to increase to the point that it overcomes the rocks’ minimum stress, then the rock will fracture, causing local and high-intensity seepage until the pressure equalizes and the fractures close. It can also be attributed to the effect of the surface reflected fault that attends the process of juxtaposing the basement rocks against Miocene sediments. Oil from seeps was earlier exploited by ancient Egyptians who discovered the importance of bitumen in creating Egyptian mummies. The word mummy itself is derived from the Egyptian word mūmiyyah, which means bitumen. Oil also was probably used as a source of tar for sealing wooden sailing vessels. It was also encountered in mine shafts dug for sulfur within the Middle to Late Miocene evaporite outcrops; just to the south of Gebel el Zeit (Oil Mountain in English). This phenomenon can be seen clearly at the coastal strip in front of the southeastern Little Zeit which is now part of a geological protected area. Analysis of the oil from two pits indicates that it is not biodegraded, although most of the light-end components are gone.

However, the effective and economic use of oil as a source of energy began relatively recently, definitely in the mid-19th century, with the discovery of an effective refining process to transform crude oil into lamp oil and the invention of safe and effective oil lamps. In 1853, the seeped petroleum had little commercial interest to light the mineral oil lamps; a technique developed in Berlin by a German lamp manufacturer named Stohwasser as the development of the internal combustion engine had not yet revolutionized world industry. As for the South Zeit oil seeps area, numerous roofless stone buildings still remain. Each well-site is commonly marked by the ruins of a small village. Another small stone building can also be seen in the camp of East Zeit Company. I believe that these buildings were used by the drilling crews as each well must have taken over a year to be drilled. These buildings were inhabited by the drilling crews and the impressive design with numerous windows for fresh air supports this idea. Nevertheless, it is also reported that these buildings were used as a prison and/or hospital for prisoners. For me, I believe these buildings should be labeled with the statement “The birth of Egypt petroleum industry is here” instead of using the story of “Prison”.

AHMED MOSTAFA Exploration Department Head at Ganoub El Wadi Petroleum Holding Company (GANOPE)

WWW.EGYPTOIL-GAS.COM

CHOICE OF WORDS

A NUMBER OF ADDITIONAL TARGETS AND LEADS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED WITHIN THE ABU SENNAN CONCESSION AND THE RESULTS OF ASD-1X AND OTHER RECENT WELLS WILL BETTER INFORM OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE ACREAGE. WE WILL CONTINUE TO WORK WITH OUR JV PARTNERS TO PRIORITISE THESE OPPORTUNITIES WHICH CAN ULTIMATELY BE BROUGHT INTO PRODUCTION IN SHORT TIME FRAMES..

MARIDIVE TOOK AN IMMEDIATE DECISION TO MOBILIZE MARIDIVE 703 ONCE BEING INFORMED OF THE EVER GIVEN CRISIS. THIS IS A NATIONAL CALL OF DUTY AND WE WERE HONORED TO PARTICIPATE IN IT, AS MARIDIVE WILL NEVER HESITATE TO UTILIZE ITS EXPERTISE OF OVER 40 YEARS IN SERVICING THE EGYPTIAN STATE.

SHAHIRA ZEID

BRIAN LARKIN

Chairman of Maridive Group Board of Directors

United Oil & Gas' CEO

Maridive and Oil Services Company participated to refloat the giant Panamanian container carrier (Ever Given) that was grounded in the Suez Canal, blocking the channel on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2021.

SERGIY PERELOMA

ONE OF THE KEY VECTORS OF THE STRATEGY OF NAFTOGAZ GROUP IS THE INCREASING OF HYDROCARBON PRODUCTION, BOTH IN UKRAINE AND FROM FOREIGN ASSETS. ONLY THE START OF THE CURRENT WELL STIMULATION CAMPAIGN HAS ALLOWED US TO INCREASE OUR OIL PRODUCTION BY 20 PERCENT. WE ARE PLANNING TO USE THIS EXPERIENCE IN THE FUTURE, IN PARTICULAR, HYDRAULIC FRACTURING OF THE WELLS, AT OTHER SITES OPERATED BY NAFTOGAZ GROUP IN THE ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT.

First Deputy Head of Naftogaz

Naftogaz Group increased oil production from its assets in the Western Desert of Egypt by more than 20% or 600 barrels per day (bbl/d).

United Oil & Gas Company (UOG) made a new discovery in Abu Sennan Concession, onshore Egypt, after doing drilling operation for ASD-1X exploration well.

MATHIOS RIGAS

IN THE NEXT STAGE OF OUR TRANSITION STRATEGY, WE WILL APPLY NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO OLDER FIELDS, CONVERTING THEM INTO CARBON CAPTURE AND UNDERGROUND STORAGE FACILITIES, STARTING WITH PRINOS. THIS WILL LEVERAGE OUR SUBSURFACE EXPERTISE TO ACCELERATE OUR PATH TO NET ZERO THROUGH IMPLEMENTATION OF NPVPOSITIVE INITIATIVES. WE ARE RAPIDLY ESTABLISHING OURSELVES AS THE LEADING INDEPENDENT, GAS-FOCUSED E&P COMPANY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN WITH AN ASPIRATION TO LEAD THE REGION’S ENERGY TRANSITION.

Chief Executive Officer, Energean

Energean Oil and Gas plc announced its audited full-year results for the fiscal year (FY) 2020 and its targets in 2021.

MAY 2021 - ISSUE 173 | 25

ECONOMIC SNAPSHOT

EGYPT'S MONTHLY UPDATES ON PRODUCTION, RIGS, AND DRILLING ARE AVAILABLE NOW IN OUR MONTHLY MONITOR.

PLEASE CONTACT US VIA MONITOR@EGYPTOIL-GAS. COM TO SUBSCRIBE FOR YOUR MONTHLY COPY.

VALUE AND VOLUME OF SHARES TRADED FOR OIL & GAS SECTOR IN MAR. 2021

MAIN ECONOMIC INDICATORS February 2021

VALUE TRADED (EGP BILLION)

OIL & GAS

0.14

TOTAL

25.4

March 2021

ANNUAL INFLATION HEADLINE CPI (%) % OF TOTAL VALUE TRADED

4.5

0.6

4.5

NET INTERNATIONAL RESERVES ($ BILLION)

VOLUME TRADED (BILLION SHARES) OIL & GAS

0.05

TOTAL

12.5

40.34

40.2 % OF TOTAL VOLUME TRADED

0.4

NON-OIL PRIVATE SECTOR PMI (POINTS)

49.3

NATIONAL DRILLING CURRENCY

CLOSE PRICE

YTD PRICE CHANGE (%)

USD

EXCHANGE RATES

€

British Pound

EUR

USD

21.91

21.76

21.73

21.78

21.64

18.80

18.74

18.54

18.63

18.77

15.75

15.79

15.76

15.73

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 1

ALEXANDRIA MINERAL OILS CO. CURRENCY

CLOSE PRICE

EGP

2.58

YTD PRICE CHANGE

(%)

MARCH

Week 2 APRIL

17.24

CAPITAL MARKET INDICATORS EGYPT GAS EGX 30

CURRENCY

CLOSE PRICE

EGP

36.06

YTD PRICE CHANGE

EGX 70 EWI

17.24 10,918

10,870

10,565

10,304

2,079

SIDI KERIR PETROCHEMICALS CURRENCY

CLOSE PRICE

YTD PRICE CHANGE (%)

EGP

10.13

8.81

Source of Raw Data: CBE, CAPMAS, Egyptian Exchange, HIS Markit

14-18 MAR

10,143

2,963

3,047

26 | EGYPT OIL & GAS NEWSPAPER

EGX 100 EWI

(%)

1,843

2,789

21-25 MAR

2,014

1,877

2,794 2,716 1,821

28 MAR-1 APR

4- 8 APR

11-15 APR

WWW.EGYPTOIL-GAS.COM

EGYPT STATS

COMPLETION OF SGZ-6X WELL AT SOUTH GHAZALAT

DEVELOPMENT OF EGYPT'S LNG EXPORTS NO. OF SHIPMENTS

Company

TransGlobe

2020

Start Date

March 21, 2021

Estimated Initial Production

3,600 bbl/d of light oil

Navigation Statistics in 2021*

Expected Annual Production for Damietta LNG Plant

8-9 Shipments Per Month

Increase Total Export Capacity

Estimated Production*

1,000 bbl/d of light oil

*On March, 22

4.5 mmt 12.5 mmt

*Announced in late March

ASORC PLANS FOR DIESEL COMPLEX PROJECT BY SEP 2022

DRILLING OF ASD-1X EXPLORATION WELL IN THE WESTERN DESERT 12 km north-east of Al Jahraa Field Location

Abu Sennan Concession

3,750m MD Total Depth

Investment Cost

Production Capacity

$2.9 billion

2.5 mmt/y of petroleum products

MIDOR'S PLANS FOR Q1 2022

EDC-50

22m

Rig

Net Oil Pay

60% Increase Reﬁnery's Productivity

COMPANIES' SHARES (%)

$2.3 billion

Investments

600,000 t/y of octane 95 1.3 mmt/y of diesel United Oil & Gas Co.

Kuwait Energy

Global Connect Ltd

Dover Investments

Production Capacity

INTERNATIONAL OIL PRICES BRENT PRICES ($/BBL) 10 Feb 25 Feb

61.47

05 Apr 19 Apr

NATURAL GAS PRICES ($/MMBTU)

60.47 66.88

2.91 65.42

67.90

10 Mar 25 Mar

OPEC BASKET PRICES ($/BBL)

61.95 62.15 67.05

65.60

2.78 2.69

61.63

2.57

61.68

2.51

65.10

2.75

MAY 2021 - ISSUE 173 | 27

EOG Newspaper May 2021 Issue

Articles inside

AN INTERVIEW WITH MARIDIVE OFFSHORE PROJECTS HR MANAGER, MOSTAFA OTHMAN

CLIMATE CRISIS: A WILD CARD IN US-CHINA RELATIONS

HR GOLDEN ROLES: THE RESPONSE TO THE NEW NORMAL

HUMAN RESOURCES: JOB NICHE SHIFT