ReleaseWire

BMI View: Interest in West Africa's deepwater potential remains strong, underscored by Total's recent subsalt discovery and the recent award of a number of offshore blocks to an impressive roster of companies. Although the uptick in exploration activity offshore Gabon is encouraging, the country's business environment remains a serious concern with the potential to slow or deter the rebound in interest. Notwithstanding the upside, we retain our view that oil production in Gabon is set to plateau from middecade and gradually decline. The start of some small new fields or redevelopment will fail to offset falling volumes from mature fields elsewhere.

MarketLine's Company Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Partnerships & Alliances and Investments reports offer a comprehensive breakdown of the organic and inorganic growth activity undertaken by an organization to sustain its competitive advantage.

BMI View: Brazil's massive pre-salt fields, such as Lula, Iracema and Franco, suggest substantial growth potential over the long term, underpinning our view that crude, natural gas and other liquids output will rise from an estimated 2.3mn b/d in 2013 to 3.9mn barrels per day (b/d) by 2022. That said, this is a modest downward revision from previous quarters, reflecting our view that the above-ground environment remains a considerable obstacle to both the country's upstream and downstream sectors. Indeed, muted interest in the country's first pre-salt round, such that there was ultimately only one consortium that bid, underscores the potential impact of Brazil's unfavourable licensing terms and burdensome regulatory environment. Meanwhile, following the volte-face by the government on a new fuel pricing mechanism, imported fuel costs will likely continue to act as a significant burden on state-owned Petrobras' already weak financial position.

MarketLine's Company Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Partnerships & Alliances and Investments reports offer a comprehensive breakdown of the organic and inorganic growth activity undertaken by an organization to sustain its competitive advantage.

We foresee a steep learning curve for the Greek authorities as they attempt to establish Greece as a destination for exploration and production (E&P) investments. The multi-month delays (on account of fiscal and taxation issues) in the finalisation of the open-door licences in Ioannina and the Gulf of Patras and the nebulous arrangements of the Katakolo licence, along with an ongoing 20-month delay in appointing the statutory hydrocarbons supervisory and management agency (EDEY AE), testify to the inexperience of the Greek authorities to move through the process (even of this small licensing round) in a timely manner - a negative precursor to the government's aspirations for an international licensing round. The absence of a declared and demarcated Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a further obstacle that will cause delays. This, in conjunction with an anaemic institutional infrastructure as well as the absence of solid and stable fiscal and tax regimes to govern the upstream sector, represents the main hindrances to Greece's E&P aspirations. We note some upside risks to our forecasts for Greek hydrocarbons production towards the end of our forecast period; however, for the time being, we cannot factor in a change to our forecast scenario, which suggests very limited upstream activity in the country.

While Cameroon's near-term oil production outlook is somewhat uncertain, there are projects capable of delivering modest volume growth over the medium-to-long term. More efficient usage of associated gas, through the limitation of flaring and the development of domestic resources, offers prospects for sustainable growth in the upstream gas segment, with potential output available for domestic use, power generation and eventually for export as liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Although oil output is on track to register its 12th consecutive year of decline on an annual basis, the fall should be less pronounced than the previous year's 8%. With a strong response to licensing rounds, high levels of investment, highly prospective frontier acreage, and discoveries in mature areas, Norway retains a number of strengths and opportunities despite the continued downtrend in production. However, we note that as new projects come online from the end of the decade, production is on track to rebound. With sizable untapped gas potential and our forecast for steady reserve additions, production decline should be mitigated, with overall gas output remaining flat over the forecast. We expect Norway to retain its role as key supplier of gas to Europe.

Fuelled by the world's third largest proven gas reserves, Qatar has positioned itself as the leading global exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Rising competition, led by liquefaction growth in Australia, the US and potentially East Africa, will pose a challenge to Qatar's hold on the global gas market later in the decade. Qatar is responding by making increasing efforts diversify its economy through expanding its downstream and petrochemical sectors. Furthermore, the country is growing the international presence of Qatar Petroleum International to offset what will likely be slow growth in domestic oil and gas revenues given the absence of plans for an expansion of LNG and GTL export capacity.

MarketLine's Company Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Partnerships & Alliances and Investments reports offer a comprehensive breakdown of the organic and inorganic growth activity undertaken by an organization to sustain its competitive advantage.

BMI View: Nigeria's hydrocarbon sector continues to struggle amid a worsening political and business environment. Most recently, Chevron's decision to move out of the OKLNG project signals that even the large upside potential of the Nigerian gas market is not sufficient to offset the degradation in investor sentiment. The weak output flows in 2012 were the consequence of flooding, repeated oil thefts and regulatory uncertainty. We estimate that total oil production for 2013 declined to about 2.4mn, and expect production to remain feeble over the coming year. Output should ramp-up more significantly as many large fields come online after 2014, more than offsetting current depletion. Adoption of the Petroleum Industry Bill, which we do not however expect before the Nigerian 2015 election, would be a strong signal for investors that Nigeria's hydrocarbons sector is ready to move forward.

Upstream exploration has been experiencing a boom recently due to the increasing prospectivity of South Africa's underexplored offshore and as well as progress in the field of shale gas and coal bed methane development. Majors ExxonMobil and Total have joined Shell in exploring South Africa's offshore, while growing political support to move forward with shale development should see permits issued at some point in Q1 2014. All these developments point towards considerable upside to South Africa's oil and gas sector which will struggle to match growing demand over the coming years.

While China is increasingly dependent on energy imports - particularly gas - owing to rapid growth in its energy demand, there is considerable upside potential from its unconventional oil and gas resources. However, a more open environment to foreign investment is needed in order to meet the ambitious production targets set by the state, especially if its vast unconventional resources are to be maximised in light of difficult below-ground conditions. In the meantime, oil and gas demand could surprise to the downside if economic expansion comes under pressure.

U.S. natural gas product demand continues to rise, reaching its highest level in four years in December 2013. Experts believe domestic production will continue to increase in 2014 and Exxon Mobile Corp. states they believe this demand will increase by 65 percent in 2040. "Companies looking to expand in this area and offer more horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing find Drilling Chemicals offers the Drilling Fluids and other materials needed to be successful in this field," Jon Madea of Drilling Chemicals declares.

MarketLine's Company Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Partnerships & Alliances and Investments reports offer a comprehensive breakdown of the organic and inorganic growth activity undertaken by an organization to sustain its competitive advantage.

BMI View: Despite abundant below ground potential, Kuwait looks set to continue underperforming as its business environment outweighs the lure of its remaining below ground resources. We expect Kuwait to miss its 4mn b/d by 2020 target on the back of numerous delays to upstream projects. Setbacks are also leading to delays to a planned - and sorely needed expansion of gas capacity, as well as to major downstream projects. While we expect downstream projects to eventually advance, we believe liquids supplies will disappoint as gas supply tightens, leading to an increasing reliance on imports.

The UAE will continue to a major focus of upstream investment as it targets increasing production to 3.5mn barrels per day (b/d) by 2018. However recent reports that this date may be delayed to 2020 in light of project delays could also be a result of rapidly growing competition for export markets. We expect steady growth in oil and gas production over the course of our forecast period. Increased production of the latter will be critical to limiting the UAE's import requirement as consumption continues to outstrip demand, even with some US$25bn set to be investment in gas projects in Abu Dhabi alone.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the United States imported approximately 10.6 million barrels of petroleum every day in 2012, with this petroleum coming from 80 countries. Of these barrels, 40 percent came from OPEC countries and 20 percent were obtained from Persian Gulf countries, while 28 percent was received from Canada, America's closest ally. "Americans may wish to look into oil and gas investments as a way to diversify their investment portfolio as there are many benefits to going this route," Cheryl of Investments in Oil and Gas declares.

Dual Fuel Corp. announced on Wednesday December 18th that it successfully converted the heating plant at 2855 Grand Concourse from heating oil to natural gas.

During hot summers, people in the U.S. spend millions of dollars to cool their homes using air conditioning units. All those who don’t have properly insulated homes end up paying more as there’s no way to stop the cool air from leaking outside. By insulating the home with spray foam insulation, one can reduce the energy loss and increase the comfort in the house. This also helps in maintaining consistent temperature across the house, and protects the occupants against the heat.

Laboratory equipment distributor BVA Scientific Incorporated now has an extensive catalogue of oilfield supplies, including items for gaugers, trucking, centrifuges, and more.

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At GasTec, there is an overriding theme of customer service. The professionals at GasTec understand the importance of a good relationship between vendors and customers. In fact, GasTec has made many strides to become active in the community and to offer some of the best propane prices in the greater Philadelphia area. Partnering with the American Breast Cancer Foundation is just one example of how GasTec strives to help their customers and the community. Now, with referral programs, GasTec is taking steps to make better business relationships with residential and commercial customers.

Xtremepicks is closely watching NHUR recent trading activity which has suggested a road to recovery is in the cards now.

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