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Kuwait is the 3rd country in Middle East to join the World Bank-led Global Gas Flaring Reduction partnership

admin — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 07:06:27 +0000

KUWAIT has officially joined the World Bank-led Global Gas Flaring Reduction (GGFR) partnership in an effort to further reduce emissions from the burning of natural gas associated with oil production in the Middle East, and exploit the maximum potential from this valuable energy resource.

Kuwait, represented in the partnership by Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), a subsidiary of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, has reduced flaring from 17% down to 1.75% of its gas production during 2005-06 & 2010-11. This reduction has increased revenues by $2.7 billion, said KOC executives.
Reduced gas flaring also resulted in lesser consumption of liquid fuels and reduction in LNG import volumes. By co-operating with GGFR, KOC expects to reduce flaring to less than 1% of associated gas production at the earliest possible.

“Gas flaring reduction is a vital contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy efficiency and mitigating climate change. We welcome Kuwait into this partnership and look forward to achieving with them further flaring reductions, building on the impressive results already achieved by KOC,” said S Vijay Iyer, Director of the World Bank’s Sustainable Energy Department.

Kuwait is the third country in the Middle East to join the GGFR initiative, following Iraq and Qatar. The GGFR, a public-private initiative of some 30 major oil-producing countries and companies, aims at overcoming the challenges for the utilisation of associated gas, including lack of regulations and markets for associated gas utilisation.

GGFR partners’ main objective is to reduce the environmental impact of gas flaring, as well as the waste of a valuable energy source.

Global gas flaring, estimated in 2010 at 134 billion cubic metres (bcm), not only wastes gas energy, but also accounts for about 360 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
Recent satellite data show that 30 bcm were flared in the Middle East in 2010, which amounts to 75 million tonnes of carbon dioxide – roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of 15-million cars.

As Kuwait joins this partnership, GGFR is poised to move into an exciting new phase for accelerating gas flaring reductions and utilising the gas, thus saved for development. KOC, at its current flaring level of about 1.5% of its gas production, is reckoned to be one of lowest flaring oil companies.

“KOC’s phenomenal achievements in gas flaring reduction were initially driven by environmental concerns, but it soon became evident that millions of dollars in savings could be accessed by reducing a huge amount of waste of scarce gas resources. These results were driven by the dedicated and well-co-ordinated efforts of various departments across the company,” said Sami Al-Rushaid, Chairman & Managing Director, KOC.

As per GGFR’s latest satellite estimates for 2010, Kuwait flares some 1.2 bcm every year (of which KOC constitutes only a small fraction). After extraction of value-added products (ethane, LPG etc) from associated gas, the lean gas is predominantly used as fuel for power generation as well as fertilizer and petrochemical feedstock.

Oil was found in commercial quantities in Kuwait’s Burgan Field in 1938, and first crude export was made in June 1946. Kuwait also discovered non-associated natural gas in 2006 in the deep Jurassic reservoirs at Rahiya, Mutriba, Um Niga and other fields.

1,500 hotel jobs on offer in the UAE in next 12 months

admin — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 06:13:29 +0000

The hotels opening this year are Pullman Dubai Jumeirah Lake Dubai, Novotel and Adagio Al Bustan Abu Dhabi, Novotel and Ibis Mussafah Abu Dhabi, Novotel/Ibis/Adagio Fujairah, and Novotel Dubai Al Barsha

MORE hotels in the UAE are planning to increase their staff strength. The leading hospitality group Accor Middle East is looking to hire approximately 1,500 hoteliers over the coming 12 months in the UAE.

The group, headquartered in France, will open doors of seven new properties in the UAE in 2012 and early next year and expanding its employee base by additional 1,400-1,500 staffers, according to Christophe Landais, Managing Director of Accor.

The company will post new positions on its website and also organise ‘open days’ in the coming months. Recently, Rotana Hotels and Hospitality Management Holdings announced that it would hire thousands of hoteliers for its new properties in the UAE this year.

Providing the breakdown, Accor said, it would hire 280 hoteliers for Pullman Dubai Jumeirah Lake Dubai; 320 for Novotel and Adagio Al Bustan Abu Dhabi; 250 for Novotel and Ibis Mussafah Abu Dhabi; 290 for Novotel/Ibis/Adagio Fujairah; and 320 for Novotel Dubai Al Barsha.

Accor intends to open 10 hotels in the region this year. In 2012, Mercure Gold Mina Road Dubai was the first hotel to come under the group’s management. It was opened last month and two more will open in Dubai later this year. Novotel Dubai Al Barsha will have 466 keys and Pullman Dubai Jumeirah Lake Dubai will have 354 keys.

Overall, the group will add 23 properties in the region over the next three years and recruit 4,000 associates. The French hotel group already operates 56 hotels in the region.

Reforms boost foreign direct investment into Gulf countries

admin — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 04:43:56 +0000

FDI into the region, which controls over 60 per cent of the world’s recoverable oil deposits, totalled around $438.5 billion during 2005-10, compared with only 67.2 billion during 1999-2004 ..

FOREIGN direct investments (FDI) into the Gulf countries are on the rise. Reforms carried out by several Arab countries boosted FDI into the region by nearly seven times during 2005-10, but many of them still have investment barriers.

FDI into the region, which controls over 60 per cent of the world’s recoverable oil deposits, totalled around $438.5 billion during 2005-10, compared with only 67.2 billion during 1999-2004, said Fahd Ibrahim, Director-General of the Kuwaiti-based Inter-Arab Investment Guarantee Corporation (IAIGC).

The surge was due to a large improvement in the investment climate in the Arab world mainly because of reforms, adding that his Arab League group has recorded nearly 120 reform procedures in the Arab region over the past three years.

Such reforms also boosted inter-Arab investment by nearly six times to $138.1 billion from $19.4 billion in the same period, said Mr Ibrahim in writing in the IAIGC bulletin.

“Besides increasing FDI into the region, these reforms contributed to offsetting the negative repercussions of the 2008 global fiscal crisis and the present political upheaval in the region. Yet the share of the Arab region from global FDI remained low, not exceeding five per cent…it has also not reached the required level, considering the massive financing needs in the Arab countries. This means the Arab world is still suffering from investment obstacles and this should prompt them to carry out more reforms, particularly in the field of improving the business environment,” said Mr Ibrahim.

In a previous study, IAIGC said it expected FDI into the Arab states to slump in 2011 because of the region’s political unrest and global financial problems. Its forecasts showed total FDI into the 21 Arab League nations would dip to nearly $55 billion in 2011 from around $66.2 billion in 2010, a decline of nearly $11.2 billion or around 16.7 per cent.

The level is expected to be the lowest since 2005, when FDI stood at $47 billion. It will also be way below the record high FDI flow of around $96.7 billion in 2008.

Appeal Won’t Interrupt Nepali ‘Slavery’ Case

admin — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 10:16:34 +0000

A contractor accused of trafficking Nepali laborers into Iraq to staff Al Asad Air Base cannot seek an interim appeal, a federal judge ruled.
     In a 2008 federal RICO complaint, Nepali families claimed that U.S. military contractors duped 13 men into indentured servitude in Iraq.
     With promises of a $500 monthly salary, many of the men believed they would be working at a luxury hotel in Jordan. But they later learned that they were actually on their way to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq, according to the complaint. At that point, the large brokerage fees they owed allegedly kept the men from turning back for home.
     Insurgents from the Ansar al-Sunna Army captured 12 of the men in August 2004 as they traveled in the front of an unsecured 17-car caravan along the Amman-to-Baghdad highway in Iraq’s Anbar province, the families say. The 13th man, Buddi Prasad Gurung, was in a separate car and evaded capture, according to the complaint.
     When the insurgents executed the captives, international news stations aired the footage of their deaths, reaching the men’s families in Nepal, according to the complaint.
     The lawsuit against the military contractors, Daoud & Partners and Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), was removed from the Central District of California to the Southern District of Texas.
     On Dec. 12, 2011, U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison dismissed some of the claims against Daoud from the families, as well as some of the cross-claims that the company faced from KBR.
     The 48-page order upheld personal jurisdiction over Daoud, but dismissed negligence and false-imprisonment claims by Gurung, the lone survivor.
     Daoud sought an interlocutory appeal, but Ellison refused the maneuver Monday.
     ”Daoud urges that three issues in the December order are appropriate for interlocutory review: (1) whether Daoud’s performance of government subcontracts overseas gives rise to general jurisdiction; (2) whether separate jurisdictional inquiries, which the court did not conduct, were required for two allegedly different Daoud entities; and (3) whether the indemnification clause in Daoud’s contract with KBR establishes specific jurisdiction,” Ellison wrote.
     The judge rejected all three points.
     ”This court does not take lightly the Supreme Court’s admonition that ‘[g]reat care and reserve should be exercised when extending our notions of personal jurisdiction into the international field,’” Ellison wrote. “In concluding that it has general personal jurisdiction over Daoud, the court exercised such care, and did so pursuant to the standards provided by the Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit.”

UAE residents warned against venturing into the sea

admin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 05:47:53 +0000

Al Ain: Strong winds have been triggering high waves offshore on Sunday as the national weather bureau has repeated its weather alert for UAE residents, asking people to stay away from the sea.

The country has been hit by strong northwesterly winds, blowing at 70km/h at times. Wind has also been kicking up dust and sand, reducing vicibity in some areas of the country.

The National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) said some 13-feet high waves were hitting the UAE islands in the Arabian Gulf around noon. Wind speed was also very high, measuring at 68km/h in the area.
Stormy weather is also prevalent in the Gulf of Oman, near the eastern coastline of the UAE, with seven to eight feet high waves.

Nine killed in Afghanistan military airport suicide bomb blast

admin — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:29:25 +0000

KABUL — a suicide car bomber killed nine people in an attack on a military airport in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said, and the latest bloodshed since copies of the Koran were burned at a NATO base last week.

There was no official indication the explosion at the gates of Jalalabad airport was linked to the deadly protests, but the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack as “revenge” for the Koran burnings

Jalalabad airport is almost exclusively used by NATO and the U.S. military.

Saudi Arabia assures crude, LPG supply on a long-term basis

admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 04:48:38 +0000

India invited Saudi participation in its petroleum upstream and downstream sector, including OPaL’s Petrochemical project at Dahej and OMPL’s Petrochemical project at Mangalore

AAT News Service

Saudi Arabia expressed its readiness to engage India and fulfill its energy requirements on a long-term basis. Saudi assured affirmative consideration of India’s request for larger quantities of crude oil and LPG, while also agreeing to look into the issues raised by India relating to the hydrocarbon trade and investment between the two countries.

Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz, Assistant Minister for Petroleum Affairs, Saudi Arabia gave the assurance to R P N Singh, Union Minister of State for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Corporate Affairs, during their meeting in New Delhi. India and Saudi Arabia discussed the world oil outlook, especially the growing demand for hydrocarbons in Asia and India at the bilateral talks. While, Prince Abdulaziz head the Saudi delegation, Mr Singh lead the Indian team. The Indian delegation included senior officials of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas and CEOs of IOCL, ONGC, BPCL, HPCL and EIL.

During the delegation level talks, under the India-Saudi Arabia Energy Consultations, Mr Singh conveyed India’s requirement of incremental quantities of Saudi Arabian oil imports in the years ahead, considering the ongoing expansion in India’s refining capacity.

The Indian side also conveyed its growing requirement of LPG (Butane and Propane), considering the accelerated expansion of LPG coverage in the country’s rural areas under the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitran Yojana (RGGLVY). India imports nearly 2 million tonnes of LPG from Saudi Arabia. Other related issues such as the imposition of arbitrary cuts imposed by Saudi ARAMCO on supply of Butane and Propane from time to time, MRPL’s request for supply of crude oil on the basis of parent company guarantee instead of letter of credit, etc were taken up with the Saudi side.

India invited Saudi participation in the upcoming investment opportunities in its petroleum upstream and downstream sector, including ONGC-petro addition’s (OPaL’s) Petrochemical project at Dahej and OMPL’s Petrochemical project at Mangalore. An offer was made to the Saudi side for considering equity participation in these projects as a strategic investor.
Other proposed investment opportunities, such as IOC’s LNG project at Ennore, BPCL’s LNG terminal at Kochi, HPCL’s grass-roots refinery in Vizag and IOC’s petrochemical plant at Paradip were also discussed.

Since both Saudi Arabia and India are prominent actors in the International Energy Forum (IEF) comprising 88 countries, which is the world’s principal vehicle for the ongoing global energy dialogue, several issues related to the IEF were also discussed.

The discussions between Saudi Arabia, a leading producer of crude oil and India, the world’s 4th largest oil importer are significant as they come at a time of heightened uncertainty in the international oil markets. Saudi Arabia supplied 27 million metric tonnes of crude oil to India during 2010-11, making it India’s largest crude oil supplier.

UAE rule in the offing to protect foreign workers

admin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:24:59 +0000

The UAE Cabinet has approved a new draft law to protect the rights of domestic workers and their employers.

“We have approved a new draft law for the domestic workers in the UAE. The new law shall protect the rights of both workers and employers,” said Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

“Our Islamic values always encourage us to preserve the rights of the workers and to treat them well, and the law is emphasising this,” read a Twitter post by Shaikh Mohammed.

Under the law, sections will be set up in the residency departments across the country to look into and sort out disputes that arise between domestic workers and their employers, Major General Nasser Al Awadi Al Menhali, Under-Secretary in the Ministry of Interior, Assistant Under-Secretary for Naturalisation, Residency and Ports, told Dubai newspaper Gulf News.

“The law is meant to protect the rights and obligations of both sides, so as to guarantee their interests and rights,” Major General Al Menhali said, but gave no further details.

The bill was drafted by a team of representatives from the ministries of interior, labour and justice.
It needs to be passed by the Federal National Council and signed into law by President Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The law aligns the UAE’s rules with the International Labour Organisation’s Convention 189 and Recommendation 201 on decent work for domestic workers, which was ratified by the UAE last year. The convention provides for clearly defined conditions of employment before work begins, including payment of recruitment agency fees by employers and not deducted from staff’s wages, salary payment in cash at least once a month and at least one weekly day off.

The convention also provides that domestic help receives a written contract of employment before starting work.

Iraq wants to limit private security contractors

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:45:18 +0000

Iraq deeply mistrusts private security companies and wants to limit their operations here, officials say, while the contractors themselves have faced bureaucratic delays and detentions.

This mistrust stems from perceived arrogant behavior by employees of these firms in the past and various incidents of violence involving them.

The most infamous incident was the 2007 killing of at least 14 civilians in Baghdad’s Nisur Square by gunmen from the Blackwater firm guarding a US embassy convoy.

While Blackwater, now called ACADEMI, was later banned from the country, security contractors still guard US diplomats in Iraq and provide security for various foreign companies.

“Iraq is not looking to expand the security companies’ work here,” government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in an interview with AFP.

“We feel that Iraq should move to the normal life — we don’t want to see the tens of the security companies taking the job of the ministry of interior.

“Iraq has got a not friendly history with the security companies, especially … Blackwater, and we don’t want to repeat that crisis again. So, we would like to limit their work here in Iraq, but we don’t want to stop them,” Dabbagh said.

The firms “have to understand that … they don’t have free (movement) in the country. They have to follow the instruction, they have to hold the permit, a valid permit, and they are not allowed to violate the Iraqi laws

“They are not exempted as before, and they are not getting any sort of immunity,” he said.

“We do need them, definitely, we do need them, (and) we are not going to stop them, but definitely, we will limit their work,” Dabbagh said.

The matter has also drawn the attention of parliament’s security and defence committee.

“After discussions with the interior ministry, we found that there are around 65 security companies, more than half of them Iraqi and the remainder foreign,” committee member MP Abbas al-Bayati told AFP.

Bayati said a small committee created to study the issue wants security companies to use only light weapons, and that they should obtain permission to move outside pre-determined areas.

The large number of contractors “negatively impacts the security situation in the country,” Iskander Witwit, another member of the committee, told AFP.