One of the world’s largest solar thermal plants to recover heavy oil reserves in Oman is targeting phase two expansion in 2019 with future plans to manufacture aluminium mirrors domestically, according to the operator Petroleum Development Oman (PDO).
"We'll complete the first module (four glasshouses) this year and by the beginning of 2019 another two modules – comprising eight glasshouses - [will be completed] and we'll go for phase two in 2019," the PDO External Affairs and Value Creation Director Abdul-Amir Al Ajmi told The National in Abu Dhabi.
“In phase three, we plan to manufacture and produce aluminium used in the mirrors and glasshouse in Oman. The very fine aluminium that is used in building mirrors is currently brought from China,” he added.
One of the Arabian Gulf’s smaller producers, non-Opec Oman sits atop heavy oil reservoirs in maturing fields, which require steam, gas or polymer injection to recover crude.
With gas being in short supply in the sultanate, PDO has embarked on a programme to recover heavy reserves from its southern Amal oilfield using solar-power generated steam through its joint venture with California-based Glasspoint.
The 1,021MW facility called Miraah, Arabic for mirror, is set to generate 6,000 tonnes of steam daily and is the Middle East’s first enhanced oil recovery programme to tap into solar energy.
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Read more:
First gas flows from giant Omani field
Oman vows to create 25,000 jobs by December
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“Phase one is supposed to finish by end of the year and we’re already integrating it with the steam network,” said Mr Al Ajmi.
The $600m project will comprise 36 blocks (nine modules) concentrate the sun's rays and generate steam, saving around 5.6 trillion British Thermal Units of natural gas annually, which will be deployed towards power generation.
"Gas is becoming very expensive and we suffered shortages of gas in the past. By using solar, which is free, we generate steam, which will then be injected into the reservoir to get oil recovery,” said Mr Al Ajmi.
The upstream operator’s ongoing major projects, the $1.25bn Rabab Harweel Integrated Project to produce six million cubic metres a day of sweet gas and 60,000 barrels per day of oil, as well as the $900m Yibal Khuff project to deliver five million cm/d of associated gas and 10,000 bpd of oil, are on track for completion in 2019 and 2020, respectively, he added.
“We’re not deferring projects per se but we’re spending more time to study them, how to bring their costs down to meet the current environment.
If you talk about major projects, we’re building the largest oil project in PDO’s history at Rabab Harweel area because it contains sour gas, also Yibal Khuff. Both projects are on time and on schedule,” said Mr Al Ajmi.
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
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- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
THREE
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203S%20Money%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202018%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20London%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ivan%20Zhiznevsky%2C%20Eugene%20Dugaev%20and%20Andrei%20Dikouchine%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%245.6%20million%20raised%20in%20total%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
