RIYADH: Saudi Arabia, an Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries kingpin, is unconcerned by the US shale oil boom, Oil Minister Ali bin Ibrahim Al Nuaimi said yesterday as he met the US energy secretary in Riyadh.
“We discussed the increased production of shale oil in the United States and elsewhere. The kingdom welcomes this new source of energy that helps fulfil the growing world demand for energy, and helps stabilise oil markets,” state news agency SPA quoted Naimi as saying.
In October, oil production in the United States surpassed oil imports for the first time in nearly two decades, helped mainly by production from newly-tapped shale-based reserves.
Domestic output hit 7.7 million barrels per day (mbpd) in October, a 24-year high, the Energy Information Agency said in November.
Oil imports, long seen as a strategic and economic vulnerability for the US, sank well below that figure to a 17-year low, it said.
The onset of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has allowed drillers to unlock reserves in hard-to-exploit shale strata and brought on a rise in the production of oil and natural gas.
Shell, Mubadala swap Malaysian offshore stakes
DUBAI: Royal Dutch Shell and Mubadala Petroleum have swapped equity stakes in two exploration blocks off Malaysia, the companies said yesterday.
Mubadala has taken a 20 percent interest in the Shell-operated deepwater Block 2B and Shell has taken a 20 percent interest in the Mubadala-operated Block SK320 in return.
“The equity swap agreement is an important step for Mubadala Petroleum’s growth strategy in Malaysia and marks our first partnership in Southeast Asia with Shell, an important player in deepwater exploration,” Maurizio La Noce, chief executive of Mubadala Petroleum, said in a statement.
Mubadala, owned by the Abu Dhabi government, said that drilling in Block SK320 had yielded two new gas discoveries, called Pegaga and Sintok.
Agencies
