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[sarkasm] 10/2/2016 06:05

France’s energy major Total is expected sign an agreement next week with the Sri Lankan government to explore for offshore oil and gas, reported Economynext website on Wednesday.

Sri Lankan cabinet earlier this month gave a go ahead to Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat to ink the deal. Total is expected to start exploration in April or May.

"They will start by investing about 10 million dollars to acquire seismic data off the east coast of Sri Lanka,” Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat Director General Saliya Wickramasuriya said, reported Economynext.

As per the agreement, Total will get three years of exclusivity for the data it acquires after which it can be viewed by other oil companies. The government will own the data from the point of acquisition.

According to Economynext, Sri Lanka is also planning to launch a marketing campaign for the gas reserves that Cairn India had discovered and abandoned.

[waldron] 08/2/2016 21:37

February 11, 2016
2015 Results and Outlook Presentation

[waldron] 08/2/2016 11:55

OFFSHORE POST


Giant Total Offshore Gas Development Starts Up Post > Giant Total Offshore Gas Development Starts Up
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Giant Total Offshore Gas Development Starts UpGiant Total Offshore Gas Development Starts Up
Giant Total Offshore Gas Development Starts Up
Published at 10:57AM - 08/02/16

Giant Total offshore gas development, Laggan Tormore, starts up and produces first gas from the West of Shetland Basin.

The development required construction of plant both onshore, in the Shetland Islands; offshore West of Shetland; and has been recognised as the UK’s biggest construction project since the London Olympics.

Work on the project started in 2010, has required an investment of £3.5 billion from Total.

Known as Laggan Tormore, the development is now expected to ramp up and produce approximately 8% of the UK’s total gas consumption, enough to power around 2 million UK homes.
Laggan and Tormore Fields

The Laggan and Tormore fields, in the West of Shetland basin, sit in a water depth of 600 metres and will produce 90,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

The subsea developments produce both gas and condensates from four wells, sending back produce via a 87 mile (140km) subsea tie-back directly to shore.
Total Offshore Gas Development Starts Up

Total’s onshore facility is located at the Sullom Voe Terminal, in the Sheltand Islands. All produce is processed before being piped from Shetland to the UK mainland via the subsea Shetland Island Regional Gas Export System (SIRGE).

Total's West Of Shetland Operations Map
Total Laggan-Tormore Map

The processing facility has been designed with the process capacity of 500 million cubic feet of gas per day.

Total’s President Exploration & Production, Arnaud Breuillac, said: “Laggan-Tormore is a key component of our production growth in 2016 and beyond.”

“The innovative subsea-to-shore development concept, the first of its kind in the United Kingdom, has no offshore surface infrastructure and benefits from both improved safety performance and lower costs,”

“By opening up this new production hub in the deep offshore waters of the West of Shetland, Total is also boosting the United Kingdom’s production capacity and Europe’s energy security.”

Laggan-Tormore is a joint venture between Total E&P UK (operator) 60%; DONG E&P (UK) Limited 20%; and SSE E&P UK Limited 20%.

[la forge] 23/1/2016 09:33

Friday January 22nd 2016

Oil prices plumbed new lows this week, dropping below $28 per barrel. But oil also closed out the week on a positive note, with huge gains on Thursday and Friday, rallying back above $30 per barrel. The price increase could be a sign that the markets think that oil has been far oversold, that trading this low has been “irrational,” as the head of Saudi Aramco put it this week.

Adding to the upsurge was growing speculation that central banks around the world will take additional action to provide some monetary stimulus amid worrying signs of faltering growth. EU central bank chief Mario Draghi provided the clearest indication yet that his institution may act as soon as March.

It’s a little premature to say a rally is on, but oil prices are going to have to rise at some point with so much production currently underwater. CMC Markets, a UK-based trader, says that $34 is the next resistance point for oil, from a technical perspective. If oil can break above $34 per barrel, then the rally could have some momentum.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Nigeria’s oil minister Emmanuel Kachikwu said that he expects oil to rise to $40 by the end of the year. Oil prices could get worse in the short-term, but “the second half of this year holds more promise,” he said.

In fact, energy could be a major trading opportunity for investors in 2016. Sure, many analysts see oil prices staying depressed through this year, and the most pessimistic see oil prices staying low for several years. But there is not a lot of room left on the downside, and indeed, the upside risk is much greater. Citigroup told investors that oil could be the “trade of the year.” The investment bank believes that once the markets digest the significance of Iran coming back to the oil markets, a stronger rebound could be in order.

Speaking of Iran – Iran plans on shipping crude oil to the EU as early as February, according to the WSJ. One Iranian official said that a shipment of 1 million barrels could go to a port in the Mediterranean next month, the first shipment in several years to the EU. Iran’s oil ministry says it will ramp up 500,000 barrels per day in production almost immediately, and “most of that oil will go to Europe,” an official told the WSJ.

Venezuela is probably the single worst-off oil-producing country right now, with an economy in crisis and foreign exchange rapidly running low. The state-owned PDVSA says that it was able to reduce its debt load by $2 billion in 2015. But that only slightly addressed the $46.2 billion that the company had in debt as of 2014. At the same time, the Venezuelan government has $120 billion in debt, and although it has not yet missed a bond payment, worries are rising about its ability to meet its obligations. Oil accounts for over 95 percent of Venezuela’s export earnings, so the collapse has been acutely felt in the South American OPEC nation.

Barclays economist Alejandro Arreaza concluded in a recent report that a 2016 default in Venezuela “is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid.” Based on the cost of insuring Venezuelan sovereign debt, the markets are estimating an 80 percent chance of a default within the next year. Venezuela has a $2.2 billion payment due in February, which many analysts expect it to meet. But another $1 billion is due in October, and then a $2 billion payment in November.

Despite early signs of a bottoming out, Moody’s Investors Service slashed its oil price forecast for 2016 to $33 per barrel, and also put 69 E&P companies in the U.S. under credit review for possible downgrade. Another round of credit downgrades could set off more turmoil in the E&P space, as many companies are already scrambling to find liquidity and keep the lights on. Debt and equity markets have already largely closed their doors on new finance for struggling drillers. And even after considering a modest rebound in prices, “producing companies and the drillers and service companies that support them will experience rising financial stress with much lower cash flows,” Moody’s said in a statement.

But, Moody’s also added several large oil companies to that list of possible credit downgrades, including Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A), Statoil (NYSE: STO), and Total (NYSE: TOT). “Even under a scenario with a modest recovery from current prices, producing companies will experience much lower cash flows. Today's review for downgrade considers that much weaker industry fundamentals have potential to warrant rating changes” for those companies, Moody’s wrote in a press release.

According to Bloomberg, The four largest banks, which include Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM), Citigroup (NYSE: C), and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), have set aside $2.5 billion to address losses from bad energy loans.

Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs this year, a more than 10 percent cut from its total staff of 95,000. The drilling services company said that the budgets of its customers were “exhaustedR21; in the fourth quarter and that there is a “deepening financial crisis in the E&P industry.” Schlumberger is feeling the brunt of the cutbacks, and the company admitted that it is suffering from “unscheduled and abrupt activity cancellations.”; Schlumberger reported a $1 billion loss for the fourth quarter.

Low oil prices are hitting U.S. railroads hard, according to a WSJ report. In fact, current rail activity is so low that it is at levels that are normally associated with a recession. Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) furloughed 3,900 workers in 2015 as rail traffic slowed. Canadian Pacific Railway (NYSE: CP) plans on cutting 1,000 jobs this year. Shipments for coal and oil have plunged, especially in the fourth quarter of 2015. For Canadian Pacific, its oil shipments fell by 17 percent in the fourth quarter, and shipments for metals, minerals and consumer-products dropped by 24 percent.

The DC Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals shot down a request from a collection of utilities, coal miners, and pro-business groups to block the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. The plan is the cornerstone of President Obama’s efforts to address climate change, and it places limits on greenhouse gases from power plants. But the industry says it is illegal. They wanted the court to issue a stay on the rules while the case works itself through the court, but the DC Circuit denied the request on Thursday.

In our Numbers Report, we take a look at some of the most important metrics and indicators in the world of energy from the past week. A look at the high-yield bond market, coal prices, currency movements, and renewable energy. Find out more by clicking here.

Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next week.

Best Regards,

Evan Kelly

Editor, Oilprice.com

[waldron] 21/1/2016 16:20

PARIS—French oil major Total SA is likely to report an adjusted net profit close to $10 billion for 2015 down from $12.8 billion the previous year as a result of the oil price collapse, Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanné said Thursday.

"This shows the very good resilience, the very good resistance of the group because the price of oil has fallen 50%," Mr. Pouyanné said in an interview with French TV channel France 2. "This is because at Total, we don't only produce, we also refine and we make plastics and undertake other activities, which are much less volatile."

Mr. Pouyanné 's comments come ahead of Total's full-year earnings on Feb. 11 and as the continuing rout in oil prices squeezes the performance of oil companies, big and small.

Analysts expect Total to report adjusted net profit—a closely watched figure that strips out one-time charges like write-downs—for 2015 of $9.97 billion, down 22% compared with the previous year, according to data provider FactSet. The company reported an adjusted net profit of $12.8 billion in 2014.

Total's top executive had said earlier this week that adjusted net profit in 2015 had fallen by a little more than 20%.

Since the price of oil started sliding in late 2014, Total has cut operating costs and capital expenditure, as well as boosted oil output, to mitigate the impact of weaker prices on its bottom line.

The company reported adjusted profit down around 20% during each of the first three quarters of the year.

Write to Inti Landauro at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 21, 2016 04:05 ET (09:05 GMT)

[ariane] 08/1/2016 17:53

February 11, 2016
2015 Results and Outlook Presentation
April 27, 2016
First Quarter 2016 Results
July 28, 2016
Second Quarter 2016 Results
September 22, 2016
2016 Investors’ Day
October 28, 2016
Third Quarter 2016 Results
- See more at:

[ariane] 08/1/2016 15:08

IF SAUDI ARAMCO OWNED 100PC BY SAUDI GOVERNMENT COMES TO MARKET

I WONDER HOW MUCH OF AN IPO WOULD BE MARKETED OUTSIDE SAUDI AND ON
WHICH WORLD STOCK MARKETS

AND IF A HUGE AMOUNT WOULD IT HAVE AN IMPACT ON OTHER OILIES SPs

[waldron] 02/1/2016 15:29

Saudi Arabia: Could This Spark a Stock Market Crash in 2016?
Saudi Arabia Stock Market CrashSaudi Arabia’s Budget Woes Could Trigger Economic Collapse in 2016

The collapse of oil prices to below $37.00 per barrel, compared to $56.00 last January, has sunk Saudi Arabia’s accounts and hurt its budget expectations.

According to the 2015 budget that Saudi Arabia’s King Salman (Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud) unveiled on December 28, the Gulf state that is the symbol of oil producing and exporting countries will face a 367-billion-riyal deficit this year, which is about USD$87.0 billion. (Source: “Saudis unveil radical austerity programme,” The Financial Times, December 28, 2015.)

That the decline in oil prices represents a nasty blow to the economy of Saudi Arabia is a given. However, oil is an asset like no other; it is tied to the global financial system and its price drop is affecting the very fate of the kingdom. Because of Saudi Arabia’s key role in the oil system, it has a global impact, potentially causing a major stock market crash in 2016.

Saudi Arabia has never seen a budget deficit of such proportion; it is a historical record and equivalent to 15% of its gross domestic product (GDP). Such a deep hole in the kingdom’s accounts is the result of the drop in revenue from energy commodities exports. (Source: “Saudi Arabia reveals cuts plan to shrink $98bn budget deficit,” The Guardian, December 28, 2015.)

Saudi Arabia exports seven million barrels of oil a day and sales account for 90% of fiscal revenues, or 40% of GDP. At current prices, revenues are but a shadow of their past selves.

One of the global factors linking Saudi Arabia’s budget deficit and related austerity to global economic collapse is that oil prices and commodities are making the riyal-to-U.S. dollar peg increasingly unsustainable, while fueling the risk of a stock market crash in 2016.

This weakness is causing a flight of capital and the depletion of foreign exchange reserves put in place to protect the value of the currency. The mere reduction in revenue due to depressed crude oil prices is then amplified and exacerbated.

Saudi Arabia’s austerity and its global domino effects in 2016: stock market crash. The collapse in oil prices has lowered the confidence of investors worldwide, triggering a domino effect of stock market crashes. One example: the collapse of the Shanghai stock exchange, which sent up some $5.0 billion in smoke in 2015 and triggered losses elsewhere, especially in large emerging markets like the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). The effects will be echoed in 2016 with the potential for a global market crash.

Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries, such as Egypt, will be particularly vulnerable to any loss in confidence. This has profound geopolitical implications: countries that owe their survival to a generous system of social assistance and an equally pervasive repression could not survive the aftermath and Saudi Arabia has increased its very risk of survival because of its oil price policy. Trouble in Saudi Arabia would have global geopolitical and economic repercussions in 2016—and certainly a major market crash.

Now Saudi Arabia is directly and indirectly involved in four wars (Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Libya) and is trying to make sure that the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Egypt does not implode. In Syria, the Saudis are trying to overthrow President Assad and the costs have increased dramatically. The war shows no signs of ending; in fact, it shows signs that it’s becoming more complicated with unpredictable costs via both economic and political risks.

The Saudi government has been forced to take measures that will amount to nothing short of an unprecedented austerity program in 2016. As announced in a press conference in Riyadh, the Saudi Ministry of Finance will try to save $10.0 billion through budget cuts, mostly at the expense of the population.

Saudi austerity will begin with the cutting of public subsidies. Among other things, Saudis will be shocked to find that gasoline prices will rise by $0.16 to $0.24 per liter. Wealthier Saudis will pay more for electricity and water and smokers will face the inevitable tax increases on tobacco consumption.

Saudi Arabia may even privatize certain economic sectors, which could include the introduction of a bond market, which will issue securities. All of this is new and potentially dangerous for a country accustomed to a budget surplus. It is also a new situation for the world and global markets will react in a bearish fashion, prompting an overall crash in 2016.

As reported by al-Arabiya TV, a few days ago, King Salman, who ascended the throne last January, announced that Saudi Arabia is ready to implement programs to diversify sources of income and reduce dependence on oil as a main source of income. (Source: “Saudi Arabia unveils 2016 Budget,” Al-Arabiya, December 28, 2015.)

Consequently, in 2016, the Saudi monarch would like to narrow the gap between income and expenditures at 326 billion riyals. The budget currently expects expenditures worth 840 billion riyals (USD$224 billion), which is already 14% less than 2015. (Source: Ibid.)

However, revenues are 513 billion riyals and the budget for military spending alone amounts to 213 billion riyals, suggesting Saudi security and fighting terrorism are King Salman’s priorities, even if the sovereign has paid lip service to “development.”

Meanwhile, at the most recent Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting, held on December 4, the organization that brings together the world’s main oil exporting countries failed to reach an agreement on cutting production levels, postponing the decision until June 2, 2016. The markets read this move as OPEC, and Saudi Arabia in particular, choosing to forego production quotas.
How Long Can Saudi Arabia Keep Up Appearances?

Given the evident budget constraints, how long can Saudi Arabia keep up the pretense that everything is proceeding according to an apparent plan, when the current oil production regime is driving crude prices to near-collapse in 2016. Saudi Arabia is paying its obstinacy to take out American shale operations, something that may yet succeed, given the fact that the current oil price is well below the break-even mark. The Saudi policy also targets, and given the differences over Syria, the crippling of Russia, which, it turns out, exported more oil than the kingdom in 2015.

As for Riyadh and King Salman’s ambitions, the situation is probably far worse than the budget deficit suggests. Saudi Arabia’s reliance on crude oil is absolute and the standard of living it provides for tens of thousands of Saudis makes it essential for internal stability as well. Indeed, it would not be a stretch to suggest the Saudi royal family’s hold on power depends on its ability to convert oil into a decent standard of living for the kingdom’s subjects.

As Saudi Arabia has been burning through reserves at an unprecedented pace over the past year, mostly to support military spending and social welfare to keep social unrest in check, it is unclear what King Salman has in mind when he urges diversification. Even SABIC, the huge Saudi chemicals consortium, relies on oil production. Indeed, social spending is where the budget deficit exposes its biggest risk for the kingdom.

The reality is that oil production revenues have masked the problem of Saudi indigenous unemployment and underemployment, both of which are at unsustainable levels because the private sector labor market is based almost exclusively on foreign labor (Asian) and menial jobs. The public sector, meanwhile, is filled with Saudi citizens interested mainly in pocketing generous state salaries while their jobs are seen as a right, an essential component of the bargain between the House of Saud and its subjects.

Now the kingdom is coming under increasing pressure to cut, as much as King Salman will insist on reducing costs. It will be next to impossible to downsize the welfare state, much less the military budget. During the peak of the “Arab Spring” in 2011, Saudi Arabia raised its welfare budget in order to discourage the population from revolting. How will King Salman confront the current crisis?

[la forge] 23/12/2015 16:36

Sarfaraz A. Khan, Twitter (253 clicks)
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Performance
Peer Leading Production Growth Is Not A Reason To Own French Oil Major Total SA, But This Is
Dec. 23, 2015 11:25 AM ET | About: TOTAL S.A. (TOT)
Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. (More...)
Summary

The French oil major Total has been growing production faster than its peers Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and BP.

Following a recent startup in West Africa, Total is in a position to achieve its target of reporting 9% production growth for the full fiscal year.

The markets, however, are more likely to reward companies that improve their cash flows and balance sheet rather than production growth.

However, higher production, coupled with cost saving measures and lower capex might allow the company to improve its cash flows.

The oil price environment seems to be worsening, with European benchmark Brent crude slipping to its eleven year lows of $36 a barrel while the U.S benchmark WTI continues to hover under $35 - the weakest level since 2009. And the French oil giant Total S.A. (NYSE:TOT) foresees worsening supply glut in 2016.

Patrick Pouyanne, Total's CEO, has recently said on the backdrop of an energy conference that a number of projects that were sanctioned before oil's collapse will come online over the next two years which would keep the international market oversupplied in 2016. This will continue to exert downward pressure on prices. Consequently, Total is not expecting any oil price recovery next year. However, Total itself has been contributing to the supply glut by growing production faster than most of its peers.

In the first nine months of this year, Total managed to grow its production by a strong 11% from the same period last year to 2.345 million barrels of oil equivalents a day. The growth was largely due to the startup and ramp up of major projects, such as the CLOV project located in offshore Angola, the West Franklin (Phase 2) project in the UK North Sea, Eldfisk II in the Norwegian North Sea and Termokarstovoye in onshore Russia.

In addition to this, Total also signed a 40-year agreement with the United Arab Emirate's Supreme Petroleum Council and the national oil company, giving the French company 10% interest in 15 primary onshore oilfields that are responsible for a majority of the nation's oil production. This led to 83% increase in Total's liquids production from the Middle East to 355,000 barrels of oil per day. The region currently makes the second largest contribution to Total's liquids production mix, behind Africa. The addition in the Middle East also offset the negative impact on production coming from sale of assets in the North Sea, Nigeria and Azerbaijan.

In terms of production growth, most of the oil majors don't come even close to what Total has achieved. Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), the world's leading vertically integrated oil producer, has grown production by 2.7% in the first nine months of this year from last year to 4 million boe per day. Chevron (NYSE:CVX), the second biggest vertically integrated oil producer, posted 1.5% growth in the same period. European oil major Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A)(NYSE:RDS.B), on the other hand, posted a 4% drop in production in the first nine months of this year to 2.9 million boe per day while BP (NYSE:BP)'s production was largely flat.

Moreover, Total expects to continue going this way. Earlier this month, the company brought its 40,000 boe per day Moho Phase 1b project online. The project, which is located off the coast of Republic of Congo, is 53.5% owned by Total and will play a crucial role in driving the company's West Africa production. Following this, and eight other startups since the beginning of this year, Total is in a position to achieve its target of reporting 9% production growth for the full fiscal year. As evident in the production numbers above, the company will easily surpass its peers in terms of 2015 production growth. Overall, Total expects to start 20 major projects by 2019 which will drive production growth at an average annual rate of 6% to 7% through 2017 and 5% through 2019.

That being said, as highlighted earlier, oil prices are currently hovering near their multi-year lows while Total believes that the tough pricing environment will persist through 2016. In this case, the markets will continue to focus on financial health and are more likely to reward companies that improve their cash flows and balance sheet than production growth. Total's industry leading production growth numbers, therefore, might go unnoticed, unless the company also manages to lift its cash flows. Fortunately, this is what Total hopes to achieve through production growth.

By growing production and with support from efficiency gains, cost saving initiatives and lower capital expenditure, Total aims to significantly grow its cash flows over the next few years. The company has said that it is on track to exceed its 2015 cost reduction target of $1.2 billion and is targeting additional savings through 2017. Meanwhile, the capital budget is projected to drop from $23 billion to $24 billion this year to under $21 billion next year and under $19 billion per year through 2019.

As a reminder, the company's cash flows have held up well in the downturn, dropping by 17% in the first nine months of this year on the back of 48% drop in oil prices, thanks to a strong performance from the refining & chemicals and marketing & services segments. It has faced a cash flow shortfall of $963 million, but that was easily covered with asset sales of nearly $4 billion. In fact, the company has actually improved its financial health as its net debt has fallen to $25.94 billion at the end of Sep. from $28.34 billion a year earlier. The company has a large $10 billion asset sale program which should further strengthen its financial health down the road.
Conclusion

Total is on track to post peer-leading production growth this year and possibly in 2016. But the market may not reward this in the downturn. However, higher production, coupled with cost saving measures and lower capex might allow the company to improve its cash flows. Meanwhile, the company's asset sale program could improve its balance sheet. For this reason, I believe Total is one of the oil majors investors should stick with through what could be a tough business environment in 2016.

[ariane] 07/12/2015 19:50

Oil supply to grow faster than demand for at least another year: Total

Doha (Platts)--7 Dec 2015 704 am EST/1204 GMT

* Global crude capacity seen rising by 1.7 mil-1.8 mil b/d in 2015
* Non-OPEC oil supply to contract from mid-2016 as US output slows
* Total to cut 15% of operating costs in Qatar saving $1.2 billion

Global oil supply is continuing to increase faster than demand in a trend unlikely to be reversed next year, Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne said Monday.

"The market is oversupplied and production capacity will continue to grow because a lot of projects were sanctioned in 2013 and 2014," Pouyanne told reporters on the sidelines of the International Petroleum Technology Conference in Doha.


The bulk of those upstream oil projects would come on-stream in 2016 and 2017. As a result, the international market would remain oversupplied in 2016, he said.

"We need to exit from this momentum where we have many projects coming on stream," Pouyanne said. "We don't expect a [price] recovery in 2016."

Global crude and condensate output capacity this year was expected to rise by 1.7 million-1.8 million b/d in total from the 2014, marking one of the two biggest annual increments of the past decade, he said.

The growth in upstream liquids capacity additions might slow to about 1.2 million b/d, but at that level would still outstrip relatively sluggish expectations for demand to pick up.

OPEC met Friday in Vienna, but failed to agree on an overall crude output ceiling, rolling over the current policy based on the 30 million b/d ceiling in place since January 2012.

However, oil supply from outside OPEC should start to contract from mid-2016 due mainly to slowing US output, Pouyanne added.

Total, like most oil producers worldwide, was responding to the prolonged period of low oil prices with efforts to improve operating efficiency.

"We spend too much money in this industry. It's just a question of refocusing priorities," Pouyanne said. "The industry, clearly, after six to seven years of very high prices, we lost some of our focus on costs, so we have to refocus. We can do it."

For instance, he said he expected Total to cut 15% from its operating costs in Qatar this year for total saving of over $1.2 billion.

The company's operations in Qatar include about 25,000 b/d of oil production from the al-Khalij offshore field and major equity stakes in the Qatargas 1 and 2 and Dolphin Energy projects, which produce gas from Qatar's massive North Field for export as LNG and by pipeline.

It also has a 10% interest in Qatar's Ras Laffan condensate refinery as well as stakes in petrochemicals joint ventures.

US OUTPUT SLOWING

ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance told reporters on the conference sidelines that US oil output was currently running at around 9.1 million b/d, after peaking for the year at 9.5 million b/d in May.

That meant about 500,000 b/d of US oil supply would be removed from the market this year, he estimated, with a further 500,000 b/d shrinkage expected in 2016.

Lance said that whereas US shale oil producers had achieved major efficiency gains in the past few years, he saw efficiency gains across the global petroleum sector in response to the current market environment.

"We're attacking all across the industry, trying to get our margins back," he said.

Portraying a more accelerated outlook for oil market re-balancing than Pouyanne, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser told conference delegates that less incremental oil was coming to market this year than last.

"The supply/demand balance will adjust, starting in 2016," he said.

ARAMCO KEEPS SPENDING

Aramco was continuing to invest in upstream projects expected to bring incremental crude production capacity on stream in the near term, as well as in major refining and petrochemicals projects including its Sadara joint venture with Dow Chemicals and Petro Rabigh joint venture with Sumitomo, Nasser said.

Start-up of the first production facilities at the $20 billion Sadara petrochemicals complex at Jubail is expected later this month or in January 2016, he said.

The complex is the largest single-phase petrochemicals plant ever built, with 26 process plants producing over 3 million mt/y a year of products.

PetroRabigh was expected to start up in 2016, he added. The joint venture launched engineering, procurement and construction tenders for three new units in October.

Construction is expected to begin in the second half of 2016.

"We need more energy. Oil and gas will be a significant part of the energy mix for the long term," Nasser said.

--Tamsin Carlisle, [e-mail]
--Edited by Jonathan Dart, [e-mail]