UAE offers energy firms new deals
ABU DHABI: UAE is looking to offer energy companies such as BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total ‘a good chance to compete’ for concessions in the nation’s biggest onshore deposits of crude oil, according to a report. Its Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said the three companies, together with ExxonMobil and Portugal’s Partex Oil and Gas, were partners with Abu Dhabi, UAE, in a joint-venture agreement that expired in January, said the Bloomberg report.

Shell suspends Russian operations
MOSCOW: Oil major Shell has suspended development of hard-to-recover oil in Russia’s Bazhenov formation with Gazprom Neft, Interfax cited Gazprom Neft’s head as saying, after the West imposed sanctions on Russia over Ukraine.

“We continue work ... by ourselves,” Alexander Dyukov said, according to Interfax.

Statoil plans to cut 500 jobs
OSLO: Norwegian energy firm Statoil plans to lay off an additional 500 workers on top of already announced plans to eliminate up to 1,400 positions, financial daily Dagens Naeringsliv said.

The cuts, which mostly affect offshore workers, are part of Statoil’s efforts to cut costs and improve efficiency.

Jordan’s shale plant to begin by ‘18
AMMAN: The first shale oil-fuelled power plant in Jordan will be ready by the end of 2018, a report said, adding it is expected to cut the country’s energy spending by $500 million annually.

The $2.2 billion plant will have a total capacity of 470 megawatts (MW) and  will use Jordan’s reserves of oil shale estimated at more than 70 billion tonnes, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Mohammad Hamed was quoted as saying in the Jordan Times report. He was speaking at a press conference after signing a 30-year power purchase agreement with Enefit (Eesti Energia AS), YTL Power International Berhad and Near East Investments.

Rak Petroleum plans to list in Oslo
DUBAI: Rak Petroleum, an energy investment company based in the UAE, said it aimed to list on the Oslo exchange and raise $25 million in an initial public share offering (IPO). The firm said it would offer shares to institutional and retail investors in Norway and a private placement to certain international institutions.