Aramco names 3 senior VPs

AL KHOBAR: Saudi Aramco has named three senior vice-presidents (VPs) including Mohammed Al Qahtani as head of upstream operations, the state-owned firm said. Mohammad Al Saggaf was appointed senior VP for operations and business services, while Ahmad Al Sa’adi was named head of technical services. Qahtani, Saggaf and Sa’adi were all serving their positions on an acting basis.

Iraq’s exports may reach record

BASRA: Iraq’s southern oil exports have been running at 3.45 million barrels per day (mbpd) so far in December and could reach a monthly record by the end of the year, according to Basim Abdul Kareem, deputy chief for operations and production at the state-run South Oil Company (SOC). Southern crude exports should hit a record daily average, “if everything went as planned and we have no bad weather interruptions in the coming days,” he told Reuters.

Libya signs deal with Egypt

BENGHAZI: The state oil company of Libya’s eastern government has signed a deal to sell 2 million barrels of crude to Egypt, a spokesman said, boosting its efforts to win exports even as most trading companies prefer to deal with the rival western government. The eastern government has for months been pushing to sell oil of its own without passing through the control of the Tripoli NOC and central bank in the west of the country, securing revenue from Libya’s biggest natural resource.

Oil situation is a ‘challenge’

CAIRO: Qatari Energy Minister Mohamed bin Saleh Al Sada said the situation in the oil market has become a challenge for development plans but there was no room for pessimism. “The gap between supply and demand has widened, which led to the quick drop in prices to record levels,” he said at the start of a meeting of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) in Cairo.