Algeria attracts 49 offers

ALGIERS: Algeria has attracted 49 offers from international energy companies to build four refineries worth a total $6 billion, a state energy firm Sonatrach source told Reuters.

Algeria is also considering a petrochemicals partnership with the Saudi Arabia’s SABIC 2010.SE, details of which are expected to be unveiled shortly, the source told Reuters. Sonatrach has already increased its refining capacity in the past few years by renovating three plants including the Skikda, Arzew, and Algiers refineries and is trying to raise revenues after the crash in oil prices cut its energy earnings by half. Oil and gas sales provide about 60 per cent of state revenues for the Opec producer, which produces an estimated 30 million tonnes of refined products per year.

Saudi favours New York

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is favouring New York to list state oil giant Saudi Aramco, while also considering London and Toronto for the prospect of floating the firm, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Saudi officials also talked to exchanges in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai but are unlikely to pursue listing in those places, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter. The listing is the centerpiece of a Saudi Arabian government plan to transform the kingdom by enticing investment and diversifying the economy away from a reliance on oil.

Iraq and Iran sign MoU

BAGHDAD: Iraq and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to study the construction of a pipeline to export crude oil from the northern Iraqi fields of Kirkuk via Iran, the Iraqi oil ministry said in a statement.

The agreement, signed in Baghdad by the oil ministers of the two countries, also calls for a commission to solve a conflict about joint oilfields.