Nigeria passes major oil reform bill after 17 year struggle

MOSCOW (MRC) - Nigeria has moved closer to turning an oil industry bill into law after a 17 year struggle to complete the legislation which aims to increase transparency and stimulate growth in the country's oil industry, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Nigeria' lower house of parliament has passed a version of the bill which is the same as one approved by the Senate last year. This is the first time both houses have approved the same version of the bill. It still needs the president's signature to become law. The legislation - known as the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB)- was broken up into sections to help to get it through. The House of Representatives passed the first part called the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) on Wednesday.

"The PIGB, as passed yesterday, is the same as passed by the Senate. We have harmonised everything and formed the National Assembly Joint Committee on PIB," Alhassan Ado Doguwa, a key PIB lawmaker in the House of Representatives, told reporters in the capital Abuja. "Every consideration of the bills is now under the joint committee. We have broken the jinx after 17 years. We are working on the other accompanying bills."

The passage of the first bill means that the government can move forward with new taxation legislation, which could make it more attractive for companies to invest, particularly offshore. "It's an unprecedented step forward. The PIB is something that has defied the last two governments," Antony Goldman of PM Consulting said. "The detail of what is agreed will determine the extreme to which the bill takes politics out of the sector and tackles systemic corruption."

Uncertainty over terms affecting taxation of upstream oil development has been the main sticking point holding back billions of dollars of investment for the oil industry. This will be addressed later in an accompanying bill.

Shell, Chevron, Total, ExxonMobil and Italy's Eni are major producers in Nigeria through joint ventures with the state oil firm NNPC.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - CB&I announced it has entered into a Joint Development Agreement with Saudi Aramco that includes Chevron Lummus Global (CLG), CB&I's joint venture with Chevron U.S.A. Inc., for the development, commercialization and marketing of innovative crude-to-chemical technologies, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Together, Saudi Aramco, CB&I and CLG will develop a unique integration of advanced technology processes for the production of high-value petrochemicals from crude oil. Specifically, CB&I's ethylene cracker technology and CLG's hydroprocessing technologies combined with Saudi Aramco's proprietary Thermal Crude to Chemicals (TC2C™) technology will provide the platform for this joint development.

"It is an honor to partner with Saudi Aramco to develop the most competitive processing solution for crude to chemicals," said Daniel M. McCarthy, CB&I's Executive Vice President of Technology. "There is a lot of attention in the market to more efficiently produce higher value petrochemical products such as ethylene, propylene, butadiene and aromatics directly from crude oil. CB&I and CLG's breadth of technologies and catalysts are unmatched in the industry spanning essentially all relevant refinery and petrochemical processes, which provide a strong foundation for this joint development."
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - Schneider Electric SE said on Thursday that hackers had exploited a flaw in its technology in a watershed incident discovered last month that halted operations at an undisclosed industrial facility, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

News of the breach surfaced on Dec. 14, when cyber security firms disclosed that hackers, likely working for a nation state, had invaded one of Schneider's Triconex safety systems. Neither Schneider nor cyber experts have identified the target.

Schneider initially told customers it believed the hack did not exploit a bug in the Triconex system. The system is used in nuclear facilities, oil and gas plants, mining, water treatment facilities and other plants to safely shut down industrial processes when hazardous conditions are detected. It is the first reported cyber attack on this type of system. While the target's identity is unknown, one cyber security firm, Dragos, has said it occurred in the Middle East. Others have speculated it was in Saudi Arabia.

Cyber experts have called it a watershed incident because it demonstrates how hackers might cause physical damage to a plant, or even kill people, by sabotaging safety systems before attacking industrial plants.

France-based Schneider said in a customer advisory released on Thursday that hackers had exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in an older version of the Triconex firmware that allowed attackers to install a remote-access Trojan as "part of a complex malware infection scenario." The advisory urged customers to follow previously recommended protocols for securing Triconex systems, which it said would have blocked the attack.

The malware is capable of scanning and mapping an industrial network to provide reconnaissance and can also give hackers remote control over those systems, the advisory says. Schneider said it was developing tools to identify and remove the malware, which are expected to be released in February.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is also investigating the attack, according to Schneider. A DHS spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) - India is poised to double its oil product demand growth (190,000 bpd) in 2018 after a sluggish 2017, when demand grew by only 93,000 bpd, as per Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Last year, demand growth was at its slowest in the past three years. This was mainly due to lower economic activity following demonetization and delayed purchases due to the implementation of the GST. With these economic hurdles cleared, India is set to contribute to 14% of the global demand growth in 2018. Diesel and LPG will be the two main drivers of demand growth in 2018.

We project diesel/gasoil demand to grow by 3.5% (60,000 bpd) year-on-year in 2018 compared with 50,000 bd in 2017, aided by the following factors: Higher commercial vehicle sales for the next six months as evidenced by 50% year-on-year growth in November 2017. Pent-up demand will emerge once GST rates for new purchases are clearer.

A normal monsoon in 2017 is set to boost agricultural output leading to higher diesel demand and rural spending.
Implementation of infrastructure projects ahead of the 2019 general election and the start of election campaigning at the end of 2018.

GST implementation. With no interstate taxes, the logistics sector will be more inclined towards a demand-based approach than a tax-based approach. As a result, freight tonnage demand will stimulate long-haul truck movements.

LPG demand growth will remain robust in 2018 at 5.4% (40,000 bpd) although it is lower than the 60,000 bpd growth achieved in 2017. The number of new household LPG customers continued to surge, driven by the Ujjwala scheme to promote clean cooking fuel in rural areas. The government is on track to expand the network by 50 million users by 2019 after adding 32 million users since May 2016. Consequently, kerosene demand for cooking declined in 2017 as the government gradually started removing subsidies.

The phenomenal growth in LPG usage has reduced India's self-sufficiency of LPG to 50% from about 70% in 2013. Higher imports could also mean an opportunity for US LPG to gain market share in India, traditionally dominated by Middle Eastern suppliers.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- TransCanada Corp said on Thursday customers committed to using about two-thirds of the capacity on its planned USD8 billion Keystone XL oil pipeline, bringing the company closer to a final decision on when it will begin construction, reported Reuters.

The controversial pipeline has pitted environmentalists worried about spills and global warming against industry advocates who say the project will shore up discounted Canadian oil prices and attract investment to Alberta's oil sands.

TransCanada has secured firm, 20-year commitments for about 500,000 barrels per day for the 830,000 bpd project as it concluded its open season that allowed shippers to commit to space on the pipeline.

"We are progressing towards final investment decision of this project. Having route approval in Nebraska and the necessary commercial support for KXL brings us closer to a final investment decision," TransCanada spokesman Terry Cunha said in an email.

The commitments include 50,000 bpd from the Alberta provincial government, which receives some oil and gas royalties from producers in the form of bitumen. Alberta had previously committed to ship crude on TransCanada's canceled Energy East project, which would have transported 1.1 MMbpd to the Atlantic Coast.

Premier Rachel Notley told reporters in Calgary the province's oil industry needs more pipeline capacity to avoid crude getting bottlenecked in Alberta, which results in a deep discount on Canadian barrels versus benchmark U.S. crude.

"We can see very clearly right now the (price) differential is quite significant and what it means is that Albertans get a lower return," Notley said. "We remain committed to doing everything we can to diversify our market."

Canadian heavy crude is trading at a discount of around USD24 a barrel to U.S. crude, eating into producers' revenues even as global oil prices rise.

When completed, Keystone XL will ship from Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City, Nebraska, linking crude from the oil-rich but landlocked Canadian province with U.S. refineries. Primary construction is expected to begin in 2019 and the company will continue to look for additional long-term contracted volumes, TransCanada said.
MRC