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By Nick, May 20, 2013 7:10 pm

The Chilean peso fell yesterday as Chile’s economic growth trailed forecasts, reinforcing the view that the central bank will cut interest rates soon.

Chilean gross domestic product expanded 4.1 percent in the first quarter of 2013, below the forecast of 4.5. The economy grew at the rate of 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012. The peso fell after the news against the dollar, which was weak itself.

Market participants were speculating for some time about an intervention from the central bank. The Central Bank of Chile left interest rate unchanged at its last meeting, but the slowing economic growth gave additional incentive for the bank to lower the rate on its next meeting.

USD/CLP was up 0.45 percent to settle at 483.28.

If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the Chilean Peso, feel free to post them using the commentary form below.

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By Nick, May 19, 2013 2:54 pm

Dana Gas PJSC, the Middle East’s largest regional private sector natural gas company, has announced its financial results for the first quarter ended 31 March 2013 with a net profit after tax of AED 241 million (US$ 66 million), an increase of 17% as compared to AED 206 million (US$ 56 million) in Q1 2012. Revenue from the sale of hydrocarbons during Q1 2013 was AED 557 million (US$ 152 million).

Revenues and gross profit declined during Q1 2013, owing to a conservative cash policy towards capital expenditure and a temporary suspension of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (“LPG”) production in Kurdistan Region of Iraq (“KRI”).

Revenues and gross profits are expected to increase as new discoveries in Egypt are brought to production and upon resumption of LPG production in Kurdistan in June 2013 following completion of repairs to the LPG loading bay.

Commenting on the results, Dr. Adel Al-Sabeeh, Chairman of Dana Gas, said: “Our disciplined approach and long-term business strategy has allowed Dana Gas to achieve an encouraging first quarter while completing the refinancing of the sukuk and posting an increase in net profit. We are committed to expanding regionally and were successful in our bid to be awarded an oil and gas prospecting project in northern offshore Egypt as well as pre-qualifying in Lebanon’s first offshore licensing round.”

Rashid Al-Jarwan, Executive Director and Acting Chief Executive Officer of Dana Gas, added:

“We have had an active start to the year. Egypt and Kurdistan have increased their quarterly production as we brought on stream discoveries, added compression facilities to enhance current production. These developments, combined with the completion of the sukuk refinancing has meant we can approach the rest of 2013 with renewed confidence and ensure our future growth plans deliver value to our stakeholders.”

Production and Development

The Group’s net production averaged 61,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from its interests in Egypt and the KRI during the three months ended 31 March 2013.

Iraq Business News

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By Nick, May 17, 2013 4:05 am

The Malaysian ringgit weakened today, heading to a weekly decline that will end the eight-week streak of gains, as country’s economic growth slowed last quarter.

Malaysian gross domestic product grew 4.1 percent in the first quarter of 2013 from a year ago, slower than in the previous three months (6.5 percent). The median analysts’ forecast was at 5.5 percent. The dollar’s strength also hurt the currency. The Dollar Index advanced 0.9 percent this week.

USD/MYR went up from 3.0125 to 3.0203 as of 8:35 GMT today.

If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the Malaysian Ringgit, feel free to post them using the commentary form below.

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By Nick, May 14, 2013 6:57 pm

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By Nick, May 3, 2013 4:57 pm

Gulf Keystone has provided an update on its four blocks in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, including the world class discoveries at Shaikan and Sheikh Adi, as well as Akri-Bijeel and Ber Bahr:

Background

With the Shaikan commercial discovery alone, Gulf Keystone has one of the world’s largest onshore conventional oil & gas developments with a Pmean 13.7 billion barrels of gross oil-in-place as set out by Dynamic Global Advisors, independent Houston-based exploration consultants. A recent report by Goldman Sachs highlights the scale of the Shaikan development and the fact that in 2015 the global production increase will in part come from the Shaikan field*. The Company continues to be highly active with the drill bit, in order to further prove the value of its blocks.

Today Gulf Keystone is on the verge of moving into a phase of significant production, with the capacity to produce up to 40,000 barrels of oil per day (“bopd”) from Shaikan in the coming months and up to 400,000 bopd in the coming years. The Company will be a key contributor in meeting the Kurdistan Regional Government’s oil production targets of 1 million bopd in 2015 and 2 million bopd by 2019.

Considerable progress is being made on the regional pipeline infrastructure development and the Company’s increasing production will be matched by the available export capacity. The size and quality of the Company’s fields is now increasingly recognised and a number of the world’s largest oil companies, including ExxonMobil, Chevron and Total, are now following Gulf Keystone’s lead and commencing active work programmes in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

*Goldman Sachs: April 12, 2013 – “380 projects to change the world. From resource constraint to infrastructure constraint”

Commenting on today’s announcement, Todd Kozel (pictured), Executive Chairman and CEO, said:

“As one of the first companies to see the potential of the region, over the last five years Gulf Keystone has drilled or participated in nearly 20 wells and remains one of the most active operators in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Shaikan is the largest onshore development worldwide today not in the hands of a major operator. However, we believe that we have only scratched the surface of the true value of our blocks and our ongoing exploration and appraisal activity is expected to result in further upside.

“The Company is encouraged by recent reports from a variety of sources, including political spokespersons, regarding the close and burgeoning ties between the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Turkey, which the Company believes presents further transformational progress for the region. In this context, Gulf Keystone will play a major role as a co-host of the 2nd International Energy Arena Conference in Erbil on 30 May, a meeting place for key political and industry decision makers on the energy cooperation between the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Turkey.

“I therefore strongly believe that there is considerable momentum in the development of Kurdistan’s vast natural resources and Gulf Keystone is in a prime position to benefit as the region moves to this next stage.

“Our remarkable journey continues and I remain indebted to our hosts in the Kurdistan Regional Government and to the outstanding team within our Company.  We have never been more excited about the future.“

Iraq Business News

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By Nick, April 30, 2013 7:24 am

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By Nick, April 23, 2013 12:30 am

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By Nick, April 20, 2013 12:39 pm

The US dollar gained this week as concerns about global economic growth resulted in a huge sell-off of riskier assets and the greenback retained its strength for the most of the week even as the market sentiment improved.

Monday started with negative news from China, setting the mood for the rest of the week. The Chinese yuan managed to reach a record despite the news on speculations that the central bank may widen the trading range.

The downward revision of the global growth projections by the International Monetary Fund did not help the traders’ mood either. So did macroeconomic data from the United State, but for some reason it hurt the dollar, not helped the currency.

The yen did not profit from the resulting risk aversion as the Group of Twenty did not scold Japan on this week’s meeting for the practices of devaluing the Japanese currency.

EUR/USD dropped from 1.3113 to 1.3058. GBP/USD slid from 1.5339 to 1.5231. USD/JPY went to 99.48 up from the opening of 98.17 and the weekly low of 95.76.

If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the US Dollar, feel free to post them using the commentary form below.

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By Nick, April 19, 2013 6:42 am

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By Nick, April 18, 2013 3:31 am

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