Oilfield run by US firm hit in drone attack in Iraqi Kurdistan, sources say
It was the latest in a series of attacks on oilfields in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in recent days. It also marked the second attack on the same field, Ain Sifni, on Wednesday.
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Reuters
11 minutes ago
- Reuters
Oilfield services provider SLB flags risk of lower upstream spending
July 18 (Reuters) - Top oilfield services firm SLB (SLB.N), opens new tab on Friday warned of a likely decline in global upstream spending in 2025, led by weakness in North and Latin America, sending its shares down nearly 4%. North America remains the most exposed to the short-cycle spending cuts while Asia and the Middle East are proving more resilient, supported by lower breakevens, national energy security priorities, and gas project investments, it said. Crude prices fell more than 21% in the April–June quarter, from a year earlier, raising concerns about a broader pullback in exploration and production spending. U.S. energy firms have cut the number of active oil and gas rigs for an 11th straight week in the week ended July 11, for the first time since July 2020, according to Baker Hughes data. SLB, the first of the Big Three U.S. oilfield services providers to report quarterly results, said the broader market continues to remain uncertain with OPEC+ supply releases, ongoing trade negotiations and geopolitical conflicts. The company also flagged a 20-40 basis points hit on its margins from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs in the second half of the year. In the second quarter, SLB's total revenue fell 6% to $8.55 billion, but beat expectations of $8.48 billion. The results came in above expectations, which had been recently lowered following the company's forecast flagging weak activity levels in Saudi Arabia and Latin America, said Tudor Pickering Holt & Co analyst Jeff LeBlanc. SLB received a boost from higher offshore activity and increased drilling demand in the UAE, Kuwait and Iraq. North America revenue rose 1% to $1.66 billion from last year, helped by gains in data-center infrastructure solutions. Its earnings, excluding charges and credits, of 74 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30, narrowly beat the average expectation of 73 cents. Rivals Halliburton (HAL.N), opens new tab and Baker Hughes (BKR.O), opens new tab are scheduled to report their earnings next week.
Reuters
41 minutes ago
- Reuters
Exclusive: US firms to develop Syria energy masterplan after Trump lifts sanctions
DAMASCUS, July 18 (Reuters) - U.S.-based firms Baker Hughes (BKR.O), opens new tab, Hunt Energy and Argent LNG will develop a masterplan for Syria's oil, gas and power sector, Argent LNG CEO Jonathan Bass said on Friday, in a partnership aimed at rebuilding energy infrastructure shattered by 14 years of civil war. The move marks a swift turnaround as U.S. companies enter a country previously under one of the world's tightest sanctions regimes that U.S. President Donald Trump lifted at the end of June. The companies plan to help explore and extract oil and gas and produce power to help get the economy running as the government seeks to put Syria back on the map. The plan comes after a dash by other companies, many from Gulf Arab states, to sign deals to bolster Syria's power generation and ports infrastructure. Details of the plan have not been previously reported. "We are initiating the development of a comprehensive masterplan for energy and power generation in Syria, based on a preliminary assessment of opportunities for near-term improvements in generation capacity and service delivery," Bass told Reuters via phone. "Our efforts aim to support the revitalization of the energy sector in coordination with relevant stakeholders,' he added. "This includes potential activities across the value chain—from exploration and production to electricity generation, including combined-cycle power plants," he said, declining to elaborate further. Argent LNG, which is developing a liquefied natural gas export facility in Louisiana, in January signed a non-binding agreement to supply Bangladesh up to 5 million metric tons of the fuel annually, the first major U.S. LNG supply deal since Trump began his second term. Reuters received no immediate response to emailed questions to global energy services provider Baker Hughes and Texas-based electric utility Hunt Energy. The plan is to begin with areas west of the Euphrates River, under control of the Syrian government. Syria's east, where much of its oil is produced, remains controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led armed group that Washington has urged to integrate with the new authorities in Damascus following the ouster of former Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad. After 14 years of war, Syria's electricity sector is severely damaged, generating only 1.6 gigawatts of electricity, down from 9.5 GW before 2011. Billions of dollars of investment are needed to fix the sector, so the cash-strapped state is looking at private investment or donors to foot the bill. In May, Syria signed a memorandum of understanding with Qatar's UCC Holding to develop $7 billion worth of power generation projects, including four combined-cycle gas turbine power plants and a 1,000-MW solar power plant in southern Syria. In a post on LinkedIn on Thursday, Syrian Finance Minister Yisr Barnieh said the three U.S.-based companies were forming a coalition to invest in Syria and develop the country's energy sector. "This visit signals a growing interest among American companies and investors in engaging with Syria," he said. Bass, Hunt Energy CEO Hunter L. Hunt, and a senior executive at Baker Hughes arrived in Syria on a private jet on Wednesday morning and were meeting with Barnieh when Israel conducted a series of airstrikes on Damascus that shook the city, Bass said. "It was big," said Bass, who has been working on the energy project since visiting Damascus and meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in April. He was part of both state-led and informal efforts to lobby Trump to meet with Sharaa. The landmark meeting took place in mid-May with a big push from the leaders of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and Trump announced the end of Syria sanctions. As they are slowly phased out, investor interest in Syria has grown. A week of violence in the southern province of Sweida, however, has darkened the mood in the country and left at least 321 people dead, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, a human rights group. "To work in Syria, there are potholes, there are ditches, it has craters," said Bass. "If you don't have the team that's willing to accept craters, don't come."
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Air India to resume some flights after deadly crash
Air India will begin flying select international routes again from August, just weeks after a horrific crash killed 260 people in Ahmedabad. The airline grounded several services following the tragic incident on 12 June, when flight AI171 – a Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for London – went down shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad airport in Gujarat, western India. In a statement issued Tuesday (15 July), Air India said a 'safety pause' had been implemented to allow precautionary inspections on its Dreamliner fleet and to manage disruptions caused by airspace closures over the Middle East. The airline has now announced a 'partial restoration' of international services. However, not all services are back just yet. Flights between Amritsar and Goa to Gatwick remain suspended until at least 30 September. Routes from Bengaluru and Pune to Singapore are also off the cards until further notice. Routes to Birmingham, Sydney, New York, Copenhagen and Chicago are still operating with fewer flights or adjusted schedules. Air India apologised to customers caught in the disruption and said it is 'proactively contacting' affected passengers to offer rebooking options or full refunds. Despite the tragedy and ongoing challenges, the airline will be operating over 525 international flights a week across 63 routes by August.
