The assassination of top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani by a pre-dawn American air raid near Baghdad airport on Friday has caused a remarkable spike in Brent crude prices, taking it to over US$70 on Monday 6 January, according to a report by CITYA.M., the first time Brent crude has exceeded the US$70 threshold since September
Exploration
ExxonMobil secures exploration acreage offshore Egypt
ExxonMobil has secured more than 1.7mn acres for exploration offshore Egypt
Total and Sonangol to develop retail operations in Angola
Total has announced the closing of the agreement signed on 21 December 2018 with national oil company Sonangol to develop petroleum product retail operations in Angola
Saipem wins drilling deals worth US$1.7bn
Italian oil and gas industry contractor Saipem has been awarded new contracts and extensions on existing contracts in onshore drilling and offshore drilling for an overall amount of approximately US$1.7bn
APICORP supports development of Algeria’s energy sector
The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP) has agreed to two loan facilities worth a combined US$250mn with Sonatrach Petroleum Investment Corporation (SPIC), a subsidiary of Sonatrach International Holding Corporation owned by Sonatrach, the Algerian state-owned national oil company