Excerpts: Netanyahu: Iran nuclear deal will fuel terrorism. Super giant gas
field discovered off Egypt. Kuwait M.P.:Iran is 'the enemy'. Saudi giant
housing complex fire. Arab OPEC members price projection. Egypt-Jordan
economic relations August 30, 2015

SOURCE: Al Arabiya 30 Aug.’15:”Netanyahu warns Iran deal will fuel
terrorism”, by Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Netanyahu: Iran nuclear income will fuel terrorism
FULL TEXT:The deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program will bolster Tehran’s
ability to fund global terrorism by providing ISIS with “billions of
dollars” in sanctions relief, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
declared Saturday[29 Aug].

“Iran will get hundreds of billions of dollars from sanctions relief and
investments to fuel its aggression and terrorism in the Middle East and
North Africa and beyond,” Netanyahu, who is bitterly opposed to the deal
agreed by Iran and world powers in July, said during a visit to the Italian
city of Florence.

The Israeli leader is on a tour of Italy, his first major overseas visit
since being re-elected in June.

Speaking ahead of a meeting Saturday[29 Aug] evening with his Italian
counterpart Matteo Renzi he compared the threat posed by ISIS with the “far
more serious threat...posed by another ISIS, the Islamic state of Iran and
specifically its pursuit of nuclear weapons”.

Israel was not opposed to Iran having a civilian nuclear program, he said,
but the deal hammered out in the Swiss city of Lausanne would allow Tehran
“to keep and extend a formidable infrastructure that is completely
unnecessary for civilian nuclear purposes but is entirely necessary for the
production of nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu declared.

Iran denies trying to develop nuclear weapons, insisting its atomic
programme is peaceful.



+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya 30 Aug.’15:”Super giant gas field discovered off
Egypt”,By the Associated Press
SUBJECT: Super giant gas field discovered off Egypt
FULL TEXT:The Italian energy company Eni SpA announced Sunday[30Aug] it has
discovered a “supergiant” natural gas field off Egypt, describing it as the
“largest-ever” found in the Mediterranean Sea.

The news came a day after Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi met in Cairo with
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the Egyptian leader’s office said.

Eni said the discovery - made in its Zohr prospect “in the deep waters of
Egypt” - could hold a potential 30 trillion cubic feet of gas over an area
of 100 square kilometers (38.6 square miles).

“Zohr is the largest gas discovery ever made in Egypt and in the
Mediterranean Sea and could become one of the world’s largest natural gas
finds,” Eni said in a statement. “The discovery, after its full development,
will be able to ensure satisfying Egypt’s natural gas demand for decades.”

Descalzi was quoted by Eni as saying that the discovery reconfirms that
“Egypt still has great potential” energy-wise. He said “important synergies
with the existing infrastructures can be exploited, allowing us a fast
production startup.”

Eni has been in Egypt since 1954 through its subsidiary IEOC. It’s the main
hydrocarbon producer in Egypt, with a daily equity production of 200,000
barrels of oil equivalent, the company said

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 30 Aug.’15:”Iran is ‘The Enemy’ of Gulf Arabs,
Says Kuwaiti M.P.”, by Agence France Presse
SUBJECT:Kuwait M.P:Iran is ‘the enemy’
QUOTE: “Kuwaiti lawmaker on Sunday(30 Aug) described Iran as the ‘true enemy’
of Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab states”

FULL TEXT:A senior Kuwaiti lawmaker on Sunday[30 Aug]. described Iran as the
"true enemy" of Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab states, in a sign of growing tensions
with the Shiite power.

"It has become clear to all that Iran is an enemy plotting to swallow up our
states and resources and is the true enemy of the region," Hamad
al-Harashani, the head of the Kuwaiti parliament's foreign relations
committee, said in a statement.

It was the strongest Kuwaiti criticism in years of Iran, with which Kuwait
has traditionally had better ties than its fellow Gulf Arab states.

Harashani singled out an apparent bomb attack Friday[28 Aug] in Bahrain as
"yet further evidence of Iran's aggression" in the region.

The blast killed a policeman and wounded seven people, with Bahraini
officials saying explosives used in the attack were similar to material
seized by authorities last month which "came from Iran."

"Iran is seeking to spread chaos and undermine the ruling regimes" in the
region, Harashani said, calling on Gulf states to boost security
coordination.

Kuwait and Iran were on relatively good terms for years until the Gulf state
this month broke up a "terrorist cell" and seized large quantities of
weapons and explosives.

Local media reported that the cell belonged to pro-Iranian Lebanese group
Hizbullah. There has been no official confirmation of the claim.

A decades-old row between Kuwait and Iran over the disputed offshore Dorra
gas field then resurfaced last week.

Kuwait summoned Iran's charge d'affaires to protest Tehran's apparent offer
of investment opportunities in the Dorra field.

The move followed a report by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) about
investment possibilities in the Islamic republic, which "covered areas
located near the Kuwaiti oilfield," the KUNA news agency said.


+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon)30 Aug.’15:”11 Dead,219 Hurt in Fire at Saudi
Oil Giant Housing Complex”,by Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Saudi giant housing complex fire

QUOTE:”the incident was being investigated”

FULL TEXT:At least 11 people were killed and 219 injured in Saudi Arabia
Sunday[30 Aug.] when a fire broke out at a residential complex housing
employees of oil giant Saudi Aramco, authorities said.

The fire started in the basement of a tower in the eastern city of Khobar,
the kingdom's civil defense said on Twitter.

It added that several of the injured were in a "critical condition" and that
the casualties were from "various nationalities," without giving details.

Photographs published on the civil defense website showed plumes of black
smoke rising from the windows of one of the buildings.

Authorities said that residents of nearby towers were evacuated as
helicopters took part in the firefighting operations.

Firefighting teams "are combing all towers to ensure there are no people"
trapped inside, said the civil defense.

"The incident is currently under control and cooling operations are
ongoing," it said in another tweet later in the afternoon.

Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil company in terms of crude production
and exports, released a statement confirming the fire at the residential
complex, adding that the incident was being investigated.

The company says it employs more than 61,000 workers worldwide from 77
countries.

SourceAgence France Presse

Middle East


+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 30 Aug,’15:”Arab OPEC producers brace for oil-price
weakness for rest of 2015”, by Reuters

SUBJECT:Arab OPEC members to cut price expectations for this year

FULL TEXT:DUBAI/LONDON — A second oil price rout of 2015 has forced Arab
members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut
their price expectations for this year, showing they are prepared to
tolerate cheaper crude for longer to defend market share and curb rivals'
output.

OPEC delegates, including those from core Gulf countries, see economic
troubles in top energy consumer China as short term and unlikely to have
much impact on demand for crude which will rise seasonally in the fourth
quarter.

But they also believe it will take more than just a few months for weak oil
prices, which fell to a more than six-year low near $42 on Monday, to reduce
supplies from higher-cost producers such as US shale and stimulate demand.

They expect the recent price drop will help reduce the crude oversupply
towards the end of the year and thus lift oil prices slightly.

The comments further indicate that OPEC is sticking to its policy of
defending market share rather than cutting production to shore up prices,
regardless of how low they would fall and how long it would take to balance
the market.

"It will be better to leave the market to correct itself. I don't think this
low price will continue," said a Gulf OPEC delegate who declined to be
identified.

"Prices will be around $40-$50 a barrel until the end of the year and
hopefully they will reach $60, assuming there will be a recovery in China,"
he added.

A second Gulf OPEC delegate also expected the oil price to remain around
$40-$50 a barrel for the rest of the year.

A third Gulf oil source said: "People are over-reacting to China. But you
cannot underestimate the sentiment, that's the problem."

"Oil is bottoming... and the deeper it goes the more the rebound will be
quicker and the supply reaction will be even bigger," the source indicated,
adding that prices may dip again to slightly below $45 before slowly
recovering to around $60 by December when OPEC meets next.

Arab OPEC delegates initially thought prices would recover more quickly
after the group's shift to the market-share strategy in 2014 deepened the
decline, saying last December they saw oil between $70 and $80 by the end of
2015.

Other OPEC delegates outside the Gulf are also bracing for a prolonged
period of low prices as they do not expect the group's top producer Saudi
Arabia, the driving force behind OPEC's refusal to cut output, to change
course and prop up prices.

"If this oversupply continues with no action from OPEC or Saudi Arabia, then
I expect prices will stay around $45 until the end of the year," said one.

Longer-term strategy

As a policy, OPEC has not openly targeted specific oil prices for over a
decade, ever since it abandoned a $22 to $28 price band instituted after a
price crash in the late 1990s.

But the comments signal how big producers see the market playing out and
that OPEC's strategy championed by Saudi Arabia is not a short-term one, but
rather a plan that needs time to work and they are willing to wait.

Gulf oil insiders see no sign of Saudi Arabia wavering on its long-term
strategy.

"This is not going to be two-three quarters' adjustments, this is going to
be a two-three years' adjustments," indicated Yasser Elguindi of economic
consultants Medley Global Advisors.

OPEC reconfirmed the market-share strategy at its last meeting in June and
the Gulf OPEC delegates were still expecting a recovery in prices towards
the end of 2015, supported by higher global demand.

But those sentiments have changed with the latest unexpected price drop,
growing concern about the demand outlook in China and persistent oversupply.

OPEC's own forecasts show the group initially overestimated the speed at
which low prices would curb non-OPEC supply. This, plus record-high output
from Saudi Arabia and Iraq, point to an oversupply of more than 2 million
barrels per day (bpd).

A big uncertainty in 2016 is the extent to which Iran boosts production if
and when sanctions are lifted. Iran's insistence that it will take back more
than 1 million bpd of market share has worried the Gulf members.

Still, even OPEC members who are less wealthy than Gulf Arab producers and
want higher prices agree the latest drop would mean less oversupply in
coming months, potentially supporting prices in the last quarter of the
year.

"Prices around $50-$55 is the maximum of what I expect by the end of this
year. This is because of less crude supplies due to the low oil price,"
another OPEC delegate said.

Separately, Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Tuesday[25 Aug] that
Tehran will ramp up crude oil production and reclaim its lost share of
exports shortly after international sanctions on the OPEC member are lifted.

Iran and six world powers agreed a deal in July to curb Tehran's nuclear
programme, but sanctions imposed in 2012 will not be lifted until Iran has
complied with all the terms of the pact.

Britain's foreign minister said on Monday[24 Aug] that international
sanctions on Iran could start to be lifted as early as spring next year.

At a news conference in Tehran, Zanganeh said Iran should sell its crude
regardless of the oil price.

"We should sell our oil whether the price falls or goes to $100 [a barrel].
Even though we would like to sell our oil more expensively, the price is
determined by the market," Zanganeh was quoted as saying by Shana, the oil
ministry's news agency.

"After lifting sanctions, Iran will take back the market share of more than
1 million barrels a day that it lost," he said.

Zanganeh indicated that Iran would raise its production by 500,000 bpd once
sanctions were lifted and that a further 500,000 bpd would be added shortly
after that.

Earlier this month, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Iran could
raise its oil output by as much as 730,000 bpd from current levels fairly
quickly after sanctions were removed.

Iranian oilfields, which pumped around 2.87 million bpd in July, could
increase production to between 3.4 million and 3.6 million bpd within months
of sanctions being lifted, the West's energy watchdog said.

The report by the Paris-based IEA suggested any increase in output would
probably be more modest than Iranian estimates, and said Tehran would need
massive investment to raise production capacity.

Zanganeh also said Iran's oil exports had increased by 15 per cent in the
first four months of the current Iranian year, which starts around March 20,
compared to the same period last year. He gave no further details.


+++SOURCE: JORDAN TIMES 30 Aug.’15:”Egypt initially approves permanent fair
for Jordanian products in Cairo”.by J.T.
SUBJECT:Egypt-Jordan economic relations

QUOTE:”The Egyptian government is willing to address any shortcomings in the
economic relations with Jordan in a way that serves the interests of both
sides”

AMMAN — The Egyptian government is willing to address any shortcomings in
the economic relations with Jordan in a way that serves the interests of
both sides, Egypt's Trade and Industry Minister Munir Abdul Nour said
Saturday[29 Aug].

At a meeting with a Jordanian economic delegation comprising representatives
of different sectors, headed by Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) President
Issa Murad, Abdul Nour expressed initial approval of the delegation's
request to hold a permanent exhibition for Jordanian products in Cairo,
according to an ACC statement.

The minister encouraged the Jordanian private sector to enhance relations
with its Egyptian peer, which will help increase economic exchange between
the two countries, noting that Jordanian investments in Egypt enjoy many
facilities and incentives.

Murad said it is possible for both countries to increase the trade exchange
to more than its current value of $600 million, noting that the number does
not reflect the deep-rooted bilateral relations, the statement added.

At the end of the meeting, ACC and its counterpart in Cairo signed a
memorandum of understanding to establish joint executive committees to unify
both countries' sectors views in some issues.
===================
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA