A Shell spokeswoman confirmed the purchase while declining to detail its size but the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) reported earlier that Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund (QIA) was looking at a 3-5 percent stake.

If Qatar did buy 5 percent, it would be just ahead of Blackrock, which is currently Shell’s biggest investor with 4.97 percent, according to Reuters data.

But British stock market rules require any party to disclose a holding of over 3 percent in a listed company so the absence of a statement from Qatar suggests its interest is below this level.

The Gulf nation’s massive gas supplies have made it rich, allowing it to create a sovereign wealth fund that has been buying up assets, including stakes in listed companies, around the world.

“We are delighted to welcome the Qatar Investment Authority as a long term and major shareholder in Shell, and particularly given our excellent strategic relationship with the Qatari state,” the spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

Shell operates multi-billion dollar natural gas projects in Qatar.

Shell’s London-listed “A” shares rose 1.1 percent to trade at 20.74 euros by 14:26 p.m. British time, against a 0.4 percent rise in the STOXX Europe 600 Oil and Gas index .SXEP.

Eni, whose shares traded up 1.9 percent at 16.89 euros, had no comment on the MEES report that Qatar was negotiating a stake in it.

Two analysts said the Qatar fund might be interested in buying the ENI stake of around 3.4 percent that state-controlled finance company CDP could sell to help fund its acquisition of a stake in transmission operator Snam (SRG.MI) from Eni.

The CDP and the Italian treasury own just over 30 percent of Eni and annulment of the group’s treasury shares would increase their stakes.

A source close to the matter said a series of sovereign funds had met with CDP to discuss a possible stake in Eni.

“The plan to separate Eni from Snam involving Eni’s annulling treasury shares and the CDP selling the excess stake it would get is in pole position among the options on the government’s agenda,” the source said.

Prime Minister Mario Monti had a meeting with the Emir of Qatar in Rome in April. Monti told reporters at the end of that meeting that Qatari institutions had shown interest in long-term investments in Italy.

In Italy, investors must inform the market regulator Consob when they buy stakes of more than 2 percent in a listed company.

ATTRACTIVE COMMODITIES

A senior executive of the Qatari fund said in April that the financial crisis had restricted investment in commodities and that he expected a supply-demand gap to emerge by 2016 or 2017.

“We like commodities, we like to invest in commodities. Since 2002, the commodity price trend keeps going up,” Qatar Investment Authority Executive Board Member Hussain al-Abdulla told reporters.

Qatar Holding, a unit of QIA, said last month that it had increased its stake in French oil group Total (TOTF.PA) to 3 percent and is undecided on buying more shares.

Qatar signed a deal in April to co-invest $250 million (155.6 million pounds) with Barclays’ (BARC.L) natural resources private equity investment unit.

QIA has been the most active of the region’s sovereign wealth funds in recent years, deploying profit from its natural gas riches into assets ranging from German sports car maker Porsche (PSHG_p.DE) to British bank Barclays (BARC.L).

The fund has also been slowly buying into London-listed miner Xstrata (XTA.L) recently. Its current holding in Xstrata, which is planning to merge with commodities trader Glencore (GLEN.L), is about 7.2 percent.

On Friday, the Financial Times reported Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund planned to increase its Xstrata stake to at least 10 percent as part of a long-held strategy to invest in Glencore, suggesting the Gulf state could provide crucial support to the pair’s $90 billion merger deal.

Qatar surprised many observers by passing on the Glencore initial public offering last year as rival Abu Dhabi fund Aabar bought into the flotation.

Source: www.uk.reuters.com

However recent developments have provoked warnings that mismanagement could force the industry into long-term decline.

Arabian Gulf Oil Co, the country’s largest producer with a near monopoly over the eastern oilfields, spent last week in a battle of wills with Tripoli’s transitional government.

Its management threatened to shut down crude production unless armed protesters who were blockading its Benghazi offices were persuaded to leave. The 50 gun-toting men at its gates have been barring employees from entering the facility for two weeks.

The company produces 375,000 barrels of crude a day of the 1.4m pumped nationwide. A stoppage would derail attempts to raise its output to 425,000 barrels a day in mid-May.

Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa, according to BP estimates, making its the continent’s third-biggest producer. With four-fifths of government revenues generated by oil sales, the government can ill afford a setback on the one front where it can point to a return to normality. Tripoli’s traffic clogged streets present a visible indicator of the country’s rapid return to normality after the overthrow of Col Gaddafi.

In its final throes the cash-strapped regime was unable to provide petrol to the pumps, rendering the roads and highways of the capital deserted.

The activity compensates for failures elsewhere – few government departments are functioning normally and militias have not been disarmed or disbanded.

“If this is not dealt with, then the consequences would be grave. It is unbelievable that a company as big as AGOCO remain hostage to a group of people,” said Abdul Jalil Mayuf, a spokesman. “The government should either deal with them by force or find a solution.”

Foreign experts on Libya’s oil industry believe only a minority of expatriate personnel have returned to the country, mostly to staff headquarters in relatively safe Tripoli. Most cite security concerns for not returning personnel to the oilfields. The logistics of even visiting the desert camps in the Sirte or Murzug basins involves negotiations with multiple militia commanders to secure safe passage.

Until a national government is installed most companies are likely to defer large scale deployments for new projects.

“I don’t think we’ll see much momentum until the election fallout is known,” said Henry Smith, a regional analyst at Control-Risks, the business risk consultants. “Security issues are still pronounced and the fragility of the current situation is significant. A lot of what we see is maintaining the existing infrastructure but no plans to expand until there is more clarity.”

With former revolutionaries demanding jobs in the country’s main industry, a scheme to absorb fighters into an oilfield’s protection force is exposing damaging turf wars.

“We have been promised jobs as part of the protection force but so far the government has not approved the contracts,” said Abdulhameed Aboragega, a member of the Zintan Miltia, one of the most prominent bands of anti-Gaddafi fighters. “There is a lot of resentment among our brigade members who thought they were going to be rewarded with jobs.”

A Repsol joint venture was last month stormed by fighters seeking payment for six months work guarding its premises during the uprising.

A report from Barclay’s warned that output was poised to stagnate as the scope for “temporary fixes” is exhausted.

Feedback from the first oil industry investment conference held in Tripoli since the war last week was “mixed” with participants reporting that officials could not provide assurances for new investors.

The arrival of the coffin containing the body of Shukri Ghanem, Gaddafi’s former oil minister, at Tripoli airport on Thursday underlined the potential for the ghosts of regime to stalk the industry.

An audit leaked to Global Witness, the anti-corruption campaigners, found “murky” practices including discounting and sweetheart deals had cost the taxpayer millions.

“Murky dealings within Libya’s National Oil Company, and the systematic mismanagement of the country’s oil wealth have effectively denied millions of dollars to the people of Libya,” said Giulio Carini, a campaigner at Global Witness. “The case for reform of the country’s oil sector could not be stronger or more urgent.”

Mr Ghanem, who was Libya’s Opec delegate, oil minister and prime minister, was the oil industry’s most powerful figure for decades under Gaddafi. He was found floating face down in the Danube but police have found no suggestion of foul-play.

The unexplained death of such a powerful figure gives already an unsettled sector reason to hold back while Libya’s new rulers grapple with its prized asset.

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Deputy Energy Minister Mohammad Behzad told IRNA that the sum will be paid to small developers in the form of loans.

The National Development Fund – which is currently valued at $35 billion – was set up by Ahmadinejad’s government last year (March 2011-March 2012) to tap 20 percent of oil and gas revenues for social investment.

Iran is projected to export as much as 10 billion kilowatt hours (BkWh) of electricity in the current calendar year, compared to 8.6BkWh in the past year, Behzad said on April 30.

He noted that the value of electricity exports has increased by 40 percent since the beginning of this year, which began on March 20, in comparison to the year before, the ISNA news agency reported.

A number of countries, including Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq and Armenia have signed new deals to boost electricity imports from Iran, he said.

Behzad said on April 4 that the Energy Ministry had prepared plans to increase electricity generation capacity of national power plants by 5GW this year.

“Over 10,000 megawatts should be added to the generation capacity of hydroelectric and thermal power plants by August 2013,” he added, the Fars News Agency reported.

By the end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2015), Iran will boost its electricity generation capacity by 25GW to reach 73GW, Energy Minister Majid Namjou said on February 7.

Iran currently exchanges electricity with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Source: www.tehrantimes.com

A draft European Commission communication on renewable energy, expected to be published later this month, said EU member states need to share renewables across borders with the help of improved infrastructure and underlined the urgency of agreeing on new laws to guide investment.

The EU is a pioneer in green power and officially is on track to reach a goal of increasing the share of renewables, such as solar, wind and wave, in its energy mix to 20 percent by 2020.

For the future, however, progress could be much harder to achieve as member states squabble over policies to replace existing targets and as subsidies for renewable energy fall victim to the region’s economic crisis.

The emergence of China as a leader in green technology is also challenging the ability of the European sector to export technology and expertise as Chinese rivals threaten to grab market share.

“All in all, renewable energy export opportunities will strongly depend on the elimination of trade barriers in and free access to key emerging renewable energy markets such as in China, India and Brazil,” an impact assessment accompanying the a Commission communication on renewable energy said.

China’s Vice Premier Li Keqiang visited Brussels this week for talks on energy cooperation.

“We hope that the EU will exercise more flexibility in exporting higher technology to China. Therefore, we can benefit from each other’s strengths,” Li said in an address.

Some in the European solar industry have been agitating for action to fight off competition from cheaper Chinese products, perhaps through trade moves and defensive duties.

Others have said a better way to save European jobs could be for EU firms to learn from China, whose strength is in producing on a large scale.

SINGLE MARKET

The draft communication on renewable energy said the way forward is to ensure a single, open EU energy market as well as access to markets outside the 27 member states.

EU policy has created “cooperation mechanisms” to lead to greater trade in renewable energy, but so far only two member states said they would use these mechanisms to achieve part of their 2020 goals, it said.

At the same time, 10 member states expect to have a surplus of renewable power, it said without naming them.

To help achieve the Commission dream of a single energy market with a rising share of renewable power, an estimated 100 billion euros ($131.1 billion) needs to be spent on electricity transmission lines alone.

Investments are far more likely if the Commission, the EU’s executive arm, can achieve speedy agreement on what policy should follow its 20 percent target in the years after 2020.

The communication lists a set of options for moving on from the 2020 target, ranging from firm goals, with financial support agreed across the EU, to no targets at all.

Some business leaders are keen for more binding targets to be agreed, while others resist regulation. Member states also have various objections, with coal-reliant Poland the most high-profile opponent of low-carbon goals.

The European Commission has strongly backed green growth as a way out of recession, and the draft documents seen by Reuters said a strong renewables sector could generate more than 3 million jobs.

At the same time, the impact assessment said the cost of financial support for renewable power could result in higher energy prices, affecting consumers and energy-intensive industries.

Other risks include public resistance. Although the public has largely accepted renewable power, some campaigners have raised issues about land use and the environmental effects of proposed infrastructure.

www.uk.reuters.com

The Commission routinely does not comment on leaked drafts.

“It’s possible if we show political leadership,” Ban said about the goal that falls under a sustainable energy initiative aiming to have universal access to power by 2030. Currently, renewable energy accounts for about 16 percent of world consumption.

“We have to be very austere in using energy… We have to completely change our behavior, at home, at the office,” the UN secretary-general added at an event hosted by the Center for Global Development think-tank in Washington.

About 1.3 billion people on Earth — a fifth of the global population — lacks access to electricity, while 2.7 billion do not have clean fuel to cook their food and heat their homes, relying instead on open fires or furnaces that burn coal, wood or animal waste.

“Energy is central to jobs, transport, water, sanitation… climate,” Ban said after meeting with finance ministers from the G20 most powerful economies.

The United Nations is expecting some 120 heads of state and government to attend the Rio+20 meeting on sustainable development in Brazil in June, with a focus on developing a plan for implementation and action.

On April 23, the European Union vowed fresh funds Monday to help developing nations provide sustainable energy to 500 million people by 2030.

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso pledged 50 million euros ($65 million) over two years for technical assistance and said EU nations would seek hundreds of millions of euros more to support investments in sustainable energy for developing countries.

Speaking at the Center for Global Development event, Danish Development Cooperation Minister Christian Friis Bach noted that fossil fuels received four to five times more subsidies worldwide than renewable energy.

The think-tank issued a report coinciding with the event saying the U.S. government should play a key role in helping meet the UN targets.

“The United States is the logical country to lead an effort to address these problems, given the size of its venture capital and investment community, the prominence of its financial markets and exchanges, and its tradition of support for business-oriented agencies,” it said in a statement.

Source: www.mnn.com