Greece, Cyprus, Jordan cement East Med Gas Forum relationship - NEW EUROPE

APRIL 12, 2019, 20:48
Kostis Geropoulos

Closer cooperation among the countries of the region can only add to peace and stability – much needed in the East Med.
ATHENS – The leaders of Greece, Cyprus and Jordan will hold a trilateral summit in Amman on 14 April to expand cooperation in the East Mediterranean region, which has strategic significance in the areas of energy and security.

In the second summit between Greece, Cyprus and Jordan, the leaders will focus on means to expand cooperation between the three countries in various fields, mainly economy and investment, and building on the outcomes of the first summit hosted by Cyprus in January 2018 where the three parties signed several agreements, including renewable energy.

(Former) Natural Hydrocarbons Company CEO Charles Ellinas told New Europe on 12 April that the summit would boost energy and security partnership in the region.

Cyprus mulls ratification of Lebanon EEZ delineation agreement - KNEWS / KATHIMERINI

11 APRIL 2019 - 10:49

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Energy Nikos Christodoulides and Giorgos Lakkotrypis are in Beirut for meetings with their Lebanese counterparts as Cyprus seeks to strengthen cooperation with Lebanon in the field of energy and energy security.

Christodoulides said that one of the issues that is high on the agenda is the outstanding issue of ratifying the agreement on the delineation of the limits of the exclusive economic zones between Cyprus and Lebanon.

To this end, he added, he will have a meeting with the President of the Lebanese Parliament.

Christodoulides expressed the hope that tomorrow, there will be a preliminary agreement to start talks on a cooperation framework with Lebanon, similar to the one agreed with Egypt.

Referring to the tripartite ministerial meeting between Cyprus, Greece and Lebanon, he described it as historic.

Repsol and Hellenic Petroleum partner on offshore Greece exploration - OFFSHORE TECHNOLOGY

10 APRIL 2019

Spanish energy company Repsol and Greece-based Hellenic Petroleum have signed lease agreements to conduct exploration in two offshore blocks in Greece.

The joint venture (JV) of the two companies will conduct oil and gas exploration in an offshore block in the Ionian Sea. Hellenic Petroleum will also carry out exploration in another block off the Peloponnese peninsula.

Reuters reported that the two blocks are situated in the western region of the country, an under-explored area with very little information on its hydrocarbon potentiality.

The agreement comes at a time when Greece is working to bolster its oil and gas sector with major discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean region.

Hellenic also has rights to explore oil and gas in other offshore and onshore areas of the country, with plans to conduct the first test drilling off the Peloponnese peninsula in 2020.

“A big round of lease agreements for the exploration and development of hydrocarbons is closing with these two agreements we are signing today.”

Trump's energy dominance agenda hinges on Egypt - WASHINGTON EXAMINER

April 10, 2019 11:59 AM

John Siciliano & Josh Siegel

President Trump needs Egypt’s economy to grow up fast if he wants his vision of “energy dominance” to come into full force, seeing that the North African country is a key lynchpin in the global oil market, yet in desperate need of infrastructure investment.

At Tuesday’s meetings at the White House, Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi discussed a new, loosely organized natural gas collaboration between Egypt, Israel and Southern Europe as necessary for the two countries’ ambitions.

“One of the things we’ve been particularly encouraged by over the course of recent years is the increasing leadership role the Egyptians are playing in terms of developing the [natural] gas assets in the Eastern Mediterranean, which has been a very productive area of cooperation,” said a senior White House official with the National Security Council ahead of the meeting.

Trump wants Al-Sissi to use Egypt’s newfound natural gas discoveries to modernize the country’s economy and upgrade the global trade infrastructure at the Suez Canal.

Exxon Is in Talks Over Floating LNG Partnership in Israel - BLOOMBERG

April 10, 2019, 8:59 PM GMT+3Yaacov Benmeleh

• Project reflects Exxon’s growing ambitions in East Med region
• Talks come as unofficial energy boycott on Israel seen fading

Exxon Mobil Corp. is in discussions to build a platform that would expand the export reach of Israel’s biggest natural gas field, according to people familiar with the matter. Israeli gas stocks rose.

The world’s largest publicly-traded oil and gas company is in talks with the firms developing Israel’s Leviathan reservoir to build a floating liquefied natural gas ship, the people said, requesting anonymity because the matter is private. Such a project would allow the Leviathan partners to export to countries not reachable with pipelines and avoid the need to build expensive infrastructure to connect to LNG facilities in Egypt.

It’s possible the discussions ultimately won’t lead to a partnership, the people cautioned. An Exxon representative declined to comment on its intentions in Israel. The company recently made a major gas discovery nearby, off the coast of Cyprus.

“It’s too early to comment on specific development and production timelines” for the Cyprus discovery, the representative said.

Despite considerable gas discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean region over the past decade, viable export routes have proven tough to find and global energy firms haven’t rushed in. The Leviathan partners have signed deals to meet surging demand in Egypt, Jordan and Israel, but haven’t yet found a way to export to Europe or East Asia.

Aphrodite gas talks at ‘advanced stage’ - CYPRUS MAIL

APRIL 9, 2019 

ELIAS HAZOU

The Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company (CHC) is in “advanced talks” with Noble Energy and its partners over the renegotiation of the production-sharing contract for the Aphrodite gas reservoir, the organisation’s chairman said on Tuesday.

Toula Onoufriou was speaking to reporters after a meeting with President Nicos Anastasiades, where she handed over a report recapping the CHC’s activities over the past five years.

Other major challenges going forward, she said, included ongoing negotiations for a gas sale agreement between the Aphrodite partners and buyers in Egypt.

There is also the matter of awarding an exploration licence for block 7. Last October the government invited bids from companies already licensed to explore offshore Cyprus to express an interest in the block. Energy companies Total and ENI applied.

According to Onoufriou, over the next period of time energy companies will be informing the government of their plans and timetables to drill offshore Cyprus. This would include exploratory as well as appraisal drilling.

Energean Oil and Gas successfully completes drilling at EA-H3 in the north - ENERGY PRESS

08/APRIL/2019

Energean Oil and Gas, the oil and gas producer focused on the Mediterranean, has successfully completed its drilling operations of the extended reach well, EA-H3, in northern Greece, the company has announced.

The well was brought into production on April 1 and is currently producing at a stable dry oil rate of more than 1,000 bopd on a restricted choke, Energean noted.

The well was drilled to a total measured depth of 5,679 meters and has penetrated 689 meters of the Epsilon sandstone reservoir, in line with pre-drill expectations, Energean informed, adding it will continue to monitor and finetune production parameters to ensure optimal production from the well.

Noble Energy Wins Big Gas Deal From Israel Electric Corporation - HAARETZ

Apr 08, 2019 4:27 AM

Eran Azran

Israel Electric awarded the deal to the partners in the Leviathan gas field over the Tamar field partners

It was Yitzhak Tshuva and Noble Energy competing against Yitzhak Tshuva and Noble Energy for a giant contract to supply the Israel Electric Corporation with natural gas. One side bid to supply the gas at a price of $4.78 per thousand cubic feet and the other put in a bid for $4.78, too.

In the end, no surprise, the winners, who were revealed on Sunday, were Yitzhak Tshuva and Noble Energy with a bid of $4.78, although it in the end the two rivals may split the contract.

That strange bidding process was possible because on one side, there were the partners who control the Tamar gas field, which include Noble, Tshuva’s Delek Drilling and Isramco, and the other side were the partners who control the Leviathan field, which include Noble, Delek Drilling and Ratio.

State-owned IEC said it opted for Leviathan’s identically priced bid because it was seeking to diversify its sources of natural gas, which is now supplied exclusively by Tamar. Tamar will lose a major part of its sales to IEC because the Leviathan contract will replace much of the gas Tamar is now supplying.

Egypt, Jordan sign agreement for operation, maintenance of natgas pipeline - ENTERPRISE

Sunday, 7 April 2019

Egypt and Jordan signed on Friday a long-term contract to operate and maintain Jordan’s natural gas pipeline, according to an Oil Ministry statement. 

State energy companies Enppi and Petrojet are also currently working on a project to expand the natural gas network in Jordan, which should be inaugurated this October, Minister Tarek El Molla previously said.