Cyprus nearing transition to a new LNG era - FINANCIAL MIRROR

GasLog's LNG carrier Methane Julia Louise loading
LNG from Shell’s mighty floating LNG Prelude

12 July, 2019

Cyprus Natural Gas Public Company (DEFA), announced Friday it has successfully completed the first step of its troubled tender procedure for the installation of a €250 mln LNG Import Terminal plus infrastructure.

Three international consortia comprising of industry leaders are bidding for the multi-million contract. The bidders are;

1. Joint Venture China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering CO, Ltd – CPP, AKTOR S.A., METRON S.A.
2. Consortium Samsung C&T, Posco E&C, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Osaka Gas
3. European Consortium (DAMCO Energy S.A., ENAGAS Services Solution S.L.U., GasLog LNG Services Ltd., SNAM Spa, TERNA S.A.)

DEFA said the wider range of companies expressing an interest highlighted the “importance of the tender at an international level as well as its viability”.

Chairman of DEFA Symeon Kassianides said: "The great interest shown for this important Cyprus energy project by European and international players of the gas market, is just the first milestone for the realization of a long-term project that is directly linked to the country's energy upgrade and energy pluralism.”

Egypt’s arrears to foreign oil firms fall $900m - MIDDLE EAST MONITOR

July 12, 2019 at 4:04 pm

The total arrears that Egypt owed to foreign oil companies dropped to $900 million at the end of June, down from $1.2 billion a year earlier, the country’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla told Reuters yesterday.

The minister added that Egypt would pay the remaining dues “soon, God willing”, but did not set a specific date for payment.

The monthly bill of arrears paid to foreign companies amounts to $700 million,” he said.

Arrears have fallen by 25 per cent from their level at the end of the 2017/2018 fiscal year when they stood at $1.2 billion. In June 2017, Egypt owed $2.4 billion to foreign companies, a sum which has now fallen by 62.5 per cent.

Eni, BP, Shell and Edison have dominated Egypt’s oil and gas exploration and production activities in recent years.

Foreign oil companies’ arrears had accumulated after the January 2011 uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak to reach $6.3 billion in the 2011/2012 fiscal year.

Cypriot energy player looks to draw Gulf capital into the East Med - THE NATIONAL

July 11, 2019 06:47 PM

Jennifer Gnana

Exclusive: Cynergy is looking to raise up to $500 million from the region to consolidate stranded gas assets and stunted infrastructure in the basin

Cyprus-based Cynergy Group, an investment firm focused on the energy sector, is lobbying investors in the Arabian Gulf including sovereign wealth funds to raise as much as $500 million (Dh1.83 billion) that will be part of $10bn raised from a pool of investors used to consolidate Eastern Mediterranean gas assets.

“[The] Gulf can play an important collaborative role in bringing East Med [and] Middle Eastern assets together through Cyprus, so I’m looking at the potential of Abu Dhabi and other Gulf interests looking at employing $500m plus,” Cynergy co-founder and group chief executive Mike Germanos told The National in Abu Dhabi.

Delek in talks to sell Tamar rights to advanced training funds - GLOBES

10 Jul, 2019 19:04
Kobi Yeshayahou

The study funds will pay $53 million for the rights to super royalties from the Tamar natural gas field.

Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG), controlled by Yitzhak Tshuva, is taking another step towards divestment from the Tamar natural gas field. The group notified the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) today that it is negotiating with the advanced training fund of the schoolteachers and kindergarten teachers for the sale of its rights to super royalties from the reservoir. These rights stem from Delek Group's holding in the Delek Drilling partnership, through which Delek Group holds 22% of the reservoir and 9% of Tamar Petroleum.

If the deal, which is subject to various contingencies, is completed, the advanced training funds, headed by chairman Eyal Gabay, will pay Delek Group $53 million, and the rights to super royalties from the reservoir will be transferred to the funds starting on April 1. The parties agreed that a final examination and accounting would take place at the beginning of 2023, which could either add $2 million to or subtract $2 million from the price.

Delek Group's super royalties from Tamar stood at 1.5% of the revenue from the reservoir as of the end of 2017, and jumped to 6.5% at the beginning of 2018, after Delek Group made back its investment in the reservoir.

Italy’s Eni to drill nine new wells in Egypt’s Zohr until 2020 - ENTERPRISE

Wednesday, 10 July 2019

Italy’s Eni is planning to drill nine new development wells in the Zohr gas field until 2020 to achieve production targets agreed upon with the Oil Ministry, an industry source told the press. 

Zohr’s development plan involves drilling 20 wells, 11 of which have already been drilled. The company is planning to link the 11th well soon, bringing the supergiant field’s production level to 2.5 bcf/d by the end of the month, up from a current 2.3 bcf, the source added.

Egypt-Saudi Arabia maritime demarcation agreement makes headlines again - AL MONITOR

Tiran (foreground) and Sanafir (background) islands between
Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and Saudi Arabia

July 9, 2019

Rami Galal 

CAIRO — The issue of sovereignty over the two islands of Tiran and Sanafir in the Red Sea at the Strait of Tiran leading to the Gulf of Aqaba is once again making headlines in Egypt. The country had witnessed a wave of anger three years ago against the backdrop of the signing on April 8, 2016, by Egypt and Saudi Arabia of a maritime border demarcation agreement, under which Saudi Arabia gained sovereignty over the islands.

During a meeting with an Egyptian parliamentary delegation June 26, Red Sea Gov. Gen. Ahmed Abdullah revealed great gains for the Egyptian economy that are about to materialize as a result of the 2016 agreement. “A large number of people focused on the islands of Tiran and Sanafir and completely ignored the economic gains that the Egyptian citizen will gain,” he said.

According to Abdullah, Egypt has been able, after the agreement, to exploit the wealth in the Red Sea. He explained that the border demarcation agreement allows Egypt to drill in deep territorial waters because the International Law of the Sea defines territorial waters and economic waters as well as the equidistant line between countries. The International Law of the Sea does not determine the maritime borders between countries.

Energean growing Mediterranean operations with Edison E&P acquisition - OFFSHORE MAGAZINE

Edison E&P portfolio overview

Jul 8th, 2019

LONDON – Energean has conditionally agreed to acquire Edison Exploration & Production (Edison E&P) from Italy’s Edison for $750 million.

An additional $100 million could be payable following first gas from the Cassiopea gas development offshore Sicily, which is expected to come onstream in 2022. Eni discovered the field in 2008, reportedly in a water depth of 560 m (1,837 ft) and 22 km (13.7 mi) from the coast of Agrigentos.

Edison E&P has producing assets in Egypt, Italy, Algeria, the UK North Sea and Croatia; development assets in Egypt, Italy and Norway; and exploration opportunities across the portfolio.

The company has 2P reserves of 292 MMboe and 2018 net production of 69,000 boe/d.

Energean’s goal is to become the leading independent, gas-focused E&P company in the Mediterranean region, and the Edison portfolio should complement its own interests, the company said.

The enlarged group will have total 2P reserves of 639 MMboe and will be one of the largest independent E&P companies listed on the London and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchanges.

Economic interests supersede identity politics in Israel-Lebanon maritime border negotiations - JEWISH NEWS SYNDICATE (JNS)

July 8, 2019

ELIANA RUDEE

Despite reports of difficulty bringing Israel and Lebanon together for maritime negotiations, Eastern Mediterranean policy experts and fellows at the Mitvim Institute for Regional Foreign Policies, Gabriel Mitchell and Ambassador (ret.) Michael Harari, believe that negotiations would be significantly beneficial for both parties.

It was reported last week that Israel and Lebanon were on the verge of launching direct talks, with U.S. mediation attempting to settle their maritime border disputes. Recently nominated U.S. envoy David Satterfield has been conducting shuttle diplomacy between the sides, picking up on efforts that were previously led by the Obama administration.

Disputing an area of 300 square miles of water—an extension of territorial disputes that have existed since 1948, and further became exacerbated in the 1970s and 1980s—the two countries have not engaged in negotiations for more than a decade, as they are still officially at a state of war.

Under the Obama administration, a 55-45 split for Lebanon and Israel of the disputed territory was rejected by Lebanon, and according to Mitchell’s estimate, Israel “will not offer anything better than that in subsequent negotiations.”

El Sisi Approves Egypt-Cyprus Gas Pipeline - EGYPT OIL & GAS

Sunday, 7th July 2019

Presidential decree number 537 for the year 2019 was issued on July 4, approving the governmental agreement between Egypt and Cyprus to establish a direct natural gas subsea pipeline, according to State Information Service.

The pipeline willl transport natural gas from the Aphrodite gas field to Egypt’s liquefaction facilities at Idku and Damietta, and re-export it as liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The agreement between the two countries was signed on September 19, 2018 in Nicosia and the Parliament approved it on March 11, 2019.

Under the agreement, the two parties do not have the right to impose in the conditions related to natural gas obtaining, usage, destination, transport, or supply.

The agreement states that the health, safety and environment (HSE) standards applied in the project should not be less than the European Union (EU)’s HSE standards.

Israel has a surplus of oil but with the political stakes high, leaders grapple with how to play it - INDEPENDENT / THE NEW YORK TIMES

7/7/2019
Clifford Krauss

Low prices, environmental and political considerations taken into account as country decides whether to exploit natural resource 

For decades, Israel was an energy-starved country surrounded by hostile, oil-rich neighbours.

Now it has a different problem. Thanks to major offshore discoveries over the past decade, it has more natural gas than it can use or readily export.

Having plenty of gas is hardly a burden, and it offers a cleaner-burning alternative to Israel’s longtime power sources. But it presents challenges for a country that wants to extract geopolitical and economic benefits from a rare energy windfall, including building better relations with its neighbours and Europe.

Part of the problem is timing. Just as Israel prepares to produce and export large amounts of gas, the United States, Australia, Qatar and Russia are flooding the market with cheap gas. The other is maths: Israel’s 8.5 million people use in a year less than 1 per cent of the gas that has been found in the country’s waters.