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.

Turkish natural gas demand slowdown set to persist as Ankara shifts tack: OIES report - PLATTS

London (Platts)--24 Apr 2017 852 am EDT/1252 GMTBy Stuart Elliott, Edited by Dan Lalor
Turkish gas demand -- which five years ago was expected to almost double to 81 Bcm/year by 2030 -- is unlikely to even reach 60 Bcm/year in the near future as a result of a deliberate effort by Ankara to reduce the country's dependence on imported gas, a paper published Monday by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies concludes.

Turkish gas demand fell last year for the first time since 2009 to 46 Bcm and is expected to be stagnant this year as Turkey looks to depend more on domestic resources for power generation, particularly hydro, coal, lignite, and wind and solar energy, the OIES said in the report.

The OIES said it expects a fall in gas consumption in the power sector in 2017 to be balanced by moderate growth in the residential and industry sectors.

Shale Gas And Its Impact On Turkish Economy – OpEd - EURASIA REVIEW

April 10, 2017
Haluk Direskeneli

“Shale Gas” is on the agenda. What is “Shale gas”? Is Shale Gas production as easy as you might think? Is it cheap? Do we have it in our environment? Can we produce? What is the cost of Shale Gas production? What happens to the environment in Shale Gas production process?

Shale gas is basically natural gas. Only the thermal calorific value is a bit low. Shale gas production is same as Natural Gas production by non-traditional, non-conventional method. The soil structure “thin-bedded, rich in organic matter”, is suitable for producing oil and gas is called “Shale”.

“Shale Gas” is the method of taking the Natural Gas that is trapped between the deep underground rocks. Shale Oil (Shale Petroleum) are removed by the same methods. Shale Gas and Shale Oil production technology are not new practice. Since 1947 there has been market practice in the United States.

Cyprus should develop its small gas fields - CYPRUS MAIL

The Karadeniz powership,Fatmagul Sultan, one of two providing
electricity to Lebanon

March 26, 2017

Abboud Zahr

The Council of Ministers recently approved the selection of winners in the third oil and gas round, which comprises Blocks 6, 8 and 10 in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Development of the blocks could determine the future of Cyprus’ hydrocarbons development programme.

US energy giant ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum filed the winning bid for Block 10, and the joint-venture of ENI and Total won Block 6. ENI also won Block 8 on its own.

Cyprus announced its third oil and gas round a year ago, after the discovery of Zohr, a giant gas field off the coast of Egypt with gas reserves of 30 trillion cubic feet (tcf), the largest ever natural gas find in the Mediterranean. The companies are hoping to find fields of a similar – or larger – size in Cyprus’ EEZ.

Europe's gas industry not a happy place: Conference - NATURAL GAS EUROPE

September 29th, 2016 4:45am, John Roberts, Chief Analyst

For those who fear the worst for the prospects for gas in Europe, Dusseldorf was not a reassuring place to be these last few days. That’s because the highlights of the tenth annual European Gas Summit organised by Platts (part of S&P Global) in the German city persistently returned to the themes that demand forecasts are always too high, that the industry is behind the curve in responding to public concerns about carbon emissions; and that the much-trumpeted prospective sources of supply, notably LNG from the US and eastern Mediterranean, may simply find no room in the European market.

This approach was kicked off by the veteran gas trader Wolfgang Peters, who blamed the European Union as much as Russia for damaging the reputation of gas as a speedy and cost-effective way of tackling CO2 emissions. “The European Commission will not acknowledge there has been reputational damage to natural gas,” said Peters, who formerly headed RWE’s supply and trading operation in the Czech Republic. “Gas advocacy should be more assertive," Peters said. “Even without a subsidy, it can make a huge contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.”

Turkey Changes Tack for the 2020S: Energy Specialist - NATURAL GAS EUROPE

February 24th, 2016

Turkey needs to react quickly to the consequences of the dramatic worsening of its relations with Russia since November. Hasan Selim Ozertem, head of energy security studies at Turkey’s international strategic research organization (USAK), spoke to NGE about the problems facing over half of Turkey's gas supplies and the steps it can take to mitigate them.

Ozertem is one of the new generation of Turkish think-tank experts. He has worked on projects with the UN, the Turkish ministries of domestic and foreign affairs and the UK major BP.

Mr Ozertem, this is a critical juncture in the Turkish-Russian relations. What is its impact on Turkey’s energy security?
Russian-Turkish relations were projected to be mutually beneficial through inter-dependence between our two countries. In the longer term this may be still valid, but right now there are concerns about the future as economic cooperation becomes a secondary issue among increasing security concerns in the region. Turkey’s neighbourhood is unstable, the East Med is a region of unresolved disputes and Russia is confrontational. The rift with Russia is deepening.

Understandably within Turkey energy security has become a major issue, something we were not considering a priority issue a few months ago. But it has now become a popular subject once again. Russia has not cut gas supplies, but we need to ensure our energy needs, including future needs, are secured.

Egyptian government approves Chinese coal-fired power plant proposals | Reuters

Wed Jan 6, 2016
CAIRO Jan 6 (Reuters) - Egypt's cabinet has approved two conditional contracts with Chinese firms to produce electricity from coal-fired plants with a total capacity of over 4000 megawatts, Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker said on Wednesday.

China's Dongfang Electric Corporation plans to build a plant with a capacity of 1,980 megawatts while Shanghi Electric submitted an offer to construct four plants with a combined capacity of 2,400 megawatts, Shaker said at a news conference.

Egypt has been facing a power shortage that has hampered heavy industry in recent years. Shaker said in December that his country expects to add 2,500-3,000 megawatts of electricity generating capacity this year.

Falling oil and gas production coupled with rising consumption have turned Egypt from an energy exporter into a net importer.

Egypt began renting two floating liquefied natural gas storage and regasification units (FSRUs) last year that allow it to import gas for fuelling power plants, and a third is expected by the end of 2016 or early 2017.

(Reporting by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
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