East Mediterranean gas no game-changer: IEA's Birol - ANADOLU AGENCY

Turkish head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol

28.12.2018Ovunc Kutlu and Nuran Erkul Kaya

ANKARA - Natural gas resources in the eastern Mediterranean are unlikely to be a game-changer given rising supplies in the global gas market, according to the Turkish head of the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Discoveries of new gas resources in the eastern Mediterranean have put some countries in the spotlight, but feasibility, political challenges, and the presence of other major gas producers impose hurdles on projects that may fail to have a major impact on the gas market, Fatih Birol said on Friday.

"Qatar's liquefied natural gas has a very dominant role in the Mediterranean market," he told Anadolu Agency.

"With Qatar, American gas, and incoming supply from Israel and Egypt, it looks very difficult economically to constitute a major project in the eastern Mediterranean, plus there are some political issues as well."

Currently, Qatar is leading liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports with 12 consecutive years under its belt, while the U.S. is looking to raise its LNG exports with its abundant shale gas supplies.

Israel Plans to Export Too Much Natural Gas, Leading Geologist Says - HAARETZ

Oct 23, 2018 6:54 PM

Eran Azran

Yossi Langotsky, the geologist who predicted the discovery of Israel’s major natural gas reserves, has criticized his country’s plans to export nearly half its gas discovered to date.

“There are no more chances of finding major gas reserves in Israel,” he told TheMarker in response to comments by government officials that Israel could export current volumes and simply find more.

Langotsky was also responding to remarks by a senior researcher for the Institute for National Security Studies, Oded Eran, who told TheMarker last week that exporting gas to Egypt was important for Israel’s energy economy as well as its geopolitical and security interests.

Eran said Israel was unlikely to be able to export gas to Turkey or Europe, thus Egypt was the only real option aside from the local market.

“The export deals with Egypt are shortsighted and irresponsible — Israel has some 1 trillion cubic meters of gas,” Langotsky said, noting that the Tzemach committee charged with charting Israel’s natural gas economy in 2012 called for exporting a bit under half the 1 trillion.

Italy's Eni to drill North Sinai exploratory oil well next week- EGAS official - ZAWYA / ENTERPRISE

23 SEPTEMBER, 2018

CAIRO - Italy's Eni and Egypt's Tharwa Petroleum will drill the first exploratory oil well in northern Sinai's offshore Noor field next week, an official at Egypt's gas company EGAS said on Thursday.

Egypt's cabinet approved in March a $105 million deal to explore the North Sinai region of the Mediterranean Sea. Tharwa Petroleum, which holds a 15% stake in Noor.

Expectations are high: Eni, which holds an 85% stake in the field, denied in recent months reports claiming that it had discovered 90 tcf of reserves there, or 3x as much as the supergiant Zohr field. The company signed two other agreements with the government last month for exploration in the Nile Delta and Western Desert.

Eni signs concession agreement to begin exploration at offshore Noor gas field - ENTERPRISE

Wednesday, 15 August 2018

Eni signs concession agreement to begin exploration at offshore Noor gas field: Eni announced yesterday signing a new concession agreement with the Egyptian government to begin exploration activities at the offshore Noor gas field in the East Mediterranean, the company said in a statement (pdf). The USD 105 mn agreement will see Eni drill two exploratory wells in the 739 sqm field during 2H2018. Eni holds an 85% stake in the concession alongside Tharwa Petroleum Company, which holds 15%. Eni had denied last month that it made a massive gas discovery at the Noor gas field, after news reports suggested that Noor could contain around 90 tcf of gas reserves, or 3x as much gas as the supergiant Zohr field. Egyptian Oil Minister Tarek El Molla had also downplayed the reports at the time, saying that seismic studies were not yet complete.

Egypt is optimistic about new gas discoveries in the Mediterranean - THE ECONOMIST

Jul 5th 2018| CAIRO

Some think the new fields could turn Egypt into an energy hub

FIVE years ago the country that hopes to become a Mediterranean energy hub couldn’t even keep the lights on. When Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi took power in a coup in July 2013, Egypt was plagued by blackouts. Factories shut down. Surgeons operated by torchlight.

Egypt’s energy supply is still spotty. But on June 27th newspapers trumpeted the discovery of an enormous natural-gas field, called Noor, off the coast of North Sinai (see map). They billed it as the largest in the region. That title is already held by Egypt’s massive Zohr field, discovered in 2015, which is expected to change the country from a net importer to a net exporter of gas by next year.

Oil Ministry downplays suggestions that Noor field could be 3x Zohr - ENTERPRISE

Monday, 2 July 2018

Oil Ministry advises caution on reports of the size of the Noor field: Oil Minister Tarek El Molla pulled the brakes on reports on reserve figures on the Noor gas field off the coast of North Sinai. He tells Youm7 that the numbers being reported are not official and are not sanctioned by the Oil Ministry. The local and international press had caused a stir last week with reports that Italy’s Eni could unlock as much as 90 tcf of natural gas reserves from the Noor field, would make it about 3x the size of the supergiant Zohr gas field, if true. El Molla noted that the concession agreements for the field have yet to be ratified by the House of Representatives, so Eni would not have even started operations on the field yet.

A source in the industry tells that while the seismic studies are still in progress, drilling of the well won’t take place until later this year — and won’t reach its planned target depth before early January 2019. The source also points out that “on average, exploration wells have a success rate of around 20-25%,” calling it “absolutely extraordinary and extremely unlikely” that it would yield a mega-find on the scale suggested by the press last week.

Eni To Begin Gas Exploration At Egypt Noor Field In Two Months -RIGZONE / REUTERS

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Reporting by Ahmed Ismail Writing by Eric Knecht. Editing by Jane Merriman

CAIRO, June 28 (Reuters) - Italian oil company Eni will begin drilling an exploratory well at its Noor field in Egypt's North Sinai in two months, Egyptian oil ministry spokesman Hamdi Abel Aziz told Reuters on Thursday.

Egypt's cabinet approved the $105 million deal to explore the North Sinai region of the Mediterranean Sea in March.

Eni's discovery of the giant Mediterranean gas field Zohr in 2015, estimated to hold about 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, has raised interest in gas exploration in Egypt.

The company has not said what level of reserves they expect Noor to contain, and the exploratory well will help to begin determine that, Abdelaziz said.

Israeli energy stocks plunge on huge Egyptian gas find reports - GLOBES

27 Jun, 2018 12:54
Sonia Gorodeisky

Italian co Eni is reportedly set to announce the Noor gas discovery, which will even dwarf the massive Zohr field.

Egyptian media reports that Italian energy company Eni is about to announce a massive offshore gas discovery in the coming few days have been enough to seen energy stocks on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) plunging. With an estimated 2,550 billion cubic meters (BCM) of gas, Noor would be three times larger than the Zohr gas field, over five times larger than Israel's Leviathan field and more than ten times the Tamar field.

At midday, Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) was down 3.42%, Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L) was down 4.46%, Isramco Ltd. (Nasdaq: ISRL; TASE: ISRA.L) was down 3.63% and Ratio Oil Exploration (1992) LP (TASE:RATI.L) was down 4.70%.

Former Egyptian Petroleum Minister Osama Kamal said, “If you remember two months ago we said that more discoveries will follow in this area. Hopefully, this great news will be announced by the President and the minister of petroleum in a few days.”

Noor reserves will rank among the largest gas fields: Eni - EGYPT INDEPENDENT / AL MASRY AL YOUM

June 24, 2018
1:33 pm

Sources from the Ministry of Oil said on Saturday that the ministry has discussed new exploration plans for the Noor gas field in the Shorok concession area of the Mediterranean Sea with the Italian multinational company Eni which sees it ranked among the largest gas fields worldwide.

According to sources, the Noor field reserves are expected to reach over 90 trillion cubic feet, three times that of the Zohr Field reserves (TEKMOR Note: Not confirmed yet via a second source).

Eni’s CEO Claudio Descalzi held a meeting with Minister of Oil Tarek al-Mula on Saturday, and said that his company has allocated 70 percent of its global investments to Egypt.

Descalzi added Eni has injected $8.4 billion in the Nawras and Zohr gas fields in Egypt, and that Eni will inject a further $3 billion.

Oil expert Ahmed Abdel Halim told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the large amount of Eni’s investments going towards gas explorations in Egypt indicates the massive explorations carried out by the company.