UK extends sanctions for East Med drilling - KATHIMERINI

18.12.2020 : 21:11

Vassilis Nedos

The United Kingdom has announced the extension of sanctions on persons involved in illegal drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean, namely in Cyprus, beyond December 31, when the transitional period for the UK’s formal exit from the European Union expires.

According to the UK Foreign Office, the Unauthorized Drilling Activities in the Eastern Mediterranean regime includes sanctions for “discouraging any activity of exploration, production or extraction of hydrocarbons that has not been authorized by Cyprus in its territorial sea or/and in its exclusive economic zone and on its continental shelf.”

It added that this includes activities which may jeopardize or hamper the reaching of a delimitation agreement “in cases where the exclusive economic zone or continental shelf has not been delimited in accordance with international law with a state having an opposite coast.”

Wood celebrates new partnership with ENPPI in Egypt - WOOD

London, UK, 01 October 2018

The British Ambassador in Egypt Sir Geoffrey Adams and His Excellency Minister of Petroleum Eng. Tarek El Molla celebrated a new signed subsea agreement between Egyptian Petroleum Company ENPPI and British company Wood. Both companies have been working together for the past two years on the Burullus project, providing subsea engineering and operations support services through an ENPPI/Wood Consortium Agreement.

The new agreement was signed by ENPPI Chairman Eng. Alaa Hegazy and Wood Technical Director Engineering Colin McKinnon. Together, both companies will continue to draw on a huge pool of talent and experience globally to provide the best independent technical solution for oil and gas projects as well as enable and facilitate subsea technology transfer and training through projects and training courses.

British Ambassador to Egypt Sir Geoffrey Adams said: “Today we celebrate a new chapter in the Egyptian- British partnership which brings together Egyptian talent and British expertise. New partnerships are the stepping stones for shared knowledge and benefit, new job opportunities for all Egyptians and fast track delivery for mutual economic success.”

Egypt's Enppi, UK's Wood Group sign partnership deal on gas exploration, production - AHRAM ONLINE

Monday 24 Sep 2018

Egypt’s state oil company Engineering for Petroleum and Process Industries (ENPPI) signed a deal on Monday with the UK’s Wood Group for a technical and engineering partnership on natural gas exploration and production through deepwater drilling.

In an official statement, Egypt’s petroleum ministry said the inking of the agreement was witnessed by Minister of Petroleum Tarek El-Molla, UK’s Ambassador to Egypt Sir Geoffrey Adams, and UK trade envoy Sir Jeffrey Donaldson.

It was signed by the Chairman of Enppi Alaa Hejazi and his counterpart at Wood, Colin McKinnon.

El-Molla said following the signing that the agreement aims to transfer technology and necessary experience between both sides to undergo the needed engineering work for natural gas exploration and drilling in the deep ocean, as Egypt continues to move forward with executing mega projects for the development and production of natural gas from the Mediterranean.

UK to get LNG cargo from Egypt - LNG WORLD NEWS

LNG vessel 'Maran Gas Apollonia'

2 April 2018

The United Kingdom is expected to receive a cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Shell-operated Idku liquefaction plant in Egypt, according to the port data.

The 161,870-cbm Maran Gas Apollonia, owned by Maran Nakilat and chartered by the Hague-based LNG giant Shell, is expected to dock at the Dragon LNG import facility in the Port of Milford Haven on March 8, the port’s shipping data showed on Monday.

The LNG tanker was on Monday located in the Mediterranean Sea, according to its AIS data.

Egypt, that has two LNG export plants, Idku and Damietta, has turned a net gas importer from an exporter over the course of 2016 due to falling domestic production.

However, the rising production at newly discovered gas fields has pushed the country towards halting LNG imports sooner than it was initially anticipated and boosted the prospects for Egypt to regain net LNG exporter status again.

One of the fields that recently started production is the giant Eni-operated Zohr gas field in the Shorouk Block, offshore Egypt approximately 190 km north of Port Said.

It is the largest gas discovery ever made in Egypt and in the Mediterranean Sea, and will be able to satisfy a part of Egypt’s natural gas demand for decades to come, according to Italian energy giant Eni.

Europe's Natural Gas Market Is Heading South - BLOOMBERG

January 30, 2018, 11:56 AM GMT+2
Reed Landberg, Tommaso Ebhardt, Chiara Albanese

• Italy pipeline operator Snam is building more flexible system
• LNG and Caspian-area supplies may make Italy a gas exporter

The center of gravity in Europe’s natural gas market is heading south as one of the continent’s biggest pipeline operators builds a system that could make Italy an exporter of the fuel for the first time.

Libyan crude gushes into tankers as nation's output accelerates - WORLD OIL

JUNE/28/2017
RUPERT ROWLING

LONDON (Bloomberg) -- Libyan oil shipments are poised to hit their highest level in at least three years in the latest sign the North African country is managing to sustain a production revival.

Exports are on course to reach about 715,000 bpd this month, the most since July 2014, when Bloomberg began monitoring Libyan shipments, tanker-tracking data show. With relatively limited capacity to process that crude in its domestic refineries, the shipments have been moving in lock-step with production.

Libya’s surging output is a key factor helping to undermine the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ efforts to reduce global supply and increase oil prices. The group met last week in Vienna to discuss how to deal with rising production in Libya and Nigeria -- both OPEC nations exempt from supply curbs -- rather than deepening output cuts by other members. U.S. production climbing to the highest since August 2015 has further derailed OPEC’s efforts.

Cypriot Unification Talks Carry Israeli-Turkish Pipeline Dream - VOA

UNSG Guterres (left), Cypriot president Anastasiades, March 2017

June 27, 2017 3:06 PM
Dorian Jones

Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders are set to sit down Wednesday to once again seek to resolve the nearly five-decade-long division of the island. The success of the talks now carries with it potentially far reaching energy implications for the region, involving Turkey, Israel and the European Union.

Israel and Turkey are in talks to develop a major pipeline that would exploit the massive Leviathan gas reserves discovered off the Israel coast.

Cyprus issues advisory for gas drill starting mid-July - REUTERS

Sun Jun 25, 2017 9:39pm GMTReporting By Michele Kambas; Editing by Andrew Hay

ATHENS, June 25 (Reuters) - Cyprus on Sunday issued a maritime advisory for a natural gas drill from July to October in a step opposed by Turkey, which challenges the divided island's jurisdiction to search for hydrocarbons.

The island has contractual obligations with France's Total which won an offshore exploration licence from the Republic and was scheduled to commence drilling this year.

It takes place as the United Nations plans to start a new bid in the coming week to end the decades-old conflict which has split Cyprus between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

In an advisory on its website posted Sunday, Cyprus's Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said the West Capella drill ship would be conducting a 'drilling operation' off Cyprus from July 10 to Oct. 15.

Israel observes large scale maritime drill launched in Cyprus - JERUSALEM POST

MAY 31, 2017 17:45 
ANNA AHRONHEIM

“The exercise helps promote maritime safety and security in the region.”

A four-day international maritime drill known as Exercise Argonaut kicked off in Cyprus on Wednesday with 22 countries taking part in scenarios such as terrorist hijackings as well as coping with an influx of civilians fleeing a conflict in the Middle East.

Israel has sent representatives as observers and will not participate in the annual maritime search and rescue and non-combatant evacuation exercise, which includes the navies from Cyprus, Greece, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Hungary, and the United States.

The drill will take place within the territorial, maritime and aerial boundaries of the Larnaca district, within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and flight information region (FIR) of the Republic of Cyprus.

British oil investments to make Egypt new energy superpower, says UK envoy - AHRAM ONLINE

Thursday 11 May 2017

British Ambassador to Egypt John Casson said petroleum giant British Petroleum (BP) is investing $13 billion over five years to make Egypt the new energy superpower, through investments worth more than Cairo's three-year $12 billion loan deal with the IMF.

In a press release, the UK Embassy in Cairo said Casson attended the inauguration of BP's first two gas fields in the West Nile Delta Project, which was opened Wednesday by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and the company's chief executive Bob Dudley.

Video: EGYPS coverage, interview with BP's CEO, Bob Dudley - DMC TV CHANNEL / EGYPS

Osama Kamal interviews Bob Dudley - CEO of BP (approx. 12 minutes, @1:07:14) at the recent (14-16 Ferbruary 2017) Egypt Petroleum Show EGYPS 2017. Among other things he explains the reasoning behind a farm-out agreement after a find has already been made, OPEC's balancing act with the advent of shale gas and his great optimism on Egypt. BP's 2016-2017 investments were the largest in Egypt than in any other part of the world (BP operates in over 40 countries). 

Egypt emerging from the doldrums - FREE PRESS JOURNAL

Feb 25, 2017 09:36 am

Sunanda K Datta-Ray

WITH about 28 per cent of the population languishing below a low poverty line, the best news lately was that foreign exchange reserves rose by $2.1 billion in January to touch $26.4 billion against December’s $24.2 billion. More intensive and efficient exploration of oil can make all the difference to a country that was seen at one time as a leader of the Afro-Asian world but has taken a back seat in recent years mainly because of domestic political problems.

Almost as if to repudiate this column’s somewhat gloomy comments about Egypt last week, the country is now celebrating what is billed as the first ever Egypt Petroleum Show. It is the largest oil and gas industry event to take place in North Africa, with over 40 British companies participating. Oil, we are told, might yet overcome all disadvantages and help to revive Egypt’s economy and restore its traditional leadership role.

Erdogan Vows to Keep Turkish Troops in Cyprus as Talks Stall - BLOOMBERG

Majority Christian areas in blue, before the 1974 illegal Turkish
invasion and the forced population movement. Roughly, 85% of
property in every district of Cyprus legally belongs to Christians, w/
titles from a land registry set up in the 19th centure by the UK.   

13 January 2017, 2:01am EETPaul Tugwell, Selcan Hacaoglu, Georgios Georgiou

• Hurdles remain over security guarantees and property rights
• Negotiations will continue at technical level on Jan. 18

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to keep troops in Cyprus as future security arrangements turned into the biggest obstacle to a deal on reunifying the Mediterranean island after more than four decades.

Talks on a landmark accord will resume next week after top officials from Cyprus, Greece and Turkey failed to reach an agreement in Geneva. Hurdles also remain over property rights and a rotating presidency for a proposed federal state. Negotiations on Jan. 18 will be at a technical level to seek proposals to resolve the differences and comments from Turkey and Greece suggest there’s plenty of work to do.

“We will be there forever,” Erdogan said in Istanbul after Friday prayers. “Full withdrawal of Turkish soldiers is out of the question.” He said Greece and the Greek Cypriots “are still under different expectations.”

Israel - Turkey pipeline hangs on Cyprus peace talks - JERUSALEM POST

Espen Barth Eide, Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General on
Cyprus, on the start of the Cyprus talks at the Palais des Nations

11 JANUARY 2017 22:07
Michael Tanchum

The greatest beneficiary of a failure in Geneva would be Russia and its efforts to further expand its widening strategic footprint in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Israel hopes to market its natural gas to Turkey, and via Turkey to the EU, but this aim may hang on the outcome of the potentially historic Cypriot peace negotiations currently underway in Geneva. Since an undersea gas pipeline from Israel’s Leviathan natural gas field to Turkey requires crossing Cyprus’s economic exclusion zone, failure to reach an agreement could force Israel to return to an older plan of marketing its natural gas via Egypt. However, in the new energy and geopolitical realities of the region that emerged in 2016, Israel’s selection of Egypt as its major export option could result in the Russia’s rise as a central player in Eastern Mediterranean energy.

Erdogan Joins Push to Reunify Cyprus as Access to Energy Beckons - BLOOMBERG

5 January 2017, 2:01pm EETPaul Tugwell, Georgios Georgiou

• Officials say chance of ending frozen conflict best for years
• Geneva talks offer prospect of stability in turbulent region

TEKMOR Note: Our guess is that these talks will produce no concrete result. The two sides are as far apart as they ever were, despite the optimism that many of the players, with the UN leading the pack, speak of. Put simply, the majority Christians want enhanced integration, whereas the Muslim minority insists on a segragationist interpretation of the charter. Last, and one aspect that is kept a diplomatic secret, is what happens to the vital British military bases on the island (co-managed with the USA), with or without a solution, which are tightly linked to the 1960 arrangement that gave birth to the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus. We would not be surprised if Erdogan is going to Geneva merely to have his repeat Davos moment, against the leader of a far smaller nation than Israel, Cyprus.  

Multinational exercise “NEMESIS 2016” takes place within Cyprus’ EEZ - CYPRUS MAIL / CNA

October 12, 2016

A large-scale aeronautical multinational exercise, code-named “NEMESIS – 2016”, will take place today for the third consecutive year within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Cyprus.

According to an announcement by the Ministry of Defence, the exercise will be held with the participation of SAR Units and Personnel from Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, the United Kingdom and the United States of America as well as the M/V «ALEXANDRIA» of Petronav from the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and the support vessels of EDT Offshore.

The Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) Larnaca will be coordinating the exercise in collaboration with the respective agencies from the Republic of Cyprus and the participating nations.

Genel drops by a record after slashing Kurdistan’s Taq Taq reserves - WORLD OIL / BLOOMBERG

By RAKTEEM KATAKEY on 2/29/2016

LONDON (Bloomberg) -- Genel Energy Plc, a UK oil producer operating in Iraq’s Kurdish region, fell by a record in London trading after cutting the reserves estimate for its largest field by almost half.

Genel dropped as much as 25% on Monday, the biggest decline since the stock started to trade in June 2011, and was down 23% at 95.75 pence as of 9 a.m. local time.

The company reduced its estimate for gross recoverable proven and probable, or 2P, reserves at the Taq Taq deposit to 356 MMbbl from 683 MMbbl as of mid-2011 and will take a $1 billion charge, it said in a statement. Genel owns a 44% stake in the field.

British businesses must be partners of choice for Egypt’s energy future: Donaldson - DAILY NEWS EGYPT

British Gas and British Petroleum have together invested almost $40bn in developing Egypt’s energy sector

Daily News Egypt, 12/2/2016

MP Jeffrey Donaldson, Prime Minister David Cameron’s trade envoy to Egypt, will meet Thursday with Minister of Petroleum Tarek Al-Molla to discuss British investments and future opportunities in Egypt’s energy sector.

Donaldson and Al-Molla will be joined by a number of leading British energy companies, including major long-term investors such as Brit Petroleum and British Gas as well as experts in industry supply chain services.

Shell-BG Deal Pays Out $600 Million in Tax, Fees - NATURAL GAS EUROPE

January 08th, 2016

The UK finance ministry stands to make close to $300 million and banks, law firms and other advisers will receive as much again, if the Shell-BG takeover gets the go-ahead later this month.

There are less than three weeks to go until the Anglo-Dutch major’s general meeting on January 27th when shareholders vote on the takeover. BG’s own shareholders will vote a day later.

The deal is now worth about $53 billion, down from the initial $70 billion, thanks ultimately to low oil prices. Of that roughly 1% goes in payments, including the UK government’s 0.5% in Stamp Duty.

If it goes ahead, BG will pay $141.6-$158 million to its service providers while Shell will pay $446-467 million, according to the prospectus for the deal, published on December 22nd last year. But Shell will have to pay close to $1 billion in fees if it cannot sell the deal to its shareholders.