Eni completes drilling third well in Zohr field - DAILY NEWS EGYPT

Company to complete establishing natural gas processing plant with 1bn cubic feet per day by December 2017

by Mohamed Adel

Italian company Eni completed the drilling of the third gas well at its giant offshore Zohr gas field in Egypt. The initial estimations of the third deepwater well are larger than the first and the second, with estimated reserves of 30tn cubic feet.

A senior official from Eni told Daily News Egypt that the initial production from the third gas well is very promising and the company is determining the volume of the new reserves. He added that Eni will start drilling the fourth gas well in the Shorouk concession next week, and will complete drilling within 40 days.

Eni Focused on Starting up its Egypt Gas Field Zohr by End-2017 - RIGZONE / REUTERS

Friday, April 15, 2016

PARIS, April 15 (Reuters) - Italy's Eni is focused on starting production at its giant offshore Zohr gas field in Egypt by end-2017, the company's Chief Executive Officer Claudio Descalzi said on Friday.

Speaking at an International Energy Agency event in Paris, Descalzi said Eni was moving fast on the project although there were some challenges.

"We have already started the civil work. It is challenging but we are focused," Descalzi said.

What lies beneath - EXECUTIVE MAGAZINE

Lebanon must act to keep its seat at the oil and gas table

April 14, 2016 by Roudi Baroudi

Lebanon has missed several opportunities to grow its nascent oil and gas industry at an ideal pace, but now regional developments threaten not just further delays, but also permanent losses unless the country acts to protect its national interests.

The new urgency stems primarily from two principal events. The first was last summer’s discovery of the giant Zohr gas field off Egypt’s northern coast by Italy’s ENI, a find estimated by some to have doubled the North African country’s natural gas reserves overnight. It also significantly increased the likelihood of commercially viable deposits in nearby offshore acreage belonging to Cyprus, Lebanon and Israel. This has sparked renewed interest in this section of the Eastern Mediterranean basin from major international oil companies.

Greece neglects its hydrocarbons - NATURAL GAS EUROPE

April 13th, 2016

NGE spoke to the executive vice-president of Flow Energy, Elias Konofagos. Flow is a multi-disciplinary environmental, economics, management services and trading company based in Athens. Before that he was the general director of Hellenic Petroleum’s upstream division.

Konofagos has been an influential and often outspoken voice in the Greek oil & gas sector for many years. It was as a result of this that he was appointed as personal advisor on energy to Greece’s former prime minister, Antonis Samaras.

Dr Konofagos, you have always spoken your mind and for a long time now you have been making the case that potentially Greece can be a major, world class, oil & gas province. What do you base this on?

Italy's top diplomat makes surprise Libya visit - NATURAL GAS EUROPE

Libyan PM Fayez Sarraj 

April 13th, 2016

Italy’s foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni made a surprise visit to Tripoli on April 12 to meet Libyan prime minister Fayez Sarraj, becoming the first top western official to visit the Libyan capital since a new government was installed there two weeks ago.

“I am delighted to be in Tripoli [to provide] Italy's emergency aid and to support Sarraj's Government of National Accord,” wrote Gentiloni on Twitter.

His ministry later added that Gentiloni said he went to offer Libya Italy's political, humanitarian and economic support, and to express Italy and the international community's readiness to cooperate and contribute in the fight against terrorism.

Ministry of Petroleum to allow BG to export liquefied gas through ADCO - ENERGY EGYPT / DAILY NEWS EGYPT

April 12, 2016 

BG withdrew its oil drills from the Burullus field in February before the company was acquired by Shell.

The Ministry of Petroleum vowed to allow British Gas Group (BG), now a subsidiary of Shell, to export liquefied gas through the [Idku LNG plant].

The decision comes after BG informed Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) that work on the 9B phase of the Burullus field would resume if the company was allowed to export 100 to 150 cubic feet per day and increase the price of gas. BG halted work and withdrew its oil drill from the field in February due to the Egyptian’s government’s failure to pay the money due to the company.

Egypt: Italy spat and the inevitable questions about ENI - MESP

April 11, 2016, Lebanon

The brutal murder of Giulio Regeni, an Italian doctoral student, in Egypt in January 2016 is threatening the once close relations between Cairo and Rome, with speculations the Egyptian security services might be involved.

Since he came to office in June 2014, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has forged close ties with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Italy is Egypt’s first European trade partner (and the second overall, after the U.S.). Back in November 2014, Prime Minister Renzi hailed Egypt as a “strategic partner” during a visit to Rome by President Sisi (his first official visit to Europe after his accession to power), at a time many western countries viewed the new Egyptian regime with a certain apprehension. Regeni’s killing came just as business, political and security cooperation between Italy and Egypt were being ramped up.

‘Cyprus deal a Turkey gas pipeline prerequisite’ - IN-CYPRUS

incyprus — 10/04/2016

In an interview with Greek-language daily Kathimerini, published on Sunday, Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said a prerequisite for a gas pipeline to Turkey is a solution to the Cyprus problem.

In reference to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s energy aspirations, Kasoulides said a Cyprus reunification deal could offer the possibility of routing a gas pipeline from the eastern Mediterranean to Turkey, either for domestic consumption or for transport to Europe.

“[Such a development] implies, of course, a solution to the Cyprus problem for which Turkey is invited to contribute via stances that would allow a settlement, rather than positions that lead to dead ends,” Kasoulides said.

Noble Energy in talks to trim stake in Tamar gas field -media - REUTERS

Sun Apr 10, 2016

Texas-based Noble Energy is in talks with Israeli institutions to sell an 11 percent stake in Israel's Tamar natural gas field for at least $1 billion due to cash flow needs, Israeli media reported on Sunday.

The Calcalist and TheMarker, two financial newspapers, said Noble is negotiating with Clal Insurance, Harel Insurance and Finance and Menora Mivtachim but did not cite sources or further details of the talks.

A Noble spokeswoman in Tel Aviv declined to comment.

Egypt to cut fuel subsidies as govt seeks to reduce deficit - AHRAM ONLINE / REUTERS

A female employee poses with a fuel pump at a petrol station
in Cairo, Egypt February 24, 2016. (ReUters)

Reuters , Sunday 10 Apr 2016

Egypt will reduce spending on fuel subsidies by nearly 43 percent in the 2016/17 budget due mainly to lower global energy costs, officials said on Saturday.

Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy told a news conference state energy subsidies would fall to 35 billion Egyptian pounds ($3.94 billion) from about 61 billion pounds in the 2015/16 budget.

Consumers reacted angrily when the government cut spending on energy subsidies in mid-2014, a measure that caused domestic prices of natural gas, diesel and other fuels to rise by as much as 78 percent. They were reduced again in the current budget.