Energy perspectives after Turkey's failed coup - NATURAL GAS EUROPE

July 16th, 2016

Turkey’s failed military coup mid-July raises a host of questions concerning the country’s stability, its investment climate and the future of gas deliveries to and though Turkey. It may also boost the prospects for a revival of the stalled Turkish Stream project to deliver Russian gas to Europe via Turkey.

For gas, there are two main issues to be considered: the security of the current and future import pipelines; and the possibility that the aftermath of the coup might prompt a re-think of future gas import projects.

Turkey relies massively on imported gas to meet its energy needs, with most coming via four major import pipelines: the 15bn m³/yr eastern Balkans line via Ukraine – a system which Russia has said it intends to close by the end of 2019; the 15bn m³/yr capacity Blue Stream pipeline across the Black Sea from Russia; the 6.6bn m³/yr Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum (BTE) system from Azerbaijan; and the 10bn m³/yr capacity line that brings Iranian gas across the border at Dogubayezit.

All quiet on Egypt’s LNG export front until after 2020 - INTERFAX

A jetty at Egypt’s Idku LNG plant (BG Group)

By Rachel Williamson, 15 July 2016 9:26 GMT

Industry sources from inside and outside Egypt are confident the country can resume exporting LNG by the end of the decade. However, they have warned that the number of cargoes shipped from Idku will not rise out of single digits per year before then.

A source from Egypt’s Ministry of Energy, who wished to remain anonymous, said he expected LNG exports to resume after 2020.

He said occasional cargoes – such as the two sent this year from the only Idku train that remains operational – would continue, but they would not be regular.

First Lebanon offshore round on horizon - OE OFFSHORE ENGINEER

Written by OE Staff Friday, 15 July 2016 03:24

Offshore exploration could soon be on the agenda in Lebanon after the country's Prime Minister Tamam Salam was asked to place what would be the first licensing round on the agenda of cabinet meetings as soon as possible.

The intention is to open up the offshore blocks to tender and ultimately award two or three blocks, depending on the quality of the offers which are received, says geoscience firm Spectrum.

The next step in re-starting Lebanon’s First Licensing Round is for the Lebanese government to approve two pending decrees, one delineating the Lebanese offshore area into 10 blocks and the second setting out the tender protocol and the model exploration and production agreement (EPA) to be signed between the government and successful bidders.

Will Israeli natural gas flow in Egypt’s pipelines? - DAILY NEWS EGYPT

A recent visit by Egypt’s Foreign Minister could signal potential cooperation between Israel and Egypt in the eastern Mediterranean gas fields. However, given domestic market needs mixed with a complicated history in Egypt-Israel business relations in the energy sector, the future remains unclear

Mohamed Samir, July 14, 2016

In a rare trip, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry paid Israel a visit on Sunday, marking Egypt’s first high-level official visit in almost a decade. While pundits antagonise whether this may be a sign of warmer relations between Israel and Egypt, the latter continues to face an ongoing energy crisis.

While Egypt’s energy crisis may be a domestic concern, a long history of cooperation between Israel and Egypt over gas imports and exports raises questions of whether such a topic was broached during conversations between Shoukry and the Israelis.

Petrobel to increase Nooros field production to 700 mcf/d in September - ENERGY EGYPT / ENTERPRISE.PRESS

July 14, 2016

The Nooros field production is expected to increase to 700 mcf/d following the completion of drilling by September, field general manager Hassan Fouad told Al Borsa.

The Nooros field is an important gas discovery owned by Eni and BP, and was drilled by Petrobel, a joint venture between Eni subsidiary IEOC and EGPC. Current Nooros production levels are at 300 mcf/d in additional to 3k bbl of condensates from four completed development wells, he added.

Egypt- Power plants' gas consumption rises to 3.4bn cubic feet a day: Petroleum Ministry - MENAFN / DAILY NEWS EGYPT

14/07/2016

In the past week, power plants' consumption of natural gas reached about 3.4bn cubic feet per day compared to 3.3bn cubic feet as a result of high temperatures.

A source at the Ministry of Petroleum told Daily News Egypt that the power plants receive 30,000 tonnes of fuel oil per day as well as 4,000 tonnes of diesel.

He said that gas imports through the two floating natural gas import terminals at Ain Sokhna Port and the Jordan gas line have increased to reach 1.3bn cubic feet per day, which is the maximum capacity for gas imports. The gas imports are made up of 1.2bn cubic feet coming from the terminals in Ain Sokhna and 100m cubic feet coming from the floating natural gas import terminal at Aqaba Port in Jordan.

Egypt- Shell's dues increase to $1.1bn in return for its share from El-Borollos, Rasheed gas fields - MENAFN / DAILY NEWS EGYPT

13/07/2016

(MENAFN - Daily News Egypt) The dues owed to British Gas (BG) and Dutch company Shell by the Ministry of Petroleum have increased to 1.1bn, compared to 1bn in April, in return for the partner's share in the produced gas from El-Borollos and Rasheed fields.

A source close to government negotiations said the government is taking the share of its partner, Shell, from the gas of El-Borollos and Rasheed, worth approximately 50m, but cannot pay all of it due to the US dollar crisis currently facing Egypt.

The source explained that the Ministry of Petroleum failed to fulfil its promise to its partner, which is to pay 400m from BG's dues in June 2016. The reasoning could be tied to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) not providing the amount following the decrease of the Egyptian pound against the price of the US dollar.

Israel's monopoly faces class action - NATURAL GAS EUROPE

July 12th, 2016

An Israeli District Court will decide in the next few days whether to approve a class action against the Israeli gas monopoly. The class action was submitted by two advocates, Gillad Barnea and Yitzhak Yaari, who are demanding that the gas monopoly repays NIS2.5bn ($640mn) for every year of gas supply to electricity customers because of exorbitant pricing of natural gas.

The class action was submitted in 2014. The plaintiffs argued that the partners exploited their monopolistic position to sell gas at two or three times the fair price and in doing so have broken the anti-trust law.

Reopening Libya oil ports is newly unified NOC’s ‘top’ priority - WORLD OIL

By SALMA EL WARDANY on 7/11/2016

TRIPOLI (Bloomberg) -- Libya’s state crude producer is seeking to reopen oil ports and restore crude output as the fractured OPEC nation struggles to reunite after five years of civil strife, according to its chairman.

Four ports accounting for about 860,000 bpd in crude exporting capacity have been shut due to political turmoil and fighting. Libya now produces a fraction of the 1.6 MMbopd that it pumped before the toppling of ruler Moammar Al Qaddafi in 2011. A July 2 deal uniting the National Oil Corp.’s rival administrations enables the company to focus on reviving Libya’s crippled oil industry, Chairman Sanalla Ibrahim said.

Zohr gas reserves increase to 32tn cubic feet: EGAS - DAILY NEWS EGYPT

July 11, 2016, Mohamed Adel 
Indicators for the second well revealed larger reserves; six wells to be drilled in total at a cost of $100m each
The primary indicators of Zohr field’s second well, developed by Italian company Eni, show an increase in gas reserves owing to the discovery of a gas-carrying layer that is larger than that found in the first well.

These results indicate an increase in production to 250m cubic feet per day compared to the initial test results of 150m cubic feet in the concession area of Egypt’s territorial waters in the Mediterranean Sea.

Turkish Stream: Still only a dream

July 11th, 2016

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on June 30 that he and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had agreed to restore bilateral ties between their two countries. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev followed the announcement with his own statement that economic sanctions against Turkey would be removed “on a gradual basis.”

Meanwhile, plans to build a natural gas pipeline—known as Turkish Stream—under the Black Sea to bypass Ukraine remain on hold. Russia halted negotiations on Turkish Stream after Turkey shot down a Russian jet on the Syrian border on November 24, 2015. The originally planned 1,100-kilometer pipeline would consist of four lines designed to transport sixty-three billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas annually. Sixteen bcm was destined for the Turkish domestic market, while the remaining forty-seven bcm was for the European market. Combined with the Nord Stream pipeline, Turkish Stream would have eliminated the need for Gazprom—Russia’s chief energy giant—to use Ukrainian pipelines to supply the European market.

Egyptian Foreign Minister in Israel to discuss gas exports - GLOBES

10/07/2016, 18:28
Nadav Shetreet

The visit by Sameh Shoukry is the first to Israel by an Egyptian foreign minister in nine years.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is arriving today on a visit to Israel, ending a nine-year period without any visits to the country by the Egyptian foreign minister. Talks about natural gas exports to Egypt and regional cooperation in building joint infrastructure for gas exports to Asia or Europe are scheduled.

Letters of intent for exports of Israeli gas to Egypt have already been signed. One deal was to have made possible the expanded development of the Tamar gas reservoir, and the second to facilitate the development of the Leviathan reservoir, because Egypt was regarded as the anchor customer for Leviathan. Several changes in the regional gas sector, however, have changed the situation completely, including Egypt's improving situation, the low level of global gas prices (the partial recovery in global oil prices has not affected gas prices), and the acquisition of British Gas by Royal Dutch Shell.

Cyprus’ ever-changing gas policy - CYPRUS MAIL

Cyprus' existing oil storage terminal (VTTV)

July 10th, 2016 - by Angelos Anastasiou

When the Anastasiades government took office on March 1, 2013, one of the first things Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis did was announce a roadmap for the development of Cyprus’ natural gas reserves.

The development plan placed the signing of “long-term” contracts for the sale of liquefied natural gas in the second half of 2014, preliminary indications of quantities in reserves other than ‘Aphrodite’ (or ‘plot 12’) in 2014, and a “final investment decision” on the construction of a natural gas liquefaction terminal in Cyprus by the third quarter of 2015.

More than three years on, not one of the above boxes has been ticked.