ENI and Total ‘join forces’ for Block 6 - IN BUSINESS / CYPRUS WEEKLY

July 23, 2016

Energy giants ENI and Total have reportedly defied threats from Turkey and joined forces to go after Block 6 in Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), according to media reports on Saturday.

On Friday, six applications, from eight companies, for exploratory drilling rights in blocks six, eight and, ten in the island’s EEZ have been received from eight different companies.

The names of the interested companies and consortia will be announced on Wednesday, 27 July following their disclosure to a scheduled plenum of the cabinet and President Nicos Anastasiades.

Aphrodite in doubt as new acreage turns heads - INTERFAX

By Verity Ratcliffe 22 July 2016 12:23 GMT

The Aphrodite field is located in Block 12. Its development could be disrupted by new acreage on offer.

The development of Aphrodite, Cyprus’s biggest gas field to date, will continue to be stymied by the lack of a route to market for its gas and the hunt for much bigger discoveries, sources have told Interfax Natural Gas Daily.

Noble Energy, Delek Group and Shell (which merged with BG Group in February) are expected to submit offers on Friday in Cyprus’s third licensing round. Eni and Total, which also hold blocks in Cyprus’s offshore area, are also expected to submit bids.

The round has drawn interest from IOCs looking to secure acreage near Egypt’s massive Zohr discovery, which has been described as a game-changer for the East Mediterranean oil and gas industry.

Dolphin discovery to be returned to Israel - NATURAL GAS EUROPE

July 22nd, 2016, Ya'acov Zalel

The Israeli energy ministry has said it does not recognize the Dolphin natural gas reservoir as a discovery, which means that the rights return to the state. The commissioner's decision was revealed in a filing by Delek Drilling to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The partners in the license are Delek Group (45.3%) Noble Energy (39.7%) and Ratio (15%), as is the case also for the Leviathan Partnership.

Dolphin is a small gas discovery close to Leviathan. It was discovered in 2012 but since it holds only 2.8 bn m³ of gas there are no incentives to develop it. The energy ministry demanded from the Dolphin partners an irrevocable undertaking to develop Dolphin in conjunction with phase 1 of the development of Leviathan field which is expected to come online by the end of 2019. The partners however might have refused to commit themselves to that timetable.

Delek said July 21 that it is considering legal action in order to keep the field in its possession.

Media report: Socar deal for Greece natgas grid on shaky ground - NAFTEMPORIKI

Thursday, 21 July 2016 12:48
REUTERS/DAVID W CERNY

The leftist Greek government appears unwilling to withdraw draft legislation amending the framework for natural gas tariffs in the country, despite a warning by Azerbaijan's state-run Socar that possible changes will jeopardize a deal for Greece’s natgas grid.

According to a EurActiv report, which quoted an energy ministry official in Athens said this week, the Azerbaijan company worked out a deal with the previous Greek government in 2013 to buy a 66-percent stake in the country's natural gas grid operator DESFA for 400 million euros.

Anastasiades to meet Netanyahu on Sunday - CYPRUS MAIL

Anastasiades with Netanyahu

July 20th, 2016 - Elias Hazou

PRESIDENT Nicos Anastasiades will on Sunday pay an official visit to Israel, where he will be meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the government announced on Wednesday.

Accompanying the president will be foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides and energy and trade minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis. The president and his delegation return to Cyprus on the evening of Monday, July 25.

The top three issues on the agenda are bilateral relations (energy and security), the latest developments in the Cyprus peace talks, and regional issues.

Russia revisits oil pipeline to avoid Black Sea - UPI

Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline once planned as a way to avoid crowded Turkish waterways.
By Daniel J. Graeber | July 20, 2016 at 8:05 AM

Russian pipeline said there may be renewed interest in a project meant to bypass Turkish waterways. Photo by smereka/Shutterstock

MOSCOW, July 20 (UPI) -- Russia could revisit a land-based oil pipeline meant to get around Turkish waterways if the political situation worsens, a Russian executive said.

Nikolai Tokarev, the head of Russian pipeline company Transneft, said there was renewed interest in building the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline.

"Everyone is now interested in it, including Bulgarian partners," he was quoted by Russian news agency Tass as saying.

Delek, Noble to bid for new Cypriot licenses - GLOBES

20/07/2016, Hedy Cohen

The companies will be competing against Eni, BP, Shell and Total for Blocks 6, 8 and 10.
Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) and Noble Energy are expected to bid for new natural gas exploration licenses in Cyprus, energy sector sources said today. Some of the licenses include geological features similar to those of the huge Zohr reservoir in Egypt and the Tamar and Leviathan reservoirs in Israel. Major international energy companies are also expected to bid. A few months ago, Delek Group and Noble Energy abandoned their exploration rights in Block 12, where the Aphrodite gas reservoir was discovered.

The Cypriot press today reported that the companies interested in Blocks 6, 8, and 10 the new blocks include Italian company Eni, which discovered two reservoirs last year in Egypt, one of which was the Zohr reservoir; French company Total; and BP and Royal Shell, which acquired British Gas. It was also reported that following the discovery of the Zohr reservoir, the current set of licenses is expected to attract the greatest interest to date.

UPDATE 1-Egypt's tender for a third FSRU draws interest from four firms - REUTERS

Wed Jul 20, 2016 6:21am EDT
CAIRO

Egypt's tender to lease a third floating and storage regasification unit (FSRU) has drawn interest from four international firms, an Egyptian official told Reuters on Wednesday.

Once a net energy exporter, Egypt began imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) last year and has leased two FSRUs already to help avert power shortages caused by falling energy production and rising consumption.

The firms that have expressed interest in the latest tender include Norway's Hoegh, U.S. firm Excelerate Energy and Singapore-based Norwegian gas shipping company BW Gas , the ministry official said, declining to name the fourth firm.

Hoegh delivered Egypt's first FSRU in April 2015 and BW Gas supplied the second in September.

Eni and BP find 700bn feet of gas in south Baltim reservoir - DAILY NEWS EGYPT

Drilling the first well is completed at 4,000 metres depth, says source

19.7.2016, By Mohamed Adel

British Petroleum (BP) and Italy’s Eni has estimated the reserves in their concession area in south Baltim at 700bn cubic feet of extractable gas. The gas is in a separate reservoir than the nearby Noras field.

A senior source in the oil industry told Daily News Egypt that the drilling of the first well, Baltim SW 1, has been completed, noting that each well requires a drilling time of two and a half months.

The drilling of the Baltim SW 1 reached a depth of 4,000 metres, which included 25 metres of water.

Israel's Delek Group in talks to sell 87 MW power plant for $52 mln - REUTERS

Tue Jul 19, 2016 10:26am GMT

JERUSALEM, July 19 (Reuters) - Israeli conglomerate Delek Group said on Tuesday it is in advanced talks to sell an 87 megawatt power plant to a group of investors for about 200 million shekels ($52 million).

The plant is located in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, adjacent to a huge desalination plant in which Delek is also a partner.

In a statement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Delek described the potential buyers only as a "group of institutional and private investors". ($1 = 3.8590 shekels) (Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch)

State Department’s energy envoy sees Greece as potential gas entry point - KATHIMERINI

18.07.2016 : 19:45
VASSILIS NEDOS

Amos Hochstein, the US State Department’s special envoy on energy, has been a regular visitor to Athens in the past few years and in his most recent trip this month he met last week with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

With the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) deal already signed, the terminal station in Alexandroupoli in northern Greece in the final stretch and the Greece-Bulgaria interconnecting pipeline (IBG) under way, Hochstein tells Kathimerini that Greece could become the entrance point for natural gas coming from the US and the Eastern Mediterranean.

The American official believes that the South Stream pipeline is a political scheme that will only benefit Russia and calls for a stop to plans for the North Stream II pipeline, arguing that it will have a negative economic and political impact on counties like Ukraine and Slovakia.

Lebanon to issue offshore gas exploration permits - GLOBES

18/07/2016, 18:50, Hedy Cohen

The Lebanese press reports that Lebanon will open its waters for new oil and gas exploration permits. One of the permits Lebanon intends to issue is still being contested by Israel.
In March 2013, Lebanon initiated a preliminary vetting process for gas companies which want to operate in the country. 12 international operators have passed this stage as well as 34 more non-operator firms. While Lebanon intended to provide ten offshore permits, the state's regulatory and political instability has led to delays with their issuing.

A source with connections in Lebanon's Ministry of Energy and Water told "Globes" that the discovery of Egypt's gas fields last year, as well as the Israel-Turkey reconciliation agreement (expected to promote a gas deal between the states), has led the ministry to push forward for an early publication of the permits during the last two weeks.

Russia extends sympathy to potential energy partner Turkey - UPI

Vladimir Putin keeping close tabs on government stability in Turkey.
Photo courtesy of Russian Ministry of Defence

Energy company Gazprom had proposed a string of gas pipelines through Turkish territory.

By Daniel J. Graeber

MOSCOW, July 18 2016 (UPI) -- The Russian government views an attempt to undermine the government of its key energy trading partner Turkey as unacceptable, President Vladimir Putin said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed revenge late Sunday during mourning for the 290 people left dead after last week's failed coup attempt. At least 6,000 people, including more than a dozen of the country's top military generals, were arrested in connection with the putsch.

Putin said in a statement he was expecting to meet personally with the Turkish president to discuss bilateral affairs.

"He expressed words of sympathy to President Erdogan over the numerous deaths, both among civilians and law enforcement officers who stood against the plotters, and expressed his hope that constitutional order and stability will be restored in Turkey as soon as possible," a statement from the president's office read.