Repsol joins Greek energy quest with Energean Oil - KATHIMERINI

31.03.2017 : 19:15

Spain’s Repsol has entered a so-called farm-in agreement with Energean Oil & Gas for a 60 percent stake in two onshore blocks in western Greece, Energean Oil said on Friday.

Under a farm-in agreement, an oil and gas company acquires an interest in a lease owned by another group.

Repsol will become the operator of the Ioannina and Aitoloacarnania blocks and plans to acquire seismic surveys over the areas in the 2017-19 period, Energean said.

Energean, Greece’s sole oil producer, holds an exploration license in Ioannina and is expected to acquire one for the other block.

Energean did not disclose the size of the deal, which is subject to Greek approval.

Energean chief executive officer Mathios Rigas said that the agreement was a significant step forward for the development of the Greek oil and gas sector.

Lakkotrypis heading for Israel meetings - CYPRUS MAIL

March 31, 2017

Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis will depart for Tel Aviv on Sunday where he will participate in a meeting with energy ministers from Greece, Israel and Italy about the East Med gas pipeline on Monday morning.

The meeting, which will conclude with a joint press conference will be held in the presence of the European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete.

According to a PIO (Cyprus Press Information Office) statement the East Med pipeline is a strategic project for the Eastern Mediterranean which aims to create a direct export route for gas supplies in the region to Europe.

EU eyes East Mediterranean gas supplies - NEW EUROPE

March 31, 2017 16:01
New Europe Online/KG

Cañete to visit Tel Aviv on April 3 for EastMed Energy Summit talks with Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Italy

European Union Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete will travel to Tel Aviv on April 3 to discuss the potential of gas from the eastern Mediterranean region for Europe with the Energy Ministers from Israel, Greece, Cyprus and Italy.

At the ministerial EastMed Energy Summit, the Commissioner and Ministers will discuss East Med developments in the energy sector and options for meeting the needs of the Israeli and European gas markets.

ENI also likely to operate out of Limassol - CYPRUS MAIL

March 30, 2017

Elias Hazou

AFTER energy giants Total, it looks like ENI will likewise operate – albeit grudgingly – out of the port of Limassol for their scheduled drilling operations, slated to get underway later this year.

“Larnaca port is definitely out,” Alecos Michaelides, permanent secretary of the transport ministry and former president of the Cyprus Ports Authority (CPA) board, told the Cyprus Mail.

Michaelides confirmed news reports that DP World, the concession holders operating the multi-purpose terminal of Limassol port for the next 25 years, plan to have an onshore logistics base supporting hydrocarbons activities up and running by this summer.

ENI are contractually bound to start drilling two more wells before February 2018, when their offshore exploration licence expires.

Wildcats drive East Med to world stage - UPSTREAM ONLINE

30 Mar 2017 10:42 GMT
Iain Esau

Hopes Total's Onesiphoros West-1 probe off Cyprus could match Eni's gaint Zohr find off Egypt

The East Mediterranean's status as a key global gas play could be further enhanced this year if a wildcat to be drilled off Cyprus this year fulfils expectations.

France's Total is preparing to spud the Onesiphoros West-1 probe in Block 11, targeting a huge carbonate prospect that is geologically comparable to Eni’s 30 trillion cubic foot Zohr discovery just across the maritime border in Egypt.

For years the area had been dominated by Egypt’s well-known Nile Delta gas play extending from the swamps into ultra-deep waters.

Delek Group Announces Consolidated Full Year Results 2016 - DELEK GROUP

Tel Aviv, March 30, 2017, Delek Group Ltd. announced today its results for the fourth quarter and full year period ended December 31, 2016. The press release follows. The full financial statements are available in English on Delek Group’s website.

East Mediterranean E&P SummaryNet income from the sector for 2016 was NIS 413 million, an increase of 52% compared to a net income of NIS 272 million in 2015. The growth was mainly due to the increase in the quantities of natural gas, as well as condensate, sold from the Tamar project in 2016. The average natural gas price in Israel in 2016 amounted to USD $5.2/MMBtu.

Financial Highlights

• Following four years of successful on going production, the Tamar field reached peak production – natural gas sold was at a record of 9.4 BCM in 2016 (~0.9 Bcf/d);
• The E&P sector contributed a record NIS 413 million to the 2016 net income versus NIS 272 million in 2015 ;
• A Final Investment Decision (FID) for Phase 1A of the development plan for Leviathan was sanctioned by the partners at a capacity of 12 BCM per year (~1.2 Bcf/d);
• Delek Group advances its international strategy: makes an offer to purchase remaining share capital of Ithaca Energy;
• Completed sales of Karish and Tanin, generating net profit for the Group of NIS 253 million;
• Record net income amounting to NIS 625 million in 2016, compared with NIS 25 million in 2015;
• Dividend of NIS 200 million declared for the fourth quarter; a total of NIS 560 million distributed for 2016.

Delek Group Announces Consolidated Full Year Results 2016

UPDATE 2-Genel targets Turkey gas deal this year to overcome oil troubles - REUTERS

LONDON Thu Mar 30, 2017 | 5:15am EDTKarolin Schaps; Editing by David Evans and Susan Thomas

• $779 mln in exploration write-offs in 2016
• Annual operating loss of $1.2 bln
• Shares recover slightly after record low on reserves cut
• Receivables fall to $253.5 million (Recasts with gas projects, adds CEO, analyst comments, share price)

Genel Energy, the oil producer chaired by former BP boss Tony Hayward, expects to strike a gas-export partnership deal with Turkey Energy Company this year, it said on Thursday, as it tries to overcome setbacks in oil exploration.

Genel slipped further into the red last year after it again downgraded reserves at its flagship oilfield and weak oil prices ate into profits, it said.

Total - ENI preparing to drill - PHILELEFTHEROS / TEKMOR MONITOR

29.3.2017

Cypriot daily "Phileleftheros" reports that the Total-ENI consortium are in the last phase of preparations for drilling the "Onisiforos" well in Block 11 of Cypriot EEZ. The drill ship "West Capella" has been contracted for this purpose, whose last contract working at Usan offshore field located in the Gulf of Guinea was terminated by ExxonMobil exactly one year ago.

The "Onisiforos" target is located on the fringes of Cypriot EEZ, less than 15 km away from Zohr's, ENI's 30tcf mega find, 8th well.

According to a Seadrill Partners LLC (owned by Norwegian, Cyprus passport holder, John Fredriksen) press release the «West Capella» contract was secured with Total E&P Cyprus B.V. The $10 m contract is said to start in the 2nd half of 2017, and the drill is estimated to last 50 days.

The «West Capella» has recently been upgraded with an «MPD» (Managed Pressure Drilling) system. 

Turkey returns to Russian gas- VESTNIK KAVKAZA

Mar 29 - 4:20 pm

Turkey continues to increase the volume of Russian gas purchases. The trend, which has been observed since the last autumn, continues to gain momentum. According to the latest data, in January-February 2017, Turkey increased Russian's gas imports by 16.6% compared to the same period in 2016.

The expansion of cooperation in the energy sphere was discussed by the Presidents of Russia and Turkey, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during the Turkish leader's visit to Moscow in early March. Erdogan said then that the Russian-Turkish energy cooperation is of great importance both in terms of natural gas and in terms of other elements, and in general this process is increasingly developing.

Jordanians really don't want Israel’s gas - AL MONITOR

March 29, 2017

Mohammad Ersan; translated by Pascale el-Khoury

AMMAN, Jordan — Voices opposed to a gas sales and purchase agreement (GSPA) signed in September between Jordan’s National Electric Power Company and the operator of an Israeli gas field got louder March 20 when the Jordanian parliament obtained a copy of the agreement, whose details had been kept secret. Those against the contract are calling on the parliament to reject it. 

Houston-based Noble Energy holds the concession for developing Israel’s largest offshore gas deposit, the Leviathan natural gas field, 50 miles off the coast of Haifa in the Mediterranean. The agreement, expected to enter into force in 2019, has sparked demonstrations because many Jordanians view it as tantamount to normalization with Israel. According to the GSPA, Jordan will import 300 million cubic feet of gas per day from the Leviathan field for 15 years at a cost of $10 billion. Noble has a nearly 40% working interest in the field, while Israeli companies hold the rest.

Egypt to sell 24% shares in state-owned Enppi: oil minister - AMWAL AL GHAD / ZAWYA

29 March, 2017
By Mahmoud Shaaban

Egyptian government has approved listing 24 percent share of state-owned company Engineering for the Petroleum and Process Industries (Enppi) on the local stock market, Oil Minister Tarek el-Molla announced Tuesday.

NI Capital, a financial company affiliated to the National Investment Bank, will evaluate the fair value of Enppi ahead of starting initial public offering process, the Egyptian minister added.

Earlier, El-Molla said that the government were assessing some state-owned petroleum companies for their suitability for a possible listing on the Egyptian stock market or share issuances, adding that planned IPOs would take place before the end of the current financial year.

Egypt to halve arrears with oil companies in coming weeks - REUTERS AFRICA

Wed Mar 29, 2017 9:21am GMTStephen Jewkes

RAVENNA, Italy (Reuters) - Egypt expects to cut the $3.5 billion euros it owes to international oil companies by around half in coming weeks, the Egyptian oil minister said on Wednesday.

"We have made a lot of progress on paying off arrears," Tarek El Molla said at an oil and gas conference.

The minister also said he expected to finalise an agreement to import crude oil directly from Iraq in a month at the most.

"We will import around 1 million barrels a month," he said.

Asked when Egypt might become an exporter of oil and gas, Molla said the country would be self sufficient by the end of 2018.

"Starting from 2019 and beyond we can start talking about exporting," he said.

Genel Shares Hit All-Time Low As Oil Reserves Disappear - RIGZONE / REUTERS

Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Esha Vaish, Justin George Varghese (Bengaluru), Dmitry Zhdannikov (London); editing by Louise Heavens

March 28 (Reuters) - Genel Energy's market value collapsed to an all-time low on Tuesday after it said for a second time that its flagship oilfield contains less crude than expected, dealing another blow to chairman Tony Hayward to rescue the indebted Kurdish producer.

Since listing in 2011 and claiming to be the largest independent UK listed firm by reserves, Genel has been hit by a string of unsuccessful exploration campaigns in Africa and reserves at its largest Iraqi Kurdistan field shrinking to just a tenth.

Investors who bought into Genel at 11 pounds ($13.8) a share in early 2014 were left with 60 pence on Tuesday as reserve cuts, an oil price collapse and Iraq's fight against Islamic State hammered the stock.

White House’s Priebus says Cyprus is ‘reliable, predictable partner’ - IN CYPRUS / CYPRUS WEEKLY

Christodoulides, Cyprus (left), Priebus, USA

March 28, 2017

Government Spokesman Nikos Christodoulides on Tuesday met with White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus with whom he discussed the Cyprus problem and how to further strengthen US-Cyprus bilateral relations.

Their talks in Washington DC also focused on regional energy issues with Christodoulides telling incyprus.com: “Their (US) intention is to strengthen relations with Cyprus, they consider us a reliable and predictable partner”.

Christodoulides, who departs for Cyprus late on Tuesday, would not say whether a confirmed date for a meeting between US President Donald Trump with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades has been set.

Most probably, the high-level talks in the US capital will take place the first week of June.

On Monday, developments in the energy sector with a focus on the activities of US companies in Cyprus` EEZ as well as regional cooperation were discussed during a meeting Christodoulides had with Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Diplomacy Robin Dunnigan.

Egypt to begin production from Zohr gas field by late 2017: Rosneft CEO - AHRAM ONLINE

Egypt's president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi during a meeting
with CEOs of Rosneft, Eni, BP

Tuesday 28 Mar 2017
Mahmoud Aziz

The CEO of Rosneft, the majority state-owned Russian oil company, said on Monday that the first gas production from Egypt's super giant Zohr gas field is scheduled by the end of 2017, according to state-run news agency MENA.

Igor Sechin's statement came during a meeting with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Prime Minister Sherif Ismail on Monday evening.

Discovered in August 2015 by Italian oil company Eni, Zohr is the largest natural gas field ever found in the Mediterranean, with an estimated 850 billion cubic metres of gas.

Last December, Rosneft agreed to acquire a 30-percent share of the Shorouk concession, which contains the Zohr gas field.

Israel and Lebanon clash over maritime border amid oil interest - FINANCIAL TIMES

28 March 2017
John Reed in Jerusalem and Erika Solomon in Beirut

Row over wedge of Mediterranean Sea casts shadow over oil and gas tenders
An Israeli attempt to establish sovereignty over a disputed area of the Mediterranean has angered Lebanon and put the two countries at odds when both are trying to attract foreign investors in oil and gas.

The disagreement over the maritime border comes at a time of rising tensions between Israel and Hizbollah, the Lebanese militant group, and serves as a reminder of regional geopolitical risk as both Israel and Lebanon — two enemy states — want to secure multibillion-dollar energy investments.

The dispute stretches back years, but has burst into the open in recent days after it was revealed that the Israeli government plans to propose a “maritime areas law” that would seek to establish Israel’s sovereignty over the disputed area that both countries claim as part of their territorial waters.

Libya's Oil Output Down 252,000 Bpd Due To Armed Protests - RIGZONE / REUTERS

Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Reporting: Julia Payne (Lausanne), Ahmad Ghaddar (London), Olga Yagova (Moscow), Aidan Lewis (Tunis); Writing: Ahmad Ghaddar, Aidan Lewis; Editing: Mark Potter, David Evans

LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Oil production from the western Libyan fields of Sharara and Wafa has been blocked by armed protesters, reducing output by 252,000 barrels per day (bpd), a source at the National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Tuesday.

NOC declared force majeure on loadings of Sharara crude from the Zawiya oil terminal in the west of the country and Wafa condensate loadings from the Mellitah terminal.

Supplies were stopped by the shutdown of pipelines leading from the fields to Zawiya refinery and port, a Libyan oil source said. The identity of the group was not immediately clear and there had been no claim of responsibility, he said.

The shutdown at Sharara, which had been producing about 220,000 bpd, began on Monday, a day after the Wafa shutdown, the NOC source said.

There was no official comment from the NOC.

Gas From Israel And The Flynn Wiretapping – Behind The Deep-State Infighting Over The Trump Election - GLOBAL RESEARCH

March 27, 2017

What is really behind the deep-state infighting over the U.S. elections and the “wire tapping” of the Trump campaign? Why was the CIA-Neocon axis vehemently lobbying against Trump? What foreign interests and what money is involved in this? Answers to these questions are now emerging.

The former director of the CIA under Clinton, James Woolsey, went to the Wall Street Journal and offered some information (likely some true and some false) on the retired General Flynn and the lobbying businesses he was involved in. Woolsey is an arch-neoconservative. He had worked on the transition team of Trump but got fired over “growing tensions over Trump’s vision for intelligence agencies.” Flynn is the former National Security Advisor of Trump who later also got fired. Woolsey was a board member of Flynn’s former lobbying company FIG.

EGPC in the market for an EGP 10 bn loan - ENTERPRISE / AL MAL

Monday, 27 March 2017

The Egyptian General Petroleum Company (EGPC) is negotiating for a EGP 10 bn loan with a banking consortium led by CIB to finance oil imports, Al Mal reports. Four-to-five private banks are funding the facility that is expected to carry a tenor of five-to-eight years, unnamed sources said.

The sources add that the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company will pay back part of the loan to the banks, as part of the EGP 40 bn it owes EGPC.

Russian Gas in the Southern Gas Corridor Could Undermine the EU’s Diversification Plans - CACI ANALYST

MONDAY, 27 MARCH 2017
Ilgar Gurbanov

Gazprom has officially declared its willingness to use the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) as a route to deliver gas to Europe. TAP is an integral part of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) which is one of the priority energy projects for the EU to ensure the continent’s security of supply from a non-Russian source. Although technical and legal possibilities exist for Gazprom’s use of TAP’s expanded capacity, the long-term contracts securing the pipeline’s initial capacity for Azerbaijani gas together with EU legislation makes this option less likely. Nevertheless, the possibility of a Russian bid for TAP could hamper the EU’s diversification plans and block future gas supplies from other non-Shah-Deniz sources.

PetroZenima Connects Drilled Wells to Production Platforms - EGYPT OIL & GAS

Sunday, 26th March 2017

An official source at South Abu Zenima Petroleum Company (PetroZenima) stated exclusively to Egypt Oil&Gas that the company is currently implementing the plan of connecting drilled wells to production platforms.

The source added that the company has drilled eight wells in the 39km Mozhel field in the Gulf of Suez concession area.

The first and second wells were connected and began producing from 500b/d to 800b/d of oil. Additionally, the company is working on the reform of the fourth well.

Furthermore, PetroZenima is connecting the third and fifth wells to production platforms at a cost of $6m. The two wells are planned to be used to increase the field’s production. The rest of the wells will be connected soon to likely increase output and reserves of crude oil.

The source also mentioned that the company is currently conducting a seismic survey of a new exploratory well (SAZ Concession, owned by NPC Egypt) near Mozhel field with $17m of investments. 

BP makes third gas discovery in Egypt's North Damietta Concession - REUTERS

Sun Mar 26, 2017 | 2:55pm BST

Ahmed Aboulenein; editing by Susan Thomas

BP (BP.L) has made a gas discovery in the North Damietta Offshore Concession in Egypt's East Nile Delta, its third in the block, it said on Sunday.

The Qattameya Shallow-1 exploration well was drilled to a total depth of 1,961 metres in water depth of around 108 metres, the company said.

"This latest discovery confirms our belief that the Nile Delta is a world-class basin," BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley said in a statement.

The well is 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Damietta city in northern Egypt. BP has 100 percent equity in the discovery.

BP produces around 40 percent of Egypt's total gas.

Cyprus should develop its small gas fields - CYPRUS MAIL

The Karadeniz powership,Fatmagul Sultan, one of two providing
electricity to Lebanon

March 26, 2017

Abboud Zahr

The Council of Ministers recently approved the selection of winners in the third oil and gas round, which comprises Blocks 6, 8 and 10 in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Development of the blocks could determine the future of Cyprus’ hydrocarbons development programme.

US energy giant ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum filed the winning bid for Block 10, and the joint-venture of ENI and Total won Block 6. ENI also won Block 8 on its own.

Cyprus announced its third oil and gas round a year ago, after the discovery of Zohr, a giant gas field off the coast of Egypt with gas reserves of 30 trillion cubic feet (tcf), the largest ever natural gas find in the Mediterranean. The companies are hoping to find fields of a similar – or larger – size in Cyprus’ EEZ.