Nicosia to host tripartite meeting with Jordan and Greece - IN CYPRUS / CYPRUS WEEKLY

Cyprus' President Anastasiades & King of Jordan Abdullah II
at a meeting in Nicosia in September 2016

May 20, 2017

Nicosia will this autumn be hosting a tripartite meeting with Jordan and Greece, Deputy Government Spokesman Viktor Papadopoulos announced on Saturday.

Papadopoulos, who is accompanying President Nicos Anastasiades on an official trip to Amman, said the meeting was decided on during the course of a meeting between Anastasiades and the King of Jordan Abdullah II .

Papadopoulos said: “the President of the Republic accepted the King of Jordan’s own invitation to attend the International Economic Forum on the Middle East And Africa, in which many people in the region, heads of state and government, as well as many entrepreneurs, investment companies, are involved, and which is also very important to us. In this margins of the meeting, the President of the Republic had a series of very important contacts. First of all, she saw Mrs Mogherini, EU Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, and analysed his proposal for a repeat of (the Conference on Cyprus in) Geneva, as he had tabled it in the afternoon.They exchanged views on the Cyprus issue and the role of the EU in the effort to resolve the Cyprus problem, so that we have a functioning state within the EU and with all the acquis to govern the solution of the Cyprus problem.“

Troubled waters - EXECUTIVE MAGAZINE

May 15, 2017

Matt Nash

From a technical standpoint, the East Mediterranean is a challenge because the seabed is generally more than one thousand meters below the surface. Ultra-deep water, in industry parlance. From a geopolitical standpoint, the complexity is arguably even greater.

Many problems among a variety of neighbors

Production of East Med gas began in Egypt in the late 1960s. Activity remained localized for over thirty years until discoveries were made off Israel and the Gaza Strip in 1999 and 2000. For political reasons, the relatively small Gaza find remains undeveloped, while exploration continued apace offshore Israel, resulting in discoveries – namely Tamar in 2009 and Leviathan in 2010 (see map below) – that have helped spark intense interest in the so-called Levantine Basin, a subsea structure shared by Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Cyprus, and Turkey, at least from Turkey’s perspective. In 2012, Cyprus was elated by news of the Aphrodite discovery, but for all the gas Israel and Cyprus have found, not a molecule has yet been exported. In fact, most of the gas (including everything in Tamar, Leviathan and Aphrodite) remains buried for lack of a clear means to move it out of the region, among other reasons.

US envoy hails EU-backed Balkan, East Med regional diversification projects, slams Russia’s Nord Stream-2 - NEW EUROPE

MAY 19, 2017 21:12 
Kostis Geropoulos

ATHENS – Several key energy projects currently underway in Greece will bring significant quantities of non-Russian gas to Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, and other regional partners, lessening the bloc’s reliance on Gazprom, US Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt told a conference in Athens.

He was referring to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector (IGB), and the expansion of the liquefied natural gas terminal (LNG) Revithoussa. “While the volumes involved are not enough to satisfy European gas demand, the introduction of new pipeline gas improves the market dynamic, encouraging competition, which will benefit everyone,” Pyatt said in remarks at Hellenic Association for Energy Economics (HAEE) Conference.

ExxonMobil, Total discuss offshore drilling opportunities in Greece -ministry - NASDAQ / REUTERS

May 19, 2017, 12:40:00 PM EDT

Reporting by Karolina Tagaris, Lefteris Papadimas and Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Susan Fenton

ATHENS - Greece's energy minister held talks on Friday with representatives of U.S. oil major ExxonMobil <XOM.N> and France's Total <TOTF.PA> about gas exploration opportunities off Greek shores, the energy ministry said. 

A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consortium of ExxonMobil, Total and Greece's biggest oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum <HEPr.AT> are expected to submit an offer "in the coming period" for exploration south of Crete. 

Development at BP’s Atoll gas field 53% completed - ENTERPRISE

Thursday, 18 May 2017

BP has completed 53% of the development work being carried out at the North Damietta offshore concession’s USD 3.8 bn Atoll field, including drilling three deepwater wells 950 meters below the water’s surface, the Oil Ministry said in a statement yesterday. 

The field, which holds about 1.5 tcf of gas reserves, is expected to begin producing 300 mcf/d and 8k bbl/d of condensates by December 2017.

Cabinet approves natural gas import plan - CYPRUS MAIL

May 18, 2017
Staff Reporter

THE cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal by state-owned Natural Gas Public Company (Defa) to proceed as soon as possible with two tenders for the import of natural gas.

The first tender will provide for the creation of the necessary infrastructure and the second for the procurement of the natural gas, said Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis.

“It is actually the beginning of yet another effort, slightly different from the previous one, to channel gas to Cyprus at the first stage for generating power and possibly for other uses,” he said.

Greece to conclude power grid spin-off by June -ADMIE chief - EURONEWS

18/05/2017Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Karolina Tagaris and David Goodman

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece will conclude the spin-off of power grid operator ADMIE (ΑΔΜΗΕ) by mid-June, meeting a key term of its third international bailout,ADMIE’s chief executive said on Thursday. Athens and its EU/IMF lenders had agreed that 24 percent of ADMIE, owned by state-controlled utility Public Power Corp, would be sold this year to China’s State Grid Corp and a further 25 percent to a Greek state holding company. 

Smaller companies could miss out on IOC payments; all IOCs to be paid by 2019 - ENTERPRISE

Thursday, 18 May 2017

Smaller oil and gas operators may miss out on the second wave of payments to international oil companies (IOCs) the central bank is planning on dishing out, LeAnne Graves writes for The National. Governor Tarek Amer had said Egypt had made a payment of USD 750 mn to IOCs and will make a similar payment by 1 June. With both payments, Egypt’s arrears to IOCs would be brought down to USD 1.5 bn. “One small operator in Egypt, pumping about 10,000 barrels of oil per day, said payments from the government came in [EGP] with a ‘dribble of [USD]’. The executive, who asked not to be named, said some vendors were taking [EGP], but the firm didn’t have enough to pay anyone who wanted [USD],” Graves writes. Allen Sandeep at Naeem’s research arm expects “the amounts that would be paid per IOC would be proportionate to their part of the total outstanding amount of [USD 3.5 bn] as a whole.”

UAE's Dana Gas creditors appoint Moelis and Weil for sukuk restructuring –sources - REUTERS

Wed May 17, 2017 | 10:20am EDT | Dubai
Davide Barbuscia

A committee of the holders of some $700 million in Islamic bonds issued by Dana Gas has appointed New York-based boutique investment bank Moelis and U.S. legal firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges to negotiate restructuring of the notes, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

With a cash balance of around $300 million at end-March and the sukuk due to mature in October this year, the Abu Dhabi-listed energy producer said earlier this month that it intended to hold discussions with its creditors.

Comptroller: Tamar gas agreement cost IEC $2b too much - GLOBES

17 May, 2017 13:43 

Nati Yefet

The State Comptroller has found costly faults in Israel Electric Corp.'s natural gas agreement with the Tamar partners.

Faults in the process of formulating an agreement between Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) and the Tamar natural gas reservoir partners caused $820 million-1.5 billion in excess costs that could have been foreseen. This was the main conclusion of the State Comptroller's report on the process of signing the agreement. It now appears that the damage is actually $2-2.3 billion. The audit was conducted in September 2015-March 2016, following which supplementary checks were made by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Resources Israel Natural Gas Authority.

Russia's Rosneft says eyes joint oil supplies to Egypt with Italy's Eni - ZAWYA / REUTERS

SOCHI, Russia, May 17 (Reuters)

Reporting by Olesya Astakhova in Moscow and Denis Pinchuk in Sochi; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Jack Stubbs

Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft and Italian energy company Eni have signed an agreement to broaden cooperation, including in possible joint oil product supplies to Egypt, Rosneft said on Wednesday.

The deal was signed as part of Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni's visit to Russia, during which he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Israeli energy firms Delek Drilling, Avner Oil to finally merge - REUTERS

Yossi Abu, CEO of Delek's subsidiaries Delek Drilling & Avner Oil 

Wed May 17, 2017 | 6:34am EDT
Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch

Israel's Delek Drilling (DEDRp.TA) and Avner Oil (AVNRp.TA), both units of conglomerate Delek Group (DLEKG.TA), said on Wednesday they have completed a long-awaited merger and will begin trading next week as one company.

The new entity will keep the name Delek Drilling and will have a market value in Tel Aviv of about 16 billion shekels ($4.4 billion).

It is through Delek Drilling and Avner Oil that Delek Group owns major stakes in the large Israeli offshore natural gas fields Tamar, which began production in 2013, and Leviathan, which is due to come online in late 2019.

Delek Drilling also said in a statement that exports from Tamar to Jordan's Arab Potash Co and Jordan Bromine plants began in January.

Egypt paid $750 mln in oil company arrears, to pay same in June - REUTERS

Tue May 16, 2017 | 1:31pm EDT

Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy; Writing by Eric Knecht; Editing by Mark Trevelyan

Egypt has paid off $750 million of its debt to international oil companies and will make a second payment of the same amount at the start of next month, Central Bank Governor Tarek Amer said on Tuesday.

Egypt has struggled to pay arrears to foreign oil and gas companies operating in the country, with outstanding debt at $3.5 billion before the latest payment.

"Today $750 million was paid to international oil companies and another $750 million will be paid on June 1, meaning that there is $1.5 billion the government has committed to pay to the international companies," Amer told a news conference.

The payments are the first since Egypt paid about $100 million in the last quarter of 2016.

Egypt's Nooros gas field output tops one bcf/d - MENA / REUTERS

Tue May 16, 2017 12:22pm GMTReporting by Mostafa Hashem, writing by Asma Alsharif; editing by Jason Neely

CAIRO May 16 (Reuters) - Production from Egypt's Nooros field has exceeded one billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas per day, Egypt's state news agency MENA reported on Tuesday.

Italian oil major Eni, which began production at the Nile Delta offshore field in September 2015, had said last year it plans to raise production to more than 1 bcf per day in the first quarter of this year.

Egypt's Sisi: Newly-discovered gas fields to save about $3.6 bln yearly - NASDAQ / REUTERS

May 16, 2017, 06:38:00 PM EDT

Omar Fahmy, Amina Ismail; editing: Grant McCool

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said he expected that recently discovered gas fields would save Egypt about $3.6 billion yearly as they start coming into production, state-run newspapers reported on Tuesday night. 

Egypt wants to speed up gas production from newly-discovered fields, with an eye to halting imports by 2019. Once an energy exporter, it has become an importer after domestic output failed to keep pace with rising demand in recent years, but the discovery of the 850 billion-cubic metre Zohr field in 2015 is expected to change that. 

Interview with David Chi, Vice-President & General Manager – Apache Egypt - ENERGY EGYPT / ENERGY BOARDROOM

May 16, 2017

David Chi, Vice-President of Apache Corporation and General Manager for Apache Egypt Companies, outlines Apache’s successful 2016 performance in Egypt, their ‘fire in the belly’ attitude underlying their stellar track record of operating in Egypt, their long-term investment strategy in Egypt and his perspective of Egypt’s potential as an investment destination.

IAI completes installation of advanced Alpha Radar on Sa'ar-4.5 missile ship - JERUSALEM POST

ALPHA RADAR is seen on an Israel Navy Sa’ar-4.5 missile ship
(photo credit: IAI)

MAY 16, 2017 06:31 
Anna Ahronheim

Navy to receive total of 11 systems as part of ongoing upgrades to fleet.

The Israel Navy is a step closer to upgrading its entire combat surface fleet, as Israel Aerospace Industries announced that it has completed the installation of the advanced ALPHA radar system on the Sa’ar-4.5 missile ship and is proceeding to operational sea trials.

The Navy is expected to receive two more ALPHA (Advanced Lightweight Phased Array) ELM-2258 radar systems by the end of the year, for a total of 11 systems installed on the missile ships.

Shalakany advises Engie on E&P asset sale in Egypt - ENTERPRISE / SHALAKANY LAW

Monday, 15 May 2017

M&A Watch- Shalakany Law announced it assisted Engie as the sole sell side legal advisor in the transaction to sell its Egyptian E&P assets to Neptune Oil & Gas. Private equity-backed Neptune had agreed to acquire a majority stake in Engie’s E&P assets globally for USD 3.9 bn on Thursday, Reuters reported, with the expectation that the deal, which includes assets in Egypt, Algeria, Germany, and the North Sea will close in 1Q2018.

Aly El Shalakany, the lead partner from Shalakany acting on the transaction, said: “We are very pleased to have successfully assisted Engie, a long standing client of the firm, with this strategic disposal, which marks a key step in its shift away from oil and gas to more regulated businesses in the power sector.”

Egypt to receive first shipment of Iraqi crude oil on Tuesday under new deal - AHRAM ONLINE

Egypt's Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla

Monday 15 May 2017

Egypt will receive two million barrels of crude oil on Tuesday from Iraq, the first shipment to arrive as part of a deal with the Iraq's state oil marketing company SOMO, Al-Ahram’s Arabic website quoted Egypt’s Oil Minister Tarek El-Molla as saying.

Under the terms of the year-long agreement, which was reached last month by Baghdad and Cairo, Iraq will sell 12 million barrels of oil to Egypt.

Cairo has been struggling to procure oil and natural gas for domestic market needs from several sources in the past few years.

However, recent surges in natural gas discoveries and projected finds in the country promise to help Egypt cut down on its liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports in the coming year.

An LNG plant is still the best option for Cyprus - IN CYPRUS / CYPRUS WEEKLY

May 14, 2017
Panayiotis Tilliros

The Eastern Mediterranean (East Med) energy resources constitute a credible alternative source that can help Europe diversify and reinforce its energy supply and transit security, given that indigenous gas production in Europe is on a declining trend and demand is on a rising trend.

Besides its traditional gas supply routes from Russia, Norway (indigenous production) and North Africa, Europe is seeking new gas supplies via the Southern Gas Corridor, comprising the ‘Fourth Corridor’ in the Caspian sea (Azerbaijan and probably Turkmenistan) and the ‘Fifth Corridor’ in the East Med. According to an official EU website, the EU aims to import initially 10 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year when the new corridor opens in 2019-20. This is predicted to rise to 80 to 100 bcm per annum in the future.

ExxonMobil to dip into Greek hydrocarbons - KATHIMERINI

14.05.2017 : 21:05
Chryssa Liaggou

Senior ExxonMobil officials are expected to arrive in Athens in the next few days to sign an agreement with Hellenic Petroleum and France’s Total regarding the hydrocarbon surveying work in Block 2 beneath the Ionian Sea, in western Greece.

Using Hellenic Petroleum as a vehicle, the US energy giant is strengthening its position in the broader region of the Southeastern Mediterranean – where the competition of the global oil industry has shifted to – six months after its arrival in Cyprus’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

ExxonMobil’s presence in Greece lends credence to indications about the existence of hydrocarbon reserves in the area. It is also expected to accelerate geopolitical developments in the region.

Egypt starts weaning itself off LNG, domestic production increases - ENTERPRISE / REUTERS / BP

Sunday, 14 May 2017

We’ve started weaning ourselves off imported natural gas, Reuters says: Egypt is holding talks with its LNG suppliers to defer contracted shipments this year and aims to cut back on purchases in 2018, traders and industry sources tell Reuters. 

Domestic gas production is squeezing out demand for foreign imports, Oleg Vukmanovic writes for the newswire. EGAS “is also scaling back LNG purchase plans for 2018 from 70 to as low as 30 cargoes, one Egyptian industry source added, signalling the withdrawal of one of the fastest-growing LNG importers from the global stage.”