Israeli commandos head to Cyprus for largest land-based drill - JERUSALEM POST

JUNE 10, 2017 11:57
Anna Ahronheim

Israel and Cyprus have participated in several military drills over the past few months.

Israel has sent a large number of commandos to Cyprus for the largest land-based joint drill ever to take place between the two countries.

According to Cypriot media, the weeklong exercise will take place in the areas of the Troodos Mountains and focus on scenarios for occupying and liberating villages, as well as survival strategies A reported 400 Israeli commandos, as well as attack helicopters and fighter jets, will take part in the drill, in what is believed to be the first time such a large number of Israeli commandos will take part in a military exercise in Cyprus.

The planned drill is said to have unnerved Cyprus’s adversary, Turkey, which used to participate in annual joint navy and air force drills with Israel. After ties between Ankara and Jerusalem were downgraded following the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010, Israel turned to Greece and the Greek Cypriots for military exercises of air, sea, and ground forces.

Over 3000 people working on Greek segment of TAP pipeline - WORLD PIPELINES

Friday, 09 June 2017 10:25Stephanie Roker

The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) AG announces that construction in Greece, the pipeline’s greatest geography, advances on time, on track and on budget. Thanks to the efforts of the over 3000 people working for the project, 13 months after the Inauguration Ceremony works have significantly progressed in two of the three northern Greek prefectures to be traversed by the pipeline: eastern Macedonia-Thrace and central Macedonia.

As of end May 2017, out of the approximately 550 km of pipeline in total to be built on Greek soil, TAP’s contractors have already:

ExxonMobil wants to see Cyprus a regional hub - CYPRUS MAIL / CNA

June 9, 2017

ExxonMobil’s vision for Cyprus is to see the country becoming a regional energy hub and the company hopes to find sufficient deposits of natural gas to see the island turn into an energy export nation, President of ExxonMobil Exploration Company Stephen Greenlee said on Thursday.

The ExxonMobil president said the company had been active since signing the contracts with Cyprus in April and has begun exploration.

Things seem to be going well, he said, adding that success will lead to great things.

Hellenic Petroleum brings up sensitive issues - KATHIMERINI

09.JUNE.2017 11:06
CHRYSSA LIAGGOU

Hellenic Petroleum (ELPE) is raising the resolution of issues related to the setting of exclusive economic zones (EEZs) with Greece’s neighbors and the lifting of bans on surveying beyond the 6-mile sea zone – which the Turkish Parliament has described as an act of “casus belli.” The settlement of these issues is an essential part of any planning for the utilization of the country’s hydrocarbons.

ELPE, which is set to form a consortium with oil giants ExxonMobil and Total, raised the aforementioned issues through its president, Stathis Tsotsoros, at an oil conference on Thursday organized by the union of ELPE employees.

Speaking about the national effort to utilize Greece’s hydrocarbons, Tsotsoros criticized the decades “of passive or low-priority handling of the matter by the Greek state and the competent authorities.” He then referred to the cause of the delays, saying that “there was no drafting of medium- or long-term road maps for the solution or settlement of the issues with neighboring countries in the context of international law.”

Turkey and the new Mediterranean gas pipe projects - DERIN EKONOMI MAGAZINE / YENI SAFAK

June 08, 2017 12:15  
Robert M. Cutler

In early April of 2017, the energy ministers of Cyprus, Greece, Israel, and Italy signed a Joint Declaration to reaffirm their support for the swift implementation of the EastMed/CrossMed natural gas pipeline project. European Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete attended the ministerial summit. (This "CrossMed" pipeline project should not be confused with the existing TransMed natural gas pipeline, which takes Algerian gas to the Italian mainland, via Tunisia and Sicily, and Slovenia via an extension.)

The EastMed natural gas pipeline project was originally conceived as a shorter pipeline from Cyprus to western Greece via Crete. The EU considers it as a Southern Gas Corridor project.

There is now an expanded project to extend it on both ends, eastward to Israeli offshore sources and westward under the Ionian Sea to Italy. This is this CrossMed pipeline, although sometimes "EastMed" is still confusingly used for it.

Egypt reduces arrears owed to foreign oil companies to $2.3 billion - REUTERS

Thu Jun 8, 2017 | 2:30pm ISTReporting by Ehab Farouk; Writing by Amina Ismail; Editing by Toby Chopra

Egypt has reduced arrears owed to foreign oil companies to $2.3 billion, the Egyptian oil ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The country repaid $2.2 billion in three weeks, the statement said.

Once an energy exporter, Egypt has turned into a net importer in recent years, squeezed by declining production and increasing consumption.

Saipem Hires UTEC AUV Services for Its Zohr Project - SUBSEA WORLD NEWS

June 8, 2017

UTEC has been awarded a contract with Saipem to support its operations as part of the Zohr field development project.

The survey company in subsea services group Acteon will bring its experience in autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to the project, which is expected to be one of the biggest gas field discoveries in the Mediterranean Sea, with an estimated 850 billion cubic metres of gas in place.

UTEC will work with Saipem in performing surface positioning on-board the Saipem operated barges, Bautino and Castoro 10, and associated anchor handling vehicles (AHVs), while also providing trenching support, including trench monitoring services and as-trenched surveys utilising UTEC’s Teledyne Gavia AUVs in water depths ranging from 2.5 meters to 20 meters. The contract is expected to last around five months.

Total, Eni, BP start exploration program in North El Hammad offshore Egypt - ENERGY EGYPT / AMWAL AL GHAD

June 8, 2017

Total, Eni’s Egyptian subsidiary IEOC, and BP have commenced a gas and oil exploration program in the North El Hammad block, located in the conventional offshore of the Mediterranean Sea. The program aims to explore more fields in the area in order to increase Egypt’s oil and natural gas domestic.

Natural gas and oil exploration programs implemented by international companies encourage foreign investments in the sector, stated the Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Tarek El Molla during his meeting with Total E&P Egypt’s Managing Director Jean-Pascal Clémençon and Elias Kassis Vice President of North Africa Region.

Egypt: BW Singapore FSRU moves to port in Sumed - LNG WORLD NEWS

FSRU BW Singapore

June 7, 2017

Singapore-based gas shipping giant BW said its FSRU BW Singapore has been relocated to the port in Sumed, Egypt to continue its contract with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS).

The FSRU so far served as Egypt’s second import terminal in the port of Ain Sokhna, starting full operation October 2015.

In a brief social media statement, BW’s LNG unit noted that the relocation of the FSRU, which was a business decision made by EGAS, demonstrates the flexibility to optimize operations for the charterer.

BW Singapore, serving EGAS under a five-year charter, has a storage capacity in excess of 170,000 cbm and a peak regasification capacity of 750 mmscfd.

MIDOR increase refining capacity by 109% y-o-y in 1Q2017 - ENTERPRISE

Wednesday, 7 June 2017

Middle East Oil Refinery (MIDOR) raised its refining capacity by 109% y-o-y in 1Q2017 to 3.9 mn bbl of refined crude, a source tells Al Shorouk. The increase is fueled by the USD 20 mn spent on the first phase of its expansion plan, which started in January. 

MIDOR targets bringing its refining capacity up by another 15% y-o-y in FY2017 to 39 mn bbl of refined crude. MIDOR produced 150,000 tonnes of butane and 1.7 mn tonnes of diesel last year, according to preliminary results.

Khalda to invest USD 800 mn in drilling in FY 2017-18 - ENTERPRISE / AL MAL / DAILY OIL NEWS

Tuesday, 6 June 2017

Apache JV Khalda Petroleum will invest USD 800 mn in drilling 53 development wells and 38 exploratory wells in FY 2017-18, Al Mal reports. 

Company production is expected to surpass 151,000 bbl/d of crude, condensates, and butane, and 800 mcf/d of gas. 

Khalda will also conduct 3D seismic surveys in West Kalabsha and Khalda-3 concessions.

Khalda makes eight new petroleum discoveries in FY2016/17

The Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, visited Khalda Petroleum’s concessions in the Western Desert, accompanied by the Ministry’s First Undersecretary for Oil and Gas Affairs, First Undersecretary for Agreements and Exploration, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC)’s CEO and Vice Chairman, the Egyptian National Gas Holding Company (EGAS)’ CEO and Vice Chairman, and Apache’s CEO.

Egypt’s energy future between reality and fantasies - DAILY NEWS EGYPT

June 6, 2017 

Mohamed Samir

Egypt is the second largest producer of natural gas in Africa after Algeria, yet Egypt’s power generation infrastructure is dependent on natural gas. More than 75% of the electricity generated in Egypt comes from natural gas plants. Egypt currently produces about 3.9bn cubic feet of gas per day and imports another 1-1.1bn cubic feet per day with an estimated cost of $300mn per month, in order to meet the growing needs of the electricity sector.

The country does have multiple areas of undeveloped reserves, which had not been able to afford their development, as the Egyptian government had not offered high enough prices to foreign firms capable of developing the reserves. That changed lately with the new Mediterranean discoveries.

Egyptian consumption of natural gas has been increasing by approximately 7% per year over the past decade. The increasing level of consumption combined with the decreasing level of production meant that Egypt was only able to export 5% of its total natural gas production in 2013.

Aquaterra Sea Swift platform installed and operating in Egypt - WORLD OIL

JUNE/5/2017

ABERDEEN -- Aquaterra Energy, a leading global offshore engineering solutions provider, has designed, fabricated and installed a new Sea Swift platform for PICO Petroleum Integrated Services, the lead contractor for Amal Petroleum Company’s (AMAPETCO) Amal field in the Gulf of Suez, offshore Egypt. This will open new opportunities for future cooperation between the two entities in large projects both in Egypt and the Middle East.

The Sea Swift is a Conductor Supported Platform (CSP) and is installed in 23-m water depth. It included a 385 tonne topside featuring a helideck and emergency accommodation with provision for six wells. The new topsides facility for the Amal-C platform involved designing process, piping, electrical, instrumentation, control system and technical safety scopes of work, the project also included the design of the new subsea production pipelines to the Amal-A platform. The project, which took 18 months from design to installation, involved building a bridge link to the neighbouring Amal-B platform and reconfiguring the topside pipework to create a new and improved production profile.

Aquatic's dual tensioner a key part of the installation for the Pharaonic/PHPC Atoll project - AQUATIC SUBSEA

5 June 2017

Aquatic has been selected to provide tensioning capabilities to DeepOcean BV on behalf of Subsea 7 for the Pharaonic /PHPC Atoll Main umbilical installation project in Egypt. Aquatic will provide its Dual Tensioner System solution to tension the umbilical during installation.

Martin Charles, managing director, Aquatic, says “We are proud to be associated with this important project. Since its design and implementation, this dual tensioner configuration has operated successfully on numerous projects globally. Our team will work closely with our clients to customize our equipment on deck and adapt the dual tensioner solution to the project’s requirements.”

The 112km umbilical will be installed at a water depth of 923m, extending to a beach tie-in at the West Harbour Terminal, near Port Said, Egypt. Mobilization is scheduled for August 2017 from Blyth Northumberland, with an anticipated project duration of 70 days.

IPR continues exploration program in Egypt - OIL & GAS JOURNAL

HOUSTON, June 5 2017
By OGJ editors

Irving, Tex., independent IPR Inc. reported continued drilling success and a series of Western Desert and Nile Delta, Egypt, discoveries through this year’s first 5 months.

IPR’s calendar year drilling program in Egypt budgeted for the drilling of 23 wells, making 2017 one of the most active years operationally for IPR since its 1993 acquisition of the Phillips Petroleum Western Desert assets.

The work program includes onshore exploration, appraisal, and development drilling, and workovers offshore in the Gulf of Suez.

Israel working hard to realize the dreams of its gas industry - CNBC

Israel's annual natural gas demand forecast (in BCM)

5 June 2017

Ferry Biedermann; special to CNBC.com

Israel's energy sector is going through momentous changes due the development of its large offshore natural gas reserve.

Last week, Greek oil and gas company Energean introduced a new element of competition into the country's domestic gas market by signing contracts for its two Israeli fields, and earlier this year the country started exporting gas to neighboring Jordan, albeit in initially small quantities.

There are high hopes that Israel's substantial proven reserves, as well as the likelihood of future finds, will change not only the economy but also the geopolitical situation in the region, with Israel potentially becoming an exporter also to Egypt, Turkey and even to Europe. Yet, a combination of that same geopolitical situation, low natural gas prices, the lack of an export infrastructure and regulatory issues may temper such dreams, say experts.

Egypt sets $8bln for fuel subsidies in FY 2017-18 budget - ZAWYA / REUTERS

05 JUNE, 2017

Reporting by Eric Knecht; Editing by Ahmed Aboulenein/Mark Heinrich

CAIRO, June 5 (Reuters) - Egypt has allocated 145 billion Egyptian pounds ($8 billion) for fuel subsidies and 80 billion pounds for electricity subsidies in its budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year beginning in July, the cabinet said on Monday.

The cost of fuel imports has soared since Egypt floated its pound currency in November, prompting it to halve in value against the dollar within weeks.

The government spent 78 billion pounds on fuel subsidies in the first nine months of the 2016-17 fiscal year, up from 41 billion in the same period of the previous year.

EGPC wins court decision in France, no longer required to pay NATGAS EGP 250 mn - ENTERPRISE

Monday, 5 June 2017

ENTERPRISE EXCLUSIVE- The French Court of Cassation has issued a verdict reversing a decision that had required state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Company (EGPC) to pay National Gas Company (NATGAS) EGP 250 mn in damages as part of a 2009 case. Deputy Justice Minister for Arbitration and International Disputes Moustafa El Bahabety led the team that defended EGPC, which successfully filed case number 16-13.729 to the French Court of Cassation. 

The case had been moved to France from Egypt after NATGAS filed an appeal to the Versailles Court of Appeals, which ruled in its favour and imposed a freeze on EGPC’s assets in France. This most recent reversal by the French Court of Cassation, won by El Bahabety’s team, means EGPC is no longer required to pay EGP 250 mn to NATGAS. The French Court of Cassation referred the case back to the lower Paris Court of Appeals, and ordered NATGAS to pay EUR 3k in legal fees.

Dana Gas Names Advisers for $700 Million of Islamic Debt - BLOOMBERG

4 June 2017, 11:30 a.m. EEST
Anthony Dipaola

• ‘Restructuring may be easier than others’: Arqaam analyst
• Dana Gas has $700 million in Islamic bonds due in October

Dana Gas PJSC named legal and financial advisers to assess options for about $700 million in Islamic bonds due in October, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

Houlihan Lokey Inc. will serve as financial adviser and Squire Patton Boggs LLP will provide legal counsel, according to the person, who asked not be identified because the matter is not public. None of the companies commented.

Egypt aims to cut fuel imports to 10 pct of consumption by 2019 - REUTERS AFRICA

Sun Jun 4, 2017 9:39am GMT
Reporting by Ehab Farouk; Writing Nadine Awadalla; Editing by Susan Fenton

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt is looking to ramp up petroleum production over the next two years, aiming to reduce fuel imports to about 10 percent of total consumption from 30 percent currently, media quoted Oil Minister Tarek El Molla as saying.

Once an energy exporter, Egypt has turned into a net importer in recent years, squeezed by declining production and increasing consumption.

Egypt has been trying to reverse that trend, speeding up production of oil and gas at recent discoveries. Large natural gas finds are expected to make Cairo self-sufficient in gas by the end of 2018, and it is now looking to make similar progress in petroleum.