Pipe-laying of TurkStream gas pipeline in deep water commenced - GAZPROM

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June 23, 2017, 14:15

Gazprom today started laying the TurkStream (aka Turkish Stream) gas pipeline in the deep-water area off the coast of Anapa. The operations were launched with the command given by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to the Pioneering Spirit pipe-laying vessel.

Vladimir Putin and Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, explored the machinery and equipment of the vessel, including its gas pipeline construction facility used for welding and applying protective coatings to pipes.

TOTAL to start drilling off Cyprus on July 14 - IN CYPRUS / CYPRUS WEEKLY

June 23, 2017

French energy giant TOTAL is expected to start exploratory drilling in block 11 of the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone on July 14.

Block 11 covers some 2,958 square kilometres and the drill site is 150 km off the coast of Cyprus.

Before any exploratory work begins, a 4400-metre diameter area around the site will be explored for objects of archaeological interest.

It has already received a positive environmental report stating that there are no endangered species or sensitive biotopes in the area and one state service after the other is issuing the relative licences required.

Greece approves applications by Total-ExxonMobil, Energean for offshore oil exploration - REUTERS

Fri Jun 23, 2017 | 8:25am EDTReporting by Angeliki Koutantou

Greece approved applications submitted by a consortium of Total, ExxonMobil and Hellenic Petroleum for oil and gas exploration and drilling off the island of Crete, its energy ministry said on Friday.

The ministry also approved an application submitted by Greece's sole oil producer Energean Oil for offshore drilling in western Greece, the ministry said.

Greece's oil and gas resources management company will launch a tender for licences to drill in the respective blocs by the end of next month, aiming to conclude the procedure by the end of the year. 

Rosneft will export gas from Zohr project in Egypt to Middle East — source - TASS

June 23, 14:41UTC+3

Rosneft is buying a 30% stake in the project to develop the Shorouk block in Egypt’s offshore zone

SOCHI, June 23. /TASS/. Russian top oil producer Rosneft, which is buying a 30% stake in the project to develop the Shorouk block in Egypt’s offshore zone, where the Zohr gas field was discovered, will export gas from it to the countries of Europe and the Middle East, a source in the company told TASS.

"Igor Ivanovich (Sechin, head of Rosneft - TASS) spoke about joining the strategic project Zohr, we will certainly export gas from, in particular to the European market, and to the countries of the Middle East, depending on the economic attractiveness of export options," the source said.

According to the source, it concerns significant production volumes - "about 9 billion cubic meters of gas will be in possession of Rosneft, and this is the basic model of development, which excludes potential additional exploration."

The source said that the field has a serious potential in terms of additional exploration.

"We will sell gas from the Zohr project when economic conditions are best for it. In this case we will act as a gas exporter from one country to another," the source added.

The press service of Rosneft does not comment on this information.

The EastMed Pipeline Could Be a Giant Step Towards Enhancing Regional Security - BESA CENTER

June 22, 2017
George N. Tzogopoulos
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 505

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The EastMed pipeline, a proposed means of transporting gas from the eastern Mediterranean to new markets, would be expensive and difficult – but it is feasible. Easier and less expensive solutions are also being considered, but the security element works in EastMed’s favor. EastMed would allow Cyprus, Greece, and Israel to collaborate while developing their roles as hubs of stability in a turbulent neighborhood. The EU and the US would likely see improvement in Western energy dependence. And Israel would have the opportunity to improve its relationship with the EU, not only by participating in a project of European interest but also by finding new clients for its own gas in the European market.

El Molla: Five IOC’s are carrying out $750 million Seismic Survey of Red Sea - ENERGY EGYPT / EGYPT OIL & GAS / AL MAL

June 22, 2017

Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, stated that Ganoub El Wadi Petroleum Holding Company (GANOPE) had agreed with five International Oil Companies (IOC’s) six months ago to conduct a $750m seismic survey in the Red Sea to prepare reports on the reserves of oil and gas in the territorial waters after the re-demarcation of the border With Saudi Arabia, according to Al Mal.

Moreover, El Molla highlighted, during the annual Iftar at the Ministry, that the IOC’s will submit the reports by the end of the year. Then, the surveyed areas will be offered through a general tender for exploration. He also pointed out that the re-demarcation process will be beneficial like the previous re-demarcation with Cyprus, which was followed by discovering Zohr field.

In related news, El Molla attended the 9th meeting of the Higher Committee for following up on the development of Zohr field project and reviewed the construction work in Zohr as 71% of the project was completed in May 2017.

Delek Said to Start Roadshow for $1.1 Billion Gas IPO Next Week - BLOOMBERG

Thursday, June 22, 2017Yaacov Benmeleh

(Bloomberg) -- Delek Group Ltd. will start a roadshow next week to sell a stake in a $12.3 billion natural gas field off Israel’s shores, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Israel’s biggest energy company, controlled by billionaire Yitzhack Teshuva, will meet with investors in Tel Aviv, London and the U.S. for the planned initial public offering of Tamar Petroleum, a special purpose vehicle that owns 9.25 percent of the Tamar gas reservoir, the person said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

Tel Aviv exchange to see largest IPO on gas field sale - CNBC

A large digital ticker shows financial information outside the
entrance to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) in Tel Aviv, Israel
 on August 4, 2016. Rina Castelnuovo | Bloomberg via Getty Images

Ferry Biedermann; special to CNBC.com
22 JUNE 2017

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, TASE, is about to see its largest IPO ever with the sale of part of the Tamar natural gas field by Delek Drilling. A new company, Tamar Petroleum, is to acquire 9.25 percent of the field as well as part of Delek's holding in the smaller Dalit field and will next month issue an offering of about $1.2 billion in stocks and bonds to finance the deal.

Delek's divestment is part of antitrust measures under which the company is to sell its entire 31.3 per cent stake in Tamar, currently the main field from which Israel draws its natural gas. Its partner, Texas-based Noble Energy, will reduce its share in the field from 33 to 25 percent. Last year it sold 3 percent to move towards that goal. This allows both companies to maintain their share in the much larger Leviathan gas field that will come online in the coming years.

Russia's Gazprom sees Turkish Stream pipeline cost at $6 bln - REUTERS

Thu Jun 22, 2017 9:03am GMTReporting by Oksana Kobzeva; writing by Katya Golubkova; editing by Dmitry Solovyov

MOSCOW, June 22 (Reuters) - Russia's largest natural gas producer Gazprom estimates the cost of building two lines of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline at $6 billion, Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Andrei Kruglov told a news briefing on Thursday.

The first line is to run to Turkey, while the second one will ship natural gas to Europe. 

Shell wins E&P tender in North Um Baraka concession - ENTERPRISE / AL BORSA / AL MASRY AL YOUM

Thursday, 22 June 2017

Shell won exploration rights in the North Um Baraka concession in the Western Desert, Oil Minister Tarek El Molla announced yesterday, Al Borsa reports. No details were provided on the expected investment value. 

El Molla, Shell VP Sami Iskander, and Shell Egypt Managing Director Gasser Hanter also met yesterday discussed drilling new wells in its concessions, Al Masry Al Youm reports, providing little detail. The Shell officials said their company is moving to increase production from its concessions in the Western Desert and in the Mediterranean.

Egypt expects to raise US$150mn from the IPO of ENPPI - OIL REVIEW AFRICA

Wednesday, 21 June 2017 06:05

With an aim to raise US$150mn from an initial public offering (IPO), Egyptian government plans to sell 24 per cent stake of the state-owned Engineering for the Petroleum and Process Industries (ENPPI) on the domestic equity market

Egypt is looking forward to make this IPO programme successful to add value to the country’s economic development.

Privately managed NI Capital, Egypt’s state-owned financial consultancy, will evaluate the fair value of ENPPI before the end of 2017.

Ashraf Ghazaly, CEO of NI Capital, said that it expects to raise between US$100mn-US$150mn from the ENPPI’s IPO.

Turkish market expects rise in power tariff but not gas - ICIS

21 June 2017 11:58

Aura Sabadus

Turkish energy companies expect an average 4% power tariff hike from as early as July, but a natural gas tariff rise is unlikely to happen until the end of the year at the earliest, according to a survey conducted by ICIS.

The market is expecting an average gas tariff rise of 6.5%.

Tariff increases help guarantee minimum margins for companies active in the gas and power sectors and tend to trigger increases in free-floating electricity and gas prices.

A total of 11 companies responded to the survey and their expectations related to the tariff hike and the likely timeline for the increase are given in the graphs [herein].

EGL & KADMAR make its mark on Zohr, the biggest Mediterranean gas discovery - ENERGY EGYPT

June 21, 2017

Egyptian Global Logistics EGL subsidiary of KADMAR Group succeeded in handling the kick off for Egypt Mega Gas Project using the fleet of extendable trailers handling joint of 28 meters length & weighting 40 tons for Saipem project Zohr; the biggest gas discovery in Egyptian waters in the Mediterranean.

EGL completed the port handling from gearless vessel at Alexandria Port in Egypt followed by trucking to storage area and reload to the Saipem base at Abu Qir Port for shipping to the Zohr offshore located 120 miles North East Port Said.

Is Ukraine’s Naftogaz struggling to find investment banker to help it exit Egypt? - ENTERPRISE / INTERFAX

Wednesday, 21 June 2017

Naftogaz Ukrainy is reportedly having a tough time divesting its Egyptian assets after canceling “the second tender to provide investment banking services related to Naftogaz upstream assets in Egypt and search for potential buyers” as only one bid was submitted, Russia’s Interfax says. The news service claims “only E&Y LLC took part in the tender, while at the first tender France’s Lazard Frères showed its interest.” 

Naftogaz first announced intention to sell its Egyptian assets in March. Naftogaz is said to have two concessions in the Eastern Desert. We’re aware that citing a Russian source on anything Ukrainian (or vice versa) is fraught, but perhaps there’s an opportunity for someone enterprising enough to look into this.

IGB construction expected to begin at end of year - ENERGY PRESS

21.6.2017

Construction of the prospective IGB (Greek-Bulgarian Interconnector) project will begin at the end of this year, officials involved in the project have ascertained.

According to sources, an additional market test aiming to increase the commitment of companies with respect to their pipeline capacity reservations is essentially already underway, despite the fact that the process has yet to be officially launched. Negotiations with gas companies are already being held.

Regardless of the results to be produced by these negotiations, the IGB project is expected to be developed as it ranks as a leading EU infrastructure priority.

Energean submits FDP for Karish and Tanin gas fields, offshore Israel - WORLD OIL

JUNE/20/2017

LONDON -- Energean Oil & Gas has announced that its subsidiary, Energean Israel, has submitted the Field Development Plan (FDP) for the Karish and Tanin natural gas fields, offshore Israel, to the Israeli Petroleum Commissioner.

Energean Israel holds 100% of Karish and Tanin, which combined have 2.7 Tcf of natural gas and 41 MMboe of light hydrocarbon liquids, totaling 531 MMboe 2C resources.

The Karish Main Development envisages drilling three wells, using a new Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit that will be installed approximately 90 km away from shore, with 400 MMscfd capacity. The development through an FPSO will enable Energean to maximize the recovery of reserves and minimize environmental impact. It will also allow light hydrocarbons liquid to be safely processed, stored and offloaded away from the coast, with minimal onshore installations needed.

Egypt unveils China-made multi-purpose supply vessel, largest in Mideast - XINHUA

The 90-meter long, 4,744-ton vessel is equipped with a
lever that can reach 2,000 meters in deep water, and a moon pool
that allows a submarine to pass through it to
3,000 meters under the sea. (Xinhua/Zhao Dingzhe)

20 June 2017

ISMAILIA, Egypt, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) Mohab Mamish on Wednesday raised the Egyptian flag on the largest multi-purpose supply vessel in the Middle East, which is made in China.

Named after former SCA chairman Ahmad Fadel, the ship was built by Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard in China.

"The Suez Canal Authority is sparing no effort to modernize its potentials in the service of regional and international maritime navigation," Mamish said at an inauguration ceremony, adding that the vessel will provide specialized logistic navigation services.

China's State Grid seals acquisition of stake in Greek power grid - REUTERS

Tue Jun 20, 2017 6:54pm GMT
Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; editing by Susan Thomas

ATHENS, June 20 (Reuters) - China's State Grid, the world's biggest utility, concluded on Tuesday the acquisition of a minority stake in Greece's power grid operator ADMIE, Beijing's second big investment in the bailed-out country in more than a year.

Under its latest international bailout by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, Greece has agreed to spin off ADMIE from its state-controlled power utility Public Power Corp. and sell a 24 percent stake to State Grid for 320 million euros ($356 million).

Two teams forming for DESFA tender, expected this week - ENERGY PRESS

20.6.2017 

Two camps appear to be forming as the main candidates in a new sale offering 66 percent of DESFA, Greece’s natural gas grid operator, whose tender could be announced this Thursday.

Italy’s Snam, emerging as the outright favorite, could bid alone or as part of a consortium with a non-operator co-investor such as the fund SFPI, which recently expressed an interest in DEFSA.

Libya's Oil Output Rises To 885,000 Bpd Following Wintershall Deal - RIGZONE / REUTERS

Monday, June 19, 2017Ahmad Ghaddar, Editing by Jason Neely

LONDON, June 19 (Reuters) - Libya's oil production has risen by over 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 885,000 bpd after the state oil firm settled a dispute with Germany's Wintershall that had slashed production by some 160,000 bpd, a Libyan oil source told Reuters on Monday.

Last week, the National Oil Corp said it expected OPEC member Libya's production to recover to 900,000 bpd in the short term.

The NOC and Wintershall reached an interim agreement last week on an upstream contract dispute that began earlier this year.

EU rule on government payments: implications for oil & gas industry - CYPRUS MAIL / PwC

Cyprus' president, Nicos Anastasiades

June 19, 2017

An estimated 3.5 billion people live in countries endowed with oil, gas and mineral reserves. Despite the fact that the citizens of these countries are the legal owners of the natural resources, in many cases governments have hindered the efficient exploitation of such resources resulting in unequal wealth distribution, poverty and lack of sustainable economic development. Evidence suggests that this occurs mainly in under-developed countries, with high level corruption and lack of transparency considered among the main factors culpable.

There are a number of examples of nations with a long history of poor governance and corruption where, despite significant hydrocarbon discoveries and initial hope for long term development, an almost total economic collapse was experienced. Per capita income dropped to half of what it was before the hydrocarbons were discovered and only a fraction of total oil & gas revenues accruing to the government was transferred to the budget, with the majority not properly accounted for.

Alliance completes strategy of transforming Egypt into regional centre for energy-trading - DAILY NEWS EGYPT

Monday June 19, 2017

Petroleum Ministry implements plan to expand the ports, establish petroleum storage and trading projects
A specialised alliance is set to complete a strategy to transform Egypt into a regional energy trading hub in November.

Sources at the Ministry of Petroleum said that Egypt’s transformation into a regional centre for energy trading and trading not only covers a part of the needs of the local market but also serves to meet the needs of the regional market, adding value to the Egyptian economy and attracting foreign investment.

The sources noted that Egypt has many qualifications to enable it to play this role, including the important discoveries in the field of oil and gas, especially in the Mediterranean region.

Eastern Libya Takes Away Glencore’s Crude - PETROLEUM AFRICA

Monday, June 19, 2017

Authorities in Eastern Libya have withdrawn Glencore’s rights to export oil from the Marsa al Hariga port. The withdrawal of rights can be attributed to the fact that one of the oil trader’s major shareholders is Qatari firm Qatar Holding LLC.

Leaders in eastern Libya are apparently joining the rest of the Arab world in the isolation of Qatar for its alleged sponsoring of terrorism.

If Glencore does not export the production from the Marsa al Hariga port, this effectively takes 250,000 bpd of Libyan crude off the market as the oil trader has exclusive marketing rights for the oil coming from the eastern fields.

East Med pipeline possible says Netanyahu - CYPRUS MAIL

JUNE 18, 2017

President Anastasiades, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipris and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

THE East Med pipeline taking gas to Europe from reserves in Israel, Cyprus and south of Cyprus was a visible possibility, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview published on Sunday.

In an exclusive interview with Kathimerini newspaper, Netanyahu, said that if the pipeline became a reality, it would have tremendous prospects.

President Nicos Anastasiades, Netanyahu, and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who met on Thursday in Thessaloniki for their fourth trilateral Summit, said in a declaration issued afterwards they would speed up plans for the development of a pipeline channelling gas to Europe from newly discovered east Mediterranean reserves.

Agiba commissions Enppi for EPC work on Meleiha field - ENTERPRISE

June 18, 2017

Eni JV Agiba has commissioned Enppi to develop crude oil shipping systems from its Meleiha field in the Western Desert, Al Mal reports. 

Enppi will provide engineering, procurement, and construction works for pumps on the field. 

A source says the project will be completed within nine months, but did not provide information on the value of the contract.