Egypt's Zohr gas field to yield 350 mln cubic feet daily by end-2017 -ministry - REUTERS

DECEMBER 1, 2017 / 2:39 PM

Reporting by Ehab Farouk, writing by John Davison; editing by Susan Fenton

CAIRO, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Egypt’s giant new offshore Zohr gas field in the Mediterranean is set to begin production by year-end and would initially yield 350 million cubic feet per day, the petroleum ministry said on Friday.

Production would increase to around 1 billion cubic feet per day by mid-2018, it said.

Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said in September Zohr was set to produce 500 million cubic feet per day by the end of 2017.

The Zohr field was discovered in 2015 by Italy’s Eni with an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Egypt’s own natural gas output rose to about 5.1 billion cubic feet per day in 2017 from 4.4 billion cubic feet in 2016 with the start of production from the first phase of BP’s North Alexandria project.

The country has been seeking to speed up production from recently discovered fields, with an eye to halting imports by 2019 and achieving self-sufficiency.

Thyssenkrupp to build two major polymer plants in Turkey - HYDROCARBON PROCESSING

NOV/30/2017

Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions’ subsidiary Uhde Inventa-Fischer has signed a contract to build two new world-scale polymer plants for SASA Polyester Sanayi A.Ş in Adana, Turkey. One plant is planned to produce 380,000 tpy of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for low-viscosity applications.

The second plant will use Uhde Inventa-Fischer’s proprietary patented MTR technology to produce 216,000 tpy of resin for the production of PET bottles. Both new plants are among the largest single-line production plants for their respective products.

The scope of delivery for both projects will include basic and detail engineering, the delivery of all necessary components, and technical services for erection, pre-commissioning and commissioning supervision.

Delek's Q3 profit soars above NIS 1b after Tamar sale - GLOBES

Asi Bartfeld, CEO, Delek Group

29 Nov, 2017 14:16
Globes correspondent

Delek Group also announced that it intended to cash in its super royalties from the Tamar and Dalit reservoirs in the near future.

Yitzhak Tshuva-controlled Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG), whose share price has fallen 30% this year, today reported that its net profit had risen steeply to NIS 1.024 billion in the third quarter. NIS 873 million of this came from the sale of 9.25% of Delek Drilling Limited Partnership's (TASE: DEDR.L) holding in the Tamar natural gas reservoir to the Tamar Petroleum partnership. Delek Group's net profit in the third quarter of 2016 was NIS 85 million.

Indian, Greek E&P groups bid for licenses offshore Israel -OFFSHORE MAGAZINE

11/29/2017

HAIFA, Israel – Israel’s government has closed the country’s 1st offshore licensing round.

The Ministry of Energy received bids from Athens-based Energean, which is currently developing the offshore Karish and Tanin gas fields; and from a consortium of Indian companies comprising ONGC Videsh, Bharat PetroResources, Indian Oil Corp., and Oil India.

Dr. Yuval Steinitz, Minister of Energy, said: “This bid round is the first step in a long-term process that would lead to full exploitation of gas and oil resources in the Israeli EEZ for the benefit of the Israeli citizens.

“We are planning to launch a 2nd licensing round in 2018, where lessons learned from the 1st bid round will be incorporated, and thus continue the effort to develop these strategic assets in the Israel’s exclusive economic zone.”

NOC’s Sanalla in Cairo seeking Egyptian help - LIBYA HERALD

Sanalla with Egyptian oil minister Tarek El Mollah (Photo: NOC)

Tunis, 28 November 2017

National Oil Corporation (NOC) chief Mustafa Sanalla has been in Cairo seeking to ginger up cooperation with Egypt to help repair and expand Libya’s creaking oil and gas infrastructure.

The meeting with Egyptian oil minister Tarek El Mollah looked at ways that Egyptian oil services companies might become involved in rehabilitating oil and gas infrastructure as well as building new tanks, plus a host of other services such as training and organising conferences and exhibitions.

Sanalla’s talks with El Mollah came seven months after he and Presidency Council (PC) deputy head Ahmed Maetig separately hosted Egyptian oil chiefs in Tripoli.

It was agreed then that Egyptian companies that had withdrawn after 2014 should return. A joint working group was created to see how this could best be managed.

Israel and Cyprus: Untying the Gordian Knot on East Mediterranean Gas - MODERN DIPLOMACY

NOV 27, 2017

Antonia Dimou

Gas exploration and drilling activities in Israeli and Cypriot waters along with licensing rounds for blocks near the super-giant Zohr gas field raise the likelihood for large gas discoveries in the East Mediterranean. Israel and Cyprus speed up efforts for the development of energy resources to be primarily channeled to Europe.

Europe is considered as prime export destination for regional supplies of liquefied natural gas given that the continent is seeking to enhance energy supply and transit security.

Israel seems to be taking two steps forward and one step back on natural gas. A renewed Israeli gas regulation framework has portended a competitive market as new companies acquire offshore drilling rights. It is in this context that a Greek company, Energean Oil and Gas has secured full ownership of Israeli Karish and Tanin gas fields at the price of 148 million dollars aiming to deliver 88 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas to the Israeli market in the next forty years. The Greek company has submitted a field development plan to the Israeli government and secured sales agreements for more than 3 bcm annually at a 20 percent price discount compared to Leviathan partners’ pricing to Israeli power provider Dalia Power Energies and its sister company Or Power Energies. This arrangement has set the stage for competition that will benefit consumers and the Israeli economy.

Aramco likely to begin refining fuel in Egypt in 1Q2018 – officials - ENTERPRISE

Monday, 27 November 2017

Aramco likely to begin refining fuel in Egypt in 1Q2018 -officials: Saudi Aramco is likely to begin refining crude oil in Egyptian refineries in 1Q2018, an official from the Oil Ministry tells Al Shorouk, initially at the Middle East Oil Refinery (MIDOR). Egypt will receive the 700k tons of fuel per month from Aramco — under the existing five-year fuel supply agreement — for MIDOR’s refineries, with excess output being exported, the official stated. He noted that talks are still ongoing with the Saudi’s largest oil producer. Oil Minister Tarek El Molla had confirmed earlier this month that talks had been taking place with Aramco to refine fuel here and that refining would begin at some point in early 2018. This follows other reports that Aramco had agreed to a plan last month to ship crude through the SUMED pipeline and use Sidi Kerir as a center for exporting refined output to Europe.

Israel, Egypt government ministers said to discuss gas exports - WORLD OIL / BLOOMBERG

NOVEMBER/26/2017
DAVID WAINER

TEL AVIV (Bloomberg) -- Government ministers from Egypt and Israel held a call last week to discuss the potential sale of Israeli gas to Egypt, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

Egyptian Oil Minister Tarek El-Molla and Israel’s energy minister, Yuval Steinitz, spoke after an interview El-Molla gave to Bloomberg earlier this month sent shares of Israeli gas companies tumbling on speculation Egypt would halt talks on buying gas from Israel, the person said. El-Molla told Steinitz that Israeli gas exports to Egypt, which would be carried via pipeline, are still on the table, the person said.

Shares of Israeli gas producers extended their gains, with Delek Group Ltd. up 7.8% to 550 shekels at 3:26 p.m. in Tel Aviv.