SDX reports gas discovery in Egypt - OIL & GAS JOURNAL

HOUSTON, MAY/18/2018

SDX Energy Inc., London, expects to start production by year end from a natural gas discovery made by its Ibn Yunus 1X well at South Disouq, Egypt (OGJ Online, Feb. 21, 2018).

On test, the well flowed at a stabilized rate of 39.3 MMscfd on a 32/64-in. choke, limited by surface facilities.

The well, drilled to 9,608 ft, encountered 100.8 ft of net natural gas pay in the Upper Miocene Abu Madi formation. Average porosity of the pay section is 28.5%.

SDX operates the South Disouq concession with a 55% interest. IPR Energy Resources Ltd., Irving, Tex., holds 45%.

‘No Cyprus problem if Turkey had not violated international law’ - CYPRUS MAIL

MAY 18, 2018

The Cyprus problem would not have arisen if the rules of international law had not been violated by Turkey, a Cypriot diplomat said addressing an open debate at the Security Council on upholding international law within the context of the maintenance of international peace and security.

“In the case of Cyprus, if the rules of international law had not been violated by Turkey the Cyprus problem would not have arisen,” Charge d’Affaires Menelaos Menelaou said.

And if these rules are applied today, in other words if Turkey had implemented what it preaches, he pointed out, “the main aspects of the problem, and especially the international aspects which form the heart of the issue, can be solved fairly for all parties concerned and in the interest of international peace.

“The Republic of Cyprus remains unequivocally committed to the principle of peaceful settlement of disputes,” he added.

According to Menelaou “two examples of this, are, its steadfast commitment and continued support to the UN brokered peace process in Cyprus, and its acceptance of the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice.

Pipelay under way at Leviathan offshore Israel - OFFSHORE MAGAZINE

MAY/17/2018

HOUSTON – Noble Energy’s Tamar gas field offshore Israel has completed its fifth year of operations, producing a cumulative 1.5 tcf.

First-quarter 2018 output was also a new record, with total sales volumes of 959 MMcfe/d.

Leviathan, the company’s second deepwater greenfield development project in the Israeli sector, is around 45% complete. Early last month a drilling rig started operations on the Leviathan-3 well, while a pipelay vessel is installing infield flowlines and gas-gathering pipelines that will connect to the platform.

Noble, which anticipates first gas sales from the field by end-2019, has recently executed various natural gas contracts with customers in Egypt and Israel bringing total volumes under contract for Leviathan to more than 900 MMcf/d.

Included in this amount is a new agreement with an existing customer to provide around 40 MMcf/d from Tamar starting in the current quarter, which will transfer to Leviathan following field start-up.

Partners commit to drill at South Ramadan offshore Egypt - OFFSHORE MAGAZINE

MAY/17/2018

LONDON – An appraisal well will spud by mid-year on the South Ramadan license in the Gulf of Suez offshore Egypt, according to partner SDX Energy.

This will be up-dip from one of the previous producing wells in the field. 

Total cost of the work program this year will be around $23.5 million, including some platform remediation work and a well workover, both dependent on the success of the appraisal well.

Jordan is Key Player in Israel's Energy Equation in Region - ALBAWABA NEWS

May 17th, 2018 - 18:00 GMT

Jordan is a key player in Israel's energy equation in the region as it could either make or break the Jordan-Israeli gas sales and purchase agreement that is vital to Israel's success as a regional energy player, according to the director of hydrocarbons at the Paris-based Mediterranean Energy Observatory (OME).

In September 2016, U.S.' Noble Energy, the operator of Israel's Leviathan gas field, signed a gas sales and purchase agreement with Jordan's National Electric Power Company Ltd. (NEPCO) to sell approximately three billion cubic meters of natural gas over a 15-year term.

"If Jordan cancels the gas deal signed with Israel following Israel's brutality in the Gaza Strip, there is no place for its gas to go, therefore, Israel can suffer huge losses in terms of energy income," Director Sohbet Karbuz told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview.

The deal in September 2016 was agreed despite widespread disapproval in Jordan for the purchase of Israel's energy. The past two years saw a number of popular demonstrations in Jordan's capital Amman against the proposed import of gas from the Jewish state.

Karbuz explained that Jordan is the most important market that these companies rely on to recover the billions of dollars of investments that these companies have made.

Greece's DEPA to sell stake in gas supplier to Eni - REUTERS

MAY 16, 2018 / 5:51 PM

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece’s biggest gas company DEPA said on Wednesday it had agreed to sell its holding in a local gas supplier to Italy’s Eni (ENI.MI) for 57 million euros ($67 million).

Under the agreement, state-controlled DEPA will sell its 51 percent stake in Thessaloniki-Thessaly Gas. Eni already holds a 49 percent stake in that company.

Under a bailout-sanctioned scheme to unbundle gas supply from distribution and boost competition in the industry, Greece needs to eliminate potential conflicts of interest between DEPA and domestic gas suppliers.

DEPA will stay in the broader Athens region but will pull out of the rest of Greece.

DEPA is also in talks to buy out Shell’s (RDSa.L) 49 percent stake in another gas supplier, Attiki Gas Supply Company, and a gas distributor in Athens and become the sole stakeholder in the two companies, sources close to the matter told Reuters.

One of the sources said the deal could be worth about 150 million euros.

Zohr brings turnaround in Egypt’s LNG fortunes - LNG WORLD SHIPPING

Wed 16 May 2018

Mike Corkhill

With the start of the third production unit at Egypt’s giant Zohr offshore gas field earlier this week, the country’s need for LNG imports is rapidly drawing to a close.

Production at Zohr, which only began in December 2017, now stands at 1.1Bn ft3 per day (bcfd). Eni, the operator of the Zohr field, along with its partners in the project and Egyptian National Gas Holding Company plan to boost the venture’s output to 2 bcfd by the end of 2018 and to reach a plateau production level of 2.9 bcfd by 2019. At that rate Zohr alone will meet 60% of Egypt’s entire gas demand.

The recently discovered Zohr field, with some 30Tn ft3 (tcf) of recoverable reserves, is the largest deposit of gas in the Mediterranean. It lies in the Shorouk Block 190 km north of Port Said.

Zohr is helping Egypt emerge from a gas-deficit scenario, which manifested itself earlier in the decade amid the Arab Spring uprising and the depletion of domestic gas reserves, much more quickly than anticipated.

Are Eni and Lukoil investing in USD 700 mn gas plant in the Western Desert? - ENTERPRISE

Monday, 14 May 2018

INVESTMENT WATCH- Are Eni and Lukoil investing in USD 700 mn gas plant the in Western Desert? Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Lukoil plan to invest USD 700 mn to develop a natural gas processing plant in the Western Desert, said Mohamed El Kaffas, chairman of Eni joint venture AGIBA. The plant is expected to have a capacity of 100 mcf/d with plans to ship the processed gas to Alexandria through a 200 km pipeline, he tells Egypt Today. The plant is expected to be completed in three years. AGIBA plans to drill 28 wells in the Western Desert concessions in tandem with the development of the plant.

Caveat emptor: We have not seen this story covered anywhere else in the press and we await comment from Eni confirming the project.

Dana Gas reportedly reaches settlement agreement with sukuk holders - ENTERPRISE

Sunday, 13 May 2018

The UAE’s Dana Gas appears to have reached a settlement agreement with holders of its USD 700m sukuk. “A committee representing sukuk holders, which include BlackRock Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., agreed to accept an immediate cash payout of USD 0.20 to the USD and to roll the rest into a three-year security,” sources with knowledge of the matter tell Bloomberg. The agreement would bring the Sharjah-based producer’s court case with its Islamic bond holders to an end.