Saturday, June 30, 2018

First Gas Deliveries to Turkey Launched Via TANAP Pipeline - SPUTNIK NEWS

30.JUNE.2018, 14:24 

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Azerbaijan has started first gas deliveries to Turkey via the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP), Southern Gas Corridor CJSC General Director Afgan Isayev said in a statement.

"The SGC project has been financially supported by the leading international financial institutions, and Phase-0 under TANAP project, which relates to the works required for the first commercial gas deliveries to Turkey, has already been completed. First commercial gas deliveries to Turkey has commenced today, on 30 June 2018. The works planned for the delivery of natural gas to Europe through Turkey in the near future are being carried out according to the schedule," Isayev was quoted as saying in the statement.

According to the statement, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA, part of World Bank group) has approved the loan for the Azerbaijan Republic totaling $750 million to finance the TANAP project.

It will transport gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas field to Turkey and Europe.

The target capacity of the TANAP pipeline is 31 billion cubic meters of gas per year. The pipeline is 1,150 miles long.

Nord Stream 2 Gas Pipeline to Improve European Energy Security - Moscow - SPUTNIK NEWS

30.JUNE.2018, 11:19 
Sergey Guneev

VIENNA (Sputnik) - The European Union realizes that Russia is the guarantor of the European energy security, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Sputnik commenting on the US calls to abandon the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.

"I think that everyone in Europe realizes that Russia is the guarantor of continent's energy security. And if we talk about US ambitions to ensure this security, the current US share in the European gas market is about only two percent," Grushko said in an interview.

The energy cooperation requires maximum depoliticization and should be based on economic interests, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Sputnik.

"We have always assumed that the energy cooperation should be based on economic factors. It is necessary to achieve maximum depoliticization of such cooperation, to eliminate the influence of any geopolitical factors," Grushko noted.

The construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will improve the European energy security, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister stated.

Friday, June 29, 2018

Saipem/PMS to manage Zohr life of field operations - OFFSHORE MAGAZINE

JUNE/29/2018

SAN DONATO MILANESE, Italy – Saipem, in a consortium with Petroleum Marine Services (PMS), has won a contract to provide life of field operations for Petrobel’s deepwater Zohr gas field development in the Egyptian sector of the Mediterranean Sea.

Operations will be managed from PMS’ DP-2 vessel Ahmed Fadel, with Saipem subsidiary Sonsub performing subsea equipment management and servicing.

Stefano Porcari, director of operations of Saipem’s Offshore E&C division, said: “This contract confirms Saipem’s leadership position…as a provider of global offshore solutions, from concept to end-of-life of a subsea field.”

Cyprus contract awarded - THE TIMES OF MALTA

Friday, June 29, 2018, 06:38

Medserv has announced that it has signed a second contract with a multinational oil and gas corporation (TEKMOR note: ExxonMobil most likely) to provide shore base logistics services for exploration activities taking place offshore Cyprus.

To provide these services, the company will be setting up additional logistics facilities in the port of Limassol. It is expected that this contract will be serviced through the group’s internal resources.

Medserv also supports the offshore activity of ENI in the region. The award of this contract is another major step to broaden the group’s oil and gas client portfolio and establishes the company now in eight countries as tendering activity continues.

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Eni To Begin Gas Exploration At Egypt Noor Field In Two Months -RIGZONE / REUTERS

Thursday, June 28, 2018
Reporting by Ahmed Ismail Writing by Eric Knecht. Editing by Jane Merriman

CAIRO, June 28 (Reuters) - Italian oil company Eni will begin drilling an exploratory well at its Noor field in Egypt's North Sinai in two months, Egyptian oil ministry spokesman Hamdi Abel Aziz told Reuters on Thursday.

Egypt's cabinet approved the $105 million deal to explore the North Sinai region of the Mediterranean Sea in March.

Eni's discovery of the giant Mediterranean gas field Zohr in 2015, estimated to hold about 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, has raised interest in gas exploration in Egypt.

The company has not said what level of reserves they expect Noor to contain, and the exploratory well will help to begin determine that, Abdelaziz said.

Pioneering Spirit Resumes Work on TurkStream Pipeline - MARITIME EXECUTIVE

2018-JUNE-28, 17:54:38

Less than a month after completing a successful platform installation off Norway, the Pioneering Spirit has resumed pipelay work on the TurkStream pipeline under the Black Sea. She has had a busy year: she finished building the pipeline's first string on April 30, exited the Black Sea on May 2, installed a 22,000 tonne topsides unit at the Johan Sverdrup field off Norway in early June, and entered the Black Sea once more on June 20.

Upon her return at the TurkStream site, the Pioneering Spirit conducted preparatory work, including stinger deployment and pipelay equipment checks. Once she was ready, the unfinished head of the second pipeline string was recovered from the bottom of the Black Sea, at a depth of 7,100 feet. The initial 120 nm section of the second string was built in 2017, and was only completed up to the Russian-Turkish EEZ border.

Libya State Oil Co. confident eastern rival can't ship crude - WORLD OIL



JUNE/28/2018

CAIRO (Bloomberg) -- The chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corp. in Tripoli said he’s confident that the U.S. and other world powers would help block authorities in eastern Libya from exporting any crude after militia captured key ports there.

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Natural Gas: Cyprus Heading towards a New Energy Era - CYPRUS MAIL

JUNE 27, 2018

Two European co-funded projects Cynergy and Cyprus Gas2EU, organised a Discussion Forum with the title “Natural Gas: Cyprus Heading towards a New Energy Era” at the Filoxenia Conference Centre in Nicosia. The event was under the auspices of the Ministry of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism and the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works, and attracted more than 160 delegates from the transport and energy sectors, public bodies, and international organisations. The first official presentation of the CYnergy video was also held during the event.

In his welcome speech, Mr. Lakkotrypis emphasized on the importance of CYnergy, as being an extremely important project for Cyprus, since it sets the foundations for importing LNG and thus contributes to the island’s energy security and the roll-out of gas market. He also added that CyprusGas2EU is a project of particular national importance, as it will help Cyprus to finally wean itself off conventional fossil fuels for electricity production, which currently account for approximately 90 per cent.

Israeli energy stocks plunge on huge Egyptian gas find reports - GLOBES



27 Jun, 2018 12:54
Sonia Gorodeisky


Italian co Eni is reportedly set to announce the Noor gas discovery, which will even dwarf the massive Zohr field.

Egyptian media reports that Italian energy company Eni is about to announce a massive offshore gas discovery in the coming few days have been enough to seen energy stocks on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) plunging. With an estimated 2,550 billion cubic meters (BCM) of gas, Noor would be three times larger than the Zohr gas field, over five times larger than Israel's Leviathan field and more than ten times the Tamar field.

At midday, Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) was down 3.42%, Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L) was down 4.46%, Isramco Ltd. (Nasdaq: ISRL; TASE: ISRA.L) was down 3.63% and Ratio Oil Exploration (1992) LP (TASE:RATI.L) was down 4.70%.

Former Egyptian Petroleum Minister Osama Kamal said, “If you remember two months ago we said that more discoveries will follow in this area. Hopefully, this great news will be announced by the President and the minister of petroleum in a few days.”

Washington ‘cultivating Greece as anchor of stability,’ says Mitchell - KATHIMERINI

WEDNESDAY JUNE 27, 2018, 13:39

US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell told Congress’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday that Washington is “constructing a long-term strategy to bolster the US presence in the Eastern Mediterranean.”

To this end, “we are cultivating Greece as an anchor of stability in the Mediterranean and Western Balkans and working to systematically strengthen security and energy cooperation with Cyprus,” he stressed.

Asked about Turkey, Mitchell said that “our immediate concerns are to… prevent Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 system; and to develop a modus vivendi for our respective forces and local partners in stabilizing Northern Syria and preventing ISIS’s return.”

The American official also said that securing the release by Turkish authorities of an American pastor, Andrew Brunson, and other unjustly detained US citizens and local embassy staff, was also among Washington’s top priorities vis-à-vis Ankara.

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Israel to Ease Drilling Curbs to Entice Majors to Next AuctionBy - BLOOMBERG



June 26, 2018, 12:30 AM GMT+3Stephen Cunningham

  • Egypt deal, planned gas pipeline improve export outlook
  • Sees progress on resolving Cyprus row over gas reservoir
Israel plans to relax drilling restrictions as it gets ready to offer up more offshore exploration licenses later this year following a lackluster reaction last time around.
From talks already held or planned with some of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips and BP Plc, it “seems as if there is a lot of interest,” Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said in an interview in Washington on Monday.

Monday, June 25, 2018

Cyprus’s potential export pipeline to Egypt and recent exploration success - OFFSHORE TECHNOLOGY / GLOBALDATA ENERGY


25 JUNE 2018

Cyprus is likely to join Egypt and Israel as a key player in the Eastern Mediterranean area now that the pipeline from the Aphrodite field to Egypt has become a tangible reality. This turnout is expected to trigger further exploration activity by operators in the country and Cyprus can see a substantial investment in upstream natural gas developments in the near future.

Delek Energy, a key stakeholder, has also proposed a partnership in the export pipeline to potentially secure an additional export route for its Leviathan field in Israel placing even greater focus on Cyprus’ role in the gas sector.

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Noor reserves will rank among the largest gas fields: Eni - EGYPT INDEPENDENT / AL MASRY AL YOUM

June 24, 2018
1:33 pm

Sources from the Ministry of Oil said on Saturday that the ministry has discussed new exploration plans for the Noor gas field in the Shorok concession area of the Mediterranean Sea with the Italian multinational company Eni which sees it ranked among the largest gas fields worldwide.

According to sources, the Noor field reserves are expected to reach over 90 trillion cubic feet, three times that of the Zohr Field reserves (
TEKMOR Note: Not confirmed yet via a second source).

Eni’s CEO Claudio Descalzi held a meeting with Minister of Oil Tarek al-Mula on Saturday, and said that his company has allocated 70 percent of its global investments to Egypt.

Descalzi added Eni has injected $8.4 billion in the Nawras and Zohr gas fields in Egypt, and that Eni will inject a further $3 billion.

Oil expert Ahmed Abdel Halim told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the large amount of Eni’s investments going towards gas explorations in Egypt indicates the massive explorations carried out by the company.

Did Eni pledge USD 3 bn in investments in Egypt? Plus: We could be exporting natural gas by year’s end, early 2019 - ENTERPRISE

Sunday, 24 June 2018

INVESTMENT WATCH- Did Eni pledge USD 3 bn in investments in Egypt? Eni plans to allocate USD 3 bn in new investments in Egypt over “the coming period,” Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said, according to a purported statement from the Oil Ministry floating around in the local press on Thursday. The company’s investments in the fields of Nooros and Zohr now stood at USD 8.4 bn, Descalzi reportedly said during a sit down with Oil Minister Tarek El Molla.

Eni is also keen on exploring possible projects in renewable energy, Descalzi said in a meeting with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, according to an Ittihadiya statement. While the statement gave no detail, it is likely that Descalzi is speaking of building a 50 MW solar power plant in the Red Sea’s Abu Redis to sell power directly to consumers under an independent power producer (IPP) framework. Eni was one of five companies that had submitted proposals back in April to build under the IPP framework.

Mubadala enters Egypt with Zohr acquisition: Descalzi’s statements come a day after Eni finalized a 10% stake sale in the Shorouk concession, which holds the Zohr gas field, to the UAE’s Mubadala Petroleum, according to a statement from the Oil Ministry. The USD 934 mn agreement, which was signed by Eni in March, now sees Eni’s share through its JV with the Oil Ministry IEOC fall to 50%, with Rosneft holding a 30% and BP taking 10% alongside Mubadala’s 10%. More reading: Eni statement’s (pdf) on the transaction.