Pyatt: Greece key to Europe’s energy diversification - KATHIMERINI

2 March 2019 : 15:51

“Greece has clearly emerged as a key European hub for energy diversification,” US Ambassador to Athens Geoffrey Pyatt said in an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency on the sidelines of the Delphi Economic Forum on Saturday.

Pyatt said that the US will continue to work on all its energy partnerships in the country, including the LNG terminal on Revithoussa island, the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) and ExxonMobil’s exploration with Hellenic Petroleum (ELPE) off southern Crete. He also welcomed ExxonMobil’s discovery of what is seen as the biggest natural gas find off the coast of Cyprus.

Asked about the US-Greece Strategic Dialogue launched in Washington in December, Pyatt said it was “deepening and institutionalizing our alliance with Greece.” He said that the two sides have established working groups dealing with investments, homeland security and defense issues.

“All of this intends to keep the progress moving forward,” he said, adding he expects another round of meetings by the end of 2019.

The American ambassador was upbeat about the economic benefits of the name deal signed between Athens and Skopje, saying that the “Prespes agreement is going to unlock all of the opportunities for Greece to deepen trade, investment and economic relations with all of its northern neighbors.”

“We are really seeing Thessaloniki recapturing its role as the capital of the Balkans, Greek companies are already some of the largest investors in Skopje... and new projects are happening on energy, electricity,” Pyatt said.

US secretary of state to attend Cyprus trilateral meeting - CYPRUS MAIL

MARCH 2, 2019

GEORGE PSYLLIDES

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be taking part in the next trilateral meeting between Cyprus, Greece, and Israel, Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides said on Saturday.

“US interest in taking part in the trilateral summit between Cyprus, Greece and Israel was conveyed to us some time ago and we were in constant contact to set a specific date,” Christodoulides told the Cyprus News Agency.

“It so happens that the meeting in question with the USA represented at foreign minister level can take place on March 20 in Israel.”

One of the main issues to be discussed is energy security, the minister added.

The meeting comes in the wake of ExxonMobil’s discovery of between 5-8 trillion cubic feet in an offshore field inside the island’s exclusive economic zone.

Investors frustrated by license delays for Crete exploration - ENERGY PRESS

01/March/2019

Contrary to Cyprus, providing oil majors investor-friendly conditions for their hydrocarbon exploration activities, ExxonMobil’s recent Glaucus-1 gas discovery emerging as a shining example, conditions in Greece are undermining the efforts of investors.

A consortium comprising Total, Exxon Mobil and ELPE (Hellenic Petroleum), established for hydrocarbon exploration work off Crete, has been held back by Greek government delays over the past few months.

Though most of the preliminary work has been completed, the trio of investors is still waiting for the Greek government to issue an exploration license, which would enable it to commence work at blocks off Crete.

An environmental impact study provided by the consortium for blocks west and southwest of Crete is said to have inexplicably fallen into stagnancy at one of the offices of the energy ministry’s environmental division over the past couple of months. It needs to be approved as part of the license issuing procedure.

New Cyprus gas find seen as game changer - KATHIMERINI

01.MARCH.2019 : 20:53
VASSILIS NEDOS

The announcement on Thursday that US energy giant ExxonMobil has made a “world-class” discovery in Block 10 of Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), containing 5-8 trillion cubic feet of gas, was widely seen as signifying that the energy game in the Eastern Mediterranean has only just begun and the main players’ next moves will determine their future geopolitical position in the wider region.

According to Cyprus Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis, the discovery is the biggest find so far in Cyprus and based on some official data it is one of the biggest finds worldwide in the past two years.”

He added that the find offers confirmation that there is the potential for further hydrocarbon discoveries off the island’s coast. The announcement was made two months after ExxonMobil began operations with its partner Qatar Petroleum in the Glaucos-1 and Delphyne-1 wells in Block 10.

The latest announcement has sparked speculation in Greece and Cyprus over the stance of Turkey, which has raised objections to Nicosia’s search for gas in the island’s EEZ.

Cyprus: Another Offshore Discovery Will Intensify a Regional Struggle Over Energy - STRATFOR

Feb 28, 2019 | 23:13 GMT

The Big Picture

Geopolitics and natural gas go hand in hand in the eastern Mediterranean, a region that entered the great game of natural gas competition 10 years ago with the discovery of the Tamar natural gas field off the coast of Israel. While Israel has since become a producer, Cyprus has struggled to follow suit despite striking gas just two years later. In the past year, however, new discoveries of natural gas reserves have reinvigorated the Cypriot natural gas sector, culminating in what may be the island country's largest discovery to date.

What Happened

ExxonMobil ended weeks of speculation with its announcement on Feb. 28 that it had struck a significant gas deposit at its Glaucus prospect, southwest of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Initial assessments suggest the reservoir could have between 142 billion and 227 billion cubic meters (5 trillion and 8 trillion cubic feet) of gas in place. Though just how much of this gas is recoverable remains unclear, the discovery adds to the growing amount of natural gas found in Cypriot waters.

When coupled with Noble Energy's Aphrodite gas field, discovered in 2011, and Eni's Calypso, discovered in 2018, Cyprus could well possess 500 billion cubic meters of gas without taking future potential discoveries into account. Though this quantity of natural gas would justify the construction of an undersea pipeline or a gas liquefaction plant for shipping via tanker, the geopolitical complications of the eastern Mediterranean must be taken into account.

ExxonMobil Makes Natural Gas Discovery Offshore Cyprus - EXXONMOBIL

Feb 28, 2019 - 07:15 a.m. EST

Irving Texas

• Glaucus-1 well encounters a gas-bearing reservoir of approximately 436 feet (133 meters)
• Well is located in offshore Block 10 southwest of Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean
• Further evaluation of Block 10 potential continues

IRVING, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ExxonMobil today said it has made a natural gas discovery offshore Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean at the Glaucus-1 well.

The well, located in Block 10, encountered a gas-bearing reservoir of approximately 436 feet (133 meters). The well was safely drilled to 13,780 feet (4,200 meters) depth in 6,769 feet (2,063 meters) of water.

Based on preliminary interpretation of the well data, the discovery could represent an in-place natural gas resource of approximately 5 trillion to 8 trillion cubic feet (142 billion to 227 billion cubic meters). Further analysis in the coming months will be required to better determine the resource potential.

“These are encouraging results in a frontier exploration area,” said Steve Greenlee, president of ExxonMobil Exploration Company. “The potential for this newly discovered resource to serve as an energy source for regional and global markets will be evaluated further.”

Glaucus-1 was the second of a two-well drilling program in Block 10. The first well, Delphyne-1, did not encounter commercial quantities of hydrocarbons.

Block 10 is 635,554 acres (2,572 square kilometers). ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Cyprus (Offshore) Limited is operator and holds 60 percent interest in the block. Qatar Petroleum International Upstream O.P.C. holds 40 percent interest.

ExxonMobil finds Cyprus’ largest gas discovery to date - IN CYPRUS

February 28, 2019 at 4:15pm

ExxonMobil has discovered natural gas at the Glaucus 1-well in plot 10 of Cyprus’ EEZ  — a find authorities said was the biggest off Cyprus since it started drilling for gas in 2011 and one of the biggest finds worldwide in the past two years.

A gas bearing reservoir discovered during exploratory drilling could potentially represent between 5 and 8 trillion cubic feet of gas, the company and the Cyprus government said.

The announcement was made by Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis and ExxonMobil’s Vice President Europe Russia Caspian and Asia Pacific / Middle East, Tristan Aspray.

“This is the biggest find so far in Cyprus, and based on some official data it is one of the biggest finds worldwide in the past two years,” Yiorgos Lakkotrypis said.  “The results demonstrate the potential of our EEZ because it is a high-quality  reservoir,” he added.

ExxonMobil declares large Cyprus gas find - GLOBES

28 Feb, 2019 17:46

Guy Ben Simon

The company believes Block 10 contains 5-8 TCF of gas. Leumi Capital Markets analyst Ella Fried: A regional hub no longer appears unrealistic.

Oil and gas exploration giant ExxonMobil today reported that it had found gas in Block 10 off the shores of Cyprus. The company put the find in the 5-8 TCF range, equivalent to 140-230 BCM of gas. For the sake of comparison, the Tamar gas reservoir contains 280 BCM. ExxonMobil's report is based on previous analysis of its exploratory drilling.

Senior Leumi Capital Markets analyst Ella Fried told "Globes," "This is a dramatic discovery, because the idea of a regional hub no longer appears unrealistic. Combined with the Aphrodite reservoir, the quantity of gas is close to that in Tamar. Furthermore, the US company's presence will probably be less sensitive to regional politics. Where the regional hub aspirations of Egypt and Israel are concerned, the addition of another US concern can only contribute to Israeli gas in the long term. It is very important for Israel to have other concerns here besides European ones like Eni and BP, because the Europeans are more sensitive to a connection with the Persian Gulf states. Other than Noble Energy, not a single US company operates in the Mediterranean Sea."

State veto rights for DEPA Trade despite minority stake - ENERGY PRESS

28/FEB/2019

Investors preparing for gas utility DEPA’s upcoming privatization will face ambiguous operating conditions as the Greek State, to begin by offering a majority 50.1 percent stake in DEPA Trade following an imminent company split ahead of the sale, is expected to maintain veto rights on a number of strategic matters despite its minority status in this trade venture.

Key issues to concern DEPA Trade will include the gas utility’s long-term agreements with major suppliers such as Russia’s Gazprom, Algeria’s Sonatrach and Turkey’s Botas.

DEPA’s contract with Gazprom, which runs until 2026 and is the biggest of all three, features a take-or-pay clause requiring the Greek gas utility to order no less than 1.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year or face fines.

DEPA’s supply agreements with Sonatrach and Botas both expire in 2021. The Botas agreement will not be extended as the soon-to-be-launched TAP project will provide direct supply to Greece from Azerbaijan. DEPA has already signed an agreement for one billion cubic meters of TAP-related natural gas per year.

Subsequently, the Greek State will maintain its influence over DEPA’s supply contracts with Sonatrach and Gazprom.

Cypriot Energy Minister Announcing the Glaucus 5-8 tcf discovery - LINKED-IN

28 February 2019 

Georgios Lakkotrypis, Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry & Tourism at Government of Cyprus:

"@ExxonMobil & @QatarPetroleum make a world-class discovery offshore #Cyprus at #Glaucus. A high-quality reservoir 5-8 TCF of #NatGas is added to the country’s reserves. It demonstrates the emergence of the Republic‘s #EEZ as an alternative indigenous source of supply to the #EU."

Egypt’s gas exports from Idku jumps to 800MCF/day - EGYPT TODAY

Wed, Feb. 27, 2019

CAIRO – 27 February 2019: Egypt’s natural gas exports from Idku plant rose to currently 800 million cubic feet of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per day up from about 250 million cubic feet per day in early January and 300 million cubic feet per day in 2018.

Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum Tarek el-Molla clarified to a local newspaper that LNG exports from Idku rose, so Egypt strongly returned to international markets after achieving self-sufficiency.

Molla added that Egypt has taken steps to become a regional hub for energy trading, including exporting liquefied gas from Idku export plant or supplying quantities of gas to Jordan to meet part of its needs.

He elaborated that the amount of gas directed to exports gradually increased because the local consumption lessened during the winter session and the production rate increased, meeting the needs of the industrial sector, power plants, cars and houses.

Petroleum Minister Molla referred to his ministry’s plan to link wells of Zohr, North Alexandria and Burullus to contribute in increasing the local production and covering the consumption rates, and to operating liquefaction plants, besides the gas coming from Cyprus and Israel.

Cyprus: likely gas field find raises prospect of tension with Turkey - THE GUARDIAN

A drillship off the coast of Limassol, Cyprus

Helena Smith

Nicosia, Mon 25 Feb 2019 12.07 GMT

Expected announcement by ExxonMobil of discovery off island’s south coast seen as potential game changer

Tensions between Cyprus and Turkey over energy could soon come to a head, with ExxonMobil apparently poised to announce a significant natural gas find off the divided island’s southern coast.

After more than three months of deep-water exploration in the eastern Mediterranean, the US firm is expected to unveil findings this week in what is being described as a seminal moment in the race to tap potentially profitable underwater resources.

TEKMOR VIEW: A modern David - Goliath story is unfolding. 

International hydrocarbons interest in Cyprus confirmed - CYPRUS MAIL

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

The biggest and most important hydrocarbons conference and exhibition in Egypt and the East Med region, EGYPS 2019, took place in Cairo earlier this month, and Cyprus took part with a country pavilion showing the Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company (CHC) and natural gas public company (DEFA) among others.

In a wide-ranging interview about the conference, Egypt’s Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla spoke about the country’s oil and gas achievements in 2018 and plans for 2019. The great success of 2018 was accelerating natural gas production, with Zohr at the forefront, as a result of which, by the end of the year, domestic gas consumption was exceeded for the first time since 2014. This helped Egypt become self-sufficient, stop LNG imports in October and re-start exports. By January Shell’s Idku LNG plant was exporting 0.52 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d).

The development of Zohr is reaching its final stage, and is expected to achieve 3.2 bcf/d plateau production by the end of 2019. This will allow the Damietta LNG plant to restart exports later in the year, once outstanding arbitration issues are resolved.

Cyprus could create a leaky hydrocarbons wealth fund - FINANCIAL MIRROR

As of 30 June 2018

24 February, 2019

A long-delayed bill creating a Cyprus hydrocarbons fund will be put to parliament for a vote, with the aim of utilising profits from natural gas for future generations to enjoy but there are fears the cash cow will be abused.

The government submitted the bill in 2015 but it got shelved as it fell victim to politics and confrontation between the parties.

While a general consensus was built amongst political parties that natural gas revenues should be set aside for future generations through the creation of the Hydrocarbons Fund, economists and some MPs have expressed fears that it will become a “fiscal hole filler”.

A University of Cyprus professor and energy policy expert said that while MPs are ready to vote in the bill, extra powers will be given to the Finance Minister and loopholes introduced.

“My fear is that we may see the Hydrocarbons Fund having the same fate as the Social Insurance Fund reserves which have been spent through the state budget,” said UCY professor Constantinos Papaloucas.

President Sisi thanks Cyprus for its contribution in the establishment of EU-Egypt relations - CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

CYPRUS/Nicosia 24/02/2019 13:43 

President of Egypt Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has expressed his gratitude to President Nicos Anastasiades for his contribution in establishing relations between his country and the EU.

Anastasiades who arrived Sunday at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh for the first EU-Arab league Summit, was received by President Sisi in the morning. 

President Anastasiades told the press that the Egyptian President expressed absolute support to his initiative on climate change.

Egyptian petroleum minister fleshes out country’s progress as regional hub - THE ARAB WEEKLY

Sunday 24/02/2019

Mohamed Hammad

Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Tarek el-Molla said Cairo would soon announce its first international bid for oil and gas exploration in the country’s Red Sea territory, as a step towards Egypt increasing its position among natural gas suppliers in the region.

Molla said the ministry carried out two seismic surveys in the Red Sea and southern Egypt that indicated “positive signs that encouraged us to submit tenders to international companies for the extraction of oil and gas in that virgin region.”

“This procedure would not have been possible without the delimitation of the maritime border with Saudi Arabia in April 2016. [The agreement] enabled Egypt to search and explore in this region for the first time,” Molla said.

The surveys were carried out by US companies TGS and Schlumberger at a cost of about $750 million.

Tenders for oil and gas exploration in the Red Sea were to have been announced last December but Molla said Egyptian officials decided to wait to better market the promising potential in the region.