Sen. Menendez Says East Med Act Ties U.S., Greece, Cyprus Closer - THE NATIONAL HERALD

December 21, 2019

WASHINGTON – With Turkey claiming seas around Cyprus and Greek islands, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, lauded Congress’ approval of the Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act he said has brought “a new day in Greek-American relations.”

He was a co-author of the measure and an ally of Greece and Cyprus during increasingly tense relations with Turkey, which is drilling for oil and gas off the island and wants to do the same off Greek islands.

Speaking to Greece’s state-run Athens-Macedonia News Agency (ANA-MPA) he said that, “I felt that we were in a moment in which the stars were aligned. I think there is a growing recognition of the importance of Greece and Cyprus along with Israel as a new strategy for the Eastern Mediterranean.

Energy firms try to end court order delaying Leviathan gas output - REUTERS

DECEMBER 18, 2019 / 12:12 PM

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Companies developing the huge natural gas field Leviathan will try to convince an Israeli court on Wednesday to remove an injunction that threatens to delay production due to environmental concerns.

On Tuesday, the Jerusalem District Court, in a surprise decision, issued a temporary order that barred any gas emissions from Leviathan, effectively putting the project, which was due to come on line this month, on hold.

It was unclear how long the delay would last. The companies, led by Texas-based Noble Energy and Israel’s Delek Drilling, have already signed major, multi-billion dollar export deals to Egypt and Jordan.

The hearing was moved up from the original date of Sunday.

Egypt Operational Update on Abu Sennan Concession - ROCKHOPPER EXPLORATION PLC

18 December 2019

Rockhopper Exploration plc (AIM: RKH), the oil and gas company with key interests in the North Falkland Basin and the Greater Mediterranean region, provides the following operational update in relation to the Abu Sennan concession, Egypt ("Abu Sennan"). Through Rockhopper Egypt Pty Limited, Rockhopper holds a 22% working interest in Abu Sennan.


ASH-2
The commitment well, ASH-2, was spudded on 21 October 2019, and reached total depth of 4,030m measured depth ("MD") in the Alam El Bueib Formation on 22 November 2019. The well was drilled as a vertical hole to appraise the Alam El Bueib reservoir to the WSW of the existing well ASH-1ST2, which currently produces 340 barrels of oil per day ("bopd"). Petrophysics indicate 50m of net oil pay in ASH-2. Modular formation Dynamic Tester ("MDT") pressure data indicates the reservoir is un-depleted, close to initial reservoir pressure. The well was completed, perforated and tested with the rig on site with encouraging results. The rig was released on 10 December 2019. The well will be tested at stabilised rates once the rig has moved off site.

Zohr continues to rise for Egypt - ENERGY VOICE

Tarek El-Molla visiting Zohr's onshore facilities 

16/DEC/2019, 9:09 am

Egypt’s Zohr field is producing at around 3 billion cubic feet (85 million cubic metres) per day, the country’s Ministry of Petroleum has said.

The production rate was disclosed during a visit to onshore facilities linked to the asset by Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Tarek El Molla, leading a parliamentary delegation. The statement from the ministry noted that Zohr, and other fields in the Mediterranean, had allowed Egypt to become once more self sufficient and return to exports.

El Molla had drawn attention to various stresses on the sector, including steadily increasing domestic demand and the need to develop infrastructure. Success had been driven by the ministry’s strategy, he continued, which had focused on drawing in more investment to the sector to bolster new reserves, while also supporting the development of discovered fields and domestic consumption in the use of gas, rather than oil products.

2020 ‘a year of gas drillings’ in Cyprus’ EEZ - IN-CYPRUS

December 15, 2019 at 11:44am
Edited by Bouli Hadjioannou

Nine gas drillings are planned in Cyprus’ EEZ in 2020 and early 2021, one more than the total number carried out over the period of January 2010 to December 2019 as Cyprus’ hydrocarbons exploration enters a period of maturity, Petros Theocharides writes for Phileleftheros on Sunday.

The agreement to develop the first gas reserve discovered, that of Aphrodite, shows that Cyprus has also entered the third stage – that of exploitation of hydrocarbons, the paper added.

So far there have been two gas drillings by Noble – Delek at the Aphrodite field in plot 12 – an exploratory one in 2011 and a confirmatory one in 2013 which showed that the quantities were lower than initially estimated.