Carlyle, Cairn Energy-backed group among bidders for Shell’s Egypt assets-sources - REUTERS

JULY 15, 2020 / 4:25 PM

Hadeel Al Sayegh, Ron Bousso

DUBAI/LONDON, July 15 (Reuters) - Buyout firm Carlyle and a consortium backed by Cairn Energy are among the bidders for Royal Dutch Shell’s onshore Egyptian oil and gas assets, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Bids for the assets are now expected to be sharply lower than initial estimates of up to $1 billion due to a weaker outlook for global oil and gas prices, said the sources, declining to be named as the matter is not public.

Shell launched a process at the end of November to sell its onshore upstream assets in the Western Desert as it focuses on expanding its Egyptian offshore gas exploration.

Egypt’s Oil Sector Thrives Amid Lockdown, Oil Crisis - DAILY NEWS EGYPT

Tuesday, 21st April 2020

The Former Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Osama Kamal, said that Egypt has benefited from the oil price decline during the last period by storing sufficient quantities of oil, according to his call on Amr Adib’s El Hekaya Program.

He noted that Egypt will neither be directly affected positively nor negatively by the current collapse of oil prices, but this might contribute in decreasing the burden of financial support from the public budget. Kamal discussed that its only negative effect would be when American oil companies cut their exploration and discovery investments in the different countries including Egypt.

US oil future prices declined to below zero on Monday 20 April. The price of West Texas Intermediate Crude reached to $-37.63 due to the industries’ halt and lockdown driven by the coronavirus outbreak.

Coronavirus: Minister confirms long delay in Cyprus’ gas drilling - CYPRUS MAIL

April 13, 2020

Elias Hazou

Exxon Mobil have informed the government they will be delaying a planned drill in their block 10 concession in Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), with other oil companies expected to do the same due to the ongoing coronavirus situation as well as the sharp drop in energy prices globally.

Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis confirmed that in recent days he was informed in writing by ExxonMobil that they have pushed back to September 2021 an appraisal (or follow-up) well at the site dubbed Glafcos in block 10.

The Glafcos reservoir, bearing an estimated 5 to 8 trillion cubic feet of gas, is the largest gas discovery to date in Cyprus’ EEZ. The appraisal drilling would have helped the company with its commercialisation decision.

The appraisal well there was initially scheduled for this summer.

Record Egyptian finds but gas glut beckons - CYPRUS MAIL

March 1, 2020

Charles Ellinas

Egypt had another successful year in 2019 and this was showcased at the country’s annual petroleum show, EGYPS-2020, held mid-February in Cairo.

But 2020 is turning out to be a pivotal, but challenging, year for the oil and natural gas industries worldwide and Egypt and the East Med are not immune to it.

Opening the conference, Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla highlighted the successes of 2019, with the oil and gas sector contributing 25 per cent to Egypt’s gross domestic product.

A total of 29 international agreements were signed during EGYPS-2020, reflecting the great potential and promising opportunities of the Egyptian petroleum sector.

Israel Electric buys gas 45% below Tamar prices - GLOBES

23 Feb, 2020 18:19
Amiram Barkat

With the coronavirus outbreak pushing down gas prices, IEC has bought liquefied natural gas for $3.39 and $3.61 per BTU.

Because the coronavirus crisis is pushing down global liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices, Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) is buying up LNG at the lowest ever price. Sources inform "Globes" that IEC is buying LNG on the spot market at an average price of $3.50 per BTU, 45% lower than the price paid by the company to owners of the Tamar natural gas reservoir. Every LNG cargo purchased at these prices lowers the electricity rate by 0.1-0.2%, and IEC is planning to buy more such cargoes.

Energean: coronavirus could delay Israel gas field development - GLOBES

6 Feb, 2020 15:05
Amiram Barkat

The FPSO for the Tanin and Karish offshore natural gas fields is under construction in China.

The coronavirus outbreak in China is liable to delay natural gas delivery by Greek company Energean Oil & Gas plc (LSE: ENOG; TASE: ENOG) to customers in Israel. Energean, which is developing the small offshore Karish and Tanin gas fields, announced today that it had been notified by TechnipFMC, a subcontractor for the Karish and Tanin development project that it "reserves the right to extend the agreement for completion of the project due to events beyond our control."

TechnipFMC is concerned that the quarantine in parts of China because of the virus will delay completion of the floating production storage and offloading unit (FPSO) designed to produce gas from Karish and Tanin and stream it to the shore. The FPSO, now being built in China at a cost of $2 billion, is scheduled to reach Israel before 2021, and to anchor above the fields, 100 kilometers off the shore.