Can Egypt Become A Global LNG Power? - OILPRICE.COM

Dec 13, 2021, 2:00 PM CST
Cyril Widdershoven

• As demand for LNG around the world soars ahead of winter, Egypt is taking full advantage of high prices
• As well as the financial reward of increased exports, Egypt appears to be using its LNG supply to influence Turkey
• In Turkey, support for Erdogan is dwindling amidst high energy prices and rising inflation, forcing him to open up to both the UAE and Egypt

Egypt’s long-suffering LNG industry is finally experiencing some success as it takes advantage of European gas market constraints and exploits regional geopolitical developments. Cairo’s dream of becoming a global LNG player was derailed by a combination of the Arab Spring, conflict with Turkey, and then COVID demand destruction. Now, however, the country’s LNG industry is poised for major growth, with its largest producer, EGAS, having just offered a cargo on a free-on-board (FOB) basis for loading over December 28 and 29 from its Damietta LNG plant. The EGAS LNG tender will be closing on December 13, sources have stated. The last EGAS LNG tenders, which closed on November 29, were successful, as the company sold four out of five spot cargoes for loading between December and February.

EXCLUSIVE Israel considering new pipeline to boost gas exports to Egypt - REUTERS

October 21, 2021 4:14 PM EEST

By Ron Bousso and Ari Rabinovitch

• Israel, Egypt holding talks on new onshore pipeline -ministry
• New pipeline expected to cost $200 mln -industry sources
• Pipeline will boost exports by 3 to 5 bcm/year -industry sources

LONDON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Israel is considering the construction of a new onshore pipeline to Egypt in order to quickly boost natural gas exports to its neighbour in the wake of the recent tightening of global supplies, the Israeli energy ministry said.

The pipeline, which will connect the Israeli and Egyptian natural gas grids through the north of the Sinai peninsula, is estimated to cost around $200 million and could be operational within 24 months, industry sources who are close to the discussions told Reuters.

UAE-Israel Ties Deepen as Mubadala Buys Gas Stake for $1 Billion - BLOOMBERG

September 2, 2021, 1:51 PM GMT+3
Alisa Odenheimer

• Delek Drilling will sell 22% stake in Tamar field off Israel
• Deal is biggest since UAE and Israel normalized ties last year

Delek Drilling LP agreed to sell a stake in a natural-gas field to Mubadala Investment Co. for $1 billion, marking the biggest deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates since they normalized ties last year.

Tel Aviv-based Delek’s shares jumped after it said it would sell its 22% stake in the Tamar offshore field to Mubadala, an Abu Dhabi wealth fund with $243 billion of assets. The stock rose 4.8% to 5.02 shekels by 1.48 p.m. in Tel Aviv.

Delek’s Sale of East Med Stake to Mubadala Petroleum Hailed as First Fruits of Abraham Accords - JOURNALOF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY

April 28, 2021
Pat Davis Szymczak

Israel’s Delek Drilling is selling its 22% nonoperated stake in the Tamar gas field offshore Israel to Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Petroleum for up to $1.1 billion in what would be, if finalized, the largest commercial agreement since Israel and the UAE signed the Abraham Accords Peace Agreement in August 2020.

Delek announced Tuesday it had signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Mubadala Petroleum, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi government-owned Mubadala Investment Co. Delek said Mubadala would pay up to $1.1 billion for the stake,

Delek CEO Yossi Abu said the sale has “the potential to be another major development in our ongoing vision for natural gas commercial strategic alignment in the Middle East, whereby natural gas becomes a source of collaboration in the region.

“We are proud to have signed this MOU following the Abraham Accords Peace Agreement between Israel and the UAE,” Abu said, adding that he “would like to thank my counterparty at Mubadala Petroleum and our clients in Israel, Egypt, and Jordan.”

Gas ‘breakthrough’ could see movement in months - CYPRUS MAIL

March 14, 2021

Elias Hazou

After nine years, an agreement was reached this week to move forward gas sharing between Israel and Cyprus as a field straddles the borders. But how long will it take to get off the ground?

Following nine years of stop-start talks, the understanding reached earlier this week between Cyprus and Israel over developing the Aphrodite gas field was hailed as a ‘breakthrough’. Given so much time has elapsed, the standard political pageantry surrounding the news was perhaps understandably greeted with a fair amount of skepticism. But analysts do gauge the development as positive, and one that removes an unnecessary thorn in relations between the two countries.

The Aphrodite-Yishai field is a cross-border natural gas reservoir, but the two governments have been unable to reach an agreement on the fine print of its commercial exploitation.

The Aphrodite field holds an estimated 4.1 trillion cubic feet of gas. At stake was about 10 per cent of the deposit.

Chevron eyes subsea pipelines to send Israeli gas to Egypt - WORLD OIL / BLOOMBERG

JAN/20/2021

Yaacov Benmeleh

(Bloomberg) --Chevron and other companies helping to develop Israel’s natural gas fields will invest around $235 million in pipelines to export the fuel to Egypt.

The partners in the Leviathan and Tamar fields, which sit off Israel’s Mediterranean coast, signed an agreement under which Israel Natural Gas Lines Ltd. will lay a new subsea pipeline and expand some of its existing ones, according to a statement Tuesday from Delek Drilling LP, a shareholder in both reservoirs.

INGL will build a pipeline between the Israeli coastal cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon, close to the border of the Gaza Strip. Along with the expansion of other lines, it will enable the partners to send as much as 7 billion cubic meters of gas annually to Egypt, Delek said.

The new route will cost 738 million shekels ($228 million) and the expansion work about 27 million shekels, Delek said. The gas firms will pay for 56% of the new pipeline and provide guarantees on the funding that INGL takes on to cover the rest.

7 years on, Tamar natural gas partners make 1st payment to national wealth fund - THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

19 January 2021, 6:11 pm
Sue Surkes 

More than seven years after it started commercial production, the Tamar Partnership has paid its first installment into a sovereign wealth fund aimed at ensuring that some of the profits of Israel’s natural gas bonanza are spent on strategic projects for the nation’s benefit.

The partnership transferred some $15 million at the end of last year, the business daily Calcalist reported Monday, with a further $300 million expected to be paid during 2021, in monthly installments of $25 million.

Now that the payments have started, any future deals the partnership signs will only increase the amount that must be paid into the wealth fund.

On the basis of the idea that Israel’s natural resources belong to all of its citizens, all of the gas companies drilling off the country’s Mediterranean coast are supposed to pay the state 62% on their profits. This is called the government take and includes the wealth fund levy, as well as royalties and corporate taxes, which have been paid all along.

Chevron’s Purchase Could Unlock Israel’s Natural Gas Bonanza - THE NEW YORK TIMES

Oct. 9, 2020
Stanley Reed

Chevron, the American oil giant, wrapped up the acquisition on Monday of a relatively small Houston-based company called Noble Energy, paying about $4 billion.

Until recently, the deal would have been unlikely, if not unthinkable — because what distinguishes Noble is the large natural gas business it has built in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, especially in Israel, an area that major oil companies had until now avoided.

Chevron’s move is the latest milestone in a remarkable shift in perceptions about a relatively new region for the petroleum industry in the eastern Mediterranean. Once a dead sea for the oil industry, this area, reaching from the Nile Delta in Egypt up to Israel and Lebanon and around Cyprus, has come alive with exploration vessels, drilling rigs and production platforms in recent years thanks to a series of large natural gas discoveries.

State finds Delek Drilling violated Tamar gas agreement - GLOBES

6 Sep, 2020 17:46
Amiram Barkat

Delek Drilling and Noble Energy were found to have a conflict of interest because they can veto Tamar sales deals in favor of selling Leviathan gas.

The Tamar partners will be required to find a new marketing and sales mechanism for the natural gas from the offshore field according to a precedent-setting opinion prepared by an inter-ministerial committee headed by deputy attorney general Adv. Meir Levin, head of the Israeli Competition Authority Adv. Michal Halperin and representatives from the Energy, Finance and Justice Ministries.

The decision was reached after the minority partners in Tamar (Isramco, Tamar Petroleum and Dor Gas) complained that the majority partners Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L) and Noble Energy prevented them signing a deal to sell gas to the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) from Tamar because IEC was seeking to buy gas from the Leviathan partners at a higher price.

Noble hints at delay in plans for Aphrodite gas field - CYPRUS MAIL

June 16, 2020

Elias Hazou

Noble Energy, the primary concession holder on the Aphrodite gas field, has signalled they are putting on hold plans to develop and monetise the reservoir, while reiterating their commitment to the project.

In a statement provided to daily Politis, the US company said that tumbling commodity prices due to the economic fallout linked to the global coronavirus situation, have led them to “reconfigure” their work schedule in Cyprus as well.

While avoiding the term ‘delay,’ it could be inferred that Noble was hinting at exactly that.

“Reacting to the new state of play due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the drop in commodity prices, we are reconfiguring our work schedule in Cyprus, but we are keeping with our commitments to the Cypriot government,” the company said.

Delek loses 5% of Delek Drilling - GLOBES

26 Mar, 2020 12:20
Omri Cohen

Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG), controlled by Yitzhak Tshuva, has been forced to reach a painful compromise in its dispute with Citibank concerning participation units in its energy exploration and production unit Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L) attached in Citibank's favor. Figures published by Delek Group indicate that the compromise reached by the group with Citibank and the Dayan family, which signed an agreement to buy the attached participation units, will cost Delek Group NIS 120 million in terms of market cap.

Up until now, Delek Group held 60% of the participation units in Delek Drilling, with a market value of NIS 2.38 billion. Early last week, Delek Group revealed that participation units constituted 15% of the partnership's capital were attached in favor of Citibank in order to secure a loan, the outstanding balance of which totals $57 million.

Israel limits gas production at Leviathan due to malfunction - REUTERS

FEBRUARY 13, 2020 / 9:15 PM

JERUSALEM, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Israel’s Energy Ministry said on Thursdsay it limited production at the new Leviathan natural gas field to 60% after a malfunction was discovered in the project’s subsea pipeline.

The Leviathan partners said in a statement there was no malfunction, rather they were dealing with “issues common during the initial production phase of a development of this type.”

Israel's Leviathan gas group seeks partners to expand - REUTERS

FEBRUARY 12, 2020 / 11:19 AM
Ari Rabinovitch, Tova Cohen


TEL AVIV (Reuters) - The energy companies that own Israel’s offshore Leviathan gas field are seeking partners to build a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) platform and possibly to explore for oil in ultra-deep water, a CEO from the group said.

Leviathan, one of the world’s biggest offshore gas discoveries of the last decade, has turned Israel into an energy exporter in a tumultuous region and has weaned it off more polluting imports, notably coal.

Delek expects Leviathan expansion investment decision in 2020 - REUTERS

FEBRUARY 3, 2020 / 1:58 PM

Steven Scheer, Ari Rabinovitch

TEL AVIV, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Israel’s Delek Drilling expects a final investment decision this year on expanding exports from the Leviathan gas field using either an LNG facility in Egypt or a floating terminal, its CEO said on Monday.

The offshore Leviathan project came online a month ago and is already supplying Egypt and Jordan with natural gas. The project is led by partners Delek Drilling, a unit of Delek Group , and Texas-based Noble Energy.

Delek Drilling CEO Yossi Abu told a conference of investors that in order to further develop Leviathan, his company was in talks with banks about securing $2.5 billion in long-term funding, either through bank financing or bonds.

Tamar Petroleum slumps on delayed offering - GLOBES

12 Jan, 2020 13:03

Kobi Yeshayahou

Tamar Petroleum Ltd. (TASE: TMRP) has seen its share price fall sharply today after the company's board decided to postpone a secondary offering of NIS 140 million due to "market conditions." The company's share price is down 12% today and is down 50% over the past year.

Tamar Petroleum was founded by Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) and its energy exploration and production unit Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L) in 2017 as a special vehicle to sell its holding in the Tamar offshore gas field after the government insisted Delek sell its stake in either the Tamar or Leviathan fields to prevent it gaining a monopolistic stranglehold on Israel's gas market. After offerings by Delek and Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL), Tamar Petroleum today holds a 16.75% stake in the Tamar field along with Isramco Ltd. (Nasdaq: ISRL; TASE: ISRA.L) (28.75%), Noble Energy (25%), Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L) (22%), Alon Natural Gas Exploration Ltd. (TASE: ALGS) (4%), and Everest infrastructure Fund (3.5%).

Israeli Gas Is Great – for Egypt and Jordan - HAARETZ

Jan 09, 2020 1:34 PM

Eran Azran

Leviathan gas reserve was billed a 'national project'. It's now online but 85% of the gas will go to Egypt, Jordan for a lower price than Israelis pay

The development of Israel’s massive Leviathan offshore gas reserve was presented to the public as a national project, but some 85% of the gas it contains is slated to be sold to Egypt and Jordan – for a lower price than the Israel Electric Corporation is currently paying.

The partners in Leviathan – Israel’s Delek Drilling and Ratio, and the U.S.-based Noble Energy, announced Monday that the extraction infrastructure was complete and that gas sales were set to begin.

The Leviathan reserve was discovered about a decade ago. Preparing the site for extraction cost some $3.6 billion and took nearly three years.

Leviathan gas begins flowing to Jordan - GLOBES

Yuval Steinitz, Israel's energy minister

2 Jan, 2020 9:02

Jordan's National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) has said that the experimental supply of natural gas by US-based Noble Energy Inc. started as of yesterday. "The experimental pumping, which will last three months, is aimed at testing the infrastructure prior to the actual commercial supply," NEPCO added.

NEPCO continued, "The gas supply is in line with an agreement signed between the two companies in 2016. Under the agreement, Noble Energy will provide gas worth $15 billion dollars to the Kingdom for a period of 15 years, or 300 million cubic feet on a daily basis."

No mention in NEPCO's statement was made of either Israel or Leviathan because the agreement to buy Israeli gas is unpopular with many in Jordan. Last year Jordan's parliament scrap the deal.

Despite pollution fears, gas flow begins from behemoth Leviathan field - THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

The Environmental Protection Ministry said Monday that Noble Energy and its partners had met all the necessary conditions to begin pumping gas, paving the way for the rigs to begin extracting the estimated 22 trillion cubic feet of gas trapped underground.

Early Tuesday morning Noble began a gas rig test that is necessary ahead of starting operations, and later that morning the partners in Leviathan announced the start of natural gas production from the reservoir, the largest energy project in Israel’s history.

The first gas will reach Israel’s shores via the pipes within 24 to 48 hours from the start of production, the companies estimated.

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.

Israel blocking Aphrodite gas field development - GLOBES

8 Dec, 2019 18:23
Amiram Barkat

Energy Ministry director general Udi Adiri has told Shell, Noble Energy and Delek Drilling they cannot develop the Cypriot reservoir until the border dispute with Israel's Yishai license is settled.

Israel is opposed to the development of Cyprus's Aphrodite offshore natural gas field until the dispute over the border with Israel's Yishai gas field is settled, Ministry of Energy director general Udi Adiri has made clear in a letter sent to the reservoir's rights owners Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L), Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) and Shell.

Adiri wrote to Delek Drilling CEO Yossi Abu, Noble Energy SVP Keith Elliot and Shell East Med GM Chris Breeze, "I wish to advise you that the State of Israel has not relinquished its share of the Aphrodite-Yishai natural gas reservoir, and has no intention of doing so."