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.

Factbox: Egypt's push to be east Mediterranean gas hub - REUTERS

JANUARY 15, 2020 / 3:20 PM / UPDATED 19 HOURS AGO


(Reuters) - Egypt began importing gas from Israel’s largest offshore gas field, Leviathan, on Wednesday, a step Cairo hopes will help it become a regional energy hub.

Rapid growth in Egypt’s natural gas supplies, boosted by the discovery of the Mediterranean’s largest field, turned it from a net importer to exporter in late 2018.
ISRAEL DEAL

Egypt’s Dolphinus Holdings signed deals with partners in Israeli gas fields to buy an estimated $19.5 billion of gas.

Partners in Israeli fields Leviathan and Tamar will supply Egypt with 85.3 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas over 15 years.

Texas-based Noble Energy, Israel’s Delek Drilling and Ratio Oil own Leviathan. Noble, Delek Drilling, Isramco and Tamar Petroleum are leading partners in the Tamar field.

It is unclear how much of the gas imported from Israel will be re-exported.

Egypt signs $430-million gas deal with Texas' Noble Energy - YAHOO FINANCE / REUTERS

November 23, 2019

CAIRO, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Egypt said on Saturday it had signed several multimillion-dollar energy investment accords including a $430-million deal for Texas-based Noble Energy to pump natural gas through the East Mediterranean Gas Company's pipeline.

Under another agreement with Noble, which will also be financed by the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, the energy company will manufacture petroleum products in partnership with Egyptian company Dolphinus Holdings.

The cabinet detailed the plans at the end of an Africa investment forum held on the site of the country's planned new administrative capital in the desert east of Cairo.

Amsterdam-based Lekela also announced the start of construction work on its West Bakr wind power plant, which will have a capacity of 250 megawatts and require a total investment of $350 million.

Noble Energy Closes on Acquisition of Interest in the Eastern Mediterranean Gas (EMG) Pipeline - YAHOO FINANCE

November 6, 2019

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Noble Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NBL) (“Noble Energy” or the “Company”) announced today that the Company and its partners have closed on the acquisition of a 39 percent equity interest in the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Company S.A.E. (“EMG”), which owns the EMG Pipeline. The pipeline will be used to transport natural gas volumes into Egypt under the Company’s gas supply agreements with Dolphinus Holdings (“Dolphinus”). Noble Energy’s net acquisition investment in the EMG Pipeline totaled $185 million, and the Company’s effective interest in the pipeline is 10 percent.

J. Keith Elliott, Noble Energy’s Senior Vice President, Offshore, stated, “The closing of the EMG acquisition will support delivery of natural gas from the Tamar and Leviathan fields into Egypt, and represents a major milestone toward Egypt’s goal of becoming a regional energy hub. This acquisition, combined with our recently announced Dolphinus gas sales contracts offtake increases, provides further confidence in both the long-term export market and growing cash flows from our Eastern Mediterranean assets.”

Israel-Egypt gas pipeline deal seen imminent - REUTERS

NOVEMBER 3, 2019 / 11:32 AM
Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A deal that would transfer control of a natural gas pipeline between Israel and Egypt is expected to be closed in the next few days, the companies said on Sunday.

Texas-based Noble Energy (NBL.N), Israel’s Delek Drilling (DEDRp.TA) and Egyptian East Gas Co have partnered in a venture called EMED, which last year agreed to buy a 39% stake in the subsea EMG pipeline for $518 million that will carry Israeli gas exports to Egypt.

In a regulatory filing in Tel Aviv, Delek said the shares have already been transferred to the buyers while the funds are currently being held in a trust. It noted that no closing conditions remained.

“Upon the transfer of the full amount of the consideration to the sellers, which is expected to be performed in the coming days, the EMG transaction will be closed in practice,” Delek said.

Israel to boost gas supply to Egypt by 34% after changes to landmark agreement - ENTERPRISE

Thursday, 3 October 2019

Israel to boost gas supply to Egypt: Dolphinus Holdings and the operators of Israel’s offshore natural gas fields Delek Drilling and Noble Energy have agreed to increase the supply of natural gas to Egypt by 34% to 85.3 bn cubic meters (bcm) under amendments to the landmark 2018 agreement, both Bloomberg and Reuters reported, citing an Israeli bourse statement.

What’s new? The value of the agreement is now USD 19.5 bn, up from USD 15 bn when the parties signed the original pact in February 2018. Exports from the Leviathan field will double to 60 bcm over 15 years and shipments from the Tamar field will fall to 25.3 bcm from 32 bcm. Gas shipments will begin flowing on 1 January 2020, through to 2034. The first three years will see a total of 2.1 bcm sold annually, before growing to 6.7 bcm a year after that. Oil Minister Tarek El Molla previously said the first shipment is on track to arrive by the end of the year.

Sinai Security Fears Snare Israel's Gas Exports to Egypt - HAARETZ

Tamar Petroleum's IPO back in July 2017 

Sep 16, 2019 3:13 AM

Eran Azran

• Egypt says Israeli gas exports on track but cites low figures
• Israel to begin gas exports to Egypt within months, energy minister says
• Egypt praised for economic reforms, but millions of Egyptians barely survive

Investor anxieties over the Tamar natural gas field have deepened in recent days amid security concerns about the pipeline designated to deliver Israeli gas to Egypt.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that delays in completing a key agreement to facilitate the exports were due to the tense security situation in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

“There’s some infrastructure that needs to be repaired in that area. That’s part of the holdup for shipping the gas,” the paper quoted U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette as saying. “No one wants to send individuals into harm’s way.”

Israeli gas will arrive in Egypt before the end of the year -El Molla - ENTERPRISE

Wednesday, 11 September 2019

Egypt will begin receiving natural gas from Israel by the end of 2019, Oil Minister Tarek El Molla said in an interview at the World Energy Congress yesterday, according to Bloomberg. Israel will initially ship some 200 mn scf of gas per day, an amount that will increase to 500 mn scf/d at some point in 2020, he said. The import of Israeli gas comes as part of the landmark USD 15 bn agreement between Alaa Arafa-led Dolphinus Holdings, Delek Drilling, and Noble Energy, which was signed last year.

Multilateralism to blame for delays? El Molla said that the multilateral nature of the gas export arrangement was the main reason for the process taking longer than planned, but insisted that export plans remain on track, according to Reuters. Trial shipments were originally supposed to come in March, with commercial sales beginning by the end of June. Another potential spanner in the works surfaced in May when Thailand’s PPT Energy — a stakeholder in the Egypt-Israel EMG gas pipeline — filed a USD 1 bn lawsuit against Egypt for failing to meet gas deliveries after 2011.

Pipeline operator EMG signs terminal deal for Israel-Egypt gas exports - REUTERS

SEPTEMBER 8, 2019 / 11:18 AM

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The East Mediterranean Gas (EMG) pipeline operator signed a deal to use a terminal belonging to Israel’s Europe Asia Pipeline Company (EAPC) for the export of natural gas to Egypt, the companies said on Sunday.

The pipeline arrangement was one of the final hurdles before Israel could begin selling gas to Egypt in a landmark $15 billion export deal.

The gas, produced from fields in the eastern Mediterranean, will be supplied via EMG’s subsea pipeline that connects the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon and El-Arish in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula. But first the gas must pass through state-run EAPC’s terminal in Ashkelon.

Gas sector a catalyst for further cooperation between Lebanon and Egypt - EXECUTIVE MAGAZINE

Nada Boustani, Lebanon's Energy Minister

August 7, 2019

Mona Sukkarieh

The first six months of 2019 saw an unusual series of meetings between Lebanese and Egyptian officials, with energy cooperation at the core of these discussions. If memory serves well, the frequency is unprecedented.

The option of resuming gas imports from Egypt was discussed extensively, especially during the first meetings of 2019. Lebanon previously imported natural gas from Egypt in 2010 via the Arab Gas Pipeline (AGP) to generate electricity. But supplies were interrupted after a few months with various reasons touted (such as Egypt’s inability to pursue exports because production was barely enough to meet local demand, instability in Egypt, and attacks against the pipeline). With the formation of a new government on January 31, Lebanese officials explored the possibility of quickly resuming imports as they scrambled to find solutions to the problems plaguing the electricity sector. The dire state of Lebanon’s power sector and the burden it places on the economy propelled it to the forefront of the government’s reform agenda. Government officials examined the option of importing gas by pipeline from Egypt to generate electricity—in addition to the possibility of buying electricity from Jordan in exchange for water—as among the possible solutions that they thought could be implemented quickly.

Israel to begin gas exports to Egypt within four months: Minister - AL ARABIYA / REUTERS

Wednesday, 24 July 2019, KSA 14:11 - GMT 11:11

Israel will begin natural gas exports to Egypt within four months, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz told Reuters on Wednesday.

He also said that a deal to buy stakes in the East Mediterranean Gas Company’s pipeline between the two countries will be completed “within weeks” and that more connections could be built between them.

Steinitz also said that more economic pressure should be applied on Iran, and that it “must be stopped.”

EMG gas pipeline to Egypt passes flow tests, targets end-year startup - PLATTS

01 Jul 2019 | 16:32 UTC
Lucie Roux, Editor: James Burgess

London — East Mediterranean Gas has successfully completed gas flow tests from Tamar's field in Israel, and exports to Egypt are expected to start by the end of the year, Israeli partner Delek Drilling said Monday.

"Today's announcement confirms that the technical side is now complete and the pipeline is now ready to handle up to 7 Bcm a year," a spokesman from Delek told S&P Global Platts.

Exports via EMG, together with the incremental production from BP's West Nile Delta and Eni's Zohr projects, should allow Egypt boost its LNG exports by the end of 2019.

The project's partners -- US-based producer Noble Energy, Delek Drilling and Egyptian-owned Sphinx EG -- have been working to bring the EMG back into service, with a reverse flow capability from the Leviathan field to Egypt, the spokesman said.

Tests under way to flow Israeli gas via EMG pipeline to Egypt: source - PLATTS

13 Jun 2019 | 10:52 UTC
Stuart Elliott, Editor: Alisdair Bowles 

London - Tests to flow Israeli gas through the East Mediterranean Gas (EMG) pipeline to Egypt are now under way and are expected to be concluded at the end of this month ahead of the startup of significant exports later in the year, an industry source told S&P Global Platts Thursday.

US-based producer Noble Energy and its Israeli partner Delek Drilling -- together with Egyptian-owned Sphinx EG -- in September last year agreed to buy a 39% stake in the idled EMG pipeline for $518 million as part of plans to use the pipeline in reverse for Israeli gas to flow to Egypt.

"Tests are under way and are on track to be completed as scheduled by the end of June. Once that is done, gas from the Tamar field can start to flow through the EMG pipeline on an interruptible basis," the source said.

Noble could not be reached for comment, while Delek Drilling declined to comment.

The pipeline -- which runs for 90 km off the Israeli and Egyptian coasts -- connects the Israel pipeline network from Ashkelon to the Egyptian pipeline network near El Arish.

It started operations in 2008 to flow Egyptian gas to Israel until 2012 when operations were halted as Egypt's gas production began to decline after the Arab Spring the previous year.

Israeli Gas Partners in Talks to Boost Supply to Egypt - BLOOMBERG

March 26, 2019, 3:51 PM GMT+2
Yaacov Benmeleh

• Delek CEO was recently in Cairo to discuss new gas quantities
• Shares of Delek climb the most in nearly 3 months on the news

The companies developing Israel’s largest natural gas field are in discussions to increase the amount of supply to Egypt beyond the $15 billion deal inked last year. Shares of Israeli gas stocks rose.

Executives at Delek Drilling LP, the majority shareholder in the Leviathan reservoir, have been in Cairo in recent weeks to discuss how to boost quantities for Egypt’s domestic consumption, Chief Executive Officer Yossi Abu said Tuesday at an investor conference in Tel Aviv. Delek and its partners Noble Energy Inc. and Ratio Oil Exploration 1992 LP are examining ways to increase the field’s capacity to meet an expected increase in Egyptian demand, he said.

Egypt’s imports of Israeli gas delayed to mid-2019 due to pipeline doubts - ENTERPRISE

Monday, 18 March 2019

Egypt’s imports of Israeli gas delayed to mid-2019 due to pipeline doubts: Egypt will begin receiving its first shipments of Israeli gas in the middle of this year, two sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Egypt’s East Gas originally expected trial shipments from Israel’s Tamar and Leviathan gas fields to begin this month, but the sources said that the pipeline still requires further maintenance. Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla also told the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston last week that Egypt will start importing Israeli gas by mid-2019.

Background: East Gas, Noble Energy and Delek Drilling last year signed a USD 518 mn deal for a 39% stake in Ashkelon-Arish pipeline operator Eastern Mediterranean Gas (EMG), which was supposed to have paved the way for Egypt to begin importing an initial 100 mn scf/d in 1Q2019. In the time since, doubt has been raised over the capability of Israel’s domestic pipeline infrastructure to handle the quantity of gas agreed in last year’s USD 15 bn gas deal. The two countries began talks in January over the construction of a new subsea pipeline that would enable Israeli gas to flow directly to Egypt’s Idku facility, eliminating the need to expand Israel’s onshore infrastructure.

Pipeline Snag to Delay Israel Gas to Egypt for 3 Months - BLOOMBERG

March 17, 2019, 2:47 PM GMT+2

Yaacov Benmeleh

• Egypt expects to get first test flows mid-year, not March
• Israel will pipe gas to Egypt under a $15 billion deal

Egypt will begin receiving gas from Israel under a $15 billion deal around the middle of the year, after unexpected issues with the pipeline connecting the two countries delayed the start-up by several months, people familiar with the situation said.

Egyptian Oil Minister Tarek El-Molla told the CERAWeek conference in Houston last week that the government expects the first flows of Israeli gas to arrive around mid-year.

He didn’t give details, but two people familiar with the situation said due diligence by the companies involved had discovered that the pipeline would require more work than expected to bring it online. The Egyptian partner in the project had said he expected trial quantities to begin flowing in March if the pipeline was found to be in good condition.

The companies developing Israel’s largest natural gas fields and their Egyptian partner agreed last year to buy a 39 percent of the East Mediterranean Gas Co., which owns the sub-sea pipeline connecting southern Israel to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, clearing the main legal obstacle to the 10-year export contract.

Things Are About to Change: Oil and Gas Have Been Found in the Eastern Mediterranean - THE NATIONAL INTEREST

March 10, 2019

Tony Chavez

Large quantities of oil and natural gas have been discovered in the East Med and the race to extract them has begun. These hydrocarbon finds hold the potential to build regional stability and to bolster the economies of important US allies and partners, all of which is in the interest of the United States. But these discoveries could just as easily stoke further instability and conflict if nations default to historic resentments and if regional powers jockey to monopolize on or block access to this strategic treasure.

Extending from Israel and Egypt in the East and South to Turkey, Greece and Italy in the North and West, the Eastern Mediterranean has long been an economically dynamic and politically important region for the United States and its NATO allies. It is about to become even more important.

Large quantities of oil and natural gas have been discovered in the East Med and the race to extract them has begun. These hydrocarbon finds hold the potential to build regional stability and to bolster the economies of important U.S. allies and partners, all of which is in the interest of the United States. But these discoveries could just as easily stoke further instability and conflict if nations default to historic resentments and if regional powers jockey to monopolize on or block access to this strategic treasure.

All set for Israeli gas coming to Egypt except one little thing: Israel has no enough pipeline capacity - ENTERPRISE

Tuesday, 12 February 2019

Israel is struggling to find a way to export its gas to Egypt. The southern Israeli gas pipeline that is meant to carry gas from the Leviathan and Tamar fields to the East Mediterranean Gas (EMG) pipeline into Egypt does not have the capacity to carry the volumes the fields’ partners have contracted to sell to Egypt, Haartez reports. Under the USD 15 bn contract with Dolphinus Holdings (a group fronted by the industrialist Alaa Arafa), Delek Group and Noble Energy should deliver 3.5 bcm from each field for a combined total of 7 bcm — but the Israeli pipeline’s current capacity does not exceed 3 bcm, the Israeli newspaper says. “Israel’s Natural Gas Authority added to the problem after it made clear that the pipeline couldn’t handle even that amount. In an announcement, the authority said that it couldn’t promise continuous access to the pipeline, but only when capacity was available.”

Israel Aims To Become An Energy Export Hub - OILPRICE.com / ZEROHEDGE.com

Jan 19, 2019, 2:00 PM CST

Israel has confirmed it is in extensive talks with Egypt to build a new sub-sea natural gas pipeline between the two countries as part of a previously agreed $15 billion deal to export Israeli gas to Egypt over a decade. Most significant is that the new line would hugely expand Israel's export capacity to its southern Arab neighbor, taking it far beyond the maximum 7 billion cubic meters per year currently able to flow through the existing EMG pipeline to Sinai. 

Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz proclaimed the ambitious project under negotiation to be part of broader "efforts to transform the eastern Mediterranean into an energy export hub on the doorstep of Europe," according to Bloomberg.

“There’s no final decision yet, but there are talks,” Steinitz told Bloomberg while attending the Cairo-sponsored first East Mediterranean Gas Forum, a cooperative forum aimed at expanding east Mediterranean energy transformation and joint ventures.

In First, Arab Countries Admit Israel Into a Regional Alliance. But There Is a Price - HAARETZ

Jan 17, 2019 2:05 PM
Ora Coren 

The announcement this week that many of the countries of the East Mediterranean, including Israel, agreed to set up a forum to create a regional gas market is a landmark development for Israel. It not only creates a framework for developing the region’s energy, but it marks the first time Israel has been admitted to a regional grouping that will give it official status in the Arab world.

The Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum, announced on Monday after a meeting in Cairo, aims to “create a regional gas market that serves the interests of its members by ensuring supply and demand, optimizing resource development, rationalizing the cost of infrastructure, offering competitive prices and improving trade relations, among other goals,” Egypt’s Petroleum Ministry announced.

Besides Israel, the group includes Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. The statement said that other Eastern Mediterranean countries may join the forum later, a hint that Lebanon may become a member.