Energy Hot Potatoes The New President Will Face [GGP] - NATURAL GAS WORLD

Feb 21, 2023 9:25:am
Charles Ellinas

Cyprus has a new president. A new era is starting and that includes energy. Many serious old problems remain and are in need of urgent attention. Some energy hot potatoes that must be addressed and resolved to usher in the energy reforms and economic prosperity President-elect Nikos Christodoulides has promised.

Thousands of households are applying or planning to apply to install rooftop photovoltaics to benefit from a substantial reduction in their electricity costs. But as the DSO and TSO warned in their 20 January letter, that attracted the wrath of the outgoing energy minister, Cyprus’ outdated electrical system is at a tipping point. Without upgrading it, installing storage batteries and smart meters, the risk of instability and inevitably power cuts is getting uncomfortably close. Resolving this problem needs to be given top priority.

Gas supply changes in Turkey - NATURAL GAS WORLD / THE OXFORD INSTITUTE FOR ENERGY STUDIES

Jan 10, 2018 11:59:pmOIES | Gulmira Rzayeva

SUMMARY

The Turkish government is in the process of making significant structural changes in the country’s energy sector in attempts to lessen its dependence on current import and transmission infrastructure capacity which is constrained and cannot meet gas demand in peak periods.

The Turkish government is in the process of making significant structural changes in the country’s energy sector in attempts to lessen its dependence on current import and transmission infrastructure capacity which is constrained and cannot meet gas demand in peak periods. It intends to diversify supply sources and gas import types (both pipeline gas and LNG/FSRU) to ensure imports are available from a wider range of available sources on competitive terms, at the same time storing more gas in the country once downstream infrastructure capacity allows, to export the excess of gas in the future.

 Consequently, BOTAŞ expects its maximum daily gas supply capacity to almost double by 2023, from the current 252 mcm/d (including storage capacity) to 473 mcm/d as new projects come on stream. This will extend Turkey’s ability to import gas from various sources by eliminating technical constraints. By doing so, Turkey intends to ensure supply security during the peak demand seasons and to reduce its dependence on existing suppliers, allowing it room to manoeuvre between them and other new options. 

Turkey is also expanding capacity at its existing LNG receiving terminals and building new FSRUs, taking advantage of the fact that this method of importing natural gas is available in a flexible and near immediate manner. This will give BOTAŞ and private companies an advantage in meeting the growing demand in winter time, instead of having to increase annual pipeline contract quantities (ACQ) due to the application of “take or pay” clauses.

GGP: The Balkan Gas Hub – A Bridge or barrier to the southern gas corridor? - NATURAL GAS WORLD / BULGARIA ANALYTICA

September 09th, 2017 7:25am
Ilian Vassilev

The need to move beyond the Balkan Gas Hub “Russia-only” or “Russia-mainly” paradigm seems indispensable if the ‘hub’ project – in the broad sense – has any chance.

The talk of billions of cubic meters of natural gas from non-Russian sources deserves a serious look to the north, but mostly to the south – The Southern Gas Corridor.

Yet what seems logical to everyone, does not inspire the management of the TSO of the Bulgarian gas system. The fact that none of these routes – TANAP, TAP or the Greek-Bulgaria Interconnector – contain specific numbers for potential gas flows makes things seem pre-ordained. The BGH essentially seems to be conceived as a redistribution center for Russian gas.

Noble Energy to spend $550mn on Leviathan in 2017 - NATURAL GAS WORLD

February 14th, 2017, 9:35am
Ya'acov Zalel

US producer Noble Energy will invest $550mn in the development of Israel's Leviathan gas field "with first gas targeted for the end of 2019," the company said in its guidance for 2017. This is about a fifth of its total spend for the year, which, at $2.3bn, is up by 50% from 2016.

Noble Energy announced February 13 better-than-expected results for Q4 2016 and the full year. The company reported a net loss of $998mn for 2016 compared with a net loss of $2.44bn in 2015. In the last quarter the company reported a net loss of $252mn compared with $2bn a year earlier. The heavy losses in Q4 2015 were mainly due to impairments.

Despite the net loss, the company registered a $1.3bn net cash from operating activities, a non-GAAP measure.

Leviathan FID faces risk of indefinite delay - NATURAL GAS WORLD

February 10th, 2017 9:40am
Ya'acov Zalel

The next two weeks could be crucial for the Leviathan gas field development as the operator, Noble Energy, is due to publish its annual report February 14 and its planned operations and investment budget for 2017. And on February 20, Delek Group has either to exercise a $1.75bn bank loan for the field development, or decline it. That decision is dependent on specific conditions, which were not disclosed, as well as upon Noble Energy's final investment decision (FID). If the FID is not positive, taking the loan would be irresponsible.

On the face of it, Delek is eager to move forward with Leviathan development, despite a dearth of sales contracts (PSAs) while Noble Energy has kept silent on the issue.

Gazprom eyes TAP for Russian gas - NATURAL GAS WORLD

January 24th, 2017John Roberts, William Powell

Gazprom has declared for the first time that it may be interested in using the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline as a method of delivering Russian gas to Italy. Addressing the European Gas conference in Vienna January 24, Gazprom deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev (pictured below) said Russia has sufficient installed capacity upstream to deliver more than 100bn m³/yr of extra gas to Europe but that it faces an infrastructure problem.

He added: “In order to bring this gas to Europe we need additional infrastructure, which we are working on with our European partners – NordStream 2 and Turkish Stream. This capacity will not be sufficient to bring all this to Europe. So this is why we are talking to use available capacity on the Poseidon project that will be ready soon, or maybe TAP.”

World Bank, Azerbaijan sign TANAP loan - NATURAL GAS WORLD

Source: TANAP

January 16th, 20172:20pmAzerbaijan desk 

World Bank and the the government of Azerbaijan January 16 signed a $400mn loan agreement funding the TransAnatolian gas pipeline (Tanap) that will deliver Caspian gas to Turkey and Europe.

Tanap, part of the southern gas corridor project (SGC), will transport natural gas from the Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan to and across Turkey, and further to Europe, aiming to diversify Azerbaijan’s gas export markets and improve the security of the energy supply in Turkey and southeastern Europe, the bank said.

Besides Tanap it includes the development of the Shah Deniz 2 field; an expansion of the South Caucasus pipeline across Azerbaijan and Georgia to Turkey; and the TransAdriatic pipeline (TAP), which carries the gas through Greece and Albania and under the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy.

Comment: Keep gas off the Cypriot peace talks agenda

Brirish bases on Cyprus: vital for western interests and tightly
linked to the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus 

January 10th, 201710:25am

John Roberts

The leaders of the Greek and Turkish communities in Cyprus, together with a host of international officials, are meeting in Geneva now to try to end a partition that has lasted for 43 years. But it might be best if they agreed to omit any substantive discussion at this stage of a particularly difficult issue – gas.

The reason is that the discovery of gas in the eastern Mediterranean in general, and off the south coast of Cyprus in particular, is fraught with both practical and emotional problems that makes it much easier to conceive of successful development in the wake of a Cyprus settlement than as a significant constituent part of the negotiation process.

Jordan imported over 5 bcm of LNG in 2016 - NATURAL GAS WORLD

January 09th, 2017, 10:30amShardul Sharma

Jordan imported 8.6mn m³ of LNG cargoes at -160 deg C, official Petra News Agency reported January 8 citing government data.

That represents the regasified equivalent of 5.2bn m³ during 2016 imported into Jordan. Of that, about 0.67bn m³ of LNG was then exported to Egypt.

The fuel was imported via the floating LNG terminal at Aqaba, which became operational in July 2015; 48 cargoes were imported, of which 40 by Jordan’s state owned electricity company, National Electric Power Company, while 7 were supplied by Shell from Qatar. LNG cargo sizes ranged between 125,000 m³ and 165,000 m³.

Under its agreement with NEPCO, Shell has agreed to supply 150mn ft³/d LNG to the Aqaba LNG terminal.

ENI chief meets Al-Sisi as tensions ease - NATURAL GAS WORLD

Rosneft and BP have an add'l 5% option each on Shorouk

January 05th, 20179:15am

Mark Smedley

Eni said late January 4 that its CEO Claudio Descalzi met the president of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, earlier that day in Cairo.

Descalzi reviewed the ongoing development of the giant Zohr gasfield with the president, noting that the ultra-fast track project is progressing as expected, still with “production start-up confirmed by end of 2017.” The Eni CEO also said that the Nooros field will produce some 25mn m³/d (882mn ft³/d, or 172,000 barrels of oil equivalent/day) by the end of this month, just 15 months after start-up.

Eni agreed late 2016 to farm out potentially up to 50% of Zohr to Rosneft and BP. Each has an option for another 5% on top of their 30% and 10% holdings respectively.

Turkish Stream crosses choppy waters - NATURAL GAS WORLD

December 29th, 2016, 8:30am
John Roberts

In the second half of 2017, the world’s most modern pipe-laying barge will lay the first string of the Turkish Stream pipeline across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey.

Despite all the vicissitudes of recent Russian-Turkish relations, including the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov December 19, the two nations remain committed to laying at least one 15.75bn m³/yr pipe between Russia’s offloading terminal near Anapa and a landing site at Kiyikoy, on the Black Sea coast of Turkish Thrace.

But there is still a lot that remains uncertain. These mainly concern the question of a second string – in effect another 15.75bn m³/yr pipeline running roughly parallel to the first; the question of a connection to the Turkish-Greek border; the issue of who would be served by a second string; and the possibility of foreign partnership in the offshore component of the new system.

Cyprus awards 'confirm ENI's East Med strategy': Descalzi - NATURAL GAS WORLD

Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi

December 23rd, 2016, 8:00am

Mark Smedley

Eni commented December 22 on the two exploration blocks offshore Cyprus awarded the day before in the country’s third licensing round.

It was awarded both as operator: block 6 will be held 50-50% with Total, while Eni will have a 100% interest in block 8.

Eni said the areas have geological affinities with those successfully explored by Eni offshore Egypt, with the discovery of the Zohr super-giant gas field.

TANAP's external financing could reach $4bn: SOCAR - NATURAL GAS WORLD

December 16th, 2016, 9:45am

Shareholders in the Tanap gas pipeline may draw $4bn from international financial institutions for the project's construction, Azerbaijan state oil and gas company Socar's president Rovnag Abdullayev said in an interview with the Turkish news agency Anadolu December 15.

“Attracting external funding for Tanap is being negotiated with banks. So far, there are no concrete results, but we assume that the negotiations for the project will attract $4bn,” said Abdullayev.

Negotiations are conducted with the World Bank's International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), as well as with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the European Investment Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), he said.

There is still a possibility of transferring a 8% stake in the Tanap project to Socar Turkey Energy from the 58% currently held by Socar, said Abdullayev, adding: "We expect that this transfer will be formalized soon."

Israeli oil pipe operator eyes gasline to Turkey - NATURAL GAS WORLD

November 25th, 2016, 9:06amYa'acov Zalel

Israeli Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline Co will explore the possibility of building a natural gas pipeline between the Leviathan gas field and Turkey, reported Calcalist, a business website. EAPC is the operator of a 250-km oil pipeline between the southern town of Eilat, Israel, on the most northern point of the Red Sea, and the oil terminal in the city of Ashkelon, on the Mediterranean.

Israel Tamar faces $13 billion class action - NATURAL GAS WORLD

November 24th, 2016, 8:55amYa'acov Zalel

An Israeli district court rejected November 23 a petition by the Tamar Partnership to dismiss a class action law suit alleging monopolistic pricing of natural gas in Israel. The district court rejected the request in a preliminary hearing. Now the court will have to hold a hearing whether to approve the class action before it goes to a full trial. The process can be quite lengthy as the class action was filed almost two and half years ago and the trial hasn’t started yet.

The plaintiffs estimated that the excess cost for the Israeli customers is NIS 2.5bn ($630 mn)/yr and asked the court to order Tamar partners to compensate the customers and reduce prices. The estimated excess cost for the duration of the contract was estimated at NIS 26.8-43.7 bn.

Israel minister sees exports to Turkey - NATURAL GAS WORLD

November 22nd, 2016, 1:35pm
Ya'acov Zalel

Israel's energy minister Yuval Steinitz told a conference in Tel Aviv November 21 that the giant Leviathan and two other smaller gas fields offshore Israel, Karish and Tanin, will be developed come what may, and gas would then flow to Turkey.

He told the 2016 Israel Energy and Business Convention in Tel Aviv that there was no question about it. "I know it is sometimes neither simple nor easy. We have done what we had to do, the best I could, and now there is not a situation that timetables would be delayed. It will not happen. It is unthinkable."

The final investment decision (FID) for Leviathan has yet to be taken by the project's partners. Delek is adamant that the FID will be taken by the end of the year while Noble Energy, a 40% shareholder, and the operator, said it could be early next year. Delek Drilling CEO Yossi Abu said at the conference that the Leviathan partners were close to securing $4bn in finance for the field's development. "The Leviathan financing agreements are in the final stages of negotiations," Abu said at the conference. Last month Ratio, a 15% shareholder in Leviathan, had raised about $200mn in bonds in order to finance its equity investment in the project through a mezzanine debt.

Israel launches upstream round - NATURAL GAS WORLD

November 15th, 20164:30pmYa'acov Zalel

Israel's offshore holds up to 6.6bn barrels of oil and 2,137bn m³ of natural gas. according to an independent survey performed lately by BeicipFranlab, for the Israeli energy ministry.

Those data were published November 15 when energy minister Yuval Steinitz launched the first offshore licensing round. During a media event he not only expressed his hopes for future discoveries, but also settled scores with opponents of the natural gas framework.

"For years the sea was shut, the gas was buried and the economy was stifled. Today we change this situation, and what was a national missed opportunity to the Israeli economy. In our vision Israel will become a natural gas superpower and a significant player in the eastern Med basin," Steinitz said in a statement.

Israel energy minister hopeful on gas export - NATURAL GAS WORLD

November 14th, 2016,11:20am
Ya'acov Zalel

Israel's energy minister Yuval Steinitz sees a "very rosy future" for Israel's natural gas economy in general and for gas exports in particular. Speaking at a conference in Tel Aviv November 14, he said talks would lead to sales to three destinations in three directions: north to Turkey, south to Egypt and west to Italy. Leviathan Partnership already signed a contract to export gas to Jordan, east of Israel.

According to a report in business website Globes, Steinitz said that professional teams from Israel and Turkey started negotiations concerning laying a 500-km undersea pipeline from Leviathan gas field to Turkey. The previous week, Sahul Meridor, the director-general of Israel's energy ministry met with his Turkish counterpart to discuss a framework agreement.

How TAP helps its transit countries - NATURAL GAS WORLD

November 08th, 2016, 5:04amEmin Akhundzada

The Trans Adriatic Pipeline project is an initiative to develop the European natural gas system. The pipeline comprises the final step of the Southern Gas Corridor project, starting at the Turkey-Greece border, running through Greece and Albania beneath the Adriatic Sea, and ending in the southern part of Italy. The total length of the pipeline is 870 km with a diameter of 48 inches for the onshore and 36 inches for the offshore section, of which 545 km will run in Greece, 211 km in Albania, 105 km offshore in the Adriatic Sea and 8 km in Italy. [1]

The total cost of the pipeline is estimated at €5.7bn ($6.3bn). Construction of the pipeline will be mainly concentrated in Greece and in the offshore section between Albania and Italy. The initial capacity of the pipeline is envisioned to be 10bn m³/year, which will be expanded to 20bn m³/yr with additional compressor stations.[2] Shah Deniz consortium has signed 25-year sales agreement with eight European companies for 10bn m³/yr, of which 8bn m³/yr will be transported to Italy, and the remaining 2bn m³/yr will be delivered to Greece and Bulgaria, respectively 1bn m³/yr each.

Israel: a bright spot for Noble - NATURAL GAS WORLD

November 03rd, 2016, 9:20am

Ya'acov Zalel

Noble Energy recorded a net loss of $144mn in Q3, halving its Q3 2015 loss of $286mn. The company's most profitable region was Israel, where the company recorded revenues of $150mn and income before taxes of $135mn. That compares to $647mn revenues from operations in the US and a loss before taxes of $407mn.

Noble reported record sales in Israel following the decision by the energy ministry to accelerate the use of natural gas for power generation by 15% from 2015 to 2016.

Noble sold 310mn ft³/d in Israel, an increase of 2.3%. The average gas price in Israel was $5.22/mn Btu while in the US the average price was $2.38/mn Btu.