Trump's energy dominance agenda hinges on Egypt - WASHINGTON EXAMINER

April 10, 2019 11:59 AM

John Siciliano & Josh Siegel

President Trump needs Egypt’s economy to grow up fast if he wants his vision of “energy dominance” to come into full force, seeing that the North African country is a key lynchpin in the global oil market, yet in desperate need of infrastructure investment.

At Tuesday’s meetings at the White House, Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi discussed a new, loosely organized natural gas collaboration between Egypt, Israel and Southern Europe as necessary for the two countries’ ambitions.

“One of the things we’ve been particularly encouraged by over the course of recent years is the increasing leadership role the Egyptians are playing in terms of developing the [natural] gas assets in the Eastern Mediterranean, which has been a very productive area of cooperation,” said a senior White House official with the National Security Council ahead of the meeting.

Trump wants Al-Sissi to use Egypt’s newfound natural gas discoveries to modernize the country’s economy and upgrade the global trade infrastructure at the Suez Canal.

News Analysis: Strategic location, improved infrastructure to turn Egypt into regional energy hub - XINHUA

2018-10-06 05:44:4
Marwa Yahya; Editor: Yang Yi

CAIRO, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- With Egypt's strategic location and improved infrastructure, the North African country is becoming a regional hub for energy trade, said experts.

"Egypt has all the conditions needed to turn into a regional hub for energy trade. It has a very unique location among the three continents, besides its Suez Canal and internationally standardized infrastructure," Salah Hafez, former deputy chairman of the General Authority for Oil, told Xinhua.

"Egypt also owns gas pipelines to Israel and Jordan, gas liquification stations in Damietta and Edko in northern Cairo, and sea ports," Hafez said.

The Egyptian government announced on several occasions a two-phase plan to turn Egypt into an energy hub. The first will be carried out by construction of electricity networks between Egypt and its neighboring countries.

The electricity connections with Libya and Jordan have been in operation, with other networks linking Egypt with Syria and Iraq still under construction.

By the end of 2018, the electricity links with Sudan will start working. Egypt also plans to establish a sea cable for electricity connection with Greece, Cyprus, and Saudi Arabia, the spokesman of the Electricity Ministry told Xinhua.

EBRD finances upgrade of Egypt’s Suez oil refinery - ENERGY EGYPT / OIL & GAS JOURNAL

May 25, 2018

The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) is providing a $200-million loan to state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. subsidiary Suez Oil Processing Co. (SOPC) for the upgrade of its 68,000-b/d refinery adjacent to Suez, Egypt, at the entrance of the Suez Canal.

ERBD funds will finance investments to modernize the refinery with technical updates to improve overall operational performance and energy efficiency at the site, as well as works to reduce the refinery’s carbon footprint, ERBD said.

Specifically, the proposed projects will increase flexibility of the plant’s crude intake and enable production of higher-quality, lower-sulfur fuels, ERBD said.

The refinery also will implement an extensive energy efficiency program that will reduce emissions of carbon dioxide equivalent by more than 295,000 tonnes/year and result in a savings of 300,000 Mw-hr of energy and 384,000 cu m of water annually, the international financial institution said.

Russia Pressures Trade and Energy Routes in Eastern Mediterranean - CHARGED AFFAIRS

USS Mount Whitney and Russian Navy ship (EUCOM, © 2015)

26 JUNE 2017
KEVIN TRUITTE

The Eastern Mediterranean Sea is a major strategic point of connection for international shipping and commerce. In recent years, this has drawn the attention of the Russian Federation, which seeks to reassert itself into the strategically important region. Russian military forces in Syria now provide a means to invoke a threat of military force against vital regional economic lifelines and energy resources. Alongside its military, the country has developed its political and economic influences across the region, increasing its non-military leverage over international maritime trade routes and energy flows. As I have previously argued in Charged Affairs, Russia has escalated its military and political presence and the Eastern Mediterranean is part of its strategy to increase its power over the region, a stepping stone on the country’s path to reestablish itself as a global superpower.

Alliance completes strategy of transforming Egypt into regional centre for energy-trading - DAILY NEWS EGYPT

Monday June 19, 2017

Petroleum Ministry implements plan to expand the ports, establish petroleum storage and trading projects
A specialised alliance is set to complete a strategy to transform Egypt into a regional energy trading hub in November.

Sources at the Ministry of Petroleum said that Egypt’s transformation into a regional centre for energy trading and trading not only covers a part of the needs of the local market but also serves to meet the needs of the regional market, adding value to the Egyptian economy and attracting foreign investment.

The sources noted that Egypt has many qualifications to enable it to play this role, including the important discoveries in the field of oil and gas, especially in the Mediterranean region.

ENERGY BRIEF EGYPT - Issue 22 - 2017 April 9-13 - EGYPT OIL & GAS

ENERGY BRIEF EGYPT - EOG Weekly Publication Issue 22 9 April to 13 April

Mideast Monitor: What's next for Sisi's Egypt? - JERUSALEM POST

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (REUTERS) 

February 16, 2017, 15:19
Bruce Maddy-Wetzman

While Sisi’s rule does not appear to be in imminent danger, it is unwise to ignore the real and multiple difficulties confronting Egyptian society.

EGYPT’S PRESIDENT Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has now been in power for three and a half years. In consolidating his rule, Sisi has based his claim to legitimacy on a formula familiar to authoritarian regimes: wrapping oneself in the flag of patriotism, along with promises for economic betterment and stability for the population in return for its acquiescence to a de-politicization of society. Also in use is harsh repression of political opposition, severe checks on independent civil society organizations, including the media, and restrictions on judicial independence.

Egypt signs two oil and gas exploration agreements - ENTERPRISE / ASWAT MASRIYA

Wednesday, 18 January 2017

Egypt signed two exploration and production agreements in the Western Desert and Suez Canal regions, Aswat Masriya reported. The first agreement was signed with Sahara for Oil and Gas, a sister company of Sahara Petroleum Services (SAPESCO), with an investment value of USD 30 mn. The second agreement was inked with the Offshore Shukeir Oil Company to carry out exploration on behalf of EGPC in the Suez Canal region.

Egypt's Petroleum Minister Signs Two Oil and Gas Exploration Deals - ASWAT MASRIYA / ALLAFRICA.COM

17 JANUARY 2017
Aswat Masriya (Cairo)

Cairo — Egypt's Petroleum Minister Tarek al-Molla signed two agreements for oil and gas exploration in the Western Desert and the Suez Canal regions on Tuesday.

Egypt aspires to increase its oil and gas production to meet the growing domestic demand for energy.

According to the ministry's statement, the first deal was signed with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and Sahara for Oil and Gas with a total investment worth at least $30 million.

Rosneft Eyes Building Hydrocarbon Terminal in Egypt's Suez Canal Zone - SPUTNIK NEWS / REUTERS

REUTERS/ Amr Abdallah Dalsh
17.05.2016(updated 12:55 17.05.2016)

Rosneft is looking into the possibility of building an oil and gas terminal in Egypt's Suez Canal Economic Zone, the Russian trade envoy to Egypt said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Preparations for talks on the hydrocarbon terminal project between Rosneft and Suez economic zone authorities are underway, he added, noting that in 2015, the Russian trade representation in Egypt passed a total of 11 oil and gas development proposals from the Egyptian authorities to Russian companies.

"Currently, the proposal to build a hydrocarbon terminal in the Suez Canal zone has been looked into the most. The Rosneft company is planning to take part in the project from the Russian side," Fedor Lukashin said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

Tender awarded to supply Egypt’s petroleum needs for January: Petroleum Minister | Daily News Egypt

Tarek El Molla

A tender was held by the EGPC to select the company, pending negotiations with Saudi Arabia to supply requirements for next five years

Mohamed Adel, December 28, 2015
A number of petroleum importers were selected following the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation’s (EGPC) tender proposed to international companies to supply Egypt’s petroleum requirements for January, Minister of Petroleum Tarek El Molla said, in special statements to Daily New Egypt.

The tender was awarded and the deal was made with the company. It will supply the petroleum shipments of January to secure Egypt’s needs until it completes the negotiations with Saudi Arabia to provide Egypt’s needs for five years.

EGPC proposed the international tender to foreign companies to supply the local market’s needs of the petroleum products (benzene, diesel, Butane gas, and Mazut) for January 2016.

Usually the tenders are put up to supply the petroleum products for three months. The period was shortened to one month in this case, in anticipation of the contract with Saudi Arabia to supply Egypt’s requirements for five years, El Molla said.

King Salman issued instructions to provide Egypt with petroleum products for five years and to support the maritime traffic in the Suez Canal through the Saudi ships.

El Molla said a meeting is set to be held with Saudi Arabia on 5 January to agree on the details of the deal that will allow Egypt to receive the fuel with repayment facilitations. The Ministry of Petroleum seeks to hold a meeting with Saudi officials before the decided date to make the commercial deal between the countries earlier.

El Molla explained that the facilitations that will be negotiated with Saudi Arabia are different from the contract signed with Aramco for supplying shipments worth about $1.4bn for three months. The new deal is set to cover the five years that King Salman issued instructions for.

EGPC signed a contract with the Saudi Aramco to meet Egypt’s needs for petroleum products for three months, which commenced in September and ended in November. The deal included offering payment facilitations for three years, with an interest rate of only 3%.

The value of Aramco’s contract amounted to $1.4bn. With the decline in the petrol’s global prices however, the Saudi deal’s value was reduced to $1.1bn. The deal included supplying 500,000 tonnes of diesel, 220,000 tonnes of Mazut, and 150,000 tonnes of benzene, monthly.

The local consumption of benzene amounts to 6.1m tonnes annually, 2.7m tonnes  of which is octane 80 benzene, followed by about 2.5m tonnes of octane 92 , and 400,000 tonnes of octane 95, according to the estimates of last fiscal year’s budget.

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Cyprus President invites Israel to seriously consider exporting gas from Cyprus LNG plant | Famagusta Gazette

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades has invited Israel to seriously consider committing to exporting Israeli gas from the Cyprus LNG terminal. He made statement during the official ceremony for the inauguration of the Limassol Desalination Plant.

FAMAGUSTA GAZETTE

President Nicos Anastasiades has invited Israel to seriously consider committing to exporting Israeli gas from the Cyprus LNG terminal.

On his part Israeli Minister of Energy and Water Resources Silvan Shalom stressed that relations between the two countries are not only based on the economy but are also “geopolitical and strategic”.

The two men were addressing an official ceremony for the inauguration of the Limassol Desalination Plant.

“In view of the fact that my Government is moving forward with determination with the construction of an LNG plant, in order to realize the significant potential of becoming the Eastern Mediterranean’s energy hub, I invite the Government of Israel to seriously consider committing to exporting Israeli gas from the LNG facility”, President Anastasiades noted in his address.

This, he added, “is all the more pertinent if one takes into account that Cyprus is perhaps Israel’s most stable partner in the region”.

He highlighted the fact that “our proximity to the Suez Canal is an important factor favouring the creation of a regional energy hub in Cyprus for the transportation of natural gas from Eastern Mediterranean countries, not only to Europe, but also to the Far East”.

“All of the above constitute key components of Cyprus’ vision not only as regards our energy co-operation with Israel, but also as regards energy co-operation in Eastern Mediterranean”, he said.

The Cyprus President further pointed out that a “web of natural gas transportation projects in the Eastern Mediterranean will serve as a means to potentially strengthen regional energy security and attract foreign investments, leading to job creation; this should serve as a boost to the economies of our region”.

He also spoke of the role energy could place in contributing to the peace and stability in the region to the benefit of all.

“Energy should not be a source of conflict, but a tool for conflict resolution and regional integration”, he said.

President Anastasiades expressed the hope that “we will soon have the opportunity to inaugurate many other projects that will be commonly undertaken by various entities, from both the public and private sectors of Israel and Cyprus, resulting in increased prosperity for both our nations, such as this vivid example of the Consortium Mekorot, Logicom and Demetra Investments”.

During his address he also spoke of “the great importance of adopting technology and learning from technological know-how of our neighbours in Israel, whose level of technological expertise is second to none”.

Therefore, he added, “I would like to request the Minister of Energy and Water Resources of the State of Israel, Mr Shalom, to convey our gratitude to my friend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for the cooperation, help and support that was tangibly provided and continues to be provided by Israel”.

Referring to the new desalination plant he pointed out that “together with the existing plants already operating and those that are being upgraded, now guarantee that not only Limassol, but all of Cyprus, will never go thirsty again”.

On his part Shalom also pointed out the significance of the new desalination plant and the fact that it was built by the National Israeli Company. I think, he said, it shows that we can work (together) on many fields, in water, energy and other fields”.

“I think we can work together because we look at Cyprus as one of the main and central allies of Israel in our region and as a whole”, he stressed.

Referring to the problems the Middle East is faced with he said that Cyprus was “a solid rock and a very good friend of Israel in all fields”.

Cooperation in the fields of water and energy, he pointed out, “shows the strength of the alliance between Israel and Cyprus, economically and politically as well”.

He thanked President Anastasiades for his recent visit to Israel and for promoting better relations between Israel and other countries, conveying “a message of friendship” on the part of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Cypriot Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism Giorgos Lakkotrypis, Israeli Minister of Energy and Water Resources Silvan Shalom and Greek Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Yiannis Maniatis will be meeting on Thursday in Nicosia and are due to sign a Memorandum of Understanding in the field of energy and water resources.  — (KYPE)

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