Eastern Med countries agree to move ahead with gas forum - THE ARAB WEEKLY

Saturday 27/JULY/2019

CAIRO - Energy ministers from the founding countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum agreed to complete the basic structure of the group and enhance cooperation to promote the exploitation of natural gas reserves in the region.

During a meeting July 25 in Cairo, energy ministers of Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, the Palestinian territories and a representative of the energy minister of Jordan said they would form a committee to elevate the forum to the level of an international organisation that respects the rights of its members to their natural resources.

The meeting of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) founders was almost six months after the forum was declared. EMGF is a new player on the international natural gas scene, deriving its force from numerous gas finds in the region in recent years.

The forum is an expression of the changing face of the region, in which political and military rivalries and animosities are overshadowed by economic interests, even as some regional countries, including Turkey, Lebanon and Syria, are yet to join.

US-mediated talks between Lebanon and Israel expected to begin in weeks - THE ARAB WEEKELY

Sunday 23/06/2019

Simon Speakman Cordall

TUNIS - Lebanon has agreed to enter US-brokered talks with Israel over a disputed maritime border.

Lebanon has not commented publicly on its participation in such talks; however, Israeli sources indicated that negotiations could begin in July. It is understood that discussions would concern only the maritime border.

Acting US Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Satterfield has been shuttling between both countries’ capitals for months and is believed to have achieved a breakthrough after meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil in late May.

A statement, carried by Lebanese state media following a recent Satterfield meeting in Lebanon, said the Foreign Ministry confirmed that no major obstacles remained ahead of negotiations but that more trips were required.

“We started putting the final touches on the form of negotiations and the role of the concerned parties, including the United Nations, Lebanon and Israel, as well as the role of the United States,” the statement said.

Israel’s discovery of the Tamar and Leviathan gas fields in 2009 and 2010, respectively, increased the rate of exploration across the eastern Mediterranean, with discoveries later made in Cypriot and Egyptian waters.

Egyptian petroleum minister fleshes out country’s progress as regional hub - THE ARAB WEEKLY

Sunday 24/02/2019

Mohamed Hammad

Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Tarek el-Molla said Cairo would soon announce its first international bid for oil and gas exploration in the country’s Red Sea territory, as a step towards Egypt increasing its position among natural gas suppliers in the region.

Molla said the ministry carried out two seismic surveys in the Red Sea and southern Egypt that indicated “positive signs that encouraged us to submit tenders to international companies for the extraction of oil and gas in that virgin region.”

“This procedure would not have been possible without the delimitation of the maritime border with Saudi Arabia in April 2016. [The agreement] enabled Egypt to search and explore in this region for the first time,” Molla said.

The surveys were carried out by US companies TGS and Schlumberger at a cost of about $750 million.

Tenders for oil and gas exploration in the Red Sea were to have been announced last December but Molla said Egyptian officials decided to wait to better market the promising potential in the region.

Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum a powerful new global player - THE ARAB WEEKLY

EU Commissioner for Energy Miguel Arias Canete (C) visits the Zohr
gas field facilities in April 2018

Sunday 20/01/2019

Amr Emam

The EMGF creates a “systematic dialogue” between producers and consumers on gas policies.

CAIRO - A planned Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum is expected to expand cooperation between natural gas producers and consumers in the region, creating a powerful global energy player and potentially providing Europe with an alternative supply of gas.

“This is particularly true with major producers in the region agreeing to join hands in maximising benefits from new finds,” said oil and gas expert Ramadan Abul Ela. “Regional discoveries will change the international map of energy supply but this will materialise only when producers join hands.”

The Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) was announced January 14 in Cairo at a meeting of energy ministers from Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan and the Palestinian territories.

The forum, with headquarters in Cairo, is planned to ease exploitation of Eastern Mediterranean gas reserves to further economic development in the region.

“The forum will support producing countries by enhancing their cooperation with consumer and transitory parties in the region,” a statement from Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum said. “It will take advantage of existing infrastructure and develop further infrastructure options to accommodate current and future discoveries.”

Egypt issues final liquefied gas tender on road to self-sufficiency - THE ARAB WEEKLY

Sunday 01/JULY/2018Hassan Abdel Zaher

Egypt’s oil and gas sector is expected to receive $10 billion in investments in the next two years.

CAIRO - Egypt is close to reaching self-sufficiency in natural gas and resuming exports, which would end almost a decade of dependence on imports.

Egyptian Petroleum Minister Tarek el-Molla said Egypt’s latest liquefied natural gas tender for nine shipments of natural gas could be its last because local production would meet domestic demand and even allow for energy exports next year.

“I don’t think there will be more tenders beyond this. I think this is it,” Molla said. “Local production should cover our needs.”

Egypt would look to export natural gas to international markets almost a decade after halting exports due to increasing consumption, decreasing production and a lack of upgrade for Egypt’s natural gas fields. Natural gas finds, particularly in the eastern Mediterranean, have revamped Egypt’s energy plans.

Major oil firms interested in Eastern Med gas - UPI / THE ARAB WEEKLY

Aug. 29, 2016 at 10:07 AM
Walid Khadduri

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Major international oil companies have submitted bids to participate in Cy­prus' third licensing round for three southern offshore blocks adjacent to Egypt's northern waters.

The three Cypriot licensing rounds have encountered a number of challenges. Turkey's threats to operating firms overshadowed the first licensing round. It threatened to boycott IOCs operating in Cypriot waters. It did not allow the IOCs to take crude oil from Turkish ports. The IOCs were also not allowed to distribute petroleum products in the Turkish market. Turkey has boycotted Eni but the Italian firm challenged the decision in court and the dispute is being adjudicated.

Gas finds may lead to Israeli alliance with Egypt, Greece | Arutz Sheva

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (C) meets with (former) Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras (R) and Cyprus' President Nicos Anastasiades in Cairo

Experts: discovery of huge reserves in Mediterranean could lead to cooperation between Israel, Egypt, Greece and Cyprus.

By Gil Ronen, 1/11/2016, 11:14 AM

The discovery of huge reserves of natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean will likely give birth to new alliances in the region, possibly even leading regional powers to "bury old differences and develop unprecedented security, economic and strategic cooperation," according to Amr Emam, writing in The Arab Weekly.

The new regional natural gas players — Egypt, Israel, Greece and Cyprus — are working to develop secure systems to deliver natural gas from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe, making the continent less dependent on gas from Russia, the experts said.

“New finds in the region make cooperation among the new gas producers essential for delivering this gas to important markets, including Europe,” Hossam Farahat, an oil and gas analyst, told The Arab Weekly. “What makes this cooperation more possible is that most of the fields found in the region are so close to each other.”

The idea that Israel, Cyprus and Turkey would provide gas for Europe has been discussed for some time, and as reported by Arutz Sheva at the time, US Vice President Joe Biden remarked upon it in 2014. Egypt, however, was a natural gas importer, not an exporter, until recently.

This changed in August 2015, with the discovery of a huge natural gas field covering 100 sq. km off Egypt's coast. The field reportedly has potential reserves of approximately 30 trillion cubic feet of lean gas, which amount to almost 40% of Egypt's confirmed natural gas reserves. Cairo said that the gas would be used to satisfy local demand, but international energy research centers expect Egypt’s natural gas production to exceed local consumption by 2020.

In addition, economists say Egypt’s need for foreign currency may force it to speed up the export of its natural gas, to a point earlier than 2020, according to Emam, who wrote: "This opens the prospect for creating alliances in the Mediterranean region, where rising gas powers can cooperate to deliver gas to Europe."

Talks with Tsipras, A-Sisi

This idea was reportedly included in talks between European Commissioner for Energy and Climate Action Miguel Arias Canete and Claudio Descalzi, CEO of the Italian firm that discovered the Egyptian gas field, when they met in September 2015.

After the meeting, it was said that the new discovery off Egypt’s coast, along with recent gas discoveries off the shores of Israel and Cyprus, would make it possible for an eastern Mediterranean gas hub "to contribute significantly" to Europe's energy needs.

The same topic was reportedly high in the agenda for Egyptian President Ab­del Fattah a-Sisi and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras during their meeting in Athens in early December. Tsipras had reportedly held similar discussions in Tel Aviv a few days earlier.

Oil and gas experts say Egypt and Israel may build a pipeline from the port of Ashkelon to western Egypt, where there are two giant gas-processing facilities on the Mediterranean coast. There the gas would be transformed to liquefied natural gas (LNG) and shipped by tanker to Europe.

Turkey, which depends on Russia for a sizeable portion of its oil and gas needs, "may find itself obliged to bury its differences with Tel Aviv and Cairo — and possibly Greece — to make up for Russian gas," in case its relations with Moscow continue to deteriorate, as they have of late.

Political science Professor Tarek Fahmi told Emam the presence of a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel will make their cooperation in the regards to natural gas easy. Egypt is highly wary of Turkey, however, because of Turkish leader Erdogan's support for the Muslim Brotherhood, a-Sisi's nemesis.

“But I really doubt that Turkey will be part of this cooperation with Egypt, at least in the foreseeable future,” Fahmi said.

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