Egypt with Eni to fast-track Zohr gas output - WORLD OIL

JAN/31/2018
SALMA EL WARDANY

CAIRO (Bloomberg) -- Egypt is working with Eni SpA, operator of the giant Zohr gas field, to fast-track output and end the country’s need to import liquefied natural gas as early as this year, Oil Minister Tarek el-Molla said

Zohr, the largest undersea gas discovery in the Mediterranean, will produce 1.7 Bcfgd before the end of 2018, el-Molla said in a televised ceremony to inaugurate the field. Egypt is talking with Rome-based Eni to increase output to reach the 2019 production target this year instead, he said.

“God willing, by the end of the year when we reach the second phase of production, we can stop importing LNG,” el-Molla said Wednesday.

Egypt's Giant Zohr Gas Field Starts Production - BLOOMBERG

Tarek El-Molla(Photographer: Yasser Al-Zayet/AFP via Getty Images

December 16, 2017, 3:34 PM GMT+2

Salma El Wardany

• Field starts pumping gas to Egypt national network: El-Molla
• Zohr field may turn Egypt from LNG importer to gas exporter

Egypt’s Eni SpA-operated Zohr natural gas field has started production, bringing the country closer to its goal of energy self-sufficiency.

Gas from the Mediterranean’s largest offshore field is pumped to a facility in Port Said city, to be prepared for delivery to the national distribution network, with initial production of 350 million cubic feet per day, oil minister Tarek El-Molla said in a statement Saturday. Daily output is set to rise to about 1 billion cubic feet in June and 2.7 billion by the end of 2019, he said.

Production from Zohr will help the most populous Arab nation achieve “self-sufficiency of natural gas, ease the burden on the state budget and cut the imports bill," El-Molla said.

Eni's Giant Gas Field Prompts Egypt to End Imports in 2018 - BLOOMBERG

November 15, 2017, 9:52 AM GMT+2Salma El Wardany — With assistance by Hussein Slim, Fatma Abusief, and Tracy Alloway

• Zohr field will start production at 350,000 cubic feet a day
• New gas laws to be adopted in days: Oil Minister El-Molla

Egypt's El-Molla on Zohr Gas Field, Attracting Investors

Egypt will stop importing liquefied natural gas in 2018 and may eventually export gas after it starts producing this year at the giant Eni SpA-operated Zohr field off the country’s Mediterranean coast, Oil Minister Tarek El-Molla said.

Zohr’s output will mostly supply the domestic market, and the nation’s two existing gas-liquefaction facilities are large enough to process any available surplus into LNG for international sale in 2019, El-Molla said Tuesday in an interview in Abu Dhabi. If Zohr and other gas fields generate enough supplies, Egypt may consider adding a third LNG-exporting terminal, he said.

Egypt to award 12-cargo LNG tender to Gas Natural Fenosa, Swiss traders -trade sources - REUTERS

NOVEMBER 6, 2017 / 6:29 PMReporting by Oleg Vukmanovic; Editing by Susan Fenton

LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Egypt is expected to award its 12-cargo liquefied natural gas (LNG) tender to Spain’s Gas Natural Fenosa and three Swiss-based trading houses for supplies in the first quarter of 2018, trade sources said.

The final allocation may change but traders currently expect Egyptian Natural Gas Holding (EGAS) to award the Spanish gas company five shipments, trader Trafigura to supply three, Vitol three and Glencore one.

EGAS is seeking to bring in nine of the cargoes via Egypt’s two floating import terminals and three cargoes through a Jordanian terminal.

In the past EGAS has imported LNG through the Jordanian facility, where cargoes were converted back into gas and pumped through pipelines to Egypt. 

Qatar turns down new LNG deals with Egypt - traders - REUTERS

JULY 26, 2017 / 5:11 PM
Oleg Vukmanovic

LONDON, July 26 (Reuters) - Qatar has turned down several requests by third-party traders to make fresh liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies available to Egypt, raising concerns that a diplomatic row between the countries may curb regional energy trade, sources said.

Top LNG producer Qatar supplies around 60 percent of Egypt's LNG but relations suffered after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties and imposed sanctions on the gas-rich Gulf state last month, accusing it of supporting terrorism. Doha denies the charges.

Rosneft takes key step in push into Middle East - FINANCIAL TIMES

APRIL 3, 2017
Henry Foy in Moscow and David Sheppard in Lausanne; Add'l reporting by Anjli Raval

Russian oil group to expand trading after trumpeting agreements in Egypt and Libya

Russia’s Rosneft will this week take custody of its first independently sourced cargo of Kurdish crude oil from Turkey’s port of Ceyhan, a key step in its strategic push into Middle East energy markets and its attempts to expand trading.

The world’s largest listed oil company by output has spent the past four months trumpeting agreements to buy oil from Egypt, Libya and Iraqi Kurdistan, drilling exploration wells in southern Iraq and considering opportunities in Lebanon, as it chases deals to fuel its fledgling international expansion.

Rosneft signs LNG deal with Egypt for 10 cargoes this year- MENAFN / GULF TIMES

21/03/2017

Russia's largest crude producer, Rosneft joined traders from Trafigura Group to Glencore in boosting liquefied natural gas deliveries to Egypt before the country restores domestic production.

Rosneft, which seeks to expand its international gas business, signed a contract to supply the north African nation with 10 LNG cargoes this year, Rosneft said yesterday by email. The deal, which followed a debut contract of three cargoes last year, will further strengthen the strategic partnership between Rosneft and Egypt, the company said.

Rosneft and Russia's Evolving Oil Strategy Explained - THE DIPLOMAT

March 10, 2017
Nicholas Trickett

Russia’s recent deals in the Middle East aren’t just about expanding its influence, they’re part of a larger strategy.

Rosneft is deploying its preferred long-term prepayment model to political effect in Kurdistan and Libya, distributing risks between producers and consumers and taking advantage of its access to state money. That model has also earned it closer ties to trading houses like Glencore and Trafigura. The firm applied the same approach to securing a customer for its Venezuelan production—another risky market—in India with its acquisition of Essar Oil.

Glencore comes out top as Egypt awards mega LNG import tender - REUTERS

Mon Nov 28, 2016 | 3:37pm GMTReporting by Mark Tay; Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein in Singapore and Eric Knecht in Cairo; Editing by Susan Fenton

• EGAS awards mega tender, taking mainly 2017 cargoes
• Glencore emerges as top supplier, followed by Trafigura
• Jan-Mar 2017 cargoes priced at about 15 percent to crude
• Remainder of 2017 cargoes priced lower as fundamentals expected to weaken

Egypt will import around 60 cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) next year and Glencore will be the biggest supplier, trading sources with knowledge of the results of Egypt's mega tender for 2017 and 2018 said on Monday.

Glencore bagged the right to supply around 25 liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes to Egypt, while second-placed Trafigura is understood to have won the right to supply about 18 cargoes of the super-cooled fuel, the trading sources said.

Other parties successful in Egypt Natural Gas Holding's (EGAS) tender included BB Energy, Gunvor and Vitol, the sources added.

Trafigura, Vitol Said Among Bidders for OMV Turkey Fuel Unit - BLOOMBERG

Dinesh Nair, Ercan Ersoy
October 10, 2016 — 11:21 AM EDTUpdated on October 11, 2016 — 4:23 AM EDT

• Opet, Socar and private equity firms also said to bid
• Turkey’s Petrol Ofisi sale could fetch about $1.2 billion

OMV AG, central Europe’s biggest oil and gas company, has got initial bids from Vitol SA and Trafigura Group Pte for its Turkish fuel retailer OMV Petrol Ofisi AS, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Opet Petrolculuk AS, the State Oil Co. of the Azerbaijan Republic and private equity firms are also among the companies that made offers, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process isn’t public. BP Plc and Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Aramco, are also weighing bids, the people said.

Egypt Makes Its LNG Importer Picks For Remainder Of 2016 - OILPRICE.COM

By Zainab Calcuttawala - Sep 23, 2016, 4:33 PM CDT

Egypt has chosen three firms to supply liquefied natural gas to its markets for the remainder of 2016, closing a tender it had issued two weeks ago, according to a recent report by Reuters.

Glencore, an Anglo-Swiss commodities trading house, will supply cargo for October; Dutch Trafigura will deliver a shipment for November; and U.K.-based B.B. Energy – a relatively new player in the LNG trade – will arrange the December order.

LNG Traders Eye One Last Egyptian Bonanza as Demand Nears Peak - BLOOMBERG

Anna Shiryaevskaya, September 23, 2016 — 11:28 AM EEST

• State-run EGAS seeks to import 120 LNG cargoes next year
• Egypt may stop LNG imports as early as 2020, resume exports

The world’s biggest liquefied natural gas traders will be lining up for what may be the last billion-dollar payday from Egypt.

Egypt is seeking about 120 LNG cargoes for next year, worth about $2.4 billion at current spot prices in Singapore. That may be “the last big tender” if recent discoveries in the North African nation start production in 2018, according to Maggie Kuang, an analyst in Singapore at Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

EGAS awards contracts for 11 LNG shipments between June and August - ENERGY EGYPT / ENTERPRISE

July 25, 2016

Trafigura, Royal Dutch Shell, Rosneft, and PetroChina were awarded tenders to supply EGAS with a total of 11 LNG shipments between the months of June and August, sources told Al Borsa.

Trafigura is supplying five shipments, followed by Shell with three, Rosneft with two, and PetroChina with one. As previously reported, EGAS has issued a tender for a third FSRU to meet domestic demand as the three Siemens power plants come online soon.

Egypt's EGAS makes first LNG payments for year -sources - REUTERS

Mon Mar 7, 2016

• First payments since terms extended to 90 days-sources
• Traders estimate EGAS owes $1 billion to LNG suppliers

By Sarah McFarlane and Oleg Vukmanovic

LONDON/MILAN, March 7 Egypt's state-owned EGAS has made its first payments to liquefied natural gas (LNG) suppliers since payment terms for deliveries were extended, trade sources said.

Egypt imports around six to eight cargoes of LNG per month and traders said that until last week EGAS had not paid suppliers since December when it extended payment terms to 90 days from the usual 15 days, due to the country's foreign currency crisis.

EGAS head Khaled Abdel Badie told Reuters his company has made all payments that were due on LNG shipments but did not specify whether these were the first payments this year.

Egypt Skips Gas Bill, Loses LNG Shipment | The Maritime Executive

British Sapphire, image courtesy ATSB

By Reuters 2016-01-21

BP's diversion of a tanker of liquefied natural gas (LNG) away from Egypt due to payment issues is the first sign that the country's currency crisis could be jeopardizing its energy supplies, traders said.

Earlier this month the tanker British Sapphire was diverted to Brazil rather than discharging in Egypt, with the delivery of the LNG cargo for Egypt delayed up until October, traders said.

Egypt struggles to pay for oil, LNG supply amid foreign currency crisis | Reuters

LONDON/MILAN | By Sarah McFarlane and Libby George

Dec 23 - Egypt is struggling to pay for U.S. dollar-priced oil product and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, cancelling purchases, and asking suppliers to extend payment terms amid an acute foreign currency crisis, industry sources said.

Egypt, which depends on oil and gas imports, has faced a sharper decline in foreign currency receipts after a plane carrying Russian tourists crashed in October while low oil prices limit aid from Gulf allies, banking and trade sources said.

The sources said that Egypt has asked oil and LNG suppliers to extend payment terms to 90 days after delivery earlier this month due to its foreign currency crisis.


Egypt is struggling to pay for U.S. dollar-priced oil product and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, cancelling purchases, and asking suppliers to extend payment terms amid an acute foreign currency crisis, industry sources said.

Egypt, which depends on oil and gas imports, has faced a sharper decline in foreign currency receipts since the Russian airliner disaster in October, which has hit tourism, while low oil prices limit aid from Gulf allies, banking and trade sources said.

The sources said that Egypt has asked oil and LNG suppliers to extend payment terms to 90 days after delivery earlier this month due to the currency crisis.

According to existing arrangements, Egypt is obliged to pay for LNG imports 15 days after a cargo unloads.

"The combination of the weaker tourism sector, along with low oil prices tightening the budgets of GCC countries who have traditionally helped Egypt pay for commodities, is hitting foreign currency reserves," a banking source said.

"These elements and the Central Bank's wish not to close the year while depleting the levels of reserves triggered the request (to extend payment terms)," he said.

Short of dollars, Egypt has also cancelled the purchases of six gasoil cargoes initially scheduled for early January, oil market sources said.

"Those who can handle it will consider the extended payment," one oil trader said.

Payment delays have created a logjam of cargoes outside Egyptian ports, including at least six clean and three dirty product cargoes.

A source familiar with the matter estimated that Egypt is late in paying around $350 million to LNG suppliers.

"There's a possibility that some suppliers will not be accommodating and will walk away," he said, although LNG suppliers surveyed by Reuters denied they had any such intention.

Egypt imports around six to eight cargoes of LNG per month, valued at around $20 million to $25 million per cargo.

Its suppliers include BP, Shell, Gas Natural, Trafigura, Vitol, EDF Trading, PetroChina and Noble.

Egypt has emerged as a major new market for LNG as the government looks to ease the worst energy crunch in decades.

Falling output and rising demand have transformed the country from an oil and gas exporter to net importer.


Meanwhile on Wednesday Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities said it had changed the terms of payment for wheat purchased in its tenders.

(Additional reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic in Milan, Dmitry Zhdannikov in London and Lin Noueihed and Eric Knecht in Cairo.; Writing by Oleg Vukmanovic; Editing by Jane Merriman, Greg Mahlich)

SOURCE

Possible Delek pull back over interim gas supply | Cyprus Mail

August 6, 2014 

Leviathan gas field

By Elias Hazou

ISRAEL’S Delek group, a strong contender for supplying Cyprus with natural gas, may now have to take a backseat to other bidders due to complications in its Israel operations.

The tender put out by Cyprus’ Natural Gas Public Company (DEFA) calls for the supply of between 0.7 and 0.95 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually to the Cypriot market through two delivery routes.

One route will begin supplying gas in early 2016 and the other no later than the second half of 2017.
Delek proposed the construction of a pipeline from the neighbouring Leviathan field to Cyprus.

But Noble Energy, Delek’s partner in Leviathan, announced recently it will delay taking the final decision on developing the field.

Noble had been expected to announce its development plan for Leviathan in September, with the date now pushed back for an indeterminate amount of time. Under the previous timetable, Leviathan was believed to be coming online in 2017.

The delay means that Leviathan gas will likely not be available by the time Cyprus expects deliveries – potentially throwing into question Delek’s whole bid.

Earlier this month, DEFA announced it had finished assessing the commercial and financial proposals submitted to it, and would commence direct negotiations with “a number of bidders.”

Reports say that four bidders are still in the running: Dutch energy firm Vitol; Greek conglomerate M&M made up of the Mytilineos & Vardinoyiannis (Motor Oil) groups in cooperation with Dutch giant Trafigura;
a conglomerate under ‘Socar’ – the state liquefied gas company of Azerbaijan; and Delek.

Reports say that the prices quoted to DEFA are higher than those desired, but that there is a window for bringing them down during the negotiations.

Cypriot authorities are understood to have set a purchase target of $12 per million BTU. The offers submitted by the bidders reportedly hover around $13 or $13.5 per million BTU.

SOURCE