Condor Petroleum begins drilling Yakamoz-1 exploration well in Turkey - WORLD OIL

JUNE/16/2017

CALGARY -- Condor Petroleum Inc., has announced that drilling has commenced on the Yakamoz-1 exploration well, which is located 2 km north of the Company’s 100% owned and operated Poyraz Ridge gas field in Turkey.

Based on existing seismic data and well results from Poyraz Ridge, the Yakamoz prospect could be more highly fractured and gas rich than the reservoirs encountered at Poyraz Ridge. The well is expected to reach its planned total depth of 2,000 m in early third-quarter 2017. Poyraz Ridge development remains on track to begin gas production in third-quarter 2017.

Total to drill in Cyprus now services base ready - INTERFAX

The services base in Limassol, Cyprus, is ready for Total to use

16 June 2017
Verity Ratcliffe

Total’s services base in Limassol is ready for use, meaning the French major can now start exploring Block 11 offshore Cyprus. EDT Offshore, which won the contract to set up the onshore facility, expects to officially hand over the completed works on Friday. Total will be able to start work within weeks, EDT Offshore Operations Manager Mike Socratous told Interfax Natural Gas Daily.

Total’s plan to explore Block 11 has faced many hurdles [as] the government faced public opposition when it tried to build a services hub at Larnaca, forcing a relocation to Limassol.

Total signed a contract with EDT for its base in Limassol in October 2016, but the contract was immediately contested by two companies that hold contracts to operate the port.

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Nostra Terra acquires further 25% stake in East Ghazalat from Echo Energy - ENERGY EGYPT / NOSTRA TERRA

June 15, 2017

AIM-listed Nostra Terra Oil & Gas has reached agreement with Echo Energy to acquire Echo’s 50 percent stake in Independent Resources Egypt (‘IRE’). IRE owns a 50% non-operating interest in the East Ghazalat concession, Egypt through its subsidiary Sahara Resources GOS Inc (‘SRGOS’). The remaining 50% of the Concession is owned by North Petroleum International Company, which is the Operator.

Israel-Europe Gas Pipeline Emerging From Fantasy, Netanyahu Says - BLOOMBERG

15 June 2017, 11:35 p.m. EEST

Jonathan Ferziger

• [Israel, Greece, Cyprus] leaders back building conduit at summit meeting
• Additional gas finds might be needed to make project feasible

Leaders of Israel, Greece and Cyprus agreed Thursday to push forward with construction of a pipeline that would bring gas to Europe from offshore fields in the Mediterranean.

“A few months ago it was in the realm of fantasy,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters after a three-way summit in Thessaloniki, Greece. “Now it’s becoming real.”

The meeting brought Netanyahu together with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades to sign a joint statement on strengthening economic cooperation. The centerpiece is the East-Med Pipeline, which would bring gas from Israeli fields to Greece and Italy through what would be the world’s longest undersea connection.

The Israeli push to connect the eastern Mediterranean through pipelines in a region grappling with longstanding conflicts is going to be hard to carry through, especially as world energy prices remain depressed. A second proposed pipeline, to Turkey, would have to go through Cyprus, which has been divided since a Turkish invasion of the north in 1974. 

El Molla confirms acceleration of West Nile Delta Phase 2 - ENERGY EGYPT / ENTERPRISE / AL MASRY AL YOUM

June 14, 2017

The Petroleum Ministry is committed to start production from phase two of BP’s West Nile Delta (WND) concession ahead of the 2019 scheduled date, Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla said, according to Al Masry Al Youm.

BP wants to bring the development’s Fayoum and Giza fields on stream end of 2018, with a daily production of 400 mcf, Regional President for North Africa Hesham Mekawi said. Production at Raven field should begin in 2019 at 350 mcf/d, he added. BP’s Taurus and Libra fields in the WND’s phase one had come onstream last month, eight months ahead of schedule.

Israel's Navitas Petroleum Plans Tel Aviv IPO - RIGZONE / REUTERS

Tuesday, June 13, 2017
Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Tova Cohen

HERZLIYA, Israel, June 13 (Reuters) - Israel's Navitas Petroleum plans to raise $130 million in bonds and then carry out an initial public offering (IPO) on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange as it expands operations in the Gulf of Mexico and Canada.

The exploration and production company will use the money raised in the bond offering to fund development and secure a 5 percent stake in the deep-water project Buckskin in the Gulf of Mexico, which holds an estimated 490 million barrels of recoverable oil, said Navitas Chairman Gideon Tadmor on Tuesday.

Gas cos lose appeal against Hanna license expiry - GLOBES

12 Jun, 2017 18:40
Nati Yefet

Minister of Energy Yuval Steinitz severely criticized Noble Energy, Delek Group, and Ratio.

Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz has rejected the appeal by Noble Energy, Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG), and Ratio Oil Exploration (1992) LP (TASE:RATI.L) on the decision by Director of Natural Resources Administration & Petroleum Commissioner Yossi Wurzburger against extending the companies' oil and gas exploration license for the Hanna [block]. Wurzburger's decision came after the companies found only 2-3 BCM of natural gas in the Dolphin drilling, an amount insufficient to make the prospect commercially valuable.

Petrojet completes constructing deepwater facilities on Zohr ahead of schedule - ENTERPRISE / AL MASRY AL YOUM

Monday, 12 June 2017

Petrojet has completed the construction of deepwater facilities on the Zohr gas field one month ahead of schedule, Al Masry Al Youm reports. 

Petrojet had also announced earlier this month that it completed construction on offshore platform for the gas field four months before it was due.

Edison looking for a partner to drill at North East Hapi concession - ENTERPRISE / AL SHOROUK

Monday, 12 June 2017

Italy’s Edison is looking for a partner to begin drilling the first deepwater well at its North East Hapi concession. 

Drilling costs could surpass USD 100 mn, an unnamed EGAS source tells Al Shorouk. 

Edison had signed an USD 86 mn agreement with EGAS in January for E&P operations and drilling two new wells in the concession.

Aoun urges Cyprus cooperation in oil, gas fields - THE DAILY STAR

President Michel Aoun welcomes Cypriot counterpart Nicos
Anastasiades at Baabda Palace. 

Jun. 12, 2017 | 03:03 PM

BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun Monday lauded bilateral cooperation between Lebanon and Cyprus, calling for increased coordination in offshore oil and gas exploration.

"I encourage the governments of the two countries to raise the level of cooperation in the fields of oil and gas," Aoun said in a joint news conference with his Cypriot counterpart Nicos Anastasiades.

Lebanon and Israel are locked in a dispute over a maritime zone that is believed to contain large quantities of natural gas. Lebanon is demanding the demarcation of the area with the help of the U.N. and other concerned parties.

Technically and legally, the United Nations does not have the mandate to demarcate disputed borders between countries.

However, Lebanese officials insist that the U.N. has an interest in taking steps to avoid an open conflict between Lebanon and Israel.

Energy giants upbeat over Block 11 prospects - CYPRUS MAIL

Drilling will be conducted by the UDW drillship West Capella

June 11, 2017

Elias Hazou

With the countdown well underway to Total’s first well, a hydrocarbons expert has dubbed the outcome as “make or break” for the gas potential of Cyprus’ offshore carbonate formations next to Egypt’s super-giant Zohr reservoir, just a stone’s throw away to the south.

The first foray for gas in Block 11 is weeks away, as confirmed to the Sunday Mail by Yves Grosjean, country manager for Total E&P Cyprus.

“I can confirm that well preparation is on schedule for a start in mid July,” Grosjean said in an email.

“We are of course optimistic as we will be targeting the same carbonate formations as the Zohr discovery. But it remains an exploration well which means that we have no indication whether or not we will find gas.”