EMGC '18: Cyprus to import gas via FSRU to meet EU GHG targets - WORLD OIL / HYDROCARBON PROCESSING

March/22/2018
Adrienne Blume

NICOSIA -- Day 2 of Gulf Publishing Company's Eastern Mediterranean Gas Conference (EMGC 2018) in Cyprus kicked off with a keynote presentation by Dr. Symeon Kassianides, chairman of The Natural Gas Public Co. (DEFA) of Cyprus. Dr. Kassianides spoke about the proposal to establish a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to import gas to Cyprus for use in power generation.

The target for first gas is 2020. In light of this tight deadline, which is motivated by Cyprus' need to meet EU greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions limits, DEFA is working with Cyprus' energy ministry and EU organizations to move quickly on the project.

Dr. Symeon Kassianides, chairman of The Natural Gas Public Co. (DEFA) of Cyprus.

CyprusGas2EU Project scope. The FSRU project—known as CyprusGas2EU—stems from the European Commission's €7.5-million CEF Syngery (CYnergy) Project, which is concerned with the establishment of an integrated storage, transmission and distribution system for natural gas in Cyprus in the forms of LNG and CNG. CYnergy, which has been 60% funded, aligns with the CyprusGas2EU Project's supply target date of 2020.

The CyprusGas2EU Project has successfully secured environmental licenses and intergovernmental licenses (e.g. Greece). Consultations with all Cypriot operating financial institutions have been held, and a grant of €101 million has been secured to fund 40% of the CyprusGas2EU project.

Shell mulls 15-year deal for Israeli, Cypriot gas, partner says - WORLD OIL / BLOOMBERG

MARCH/22/2018
Yaacov Benmeleh

TEL AVIV (Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc is weighing a 15-year contract to buy natural gas for its liquefied natural gas plant in Egypt from offshore fields in Cyprus and Israel.

Shell is in talks to purchase 6 Bcm of natural gas a year from Aphrodite field, located in Cypriot waters, according to Delek Drilling LP’s annual report Wednesday. A potential deal also could include gas from the neighboring Leviathan reservoir, Israel’s largest pool, which is expected to start production by the end of 2019.

Greece’s Energean gets nod to develop 2 Israeli offshore natural gas fields - THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

March 22, 2018, 1:20 pm
Shoshanna Solomon

Board of oil and gas explorer gives go-ahead to invest $1.6 billion in Karish and Tanin, which will supply local Israeli market

Greek firm Energean Oil & Gas PLC said Thursday its board has given the green light to a final investment decision that will enable the oil and gas explorer to proceed with the $1.6 billion development of the Karish and Tanin natural gas fields off Israel’s shores.

The company said that $405 million of the $460 million it raised in a recent initial public offering of shares in London will be used to fund its 70 percent stake in the project. The remaining 30% of the project will be funded by Kerogen Capital, Energean’s partner in the project, the Greek firm said in a statement.

The project is also being financed through a credit facility of $1.28 billion underwritten by Morgan Stanley, Natixis, Bank Hapoalim and Société Générale.

Energean said it has already secured long-term gas agreements with some of the largest private power producers and industrial companies in Israel, who have contracted purchases of a total of 61 billion cubic meters (BCM) of gas over a period of 16 years.

EMGC '18: Eni Chief sees rapid development of Eastern Med gas with Zohr - WORLD OIL / HYDROCARBON PROCESSING

Yiorgos Lakkotrypis, Minister of Energy, Commerce,
Industry and Tourism of the Republic of Cyprus

March/21/2018

Adrienne Blume

NICOSIA -- Opening Day 1 of Gulf Publishing Company's fifth annual Eastern Mediterranean Gas Conference (EMGC) on March 21 was Yiorgos Lakkotrypis, Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism for the Republic of Cyprus.

The Minister welcomed attendees and shared perspectives on energy development in Cyprus and throughout the region. Lakkotrypis' talk was followed by a keynote presentation from Luca Bertelli, CEO at Italy's Eni.

Ministerial welcome and energy analysis. Lakkotrypis called Eni's Calypso discovery offshore Cyprus a "promising discovery," and said he looks forward to hearing from Eni about the future of that activity. The strategy of the Cyprus government, the Minister said, focuses on ongoing discoveries of natural gas, as well as those resources that will be discovered after the first cycle of exploration is concluded at the end of 2018 or the beginning of 2019.

"It will give us a good idea of what kinds of resources we have in Cyprus," the Minister said. He added that the Zohr-like play discovered in Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) promises the discovery of additional, important resources.

"As we are fulfilling our strategy," Lakkotrypis said, "I would like to focus on one thing: the development of the Aphrodite discovery." Cyprus has been in talks with Egyptian partners for the sale of gas for export as LNG. Lakkotrypis noted that Cyprus has recently submitted an official agreement to the EU government for the regulation of a pipeline between Cyprus and Egypt. A decision is expected to be reached in a few weeks.

Cyprus will press ahead with gas exploitation, says minister - CYPRUS MAIL

March 21,2018

Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said on Wednesday that despite the geopolitical challenges and recent incidents in Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the government remained committed to exploiting hydrocarbon reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean.
in a speech at the Eastern Mediterranean gas conference in Nicosia, the minister said that despite the geopolitical challenges Cyprus and the region faces, the recent incidents regarding Cyprus’ efforts to drill Block 3 of its EEZ and Turkish provocations, the country would continue to work with countries in the region not only to advance Cyprus’ interests and the region as a whole.

He added that if Cyprus was able to conclude the sale of Aphrodite’s field gas to Egypt, liquefy it and then ship it to Europe it would be the first Eastern Mediterranean gas to reach the EU.

“That will be a significant milestone which the Republic of Cyprus is committed to taking all the way,” he said.

Concerning the development of Aphrodite gas field, the minister said that the Republic is currently in commercial talks with Egyptian customers and terminals in Egypt. He added that discussions between the Cypriot and Egyptian governments sought the necessary framework to enable the sale of Aphrodite block gas to one of the two liquefied natural gas plants in Egypt.

Eni official: East Mediterranean gas could supply Europe - THE SEATTLE TIMES / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

March 21, 2018 at 4:06 am
Menelaos Hadjicostis

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The East Mediterranean could become a hub to export gas to Europe — and the fastest and cheapest way to do that is to utilize idle processing plants in Egypt, a senior executive with Italian energy company Eni said Wednesday.

Eni’s Chief Exploration Officer Luca Bertelli told a gas conference in Cyprus that his company’s recent discovery of a gas field southeast of Cyprus that contains “almost pure methane” has confirmed that there’s potential for more gas discoveries in the region.

He said the Italian company plans to search for more gas off Cyprus in two other areas where it’s licensed to carry out exploratory drilling.

He added that the simplest way to process the gas for export — especially to the regional big markets, Greece and Turkey — is utilizing underused processing plants in Egypt to liquefy the mineral for transport.

El Sisi, Shoukry talk energy cooperation, improving economic ties with Greek Foreign Minister - ENTERPRISE

Wednesday, 21 March 2018

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with Greek Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Kotzias in Cairo yesterday, according to an Ittihadiya statement. Talks extended to trilateral relations between Egypt, Greece, and Cyprus on East-Mediterranean gas, increased cooperation on economy, trade, and investment, as well as counter-terror and the peaceful resolution to regional disputes. Last month, Oil Minister Tarek El Molla had said that Egypt was in talks with Greece to establish a framework for further energy cooperation, after announcing that it was closing in on an LNG import agreement with Cyprus. The three countries also said last week they would be working on a USD 4 bn 2,000 MW subsea electricity interconnection project that is expected to become part of a larger network linking Europe and Africa.

DEFA to seek gas providers next month - CYPRUS MAIL

March 20, 2018
George Psyllides

The state gas company (Defa) said Tuesday it will be inviting tenders next month for the supply of liquified natural gas for power generation.

Defa chairman Symeon Kassianides also told the House commerce committee that it will be issuing a call for bids for the necessary infrastructure.

The new effort aims at having the fuel by January 2020 to avoid emissions fines.

The two contracts will be separate, Kassianides said.

The Defa chairman said a floating unit to store and deliquefy the fuel will cost some €250m of which 40 per cent, or €101m, will come from the EU.

The European Investment Bank has expressed interest to participate in the project while the island’s state-owned electricity company (EAC) will also hold 30 per cent.

West Nile Delta field 9B new output expected at 350-400 mcf/day -official - REUTERS

MARCH 19, 2018 / 9:57 AM

Reporting by Ehab Farouk and Ahmed Ismail; writing by Nadine Awadalla; editing by Jason Neely

CAIRO, March 19 (Reuters) - New production at Shell’s [West Delta Deep Marine] field 9B is expected to reach 350-400 mcf per day by 2019, an Egyptian petroleum ministry official told Reuters on Monday.

Separately, production from the first 3 wells in the field is set to begin in the 2018-2019 fiscal year, the ministry said in a statement earlier.

The field is owned by Egypt’s General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), Malaysia’s Petronas and Shell. 

Importing Israeli Natural Gas Makes Sense for Egypt - BLOOMBERG

March 19, 2018, 11:00 AM GMT+2

Robin Mills

The deal is politically fraught but could create an energy powerhouse.

The discovery of Egypt’s giant Zohr gas field in August 2015 was heralded as the solution to the country’s energy problems. So why did Egypt cut a deal this year to import natural gas from Israel, its former enemy?

Dolphinus Holdings, a private Egyptian company, agreed Feb. 19 to buy gas from Noble Energy and its partners from Israel’s two largest offshore fields, Leviathan and Tamar. The controversial accord is but the latest chapter in an Egyptian gas saga that has gone from triumph to tragedy to tentative renaissance.

Egypt’s problems with gas were long in the making. In 2006, Petroleum Minister Sameh Fahmy received complaints from oil companies that low regulated gas prices were making new developments unviable, while new industries gobbled up supplies. Investment dried up and production plummeted after the 2011 revolution.

US energy firm IPR announces three new oil discoveries - ENTERPRISE

Sunday, 18 March 2018

US energy firm IPR has made two new oil discoveries in the Western Desert’s Ras Qattara concession and a third in the South Disouq concession, IPR Vice President Elsayed Shahin tells Al Shorouk. 

The company, which drilled 23 wells last year, has already begun production on the first two discoveries, according to Shahin.