industryterm:natural gas field

Egypt Analysis : How Sisi has been sidelining his opponents

| MadaMasr
▻https://madamirror.appspot.com/www.madamasr.com/en/2018/02/10/feature/politics/analysis-how-sisi-has-been-sidelining-his-opponents

“Angry” was the way many described President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s improvised speech during the inauguration ceremony of the Zohr natural gas field on January 31.

The president declared that the only way Egypt’s national security could be compromised was over his “dead body” and the “dead body of the military.”

But who exactly the president is angry at is not clear. Sisi did not specify whether he was addressing opposition leaders — many of whom have called for a boycott of the upcoming presidential elections — or individuals within state institutions who have antagonized him as of late.

The speech follows a series of high-level shuffles within the security apparatus, with Sisi unexpectedly dismissing Armed Forces’ Chief of Staff Mahmoud Hegazy in October of last year. According to a family friend, Hegazy had been under house arrest until December 16, when he appeared at a small event held to honor him — which the president attended — and where the dismissed official was permitted limited movement under strict surveillance.

In January of this year, Sisi also dismissed Khaled Fawzy, the head of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service (GIS). Fawzy’s movement has also been restricted, according to a source close to his family. He was removed from his post after calls were allegedly leaked in which a man who appears to be affiliated with Military Intelligence speaks to media talk show hosts and celebrities and instructs them to appear understanding of US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The man is also heard condemning Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for political stances that Cairo is not pleased with, especially with the rapprochement between Kuwait and Qatar and the fear of a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood. The leaks have yet to be independently verified.

According to a Foreign Ministry source and to a European diplomat who has recently visited both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the leaked calls have made officials from both countries unhappy, and compelled the Egyptian Foreign Ministry to release a statement of apology to Kuwait and take unannounced measures to placate Saudi Arabia.

Why #Iran approaches #Qatar crisis with caution | Middle East | DW | 14.06.2017
▻http://www.dw.com/en/why-iran-approaches-qatar-crisis-with-caution/a-39255825

http://www.dw.com/image/39172974_304.jpg

Despite their supposed rapprochement, there is still little trust between Qatar and Iran. The two countries share a 250-kilometer-long sea border, where they share the world’s largest natural gas field, South Pars. This has already led to conflict. When Iran was under wide-reaching sanctions over its controversial nuclear program, making it unable to act as an exporter, Qatar alone profited from the gas field.

Both states have different ideas about gas transport: Qatar wants a pipeline running through Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria into Turkey, where the gas could be delivered to Europe. Iran however, has plans for a pipeline from Iran through Iraq and Syria leading to the Mediterranean Sea. Five years ago, Iran had such an agreement with Syrian leader Assad, but the war in Syria put an end to that billion-dollar project.

Further involvement by Iran in the current Qatar crisis could prove to be counterproductive - which is why the leadership in Doha would rather go without support from Tehran.

“Qatar will not turn to Iran in this crisis,” said political scientist Sadegh Zibakalam of the University of Tehran. “They do not want to further provoke Saudi Arabia. Qatar is trying to manage this crisis with the help of Turkey and Pakistan.”

The Iranian leadership will likely also gladly take a back seat for domestic reasons; otherwise, powerful conservative circles in Iran - such as the Revolutionary Guard - who would like to go head to head with Saudi Arabia could receive fresh support.

Qatar restarts development of world’s biggest gas field after 12-year freeze | Reuters
▻http://www.reuters.com/article/us-qatar-gas-idUSKBN175181

Qatar has lifted a self-imposed ban on development of the world’s biggest natural gas field, the chief executive of Qatar Petroleum said on Monday, as the world’s top LNG exporter looks to see off an expected rise in competition.

Qatar declared a moratorium in 2005 on the development of the North Field, which it shares with Iran, to give Doha time to study the impact on the reservoir from a rapid rise in output.

The vast offshore gas field, which Doha calls the North Field and Iran calls South Pars, accounts for nearly all of Qatar’s gas production and around 60 percent of its export revenue.

(...) “Iran’s gas production in South Pars can exceed Qatar’s before the end of new Iranian year (ending March 20, 2018),” Zanganeh was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency on Thursday.

Total was the first Western energy company to sign a major deal with Tehran since the lifting of international sanctions.

Kaabi said the decision to lift the moratorium was not prompted by Iran’s plan to develop its part of the shared field.

“What we are doing today is something completely new and we will in future of course ... share information on this with them (Iran).”

Putin Plays ’Energy Chess’ with Netanyahu
F. William Engdahl | Wed, May 11, 2016
▻http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/putin-plays-energy-chess-netanyahu/ri14256

http://russia-insider.com/sites/insider/files/6453614499383640360no.jpg

On April 21 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Moscow for closed door talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The media reported that the talks were over the situation in Syria, a theme where Moscow has made certain a regular hotline dialogue exists to avoid potential military clashes. It seems, however, that the two discussed quite another issue–potential Russian involvement in developing Israel’s giant offshore Leviathan gas field in the Eastern Mediterranean. Were the two to strike a deal, the geopolitical implications could be enormous for Putin and Russia’s strategic role in the Middle East as well as for the future of the US influence in the region.

Israeli press reported the Netanyahu-Putin talks as being about “coordination between forces in skies above war-torn country, status of Golan Heights…”

According to Russian state media reports, however, in addition, Netanyahu and Putin discussed the potential role of Russia’s state-owned Gazprom, the world’s largest natural gas producer and marketer, as a possible stakeholder in Israel’s Leviathan natural gas field. Russian involvement in the stalled Israeli gas development would reduce financial risk for Israeli offshore gas operations and increase the gas fields’ security, as Russian allies like Hezbollah in Lebanon or Iran would not dare target Russian joint ventures.

If the Russian reports are accurate, it could portend a major new step in Putin energy geopolitics in the Middle East, one which could give Washington a major defeat in her increasingly inept moves to control the world’s center of oil and gas.

Russian interest

Many outside observers might be surprised that Putin would be in such a dialogue with Netanyahu, a longstanding US ally. There are many factors behind it. One is the leverage Russia’s President has through the presence of more than one million ethnic Russians in Israel, including a cabinet member in Netanyahu’s government. More importantly, since the Obama Administration went ahead, over vehement Netanyahu protests, to sign the nuclear deal with Iran in 2015, relations between Washington and Tel Aviv have chilled to put it mildly.

The situation is being skillfully mined by Putin and Russia.

Forget Ukraine. It’s Business As Usual Between Europe and Russia
▻http://www.newsweek.com/forget-ukraine-its-business-usual-between-europe-and-russia-369730

It was just like the old days before the European Union imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014. At the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok Gazprom clinched three major deals with some of Europe’s biggest energy companies.

One of the most important was the revival of a lucrative asset swap between the Russian energy giant and Wintershall, the energy division of BASF, a German chemical company. BASF had abandoned that swap arrangement in December 2014 because of the geopolitical consequences of Russia’s invasion of eastern Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea.

The asset swap and other deals signed in Vladivostok show how German as well as Austrian energy companies are loath to quit Russia. They also show how Gazprom wants to tie Europe’s lucrative gas market more closely to Russia. In 2013, Russia supplied the EU’s 28 countries with 30 percent of their gas needs.

But more importantly, the deals confirm how Russia is determined to end Ukraine’s role as the major transit route for Russian gas to Europe. Half of the Russian gas imported by Europe crosses Ukraine.

Under the terms of the deal between BASF and Gazprom, BASF’s subsidiary Wintershall will obtain a stake of 25 percent plus one share in the Urengoy natural gas fields in Siberia. Both firms will develop the fields.

In return, Wintershall will transfer to Gazprom its jointly owned gas storage and trading business in Germany as well as a stake in its business in Austria. Through the asset swap, Gazprom will also receive a 50 percent stake in Wintershall’s exploration and production of oil and gas in the North Sea. These activities amounted to sales of over $13.4 billion in 2014, according to BASF.

The second deal agreed to in Vladivostok involves Gazprom and a European consortium building a second Nord Stream pipeline under the Baltic Sea. This will enable Russia to send more of its gas directly to Germany, bypassing Ukraine.

The consortium consists of BASF, German energy company E.ON, French electricity company Engie, Austrian oil and gas firm OMV and Royal Dutch Shell. Gazprom will own a 51 percent share of a new company called New European Pipeline AG, which will develop the project. The other partners will have a 10 percent stake, except for Engie, which will own 9 percent.

“The fact that the global energy majors participate in the project bespeaks its significance for securing reliable gas supply to European consumers,” stated Alexey Miller, chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee.

Tell that to Poland and the Baltic states—and Ukraine. They had criticized the first Nord Stream pipeline, which was agreed to under the then German chancellor Gerhard Schröder in 2005. At the time, Warsaw argued that the deal increased Europe’s dependence on Russian energy.

Since then, however, Europe has been diversifying its energy supplies, spurred by the 2009 Ukraine gas crisis, which disrupted supplies to Europe because of a dispute between Russia and Ukraine over energy prices.

Also, through its Third Energy Package, the European Commission is introducing more competition in the energy sector by breaking the hold any one company can have over the production, distribution and trading of gas. That is one of the main reasons why in December 2014 Russia pulled out of the South Stream project, which was to transport gas across the Black Sea to Southeastern Europe. Under the terms of the commission package, Russia would have had to open up the gas pipeline to competition.

The third deal reached in Vladivostok involves OMV’s participation in the Urengoy oil and gas fields. When the deal is concluded, OMV will acquire a 24.8 percent stake in the project in exchange for Gazprom obtaining some of the assets of OMV.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in new row over energy: Report - The Economic Times on Mobile
▻http://m.economictimes.com/news/international/business/kuwait-and-saudi-arabia-in-new-row-over-energy-report/articleshow/45013597.cms

KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are locked in a new energy row, this time over a jointly operated offshore natural gas field also shared with Iran, a newspaper reported today.

Citing Kuwaiti sources, Al-Rai newspaper said work at the Dorra field had been halted due to differences between the two countries over the routing of the gas they extract.

The report said Saudi Arabia wants any Dorra gas to be pumped through Khafji and then divided between the two countries, and that Kuwait insists it should take its share directly from the field.

Kuwait shares separately with Iran and Saudi Arabia the Dorra gas field, whose recoverable reserves are estimated at some 220 billion cubic metres.

Development of the part jointly owned with the Saudis has been frozen for a year, according to Al-Rai.

The row comes a month after production at the offshore Khafji oilfield in a neutral zone between the two Arab states was halted last month, with Kuwaiti officials saying it was due to technical issues.

However, trade unions and media outlets in Kuwait said that Saudi Arabia stopped production unilaterally because of differences between the two countries.

Khafji is capable of producing 311,000 barrels of oil per day.

Kuwait and Iran have been involved in unsuccessful talks for more than 10 years to demarcate their maritime border in the area.

The Gulf emirate is rich in oil but needs the Dorra field because it lacks sufficient supplies of natural gas.

Israel to supply Jordan with natural gas | Al Akhbar English
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/israel-supply-jordan-natural-gas

Israel is to supply Jordan with natural gas from its vast Leviathan offshore gas field over a period of 15 years, US giant Noble Energy announced Wednesday.

Ne pas oublier que pendant ce temps là, les Israéliens empêchent l’exploitation du gaz palestinien de Gaza Marine, et que l’instabilité libanaise et l’incertitude entretenue concernant la frontière maritime empêchent aussi les Libanais d’exploiter leur gisement. Deux frères arabes qui pourraient livrer aussi du gaz aux Israéliens...
voir aussi : ▻http://seenthis.net/messages/284707
#gaz #pétrole #énergie #Jordanie #Israël

Hamas MP says potential gas discovery offshore #Gaza
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/18781

A Hamas MP said Tuesday that a natural gas field might have been discovered off the Gaza shore, prompting hopes for alternative fuel supplies for the blockaded Palestinian territory. Salem Salama, who heads an economic committee, told AFP “preliminary tests carried out by experts from the Islamic University suggest that there is a natural gas field near the coast” of the Gaza Strip. He said the tests were carried by Hamas coastguards in the last few weeks after fishermen noticed large bubbles emanating from the water some 300 meters offshore. read more

#offshore_gas #Top_News

Gazprom abandons arctic gas project for now

▻http://www.france24.com/en/20130626-gazprom-abandons-arctic-gas-project-now

Gazprom abandons arctic gas project for now
The Barents Sea is seen in 2004. Russia’s energy giant Gazprom said it was giving up development of the Shtokman natural gas field under the arctic Barents Sea until new technology made the project viable.
The Barents Sea is seen in 2004. Russia’s energy giant Gazprom said it was giving up development of the Shtokman natural gas field under the arctic Barents Sea until new technology made the project viable.

AFP - Russia’s energy giant Gazprom said on Thursday it was giving up development of the Shtokman natural gas field under the arctic Barents Sea until new technology made the project viable.

#russie #gazprom #énergie #arctique #barents