Neptune Energy announces completion of seismic survey offshore Egypt

Neptune Energy has announced the successful completion of an ocean bottom nodes (OBN) multiclient survey in the North West El Amal block, offshore Egypt, delivering promising results for further analysis. The project, prefunded by Neptune, was carried out by WesternGeco, the seismic and geophysical data solutions division of Schlumberger, under a contract with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), sponsored by the Egyptian Ministry...

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Soco acquires Egypt-focussed Merlon Petroleum

SOCO is rebuilding its business with the proposed USD215 million acquisition of Merlon Petroleum. Merlon will significantly diversify the SOCO business adding Egypt as a new base from which to build a MENA portfolio. The acquisition will double SOCO's 2P reserves and production through the addition of 24mmbbl of oil. Merlon's key asset is its 100% interest in the El Fayum licence which currently produces at c.7,000bbopd. The block contains 37mmbbl...

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SDX has made a gas discovery on its South Disouq licence

SDX made a gas discovery with the Ibn Yunus-1X well on its South Disouq licence. The well is planned to be tied into nearby infrastructure being constructed to commercialise the original gas on the block (SD-1X). First gas on the licence, which will now be from both wells, is targeted for H2 2018. SDX has a 55% operated stake in the licence, having farmed out 45% to IPR in February 2015. SDX made the SD-1X discovery in 2017 which tested successfully...

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Tamar: Win one contract, lose another

Following Noble Energy and Delek Drilling’s announcement in February that it would be selling gas to Egypt’s Dolphinus Holdings from the Tamar and Leviathan fields, Egypt is ditching a previous agreement to import gas from Tamar. Madrid’s Union Fenosa Gas had signed a non-binding letter of intent in May 2014 with the Tamar field partners to buy gas for the supply of the Damietta LNG plant in Egypt. The LNG plant is operated by Segas, a JV between...

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Delek and Noble seeking to acquire gas pipeline to Egypt

Following Noble and Delek’s agreement to sell 64bcm of gas into Egypt via Egyptian intermediary Dolphinus Holdings, the two upstream companies have commenced discussions to acquire EMG, the business which owns the Arish-Ashkelon pipeline (otherwise known as the EMG pipeline). This is one of the routes contemplated by Noble and Delek as part of plans to export gas into the wider East Med and Europe. The 64bcm of gas will be sourced from Tamar...

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Dolphinus and the wider Egyptian gas hub story

Dolphinus was established with the main aim of becoming a “reliable and stable supplier of gas to major industrial gas distributors and consumers in Egypt”. It was co-founded by prominent Egyptian entrepreneurs Dr. Alaa Arafa, Eng. Khaled Abu Bakr and Mohamed Khalifa. As a first step in its strategy, Dolphinus entered into a 64bcm, 10 year gas supply contract with Noble Energy and Delek Drilling for their gas in Israel (see Israel's Leviathan...

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Israel's Leviathan and Tamar gas to be sold into Egypt

Noble Energy and Delek Drilling announced plans in February to export gas to Egypt. The plan is to supply 64bcm over a 10 year period to Egypt’s Dolphinus Holdings – 32bcm from Leviathan and 32bcm from Tamar. Each field is contracted up to 3.5bcm p.a. or c.350mmcfpd and will bring the partners USD15 billion over the life of the supply contract. The contracted price and terms are in line with other supply contracts from these fields which is based...

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BP looks to sell out of Gulf of Suez

BP is running a process to sell its more mature fields in the Gulf of Suez, Egypt. The sale is hoped to raise between USD500 - 1,000 million. The exit of the Gulf of Suez will allow BP to focus more on its deepwater gas portfolio in the country's offshore in the West Nile Delta and Eastern Mediterranean including the Zohr field which it entered at the end of 2016. BP has 100% of the fields in the Gulf of Suez area and operates them in a JV with...

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SDX makes heavy oil discovery at West Gharib in Egypt

SDX has made a heavy oil discovery on the West Ghraib licence at the Rabul-5 well. The partners had implemented a waterflood programme in 2017 on the block and commenced an exploration and appraisal programme. Rabul-1 and -2 were drilled last year resulting in two discoveries and the current Rubul-5 well is a continuation of the delineation programme. Approval for develeopment locations at Meseda will be sought in 2018. SDX holds 50% interest...

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Mubadala enters Zohr - acquires 10% from Eni

Mubadala has agreed to acquire a 10% interest in Zohr from USD934 million. Mubadala will acquire an interest in the Shorouk concession which contains the Zohr field. The super giant field came onstream in December 2017, 28 months after its discovery. The field is currently producing 400mmcfpd and planned to reach plateau by the end of 2019. For Mubadala, this adds a world class asset with long term cash flows into its investment portfolio. Musabbeh...

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SOCO terminates merger talks with Kuwait Energy

Soco has formally terminated merger talks with Kuwait Energy over valuation differences. Full press release from Soco below. On 8 January 2018, SOCO International plc (“SOCO”) announced that it was in preliminary discussions with the newly-constituted Board of Directors of Kuwait Energy plc (“Kuwait Energy”) regarding a potential transaction. SOCO confirms that it has terminated these discussions because it could not reach agreement with Kuwait Energy on the basis for an acceptable transaction. SOCO’s Board remains committed to its strategy...

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Zohr record breaker

In record time for a deepwater gas development of this scale, Eni has announced first production from Zohr. The field was discovered in August 2015 and FID taken in early 2016 - Eni achieved first gas from discovery in 2.5 years. Zohr is the largest gas discovery ever made offshore Egypt and is located in the Shorouk block. The field has begun production at 350mmcfpd and is expected to grow to 1bcfpd by mid-2018. The speed of development is a...

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Maersk Drilling exits Egyptian JV in line with strategy

Maersk continues to review and streamline its business portfolio. As part of that strategy, it announced today of its exit of the Egyptian rig company joint venture. Press release A.P. Møller - Mærsk A/S ("A.P. Moller - Maersk") and Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation ("EGPC") has today signed an agreement whereby EGPC will acquire A.P. Moller - Maersk’s 50 percent shareholding in Egyptian Drilling Company ("EDC") for USD 100m in an all-cash transaction. Following the transaction EGPC will become sole owner of EDC and will as part of the agreement...

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Eni: Bringing in successive partners for Zohr

On 28th November, Eni announced the divestment a 10% interest in Zohr to BP for USD375 million plus pro-rata reimbursement of past costs (c.USD150 million net), bringing total consideration to USD525 million. BP also has an option to acquire an additional 5% interest on the same terms before the end of 2017. On 12th December, Eni announced that it had divested a further 30% interest in Zohr to Rosneft for USD1.125 billion and USD450 million...

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The Egyptian gas landscape

The Egyptian gas sector has historically suffered from underinvestment and the country has experienced a domestic supply shortfall since the beginning of 2015. Subsidised gas pricing encouraged strong demand growth during the 1990s and 2000s and at the same time, declining gas reserves in the onshore and the high cost of offshore gas developments have resulted in investment being diverted away from gas to onshore oil. The state of the gas market...

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The Apache Egypt treasure map

Source: Houston Geological Society, HGS Apache is a significant acreage holder onshore Egypt with an extensive infrastructure network which allows new discoveries to be brought onstream quickly and at relatively low cost. Its acreage can be broadly split into four areas, the most significant of these is the Western Desert Gas area which underpins the portfolio’s gas reserves and is a key supplier of gas to the domestic market. Source: OGInsights  The...

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Apache's Egyptian Jewel

Apache entered Egypt in 1994 and has since built up a dominant onshore position through a series of acquisitions and an aggressive exploration campaign. It is the largest acreage holder in the Western Desert and operates 24 licences. In 2010, Apache expanded its position through the acquisition of BP’s entire Western Desert portfolio as part of a wider transaction involving BP’s North American assets. In 2013, Apache divested 33.3% of its Egyptian...

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Apache divesting international assets? A hard one!

On 31 July 2014, Apache announced its Q2 2014 resultsApache said it was looking to exit its Canadian LNG positions and was considering options around its international assetsThis comes amidst Jana Partners, a hedge fund which recently picked up c.USD1bn of shares in Apache, wrote to investors arguing that Apache should focus its efforts on the North American onshoreReasoning behind this is that over the last few years, a number of North American...

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