Gas Finds News

Nigerian company UTM Offshore has signed a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract for the development of an FLNG facility in Nigeria with JGC Corporation, Technip Energies, and KBR.This will be Nigeria's first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility. Africa currently has two FLNG units in operation, the Hili Episeyo in Cameroon, and, as of recently, the Coral Sul FLNG in Mozambique. In Nigeria, the FLNG unit will be used for development of offshore block OML  204.According to Chief Timipre Sylva…

Greece urged the European Union on Wednesday to reconsider its customs union with Turkey in response to Ankara's continued gas exploration in contested Mediterranean areas, deploring what it termed Ankara's "imperial fantasies."After meeting Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Nicosia, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said they all agreed that Ankara is "blatantly" violating international law."Turkey's leadership has fantasies of imperial behavior with aggressive behavior from Syria to Libya, Somalia to Cyprus, from the Aegean to the Caucus," he said.The EU should also take note of Turkey's 'many violations' of the EU-Turkey customs union accord…

Cyprus has issued arrest warrants for the crew of a Turkish drill ship anchored close to its coast for allegedly infringing territory over which the island has rights to explore for oil and gas, a foreign ministry official said on Thursday."We can confirm that warrants were issued. It's a double digit number," the Cypriot official said, declining further comment.Turkey said on June 10 that reports of the arrest warrants -- which had at that point not been confirmed by Nicosia -- "crossed the line".The two countries have been at odds since the 1974 ethnic conflict that split the island between its Greek and Turkish Cypriot populations…

Italy's Eni will not relinquish its interests in Cyprus, its CEO said on Wednesday, as an uneasy standoff between Turkey and the Mediterranean island lingered over offshore hydrocarbons resources.The Italian state-controlled energy giant had to abandon a scheduled drill for oil and gas south of Cyprus in February because of Turkish military exercises. The broader region has yielded some of the largest natural gas finds worldwide in recent years."I just want to remind (sic) that so far we have invested about 700 million euros in Cyprus. That means that there's strong engagement and commitment towards the country," Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi…

On the seafloor of the shallow coastal regions north of Siberia, microorganisms produce methane when they break down plant remains. If this greenhouse gas finds its way into the water, it can also become trapped in the sea ice that forms in these coastal waters. As a result, the gas can be transported thousands of kilometres across the Arctic Ocean and released in a completely different region months later. This phenomenon is the subject of an article by researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, published in the current issue of the online journal Scientific Reports. Although this interaction between methane, ocean and ice has a significant influence on climate change, to date it has not been reflected in climate models.

Production from Egypt's huge Zohr offshore gas field in the Mediterranean will reach 2.9 billion cubic feet per day by mid-2019, Italy's Eni said on Monday. Speaking at an industry event in Cairo, CEO Claudio Descalzi said the goal was to reach output of 1.8 bcf to 2 bcf per day by the end of 2018 and then ramp up to 2.9 bcf per day by mid-2019. Discovered in 2015 by Eni, the field contains an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas. Descalzi confirmed that by mid-2019, seven trains would be operating. Egypt has been seeking to speed up production from recently discovered fields, with an eye to halting imports by 2019 and achieving self-sufficiency.

SBM Offshore, a Dutch provider of floating oil and gas production vessels, raised its core earnings guidance on Wednesday citing clients slowly spending more on deepsea projects. "Deepwater is becoming attractive again. It's on a par from an economic standpoint with shale oil," said Chief Executive Bruno Chabas, in reference to a recovery in spending which fell after a sharp drop in oil prices in 2014. Due to low production costs, the shale oil market has attracted huge investments, especially in the United States, and outperformed investor interest elsewhere in the oil market.

NextDecade LLC has signed lease agreements with the State of Texas and City of Texas City for a close to 1,000-acre site at Shoal Point for the potential development of a multi-billion dollar liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility. Texas City owns almost 376 acres at Shoal Point, while the Texas General Land Office manages the adjoining 618 acres of state land. The agreement comes as the State of Texas continues to draw international attention following significant new natural gas finds totaling over 90 trillion cubic feet (tcf) in 2016 and as global buyers increasingly seek new, long-term competitive natural gas supplies to support their energy needs. “Now more than ever, the U.S.

Egypt launched the world's biggest tender for liquefied natural gas (LNG) as officials from top energy companies and trading houses converged on Cairo undeterred by new rules that could force them to wait for as long as six months to get paid. After months of speculation and delay, state-run Egypt Natural Gas Holding (EGAS) released tender documents on Sunday bidding to secure 96 LNG shipments in 2017 and 2018, participants in the tender told Reuters. An additional 12 optional cargoes were included in the tender, which EGAS may decide not to award, they said. At a price-tag of several billion dollars, it is the biggest mid-term LNG buy tender ever issued, trade sources said.

Tanzania started construction work on a $10 billion port and special economic zone on Friday, a project backed by China and Oman that aims to transform the East African country into a regional trade and transport hub. The port, which will be Tanzania's biggest, is being built at Bagamoyo, 75 km (47 miles) north of Dar es Salaam - the commercial capital that is currently the site of the country's main port, which is operating beyond its capacity with limited space for expansion. President Jakaya Kikwete attended a groundbreaking ceremony and said construction of phase I of the project would take three years. "The construction of the Bagamoyo port and a special economic zone is aimed at realising the government's goal of bringing about an industrial revolution in Tanzania," he said.

The Italian energy major Eni SpA discovered a “super giant” natural gas field offshore Egypt in what the Italian oil company said is the largest find in the Mediterranean Sea. The Zohr gas field covers any area of 100 square kilometers and Eni said that "it could become one of the world’s largest natural-gas finds” and supply Egypt's needs for decades. Eni, owned by the Italian government, said that the field contains an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas. This compares with up to 22 TCF in Israel's Leviathan field. "This historic discovery will be able to transform the energy scenario of Egypt," said Claudio Descalzi, chief executive of Eni. Eni, which has full concession rights to the area, is the biggest foreign energy firm in Africa.

Cargo volumes at Dar es Salaam port are expected to rise as much as 25 percent this year, helped by expanded capacity and improved efficiency, Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete said in his last address to parliament before an election in October. The port, whose main rival is bigger but also congested Mombasa in Kenya, acts as a trade gateway for landlocked states such as Zambia, Rwanda, Malawi, Burundi and Uganda, as well as the eastern region of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). "In 2014 the port handled 14.4 tonnes of cargo ... We expect it to reach 18 million tonnes this year," Kikwete said late on Thursday. "The port currently operates 24 hours a day and the speed of unloading and loading cargo has significantly increased ...

Anadarko Petroleum  is in talks with newly formed Japanese joint-venture vehicle Jera, set to become the world's biggest buyer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), to sell long-term supply from its Mozambique export scheme. The U.S. oil major's gas finds in Area 1 of Mozambique's Rovuma Basin will feed the initial 10 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), $23 billion LNG export project, which is due to start by 2021. Jera is a joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) and Chubu Electric, Japan's biggest and third-biggest utilities, set up in April with an aim to become the cheapest LNG buyer in East Asia. Anadarko and Jera are in talks over a long-term gas import deal, three industry sources said.

In its heyday, Bagamayo was a gateway to the heart of Africa for colonisers, with trade goods surging in from the Indian Ocean, and timber, ivory and countless slaves exported from the east coast harbour. Then Bagamoyo, which looks out towards the island of Zanzibar, fell on lean times for more than a century. Now Tanzania plans an $11 billion project to make it the region's biggest port and an engine of Africa's boom. The Chinese-backed project would dwarf Kenya's port at Mombasa, east Africa's trade gateway some 300 km (180 miles) to the north, and include an industrial zone and rail and road links to capitalise on growth in a region hoping to exploit new oil and gas finds.

A Turkish research vessel will continue searching for oil and gas off Cyprus, Turkish Cypriot authorities said on Tuesday, extending a simmering standoff between rival sides on the ethnically-split island over offshore gas reserves. The row has already led to Greek Cypriots suspending participation in peace talks with estranged Turkish Cypriots, and on Monday they said they would not return as long as the vessel remained in the area. Barbaros, a seismographic research vessel commissioned by Turkey's state petroleum company TPAO, has been carrying out surveys in an area in the east Mediterranean claimed by Cyprus under international conventions.

When the time comes to pull an edition together, sometimes the content simply takes on a life of its own, as is the case with the July 2014 edition and the proliferation of ‘gas’ throughout. While the advent of gas and all that this little word encompasses is hardly breaking news, to put it in context we literally are in the infancy of a historic course correction that will last generations. Following up on last month’s interview with Edward Scott, COO of Excelerate Energy (www.marinelink.com/news/excelerate-energy-year371540.aspx) this month Patricia Keefe…

Greece is planning to cut tax rates for oil and gas companies as it wants to attract them to help exploit its untapped offshore hydrocarbon resources, its energy minister said on Tuesday. Under the plan, oil and gas explorers will pay 25 percent tax, down from 40 percent currently, and 5 percent of the tax will go to local communities. "We have done this in order to incentivize our investors to invest in the future of Greece," Ioannis Maniatis, Greece's Energy Minister, said at a conference in London. He did not say when the new tax rates would come into effect.

Greece will invite major oil companies next month to conduct offshore test drillings, the government said on Wednesday, launching the debt-laden country's most ambitious attempt so far to develop its untapped hydrocarbon potential. Athens has made several fruitless attempts over the past decades to find big reserves of oil or natural gas. Exploration interest revived during its debt crisis, with the cash-strapped country keen to reduce its big fuel import bill. Several blocks covering a combined area of more than 200,000 square kilometres in the Ionian Sea and south of the island of Crete are expected to go under the hammer. Greece has been encouraged in its quest by big offshore natural gas finds in Israel and Cyprus, nearby in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Having sat in this seat for more two decades I am sometimes asked if I’m tired of the job and ready to move along. (Thankfully, though, that question has never come from my boss.) Unequivocally the answer is “no.” While the maritime industry is often erroneously labeled as conservative and behind the technological times, it is in fact a vibrant and multi-faceted transport niche, a literal cast of characters with a liberal mix of international, national and local interests, power, innovation, money and greed.

Italy's Enel has sought permission to explore for oil and gas in Greece, the Greek government said on Tuesday. Enel has expressed interest in three onshore areas in the western part of the country, Greece's energy ministry said, adding it would duly decide on the Italian company's application. If permission is granted, Athens will give other oil firms at least 90 days time to submit rival offers for the same areas. Back in 2001, oil companies including Hungary's MOL and Greece's Hellenic Petroleum searched in vain for oil in two of the blocs Enel is currently considering. "Enel Group's decision ... is a vote of confidence in our great national effort to exploit our mineral wealth," Energy Minister Yannis Maniatis said in a statement.

Ethiopia's leading private oil marketer plans to expand into neighboring east African economies and is interested in part financing a refinery after commercial discoveries in the region. Tadesse Tilahun, CEO of National Oil Ethiopia, said untapped crude deposits in Kenya and Uganda handed governments and investors the opportunity to construct a refinery able to compete with cheap imports from India, the Gulf and beyond. Doing so would help African countries extract more value from their resources and cut their import bills, Tadesse said. "Africa's demand for refined products is growing hugely because of its economic growth. The crude findings are also increasing. That is the opportunity," Tadesse said in Addis Ababa as part of the Reuters Africa Summit. "We want to (build) a refinery.

The Directors of Keppel Corporation Limited has issued unaudited results of the Group for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012. Net profit improved 141 percent, to S$751 million, compared to 2011's S$312 million. Earnings per share of 41.9 cents were up 138 percent from 1Q 2011's 17.6 cents. “I am happy to report that, for the first quarter of this year, Keppel Corporation has turned in a better performance than the corresponding period last year,” said Choo Chiau Beng, Chief Executive Officer. The outlook for the global economy remains mixed, according to Choo Chiau Beng. There are signs of improvement in the U.S. economy. Notwithstanding the various policy response mechanisms, the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis remains unresolved with renewed concerns over Italy and Spain.

GulfMark Offshore, Inc. (NYSE: GLF) announced the initiation of a vessel construction program. The first three vessels in the program will be built by Remontowa Shipbuilding SA in Gdansk, Poland, and consists of two 1000 square meter deck area platform supply vessels of the MMC887CD design and one MMC879CD design with a deck area of over 800 square meters. These large and technologically advanced vessels have been designed to meet the demanding requirements for supporting deepwater and harsh environment activities, and are expected to operate in the North Sea market. The first MMC887CD vessel is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2013. The second MMC887CD vessel and the MMC879CD vessel are expected to be delivered in the third quarter of 2013.