Natural Gas Deposits News

Poland's state gas company PGNiG says it had notified Russia's Gazprom that it will not renew their long-term deal on liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies when the agreement expires after 2022.In accordance with the provisions of the Yamal Contract, three years prior to its original termination date, i.e. by December 31st, 2019, the parties are required to submit a declaration whether or not they intend to continue their contractual relationship beyond 2022.Gazprom Export, the gas-exporting arm of state-controlled Gazprom, confirmed in a statement to Reuters that it had received the notification from PGNiG.“In line with the Republic of Poland’s aspiration to achieve security of energy supplies and seeking to deliver the PGNiG Group’s current strategy…

Israel's military said on Wednesday it had developed a version of its Iron Dome missile interceptor system that can be fired from the deck of a cruising navy ship to protect its offshore gas platforms. The augmented defense system passed a live test two weeks ago when it shot down several short-range ballistic missiles from a moving boat, said Colonel Ariel Shir, the navy's head of operational systems. Israel has boosted its naval defences over the past decade after the discovery of sizeable natural gas deposits off its Mediterranean coast. While the biggest fields are far from shore, the gas flows to platforms in shallower waters that can be seen from the southern Israeli coast, putting them in range of the kinds of rockets fired by militants in the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli exploration group reported on Sunday it has discovered another large natural gas field off Israel's Mediterranean coast. The group, led by Isramco Negev and Modiin Energy, said that a resource report showed there could be an estimated total of 8.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas at the Daniel east and west fields. Large natural gas deposits have been discovered in nearby waters in recent years. (Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Tova Cohen)

US Army's Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO) said in its August 2015 report that Moscow is  building up its military presence and moving highly advanced and specially modified air defense systems in the resource-rich Arctic region. The FMSO notes that Kremlin will place short-to-medium range anti-aircraft SA-22 Pantsir-S1 battalions at Murmansk by the Norwegian border and at another unspecified location in the east of Russia, facing the U.S. and Japan, reports The Washington Times. The report says Pantsir is the perfect missile system for Russia to deploy at its planned military bases in the Arctic. Russia is aggressively upgrading its military assets in the region.

South Africa plans to improve its pipelines and ports to allow for more gas imports for use in power generation, the acting director general of the department of energy said on Tuesday. Africa's most advanced economy is dependent on coal for power and also uses relatively expensive diesel for turbines. State-run power utility Eskom, which is implementing controlled power blackouts in a bid to keep the lights on as demand threatens to outstrip supply, plans to replace diesel with gas to run its generators within the next three years to save on costs. Cash-strapped Eskom's woes are spurring the search for other sources of energy for power generation such as gas.

China on Thursday defended the actions of a coast guard vessel in the disputed South China Sea after the Philippines accused it of ramming three fishing boats and urged Manila to increase "indoctrination" of its fishermen. The Philippines said on Wednesday that a Chinese coast guard ship had rammed three Philippine fishing boats in the disputed Scarborough Shoal area last week and Manila had protested to Beijing over the incident. The news drew a stern rebuke from China's Foreign Ministry, which said that last Thursday, many fishing vessels from the Philippines were "illegally lingering" in the waters surrounding the Scarborough Shoal and did not abide by China's management.

The Philippines is pushing for a meeting among four Southeast Asian nations with conflicting claims to waters in the South China Sea so that they can hammer out a common stand in dealings with China, Manila's foreign minister said on Friday. Manila is waging a territorial dispute with China over the Spratlys and the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, an area believed to be rich in oil and natural gas deposits as well as fisheries resources. Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan also have claims in the sea, which is traversed each year by ship-borne trade worth about $5 trillion. Albert del Rosario said the Philippines wanted to hold talks with Brunei…

Iran's crude oil exports have surged to their highest in 20 months, far exceeding a 1 million barrel-per-day limit set by the West under an interim deal on curbing Tehran's nuclear program. The International Energy Agency's monthly report revised February's global crude imports from Iran upwards by 240,000 bpd to 1.65 million barrels per day, the highest since June 2012. Under an interim deal signed in November between Iran and world powers - known as the P5+1 - that came into effect in January of this year, Iran's exports are supposed to be held at an average 1 million bpd for the six months to July 20. Tough international sanctions over the past two years have cut Iran's oil exports around a half.

Natural gas deposits discovered in two locations by Chevron Australia's deepwater drilling exploration program in the Carnarvon Basin. The Pinhoe-1 exploration discovery well encountered approximately 197 feet (60 meters) of net gas pay in the Barrow and Mungaroo Sands. Pinhoe-1 is located in the WA-383-P permit area, located approximately 124 miles (200 kilometers) north of Exmouth off the Western Australia coast. The well was drilled in 3,048 feet (929 meters) of water to a total depth of 13,396 feet (4,083 meters). The Arnhem-1 exploration discovery well confirmed approximately 149 feet (45.5 meters) of net gas pay in the upper Mungaroo Sands. Arnhem-1 is in the WA-364-P permit area, located approximately 180 miles (290 kilometres) north of Exmouth off the Western Australia coast.

According to a May 26 report from the Associate Press, likely changes for the offshore oil and gas industry following the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico include making permitting, inspections and equipment requirements for rigs more stringent. Lawmakers want to extract more money from the industry to help pay for any future cleanups. And insurers are bound to raise rates for underwriting this risky business. What won't change includes expanding pursuit of oil and natural gas deposits under the ocean floor. Global offshore oil output has tripled over the past decade — and it is forecast to double in the next five years. The reason is simple: the best prospects lie beneath the ocean floor. (Source: Associate Press)

An environmental group has criticized a move by British Columbia to study the idea of having Ottawa lift a 28-year-old ban on offshore drilling along Canada's pristine Pacific coast. An area near the Queen Charlotte Islands is believed to hold one of Canada's largest natural gas deposits, and business leaders in coastal region have said a drilling ban should be lifted to help the area's beleaguered economy. A report for the provincial government said there was enough public interest in the issue - especially in the effected area - that its future warranted examination. Northern Development Commissioner John Backhouse, who had requested the study into public interest in the project, said he hoped to have review process under way by fall.

Tanzania has invited energy explorers to bid for six blocks in the east African nation that is fast becoming a new frontier in the hunt for oil and gas. According to a statement by the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation seen by Reuters, the six blocks are all inland and stretch from the southeast of the country to the northwest. Bidders have until December 3 to submit their documents. Tanzania has at least 14 companies exploring at sites both on and offshore, and it has so far found three areas with natural gas deposits. Its last licensing round was in 2004. Prospectors are studying east Africa afresh as insecurity in other parts of the continent and increasing energy nationalism elsewhere push them to seek new sources.

A total of $2.9b in high bids were opened recently at a sale of federal offshore oil and gas leases in the central Gulf of Mexico. Officials say it was the second largest such sale for central Gulf tracts. Seventy-three companies are competing for the tracts. In all there were 1,428 bids on 723 tracts. The bids were opened by the US Minerals Management Service, which manages the leases. Many of the tracts receiving bids were in ultra-deep water, or in depths of 800 meters or greater. Development of such leases can take hundreds of millions of dollars in investments and take years to bring into production. Also drawing continued interest were tracts of 200 meters or less on the shallow Gulf shelf.

EU and Norway’s energy officials met in Brussels on August 30 to examine ways of strengthening a bilateral energy dialogue launched in 2002. Short-term issues include increasing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) deliveries to Europe as well as the planned opening in October 2006 of the "Britpipe" linking Sleipner in Norway to Easington, UK. By 2015-2020, natural gas deliveries from Norway are expected to grow from 85 billion cubic meters to 120 bcm, EU officials said. However, talks on longer-term exploitation of the expected huge oil and gas reserves in the Arctic will probably attract most attention. The region is believed to hold 25 percent of the earth's hydrocarbons, according to the US Geological Survey.