Page 9 - MEOG Week 38 2022

MEOG PIPELINES & TRANSPORT MEOG

Lebanon says Egypt faces

obstacles to gas supply deal

LEBANON LEBANESE Energy Minister Walid Fayyad has was quoted as saying by Al-Masry al-Youm. “We
complained that Egypt is being unnecessarily explained with the new tariff how it can cover the
prevented from upholding its pledge to deliver expenses and requirements of the World Bank.”
natural gas to Lebanon via Syria, according to a He continued: “[The] second thing is to
report from Al-Masry Al-Youm. establish an organisational structure for the reg-
Fayyad noted that the three countries had ulatory body and review it.” The plan for deliver-
thus far not taken any concrete steps to imple- ing Egyptian gas to Lebanon via Syria has been
ment the gas supply agreement they signed three under discussion since the summer of 2021.
months ago. Cairo has at least tried to sign the The US government has voiced support for
contracts necessary to move the deal forward but the initiative, which is designed to alleviate Leb-
has run into the same obstacles confronting all anon’s chronic shortages of electricity by provid-
parties to the deal, he said. ing enough fuel to keep 700 MW of generating
Fayyad identified those obstacles as the US capacity online – that is, enough to boost local
Caesar Act, which imposes sanctions on Syria, power supplies from two hours per day to 10
and the conditions imposed by the World Bank, hours per day. However, planning has not moved
which has offered to finance the gas deal. The forward rapidly. Fayyad said the World Bank was
World Bank has said that funding will hinge on partially responsible for the slow pace of the pro-
reform of the Lebanese power-generating indus- cess. The bank had, “after a phase of negotiations
try, which has added tens of billions of US dollars last spring, changed [its] position and adopted
to the country’s total public-sector debt. a more conservative position and added up to
The World Bank has “set requirements [for] about [10] conditions” for making funding
up to 10 items, the most prominent of which is available, he commented. “The Egyptian side
related to the increase in the tariff price, which we confirmed its readiness completely, and we are
have already implemented in Lebanon,” Fayyad waiting for the World Bank,” he added.™
PRICES & PERFORMANCE

South Pars running at 615mcm per day

IRAN IRAN’S state-owned South Pars Gas Co. (SGPC) the supergiant South Pars accounting for around
announced this week that output from the 14 tcm as well as 18bn barrels of gas condensates.
supergiant gas field of the same name is running The Islamic Republic holds a 3,700-square km
at 614.7mn cubic metres per day. According to portion of the 9,700-square km deposit that
SPGC managing director Ahmad Bahoush, the is shared with Qatar, where it is known as the
rate applies to the first five months of the current North Dome field. Around 80% of the field’s ini-
Iranian calendar year. tial gas reserves are believed to remain in place.
His comments came during a meeting with Bahoush and Meskhinfam discussed the
Mohammad Meshkinfam, CEO of Pars Oil urgency with which this year’s maintenance
and Gas Co. (POGC), which holds ultimate should be completed in preparation for winter.
responsibility for the development of South Phase 11 (SP11) is the one remaining section
Pars. SGPC is responsible for gas processing and of the current upstream project to be completed.
other downstream facilities associated with the It was due to be launched this month, but no
field, while Petropars handles on the surface and updates have been forthcoming since that date
subsurface. All three firms are subsidiaries of the was set early this year. SP11 is targeting the pro-
National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC). duction of 57 mcm per day of gas, a level it was
The overall South Pars development includes expected to reach by the end of the current Ira-
37 platforms across the field’s 24 phases, and last nian calendar year. Petropars was left as the only
year the field expansion projects were inaugu- remaining partner in the $4.879bn project, for
rated, which brought the field’s capacity in line which stakes of 50.1% and 30% were awarded to
with its long-term target rate of 1bn cubic metres French super-major Total (now TotalEnergies)
per day. However, POGC is required to carry out and China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC)
extensive annual maintenance across the field’s respectively in July 2017. The award was made
24 phases to ensure stable production during for an integrated petroleum contract (IPC)
winter months. Iran is home to around 34 trillion model, setting SP11’s production target at the
cubic metres of proven natural gas reserves, with time at 20.8 bcm per year.™

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