Page 9 - Euroil Week 37 2019
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EurOil INVESTMENT EurOil
Eni, Total expand gas hunt off Cyprus
CYPRUS
Eni and Total and dominating the search for offshore gas in Cyprus.
ITALY’S Eni and France’s Total have teamed up to explore for natural gas at another block off Cyprus’ southern coast.
The pair have been licensed to develop Block 7, the government’s information agency reported on September 18. Each company will assume a 50% stake in the block, which lies adjacent to Block 4, where Eni and Total made the 129bn cubic metre Calypso discovery last year.
Total also signed a farm-in agreement to acquire interest from Eni in four other conces- sions in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), the agency said. The French major will take 20%, 30% and 20% stakes in blocks 2, 3 and 9 respec- tively, with Eni retaining interests of 80%, 50% and 60%. The remaining 20% in each of the three blocks is controlled by South Korea’s Kogas. Total will also take a 40% position in Block 8, leaving Eni with 60%.
The agency did not disclose how much Total had paid Eni for these stakes, and neither company responded to a request by FSU OGM for more information on the farm-in deal and
contractual terms at their blocks.
Eni and Total are dominating the search for
offshore gas in Cyprus. With the new agreement, the pair now control seven of the 13 blocks the country has awarded to investors.
Other players include ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum, who in February reported the discovery of 114-226 bcm of gas. A con- sortium of Royal Dutch Shell, Israel’s Derek Drilling and Texas-based Nobel Energy also signed a production-sharing agreement (PSA) in June for the 2011 Aphrodite dis- covery, containing up to 170 bcm of gas. The group is preparing to file development plans, with Cypriot officials forecasting a 2025 pro- ject launch date.
Cyprus has short-term plans to import LNG, selecting a Chinese-led consortium in August to provide a floating storage and regasifica- tion (FSRU). But its longer-term ambition is to become a net exporter, delivering gas from its offshore fields to markets either via pipeline to Europe or in the form of LNG.
Australia’s Oilex prepares for UK foray
UK
Oilex’s main theatre of operations is southeast Asia and Australia.
AUSTRALIA-BASED Oilex is plotting a foray on to the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS), with plans to snap up stakes in three East Irish Sea gas discoveries.
The company, listed in London and Sydney, said on September 16 it had signed an exclusivity agreement with the UK’s Koru Energy to acquire 50% interests in the Knox, Lowry and Whitbeck gas discoveries. Koru itself has exclusive rights to buy the three fields wholly from Aberdeen’s Reach Coal Seam Gas.
Knox, Lowry and Whitbeck are shallow-wa- ter gas accumulations that were discovered between 1992 and 2009. They are in close prox- imity to an existing subsea tie-back pipeline used to deliver gas to UK Spirit Energy’s nearby North Morecambe gas production platform and termi- nal, which was recently refurbished.
Knox and Lowry, found at depths of 411 and 640 metres respectively, have already success- fully test-flowed gas at rates of 348,000 cubic metres and 623,000 cubic metres per day. Whit- beck, located at a lower depth of 1,641 metres, has not yet been tested.
“After an extensive and detailed search for suitable assets for Oilex in the UKCS, we are delighted to make this announcement today,” Oilex’s managing director, Joe Salomon, com- mented. “The licences, which incorporate dis- covered and tested gas volumes and comprise a portfolio of projects, provide the initial platform
for the company to build the necessary critical mass for a sustainable UKCS business.”
Oilex currently operates offshore Australia, India, Indonesia and Timor-Leste. It recently entered the Cooper Basin off the coast of north- east Australia and has managed to resolve a dispute with India’s state-owned Gujarat State Petroleum over the Cambay field.
The company has paid Koru a non-refunda- ble GBP50,000 ($62,000) fee for the exclusivity agreement, which is valid until September 30. During this time the pair will discuss terms, with a proposal having been made that Oilex should pay GBP500,000 ($620,000) for the interests, minus the exclusivity fee. Oilex also said it was in advanced talks with potential co-investors to help cover this cost.
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