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Authority – a part of the Ministry of Finance – had not provided an opinion on the feasibility of the deal with the Egyptian companies. Instead, it asked for more information.
Resolving this issue is a major step forward in allowing gas to ow once more through the Arab Gas Pipeline. is time, it will be coming from Israel’s o shore elds into Egypt.
While the North African state has made sub- stantial progress in boosting its self su ciency – since the start up of the Zohr eld – domes- tic demand is strong and growing. For the time being, there is enough to go around, with some to spare, allowing Egypt to export gas through its two under-used liquefaction plants.
Assuming that demand continues to grow, though, this will put pressure once more on Egypt’s gas balance, probably at some point in the late 2020s. More resources can be found domestically but allowing and encouraging cross-border ows from Israel – which may also serve to unlock gas from Cyprus’ o shore – will help secure Egypt’s future.
Delek Drilling, which is working on the Leviathan and Tamar elds, was reported at the beginning of the month to expect gas sales to Egypt to begin by the end of June. Leviathan is due to start at the end of 2019 with production of 12 bcm per year. is should increase to 21 bcm,
from a resource calculated at around 600 bcm. Delek struck a deal with Egypt’s Dolphinus Holdings, in February 2018, for the supply of around 3.5 bcm per year from Leviathan, with a total contracted amount of 32 bcm, with sim- ilar numbers for exports from Tamar. e total revenue from this sale for the partners has been
estimated by Delek as US$15 billion. ™
PERfoRmanCE
Daniela commissioned in Chad
CHad
CHAD’S Daniela eld was o cially launched on June 14. e eld is expected to produce 15,000 bpd.
The launch of operations at the Daniela eld in Chari-Baguirmi was attended by China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) vice pres- ident, Hou Qijun. e Chadian president was represented at the ceremony by his vice presi- dent. Chadian Minister of Oil and Energy Maha- mat Hamid Koua also attended.
China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Co. (CPPEC) said in February 2017 that work had been completed on the 74 km Daniela-Ronier pipeline project. e rst train on the Daniela eld was brought on stream in 2017, according to CNPC.
Chadian President Idriss Deby held talks with the CNPC o cial, who was reported by the Chadian presidency as expressing enthu- siasm for further work in the West African state. During the ceremony at Daniela, he noted that the company had made substantial tax payments to the Chadian state, in addition
to local job creation.
“Chadians are trained and will take up posi-
tions of responsibility in the oil elds. is is part of a win-win partnership,” said Hou, as reported by local sources.
Societe Hydrocarbures du Tchad (SHT) joined the CNPC consortium in January 2018, as part of a number of renegotiated agreements on new elds, including Daniela.
SHT acquired a 10% stake in the elds – Dan- iela, Lanea and Raphia – under a deal allowing expansion plans to go ahead. is was part of a settlement bringing to an end allegations that the Chinese company had caused environmen- tal damage. In 2013, CNPC’s local operations were suspended as a result of reports that it had destroyed trees and allowed oil to ow into sur- face trenches, while not providing local workers with protective equipment.
In order to settle the charges, CNPC agreed to hand over equity stakes and pay a ne. Initially, the ne was US$1.2 billion, but was negotiated down to US$400 million.™
Week 24 18•June•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P5