Page 17 - MEOG Week 43

MEOG NEWS IN BRIEF MEOG

POLICY surrounding resources of the ethnically The asset sale is in line with Dana Gas’
divided island of Cyprus. strategic goals of strengthening its balance
Turkey slams Greece, protect our rights and the rights of Turkish sheet and focusing on the development of its
“We will continue with determination to
world-class assets in the Kurdistan Region of
Cyprus and Egypt Cypriots in the eastern Mediterranean,” the Iraq. The company will use the sale proceeds
to reduce debt and for general corporate
ministry said.
accusations that the EU should reconsider its customs purposes.
Also on October 21, Greece reiterated
The scope of the transaction includes
Angry rhetoric is still the name of the game union with Turkey in response to Ankara’s Dana Gas’ 100% working interests in the El
in the dispute over maritime rights and by exploration in the Mediterranean. Athens Manzala, West El Manzala, West El Qantara
extension gas and oil exploration rights deplored what it described as Turkey’s and North El Salhiya onshore concessions and
between Turkey and various other countries “imperial fantasies.” associated development leases.
with eastern Mediterranean coastlines. A maritime announcement from Turkey, In the first half of 2020, these concessions
The Turkish Foreign Ministry on meanwhile, has stated that the Oruc Reis and produced 30,950 barrels of oil equivalent
October 22 slammed a joint statement by two other exploration ships will continue per day (boepd), and contributed $38mn
Greece, Cyprus and Egypt that condemns working in an eastern Mediterranean area to the company’s bottom line, the company
Turkey’s energy exploration in the eastern south of the Greek island of Rhodes claimed said on its website. Transfer of ownership,
Mediterranean and numerous “provocations” by Greece until October 27. Turkey has also responsibilities and staff will take place upon
that they said threatened regional peace. had ships prospecting for oil and gas reserves execution and formal approval of the deeds of
The ministry said in a statement that it “fully in waters that Cyprus says are part of its assignment for the various concessions.
rejected the declaration containing baseless exclusive economic zone. Under the terms of the sale, the agreement
accusations and allegations”. BNE entails a base cash consideration of $153mn,
A trilateral regional summit held on including the net working capital associated
October 21 in Nicosia brought together with the assets and before any closing
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, COMPANIES adjustments, and contingent payments of up
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and to $83mn subject to average Brent prices and
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Dana selling Egyptian production performance between 2020-2023.
They urged Ankara to end its “aggressive” BNE
actions that have involved sending exploration assets to focus on
vessels into waters claimed by Greece and Aramco plans to increase
Cyprus and striking a maritime rights deal Kurdistan
with Libya that is rejected as legally invalid data storage capacity by
by other nations that say it infringes on their Dana Gas, the largest private sector natural
territories. gas player in the Middle East, has entered 2025
The joint statement also asked Turkey to into a binding agreement with IPR Wastani
accept Cyprus’ invitation to enter talks for an Petroleum for the sale of its onshore Egyptian The Kingdom’s Saudi Arabian Oil Company
agreement on maritime delimitations. Greece producing oil and gas assets for up to $236mn, (Saudi Aramco) is looking to increase its data
and Cyprus have signed maritime border including contingent payments. storage capacity by four times as it looks to
agreements with Egypt. IPR Wastani Petroleum is a member of further its digital transformation plans.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry added that Egypt-focused IPR Energy Group, a leading This was revealed Ahmad A. Al-Sa’adi,
the declaration attacked Ankara rather than private exploration and production operator Saudi Aramco’s chief engineer, during the
supporting peace and stability in the region. It in Egypt, with 9 active concessions, and over Global AI Summit.
repeated Ankara’s standpoint that cooperation three decades of expertise in enhancing the At the summit he revealed that investments
could only take place with the inclusion of recovery of mature producing oil and gas have been made in building a global
Turkish Cypriots in governing and sharing fields. developable data centre and plans, at the same
time, to double its capacity, the Saudi Press
Agency (SPA) reported.
Al-Sa’adi also revealed that the Saudi
oil giant has invested in more than 15 local
and global startups that focus on artificial
intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
Highlighting its economic value in oil and
gas operations, he said that
It was also revealed that AI technologies
helped the company reduce energy
consumption in the Khurais oilfield by 18%,
lower maintenance costs by 30%, and cut
inspection times by around 40%.
The advancement in digital transformation
has also seen an upgrade in cybersecurity
capabilities.
Saudi Aramco has developed an internal

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