Page 9 - MEOG Week 10 2022

MEOG POLICY & SECURITY MEOG

Bennett, Putin hold JCPOA, Ukraine talks

ISRAEL/IRAN RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has held in Vienna. The Prime Minister expressed the
talks with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, position of Israel, which opposes a return to the
the Kremlin press service reported on March 6. nuclear agreement,” the office said in a statement.
Russia is concerned that parties opposed Bennett is now in Europe to discuss the
to the Iran nuclear deal, which has been led by Ukraine situation as well as pushing his coun-
its representative to the International Atomic try’s position in the Iranian nuclear deal, which is
Energy Agency (IAEA) in recent months, now perceived by some Western sources as close
wouldn’t be included in the growing sanctions to being ready.
regime against it. Russia previous stressed that sanctions
During the meeting, the heads of state dis- against itself by the US and Western countries
cussed Russia’s ongoing operations in Ukraine should not contravene the nuclear deal it has
as well as the impending resealed Iran nuclear stood behind, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
deal, which Tel Aviv opposes on several grounds. said on March 5.
“Vladimir Putin held talks with Naftali Ben- Washington has responded by saying that the
nett, during which various aspects of the situ- Iran deal is separate from the ongoing conflict in
ation in Ukraine were discussed in the context Ukraine, and Russia would still be permitted to
of Russia’s special military operation to protect ship Iran’s enriched uranium outside the country.
the Donbas,” the report said. The leaders of the “The new sanctions against Russia are not
countries also touched upon the Iranian nuclear related to the JCPOA and should not have any
programme. Bennett said during the talks that impact on its potential implementation. We con-
he opposed the resumption of the Joint Compre- tinue to engage with Russia on the JCPOA issue.
hensive Plan of Action (JPCOA). Russia shares a common interest that Iran never
“The meeting also discussed the course acquires a nuclear weapon,” the US State Depart-
of negotiations on the nuclear programme ment said. ™

Karish hooked up as refinery set for closure

ISRAEL ISRAEL’S cabinet this week voted unanimously had connected its Karish gas field to the Israel
in favour of closing refining facilities owned by National Gas Line (INGL).
the local Bazan Group as the country pushes to The company took a final investment deci-
promote clean energies as a major gas field was sion (FID) on the Karish North gas development
connected to the grid. in January 2021, less than two years after making
Ministers voted that downstream activities the discovery.
in Haifa Bay should be halted within a decade, Energean, which operates Karish North and
with efforts to be focused on the development of the nearby Karish Main, has been certified to
large-scale infrastructure, residential and trans- contain gross 2C resources of 1.2 trillion cubic
portation projects in the area. feet (33.7bn cubic metres) of gas and 39mn bar-
The assets of Bazan, formerly Oil Refiner- rels of liquids, according to a competent persons
ies Ltd (ORL), and owned by Idan Ofer’s Israel report (CPR) by DeGolyer & McNaughton pub-
Corp., comprise 9.8mn tonnes per year (tpy) of lished in June 2020.
downstream facilities in Haifa Bay as well as an The Karish asset is estimated to hold 267mn
oil storage facility at Kiryat Haim. barrels of oil equivalent of 2P reserves as well as
The refinery imports crude feedstock which another 37mn boe of 2C resources. The discov-
it processes to create various distillates for heavy ery was made in April 2019.
industry, transportation and agriculture, while Gas from the field will be fed into the INGL
the company’s subsidiaries generate products system by the Energean Power FPSO, 90 km
including lubricants, oils, polymers, waxes and offshore, which has now been tied to Dor Beach
bitumen. in the north of the country. The company’s
Given the country’s plentiful offshore gas field development plan foresees first gas being
resources, encouraging Israel’s private sector to achieved in late 2023.
make the shift from oil to gas should theoreti- Energean CEO Mathios Rigas said the FPSO
cally have been straightforward, but there have “will be the first to be deployed in the eastern
been significant delays over the 12+ years since Mediterranean Sea – providing enhanced secu-
gas was found in the Levantine Basin. rity of supply for both Israeli and regional gas
Another major step towards improving the consumers whilst bolstering Energean’s position
availability of gas in Israel came this week when as a low-carbon energy producer, driving the
London-listed Energean announced that it energy transition in the wider Mediterranean”.™

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