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PIPELINES & TRANSPORT
Israel jockeys to promote

LNG exports to Europe via
facilities in Egypt

Israel is jockeying with other Mediterranean
natural gas producers to take advantage of the
opportunity to partially replace Russian natural
gas exports to Europe with its own LNG exports,
media sources reported.
Due to the lack of its own LNG producing
facilities, Israel currently exports natural gas pro-
duced from its offshore Mediterranean Tamar
and Leviathan fields via Jordan to be processed
at one of two LNG facilities located in Damietta
and Rosetta in Egypt before being re-exported as
LNG to Europe.
Israel annually delivers an average of 5bn
cubic metres of natural gas from its fields to Authority. has a lot of commercial banks – over 700 banks
Egypt via the Ashkelon-Arish subsea Eastern Egypt is working hard to support the transi- across 54 states – but how many of those are
Mediterranean Gas (EMG) pipeline. It started tion into a green economy depending on clean investment banks? Oil and gas is a capital-in-
exporting natural gas via a new export route energy through facilitating and encouraging tensive industry and very hard for commercial
through Jordan to Egypt in March, potentially green investments as well as benefiting from banks to fund. Africa’s financial market is per-
increasing its exported quantities by 50%. This green fund opportunities. ceived as one with very high credit and insol-
could help the Damietta and Rosetta facilities bna/IntelliNews, May 13 2022 vent risk which is making it hard for investors
operate at full capacity, up from their current to come to Africa. However, the African market
rate of 84% of a total 12.2mn tonne per year (tpy) Need for African financial will need to have access to capital. The banking
capacity. NewMed and Chevron, the operators sector needs to work together and harmonise so
of the Tamar and Leviathan fields, are expected solutions emphasised that they can have enough force to invest in Afri-
to export 2.5-3.0 bcm of Israeli gas to Egypt this can oil and gas.”
year using the new route, which has the potential during Equatorial Guinea She noted that with Africa’s regulations
to increase to 4 bcm annually. implemented on a country-by-country basis,
bna/IntelliNews, May 13 2022 business forum, AEC says the harmonisation and collaboration of fiscal
regimes could be a viable solution to raising cap-
As capital expenditure directed towards oil and ital in Africa, particularly foreign investment.
INVESTMENT gas projects tightens, a panel discussion during The CEMAC region’s ease of doing business,
an African Energy Chamber-led business forum for example, is considered unproductive, deter-
Total Eren, Enara Capital in Equatorial Guinea emphasised the role of ring foreign investment due to the complex
Africa’s domestic financial institutions.
foreign currency regulations. To mitigate this,
sign MoU to build green role of African investment banks, harmonised ing energy projects, countries across the region
Investment in Africa’s energy sector and the and secure more investment for new and exist-
ammonia plant in Suez regulations, and improved ease of doing business should work together to ensure the regulatory
was debated and unpacked during an oil indus-
environment is both attractive and competitive.
Economic Zone try business forum organised by the African “What we can see is that countries in the
Energy Chamber (AEC) on May 11 in Malabo, CEMAC area are competing for the same financ-
France’s Total Eren and Africa-focused renew- Equatorial Guinea. ing. It would be interesting to see our market as
ables investor Enara Capital have signed a Africa’s oil and gas sector requires significant a regional one, harmonising our fiscal regimes
memorandum of understanding (MoU) with levels of investment if the continent is to realise in order to attract investors into our region. We
the Egyptian authorities to build a green ammo- the full potential of the sector. With global capi- should see each other as allies. This is where we
nia plant in the Suez Canal Economic Zone tal expenditure for fossil fuels on the decline due can see some improvement in working together.
(SCZone) with an initial production capacity of to energy transition related trends, and foreign Regulators and national oil companies need to
300,000 tonnes, increasing to 1.5mn tonnes. investors turning to renewables in the face of sit down and see how the regulatory regimes can
The plant will be operated by green hydro- climate change, participants highlighted that secure more investment in the region,” stated
gen produced from clean and renewable energy Africa needs to come up with its own capital rais- Yann Pierre Yangari, a Gabonese consultant spe-
sources. ing solutions in order to accelerate investment cialising in oil and gas and the energy transition.
Total Eren and Enara signed the agreement and development across the continent’s hydro- While foreign institutions typically represent
with the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, the SCZone, carbons sector. the predominant source of financing for Africa’s
the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Co. Speaking during the panel discussion, Grace oil and gas projects, new and existing African
(EETC) and the New and Renewable Energy Orife, CEO of Adelaar Energy, noted: “[Africa] institutions are rising to the challenge.

P18 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 20 18•May•2022