Page 11 - MEOG Week 07

MEOG
neWs In BrIeF
MEOG
oIL
Israel stops issuing new
licenses for oil shale
exploration
Israel’s energy and environment ministries have agreed that the minister of energy
will not grant new licenses to companies to explore for and mine oil shale in the country, due to environmental concerns, Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Tuesday.
As Israel aims to move to more environmentally friendly energy sources, it will no longer issue new licenses for oil shale because of the ecological and environmental impact of such mining projects, the two ministries said.
Israel is believed to have deposits of oil shale lying under 15 percent of its territory.
The country, however, will not be extending a license to Rotem Amfert, a unit of Israel Chemicals, for oil shale exploration at Mishor Rotem after 2021, according to the energy ministry.
The ministry will also review two already issued licenses based on the new environmental criteria, it said.
Rotem Amfert, which operates a small power plant at Mishor Rotem with the oil shale it is mining from the nearby area, sought a few years ago permission to explore what it believed were huge oil shale resources in the Negev area, but has met stiff opposition from environmentalists.
Currently, Israel is pinning its hopes in the energy sector on its huge offshore natural gas resources.
The Leviathan gas field – discovered in 2010 – together with other fields discovered
offshore Israel in the past decade such as Tamar, Karish, and Tanin, is expected to help Israel become energy independent.
A senior official at Noble Energy said at the beginning of December that Leviathan was set to begin gas supply to the local market within three weeks and to start exports to Egypt and Jordan shortly after that, in a major milestone for the energy landscape in Israel and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Noble Energy announced first gas at Leviathan on December 31, while Israeli natural gas exports to Egypt started in the middle of January.
oIL PrICe
Syrian Army thwarts drones attack against refinery
On Feb 16 the Syrian Army thwarted this Sunday an attack in which five drones were used with explosives against an oil refinery in the central province of homs, 160 kilometers north of this capital.
Anti-aircraft defence systems electronically neutralized unmanned aircraft attempting to shell the refinery facilities with missiles, reported the official SANA agency.
This source indicated that drones were forced to land and are now in the hands of the army.
Early morning, the Maharda power plant in the north of hama province was attacked with terrorist drones, which caused material damage.
At the beginning of this month, oil and gas facilities in homs province were targeted by similar attacks and the Syrian government accused the US of being behind them as part of the economic war against the country. Prensa LatIna
Gas
Qatar delays partnerships
for natural gas expansion
amid price collapse
Qatar has delayed choosing Western partners for the world’s largest liquefied natural
gas (LNG) project by several months after surprising the industry with a big expansion plan despite a collapse in global gas prices,
State-run Qatar Petroleum (QP) declined to comment on the reported delay, which comes as the global gas industry faces the major challenge of a supply glut due to booming U.S. production and a drop in Chinese demand.
Qatar, the lowest cost producer of LNG, sits on the world’s largest gas field and offers terms that led oil majors ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch/Shell to invest tens of billions of dollars in the past.
The big energy firms have waited a decade for a new opportunity to invest in Qatar after the country put further development on hold to ensure the giant North Field could sustain production.
The moratorium was lifted two years
ago and QP shortlisted six Western majors
for the next phase of expansion. QP didn’t disclose the names but said it would announce partners in the first quarter of 2020.
But late last year QP said it had decided
to expand LNG production by 60% to 126 million tonnes a year by 2027 instead of the original plan for a 40% increase. QP did not say it would delay the partnerships, but four sources involved in the talks said the company planned to take more time.
“I think Qatar has decided to firm up
the capex of the project before they go to international oil companies. I think the decision should be ready by the end of 2020,” one of the sources involved in talks said.
Three other sources familiar with the talks confirmed a delay to at least the middle of 2020 because the scaling up of the expansion combined with a much lower gas price outlook were affecting every aspect of potential partnerships.
“The conversation is centered on the valuation of the project which affects equity and financing,” said one source.
“Qatar’s cost base is very low compared
to other projects but in today’s environment, every project has to compete for capital,” said another source. Qatar, which has a wealth fund in excess of $320 billion, has said it would build the facilities alone if necessary, but would prefer to have partners to share
Week 07 19•February•2020
w w w. N E W S B A S E . c o m
P11