Giant Gas Discovery of Egypt Does Not Kill Bilateral Agreements With Israel
08.09.2015
EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA
ENERGY NEWSLETTER
ENI’s giant natural gas field discovery off Egypt last week raised concerns in the Israel’s natural gas sector that Egypt would no longer import gas from Israel. The Petroleum Minister of Egypt Sherif Ismail stated that he discovery of the Zohr natural gas field off Egypt will not undermine private- sector negotiations about buying gas from Israel, playing down fears that potential deals could be under threat.
The minister added that Eni is expected to deliver a development plan by the end of October detailing the number of wells it will dig, and production will likely begin at the start of 2018.
According to the analysts this timeline is ambitious and Egypt may still look to Israel's Leviathan to fill its natural gas needs at least in the short run.
Resources:haaretz.com
2
Recently, Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani said at a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart that cooperation between Tehran and Baku can be developed further in the fields of oil and gas.
Earlier this year, in August, Iran's Communications and Information Technology Minister Mahmoud Vaezi told Trend that Tehran would cooperate with Azerbaijan on gas transportation to Europe through the Southern Gas Corridor which is a priority energy project for the EU.
As is known, due to its geographic location, Azerbaijan and Turkey are the sole routes for Iran to export its gas to Europe.
At its initial stage, the primary source of gas for the pipeline will be from Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz field. Other sources could also connect to the pipeline at a later stage.
As part of the second stage of development of the field, gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets via an expanded South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of both the Trans-Anatolian and Trans-Adriatic pipelines.
Resources:http://www.azernews.az/
Iran considers Azerbaijan suitable route for gas transportation to Europe
IRAN
N
3
Faruk Uzel, who worked as the Public Diplomacy and Government Relations Manager for the Akkuyu Nuclear Joint Stock Company for four years, resigned from the company, saying the project should not proceed with Russian state-owned Rosatom, as they were unprofessional. On the other hand, according to the statement by Akkuyu NGS, Uzel has accepted that he committed sexual harrasment crime and therefore resigned his job, and that the company has already made an allogation about Uzel regarding the above mentioned crime. Akkuyu Nukleer AS also stated that Uzel is misinforming the public regarding the Project and Rosatom.
Mr Uzel resigned from his position on Aug. 17 but remained silent to the public about his decision until earlier this month, when he sent a text message to news outlets announcing his resignation.
“The operations and mentality of the Russian firm overseeing the nuclear power plant constitute a very serious risk to my country and having expressed my thoughts on this matter I am resigning from the Akkuyu nuclear plant project,” Uzel said.
Following the resignation, an anonymous e-mail reached journalists claiming Uzel was guilty of corruption and embezzlement as well as sexual harassment of other company employees. Uzel firmly denied the allegations, claiming these accusations were arised immediately after an official from the company called him and instructed him to retract his statement or else the company would pursue a smear campaign against him. Akkuyu NGS lawyer Kaan Keskin issued a statement saying the e-mail detailing the claims against Uzel had nothing to do with the company and that it would pursue a criminal complaint against Uzel.
At a press conference , Mr Uzel further reiterated his belief that while the country needs a nuclear power plant, it should not be built by Russian state-owned Rosatom. Uzel asked how the company could safely built a nuclear plant 12 meters below sea level and in close proximity to the sea when it was not even able to isolate groundwater from an office located only one meter below sea level.
Rosatom is known for having built the reactors at Ukraine's Chernobyl, where one of the reactors exploded in 1986, causing the worst-ever nuclear disaster in history. Turkey has plans for two other nuclear power plants in the northern Black Sea province of Sinop and the northwestern province of Kırklareli. Several protests have been staged in opposition to these plans as well. The second nuclear plant, to be built by a Japanese-French consortium in Sinop, will be ready in 2023, the same year as the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic.
Critics have warned that a magnitude 5 earthquake struck Mersin, the province in which the plant is being built, as recent as July, and that more serious earthquakes could erupt in the region.
Resources: trend.az , aa.com.tr, Today’s Zaman
Admin of controversial nuclear plant resigns amid dispute
4
Trilateral Meeting on Trans-Caspian Pipeline
Trend reported that Turkey, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are planning to discuss the prospects of the Trans- Caspian gas pipeline construction this autumn. Earlier, the pipeline project was discussed in the trilateral meeting held in Antalya on 28.08.2015.
The 300-kilometer Trans-Caspian Pipeline is widely regarded as the optimal option to deliver 30 billion cubic meters of Turkmen blue fuel under the Caspian through Azerbaijan to European consumers.
The construction of the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline will greatly expand the diversification of the Turkmen natural gas supply routes, as well as decrease EU’s dependence on Russian gas.
Resources:http://www.azernews.az/
5
Improvements in the Turkish Stream Project
Aleksandr Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the management committee at Gazprom, issued the denial at a press conference. He stated that talk of Turkey's withdrawing from the construction of the project's second, third and fourth leg was untrue. According to the statement of a Gazprom official, Gazprom and its Turkish partners have decided to focus on the first phase of the project for now and to discuss the next steps later according to natural gas demand of Europe.
In the meantime, a source in Turkey’s presidential administration exclusively told Trend that Ankara will not give up its interests in the project for ‘Turkish Stream’ in favor of Russia. The source stated that Turkey considers the realization of ‘Turkish Stream’ as important, on the other hand, requests to create a joint gas distribution network with Russia which is yet to be solved. The source also said the issues of construction of the ‘Turkish Stream’ and creation of a joint gas distribution network with Russia will be discussed after the snap election in Turkey which will be held on 1 November 2015.
Resources: trend.az , aa.com.tr
6
Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG (TAP) has awarded the contract for the supply of
six gas turbine turbo compressor units to Siemens AG. Half of these
items will be installed in TAP’s compressor station near Kipoi, in Greece, and
the remaining half at TAP’s compressor station
near Fier, in Albania.
>> According to the data obtained from Energy and Natural
Resources by the reporter of Anadolu Ajansı (AA), the bumpy course oil price observed since June 20 2014 enabled Turkey to save about 11 billion dollars.
>> Austrian OMV announced that the news in the press regarding OMV’s application to ICSID about Nabucco’s cancelation were untrue. OMV Aktiengesellschaft by a statement shared with the press that the case was about clarifying the sales tax issue with Turkey and stating that it is a routine tax issue.
Azerbaijani SOCAR exported 871 thousand
787 tons of crude oil through the port of Ceyhan in August 2015.
Therefore, the total oil exported by SOCAR through Ceyhan port for the first eight months of the year is 11 million 272
thousand 41 tones.
