Israeli gas group in talks on export pipelines to Turkey, Jordan, Egypt

Reuters

A group of energy companies that discovered large amounts of natural gas off Israel’s Mediterranean coast said they were in talks to export the gas to Europe via a pipeline to Turkey.

They are also studying options to export gas to Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, Avner Oil & Gas said yesterday.

“The partners are negotiating with various officials,” Avner, one of the partners in the project, said.

A spokesman for Delek Group, the parent company for Avner and for Delek Drilling, said the group - led by Noble Energy - was already in advanced talks with companies in Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority about buying Israeli gas and building pipelines.

The talks show that the gas project is moving ahead, with prospects of eventually boosting Israel’s export revenue and economic growth. They also indicate reduced tensions between Israel and Turkey. A pipeline could improve relations between the two countries, which have been poor since 2010.

Recoverable gas in the Levant Basin, which lies largely in Israeli and Cypriot waters in the eastern Mediterranean, hold some 3.5tn cu m of gas, the US Geological Survey has estimated.

Israel eyes gas exports to neighbours

John Reed   Financial Times

A leading investor in Israel’s natural gas sector said initial talks were under way on exporting some of the country’s abundant offshore reserves to Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, and a proposed power plant in the West Bank.

Yossi Abu, chief executive of Delek Drilling, said the sector was poised to take part in a “new geopolitical opportunity” and was looking at possibilities to export gas via pipelines from offshore fields such as the big, unexploited Leviathan reserve to Israel’s regional neighbours and possibly – via Turkey – to Europe.
“There is a significant commercial basis to supply gas from Leviathan and other discoveries offshore Israel to Turkey, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, and even Egypt,” Mr Abu told the Financial Times in an interview.

He added: “We have discussions – I cannot give you names – with potential customers in our region.”

Mr Abu’s remarks add weight to those from Israeli, Turkish and other government and private-sector figures recently, suggesting that talks on regional gas projects that would re-shape the Middle Eastern energy map are advancing quickly.

Israel apologised to Turkey last month for a fatal 2010 storming of a boat off Gaza, and the political rapprochement has raised the prospect of a thaw in trading relations between two of the Middle East’s biggest economies.

“We believe that there is a real opportunity to supply gas to the Turkish market, and maybe through the Turkish market to the European market,” Mr Abu said. “Also, there’s a real opportunity to supply gas to Jordan.”

Exploring Potential Export Markets for Israeli Gas

Karen Ayat          Natural Gas Europe

Start of production at Tamar

Natural gas began flowing from the Tamar field off Israel's Mediterranean shores on Saturday 30 March 2013 producing 300 million cubic feet per day. When combined with the existing Mari-B volumes of 200 million cubic feet per day, the current daily sales are nearly 500 million cubic feet per day and expected to reach 700 million by the end of 2013. The Tamar field was discovered by Noble Energy in 2009 and was the largest deepwater natural gas discovery in the world in 2009 estimated at the time to contain 9 tcf of gas. Noble made a new estimation upping the gross resource estimate of Tamar to 10 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) as a result of development drilling and continued reservoir analysis and modeling. The updated estimate was confirmed by an independent assessment conducted by Netherland, Sewell & Associates, Inc. 

Previously discovered Mari-B

Mari-B was the first offshore natural gas field in the State of Israel discovered by Noble in March 2000. Noble started gas production from the Mari-B field in 2003. Despite its relatively small size (containing around 1 tcf of gas), the Mari-B field was not only a momentary relief for Israel but played a tremendous role in enabling Israel to shift from heavy fuel oils and coals to gas for its electricity production. Soon after, Israel began importing Egyptian Gas to supplement its local Mari-B gas and meet domestic demand. By the end of 2010, Israel relied on gas for around 40 per cent of its electricity supplied almost equally by its own Mari-B field and Egypt. 

Iraqi Oil Pipeline Through Aqaba In Final Stages

Iraq-Jordan-Egypt pipeline to Gulf of Aqaba

Omar Al-Sharer   Al Monitor's Iraq Pulse

Iraq is close to completing design of a pipeline to carry Iraqi oil to Jordan and Egypt through the Gulf of Aqaba. Once completed, the project is to be handed over to a specialized company, pursuant to investment regulations.

It is expected that this pipeline will fulfill Iraq's needs for oil derivatives; Iraq will use Egyptian refineries in exchange for supplying Egypt with around four million barrels of crude oil per month. In this regard, the Iraqi spokesman at the Ministry of Oil, Assem Jihad, said that “Iraq has extended a pipeline from the oilfields of Basra to the Haditha region in the far west of Anbar, near the Jordanian border. Iraq has formed a set of technical committees to design the pipeline that will extend from Haditha to the Jordanian port of Aqaba. The project will be open for investments."

He added, “The export capacity of the pipeline amounts to one million barrels per day. A gas pipeline will shortly be built.”

The part of the pipeline situated within the Iraqi borders provides oil to many cities across the Euphrates, and several refineries in Anbar.

During his visit to Baghdad at the beginning of the month, Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Kandil discussed supplying Iraqi oil to the Egyptian refineries with his Iraqi counterpart, Nouri al-Maliki.

Iraq and Iran’s Oil Pipeline Politics

Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline Ceremony 11 March 2013. (Photo: Mian Khursheed)

 Elie Chalhoub    Al Akhbar English

Away from the region’s headlines and wars, plans are being methodically put in place that could redraw the strategic map of the Middle East, erasing one of the region’s key colonial-era features.

Recent moves by Iran and Iraq to press ahead with the construction of a series of new oil and gas export pipelines could be attributed to Iran’s bid to counter international sanctions. The planned pipelines could also reflect Iraq’s economic recovery or perhaps pressure from oil companies for new export routes.

There may be some truth to these explanations. But a closer look makes clear that these schemes are related.

The short-term aims are evident. They include trying to lure Jordan into the region’s “resistance” axis and reducing American influence on Iran’s eastern neighbor Pakistan.

But the long-term objective is more ambitious: to connect the Middle East by way of a web of economic ties that binds them into a regional partnership whose mainstays are Iran and Iraq.

Baghdad is making it increasingly clear where it stands in terms of its regional alignment. In recent months, it has openly supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Damascus, clashed with Ankara, reached out to Cairo, and been at odds with Riyadh and Doha.