1. Eni, BP Prepare For Historic Libyan Deepwater Well

    ...ES, 4 June 2007), but the plans were disrupted by the 2011 revolution and the ensuing instability, and Eni has since taken over as operator of the consortium (42.5% each). The announcement puts drilling more or less on schedule, with Eni North Africa head Martina Opizzi last year saying that an in...

    Volume: 68
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 12 Dec 2025
  2. Cyprus Hopes For Mega Exxon Elektra Find To Jolt Its Gas Sector To Life

    ...ock 3 (MEES, 16 February 2018) in a move it said was linked to defending the interests of the Turkish Cypriot community who mostly live on the northern third of the island which has been occupied by Turkey since 1974.   Beyond the discovery of Aphrodite, 13 years ago in late 2011, Cyprus has seen fo...

    Volume: 67
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 13 Dec 2024
  3. Iran Plans Major Gas Storage Expansion To Face Winter Shortages

    ...feeding stranded provinces to become a strategic energy balancing tool. According to the report, the difference between summer and winter demand peaks jumped from 180mn m3/d (6.36bn cfd) in 2011/12 to 221mn m3/d (13bn cfd) in 2021/22. Moreover, steady growth means that consumption in summer is no...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 49
    Published at Fri, 08 Dec 2023
  4. Libya Exploration Picks Up Steam As NOC Reiterates Ambitions

    ...Libya is persuading more and more of IOCs to return to exploration. The country’s rig count hit 18 for October, the highest level since the 2011 revolution (see chart). And recent weeks have seen a flurry of announcements from NOC that foreign oil and gas firms are planning on resuming dr...

    Volume: 66
    Issue: 48
    Published at Fri, 01 Dec 2023
  5. Eni & Total Add To Cyprus Gas Finds With 2-3tcf Zeus

    ...arby. Taken together such volumes would in theory be sufficient to justify the construction of a land-based LNG plant, Nicosia’s long-stated aim ever since Cyprus’ first gas discovery, 4.5tcf Aphrodite, back in December 2011 (MEES, 9 January 2012). Despite the five to-date gas discoveries, no field ha...

    Volume: 65
    Issue: 51/52
    Published at Fri, 23 Dec 2022
  6. Libya Calls On IOCs To Return To Work

    ...e country to return and “lift the force majeure declared by them.” Libya’s chaotic political trajectory since the 2011 ouster of Muammar Gaddafi has made many IOCs wary of fully engaging in the country which holds the largest proven oil reserves in Africa  some 48.3bn barrels according to Op...

    Volume: 65
    Issue: 49
    Published at Fri, 09 Dec 2022
  7. Chevron Hits Paydirt With 3.5tcf Egypt Gas Find

    ...veloped 4.5tcf 2011 Aphrodite discovery. The US major only entered Egypt in 2019 when it was awarded a frontier Red Sea exploration block. In July of 2020 it took its first offshore Mediterranean acreage, when it was awarded Narges as well as two further blocks in Egypt’s unexplored West Mediterranean re...

    Volume: 65
    Issue: 48
    Published at Fri, 02 Dec 2022
  8. Exxon Spuds Cyprus Well

    ...vuşoğlu said he had received assurances from Washington and Doha that any potential drilling would only take place in areas not claimed by Turkey. Glaucus, with an initial reserves estimate of 5-8tcf (MEES, 1 March 2019) was the third gas discovery to be made off Cyprus following 2011’s 4.1tcf Ap...

    Volume: 64
    Issue: 51/52
    Published at Fri, 24 Dec 2021
  9. BP’s Egypt Raven Outages Dampen Late Year LNG Export Hopes

    ...ll in LNG exports. With December’s exports now set to be lower still, exports for 2021 as a whole are now set to fall short of 2011’s 6.90mn tons, though at 5.97mn tons for 11M21 volumes are already well ahead of 2012’s 5.33mn tons for a 10-year high (see chart). Spluttering exports earlier th...

    Volume: 64
    Issue: 48
    Published at Fri, 03 Dec 2021
  10. Can Cyprus Reboot Offshore Drilling Plans?

    ...i announced its own 6-8tcf Calypso discovery (MEES, 16 February 2018), raising expectations that the island would finally be able to call itself a gas producer. Initial hopes following the 2011 discovery of Cyprus’ 4.1tcf Aphrodite had subsided in the six years between, with the mid-2014 oil price co...

    Volume: 63
    Issue: 52
    Published at Thu, 24 Dec 2020
  11. Libya Dusts Off $60bn Of Projects: Could This Be Its Last Chance?

    ...bound in the last quarter of the year, Libya’s crude production in 2020 is still set for its lowest level since 1962 at just 341,000 b/d. That represents a 69% fall on 2019’s seven-year high of 1.11mn b/d, making this year the worst since the 2011 revolution in output terms. It is also two-thirds down on...

    Volume: 63
    Issue: 52
    Published at Thu, 24 Dec 2020
  12. Sudan Looks To Reverse Upstream Decline With 2021 Bidding

    ...Sudan’s crude output is running at 64,000 b/d, down 44% on 2014 levels and some 86% below the 457,000 b/d produced before South Sudan seceded in July 2011, taking with it 75% of Sudan’s production. Acting Energy Minister Kheiri Abdelrahman says Sudan hopes to add 20,000 b/d next year. But he...

    Volume: 63
    Issue: 51
    Published at Fri, 18 Dec 2020
  13. China’s Role In Iraq Expands With $2bn Prepayment Deal To Zhenhua

    ...% Y 30 2013 Was Kuwait Energy (2018 purchase) Siba (gas) UEG^ 30% Y 30mn cfd 2011 Was Kuwait En...

    Volume: 63
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 11 Dec 2020
  14. Libya’s NOC Clears House With Key End-Year Deals

    ...e tighter terms (MEES, 9 March 2009). Of course the pressure eased in 2011 when Libya had other problems, but Wintershall, now Wintershall Dea, finally agreed to sign up to them this week. Unlike Wintershall, the Waha concession will retain special contractual terms. But in order to secure part of...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 13 Dec 2019
  15. Russia’s Tatneft Back In Libya For Seismic

    ...rced to exit in 2011 when  Libya’s civil war kicked off. It returned in 2013 but had to pack its bags the following year due to civil strife. Flare-ups in violence have continued since, making it exceedingly difficult for NOC to encourage IOCs to restart exploration work. Tatneft’s return will be we...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 13 Dec 2019
  16. Leviathan: The Giant Stirs

    ...hr’s 3.2bn cfd plateau (see box). Leviathan’s problem was never lack of gas but rather a lack of an outlet large enough to justify full commercial development. Development options considered, then sidelined, included a tie-back to an LNG plant in Israel or Cyprus (MEES, 17 January 2011), a pipeline to...

    Volume: 62
    Issue: 50
    Published at Fri, 13 Dec 2019
  17. Libya: Oil Output Doubles In 2017 But Peace Dividend In The Balance

    ...2018 brings a new opportunity for a comprehensive peace deal in Libya. But, when it comes to oil production, the risks are largely on the downside. As has often been the case since the toppling of former leader Muammar al-Qadhafi in 2011, the future of Libya hangs in the balance. A peace se...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 51/52
    Published at Fri, 22 Dec 2017
  18. Algeria To Retain Gas Focus In 2018 As New Fields Start Up

    ...ich badly damaged the fields’ processing facilities. Output, at an annualized 8.6bcm for the first nine months of 2017, averaged close to 9bcm/y capacity for the first time since 2011 (MEES, 3 November). Repair work from the attack was completed in mid-2016 but the leap in output only came after lo...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 51/52
    Published at Fri, 22 Dec 2017
  19. Egypt: Gulf Of Suez Oil Output At 40-Year Low On Back Of Lower Prices, Capex

    ...abilized at just over 300,000 b/d over the five years to 2011. Part of the fall since then can be attributable to economic and political instability in the aftermath of the January 2011 revolution (in particular cash-strapped Cairo’s failure to pay foreign operators – MEES, 1 December). But the biggest fa...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 48
    Published at Fri, 01 Dec 2017
  20. Payment Problems

    ...Egyptian state firm EGPC (which typically markets crude on behalf of smaller producers). Egypt has always had a reputation as a tardy payer. But receivables to IOCs active in the country soared in the aftermath of the January 2011 revolution. From $3bn at the start of 2011 they leapt to $8bn in...

    Volume: 60
    Issue: 48
    Published at Fri, 01 Dec 2017