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Egypt Would Approve BG's Israel Gas Deal If Local Demand is Met

Egypt is willing to approve a potential deal allowing BG Group PLC to import natural gas from Israel for its local facility if the parties involved agree to help meet the country’s domestic demand at a reasonable price, officials familiar with the matter said Monday. "Things are different in Egypt now and we see no issue in this deal if it is beneficial for the country," a senior oil official told The Wall Street Journal, referring to the recent change in government in Egypt that saw Abdel Fattah Al Sisi elected president. "We will give our approval on the deal if some of the gas is fed to the domestic market and is reasonably priced," the official said. The partners in Israel’s giant Leviathan natural gas field said last month they had signed a preliminary agreement with BG Group, a British oil and gas company, to […]

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Israel, EU envision environmental and energy ties

A new framework for cooperation between the European Union and Israel extends to the realm of energy and environmental protection, a top EU official said. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso met Sunday in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to sign a partnership agreement through the so-called Horizon 2020 program. With a budget of more than $100 billion over the next seven years, the Horizon program is billed by the European Union as the largest research and innovation program of its kind in the world. "Israel is a strong player in research and innovation and for this reason an important partner for the EU to address societal challenges of common concern, such as aging, food safety, environment protection or cleaner energy, and to strengthen the competitiveness of our industries," Barroso said in a statement. The European Commission said the association agreement with Israel has "a very broad […]

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Israeli gas may be bound for Egypt

Noble Energy said it was considering sending as much as 440 trillion cubic feet of natural gas per day from the Tamar field offshore Israel to a plant in Egypt. Noble and its field partners at Tamar signed a non-binding letter of intent with Union Fenosa Gas to deliver natural gas to a facility that can turn it into super-cooled liquefied natural gas. The letter of intent spells out a 15-year term for a total 2.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from Tamar. "This LOI with Union Fenosa Gas represents a major milestone for our Tamar asset and is indicative of the strong regional demand for natural gas," Keith Elliot, Noble’s vice president in charge of regional operations, said in a statement Tuesday. Spanish company UFG holds an 80 percent stake in the subsidiary controlling the Damietta LNG facility in Egypt. It has […]

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Levant basin rich in reserves for Israel

Oz license area off the coast of Tel Aviv thought to be rich in oil and gas. JERUSALEM, April 28 (UPI) — While less than the Tamar and Leviathan prospects off the Israeli coast, the Oz license area may hold significant deposits of oil and gas, a study finds. Sewell & Associates, a Dutch oil and gas consulting company, finds the Oz license area, about 30 miles off the coast of Tel Aviv, may hold more than 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 93 million barrels of oil. Roni Halman, chairman of Oz license partner Israel Opportunity, said Saturday the estimates beat early expectations. "The Levant basin is rich with gas, and we believe also in oil, which has a huge potential," he said . Though considerable, Oz holds less than the giant Leviathan and Tamar basins off the Israeli coast. Production at Tamar began last year. […]

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Noble Energy sees remarkable progress offshore Israel

Developments made at the Leviathan natural gas field off the coast of Israel have been "remarkable," Noble Energy Chairman Charles Davidson said Thursday.Noble this year signed export contracts for gas from the Leviathan and nearby Tamar natural gas fields with Jordanian and Palestinian authorities. Davidson said in a quarterly statement Thursday larger contracts are expected to follow during the next several fiscal quarters. "The progress we have made recently regarding the Leviathan project offshore Israel has been remarkable, and we are close to executing a number of domestic and regional export sales agreements to support the field’s development," he said in a statement . Tamar, with an estimated 8.5 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, entered into production in March 2013. Leviathan, with an estimated 18 trillion cubic feet of gas, should go onstream in 2016. Australian energy company Woodside Petroleum last month balked […]

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Israeli Gas Holds Promise of Better Ties with Neighbors

Israel’s drive to export its new-found natural gas could help to rebuild strained ties with old regional allies Egypt and Turkey, but could deprive Europe of a precious alternative to Russian gas. Israel has in recent months already signed energy deals with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, though relations with the Palestinians are at a low ebb, and now needs to expand its export horizons to cash in on its huge energy discoveries. If all goes well, the latest developments could see first pipelines being laid between Israel and Turkey as soon as 2015, and gas cooperation between Israel and Egypt is also emerging, which would allow export access to Asia’s major markets. A growing population and soaring demand have left Egypt’s own liquefied natural gas export (LNG) plants in need of new supply, as domestic shortages eat into seaborne exports through the Suez […]

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Australia’s Woodside balks on Israel’s Leviathan field

Australian energy company Woodside Petroluem said a February agreement to sign a deal to enter the Leviathan gas field off the Israeli coast was on hold. Woodside said in a statement the parties to a memorandum of understanding — Noble Energy Mediterranean Ltd, Delek Drilling, Avner Oil Exploration LP and Ratio Oil Exploration — haven’t settled the terms of a deal announced last month. "Discussions continue with the parties and the Israeli government with a view to resolving the remaining issues and executing definitive agreements," the Australian company said in a statement Thursday. The February arrangement would have granted Woodside a 25 percent stake in the field, one of the largest in the world. The company balked over Israeli tax policy, saying its profits from Leviathan should be tax free. The Israeli government, however, said Woodside’s stake should be seen as a capital investment and […]

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Australia's Woodside balks on Israel's Leviathan field

Australian energy company Woodside Petroluem said a February agreement to sign a deal to enter the Leviathan gas field off the Israeli coast was on hold. Woodside said in a statement the parties to a memorandum of understanding — Noble Energy Mediterranean Ltd, Delek Drilling, Avner Oil Exploration LP and Ratio Oil Exploration — haven’t settled the terms of a deal announced last month. "Discussions continue with the parties and the Israeli government with a view to resolving the remaining issues and executing definitive agreements," the Australian company said in a statement Thursday. The February arrangement would have granted Woodside a 25 percent stake in the field, one of the largest in the world. The company balked over Israeli tax policy, saying its profits from Leviathan should be tax free. The Israeli government, however, said Woodside’s stake should be seen as a capital investment and […]

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Israeli Strikes on Syrian Army Sites Raise Concern About Entanglement

Israeli airstrikes against several Syrian Army positions across the decades-old cease-fire line in the Golan Heights on Wednesday came as a specific response to a bomb attack against Israeli forces along the frontier a day earlier, according to Israeli officials. But for many here, the unusually sharp exchange signaled the possibility of a broader Israeli slide into regional turmoil. The airstrikes, against a Syrian Army training facility, a military headquarters and artillery batteries, were the first in Syrian territory that Israel has openly acknowledged since the Syrian civil war began three years ago. The bombing on Tuesday that prompted the strikes was the first to cause Israeli casualties, wounding four soldiers, one severely. Both events raised the stakes along a frontier that has been largely quiet for […]

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Israel bombs Syrian posts over Golan attack on its troops

Israel attacked several Syrian military sites on Wednesday in retaliation for a roadside bombing that wounded four of its troops on the occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday, the Israeli military said. It said targets included a Syrian military headquarters, a training facility and artillery batteries. Aircraft carried out the overnight strike, said Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman. He described targets as military facilities on the Syrian-held side of the Golan. Israel captured the Golan from Syria in the 1967 war and annexed it in a move not recognized abroad. Tuesday’s wounding of the soldiers as they patrolled the separation line on the strategic plateau marked Israel’s worst casualties there since an insurgency erupted in Syria more than three years ago. Israel blamed Damascus for the roadside bombing, though parts of the Syrian-held side of the Golan are controlled by rebels, including al Qaeda-inspired militants […]

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