Eni and Snam sign framework agreement for the development of methane stations in Italy
The partnership aims at developing new compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants within Eni’s national network of stations, favouring the supply of low-emission alternative fuels such as natural gas.
Eni and Snam have signed today a framework agreement for the development of methane gas stations in Italy, as part of a wider set of initiatives to promote sustainable mobility.
The partnership aims at developing new compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants within Eni’s national network of stations, favouring the supply of low-emission alternative fuels such as natural gas. Natural gas eliminates particulate matter, the most polluting element in urban areas, and ensures considerable economic advantages to customers.
The framework agreement is part of Snam’s initiatives to promote sustainable mobility, with an investment of 150 million euro by 2021 to roll-out up to 300 new CNG service stations in order to support the development and a more balanced distribution of natural gas fuelling stations in different regions across the country, thus also improving the quality of supply service to users.
Through this initiative Eni intends to further strengthen its offer for sustainable mobility. At present approximately 1,000 of Eni’s stations deliver LPG and methane (including 2 LNG and 180 CNG), while the remaining 3,500 deliver Eni Diesel+, its premium diesel with 15% renewable content produced from vegetable oils at its Venice biorefinery.
With well-established and globally cutting edge technology, Italy is the leading European market for natural gas consumption for vehicles, with over 1 billion cubic meters consumed in 2015 and about 1 million vehicles currently in circulation.
The framework agreement and the subsequent contracts for the implementation of the initiative will provide a further boost to the natural gas industry from the transport sector, which is globally recognized for its technological and environmental excellence, and is able to leverage Europe’s largest, most accessible gas pipeline network, stretching more than 32,000 km.
Oman Oil Company signs agreement with Eni of Italy
Oman Oil Co (OOC) and Eni have finalised a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore cooperation opportunities in the oil and gas sector.
An agreement was signed last week in Milano City by Eng. Isam bin Saud Al Zadjali, CEO of Oman Oil Co and Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni, in Milan, Italy, according to a press statement issued by Eni.
The ceremony was also attended by Dr. Mohammed bin Hamed Al Rumhy, Minister of Oil and Gas, Dr. Ahmed bin Salim Baomar, Sultanate’s Ambassador to Italy and by a number of executives and senior officials from both companies.
OOC is the Sultanate’s investment arm in energy related sectors, and Eni is the leading Italian integrated energy company.
Commenting on the occasion, Eng. Al Zadjali said, “This MoU with Eni is another step taken by Oman Oil Company to join hands with a strategic international partner seeking development areas in oil and gas sector. He expressed his pride that the strategic position of OOC as Oman’s national oil company , attracts major international oil companies’ investments into the Sultanate.”
The Ministry of Oil and Gas (MOG) has also granted exploration rights to Eni and OOC Exploration & Production (OOCEP) in Block 52. “We are very happy with this agreement and the award of Block 52,” said Eni’s CEO Descalzi.
“This MoU and exploration in Block 52 will allow Eni to start cooperating and investing in Oman and will enable our company to expand its presence in a key region of the Middle East. This is in line with our strategy aimed at diversifying our exploration portfolio across basins with liquid hydrocarbon potential while keeping high quality stakes throughout the exploration phase,” he said. The Block 52 is an area of 90,000sqkm with a water depth ranging from 10m to 2,000m with liquid hydrocarbon potential, located on the Southern coast of the Sultanate. -ONA
The area is largely unexplored with the potential of hydrocarbon findings. The area has been awarded following an international bid round process launched in October 2016.
Total to ink $ 4 billion Iran gas deal before summer
Iran will sign a $4 billion deal with France’s Total to develop phase 11 of the giant South Pars gas field before summer, Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh says.
Zangeneh and Total Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne met in Vienna on the sidelines of the OPEC meeting on Friday night and discussed the deal, Fars news agency reported on Saturday.
“The signing of the contract with Total is very close and will be done in less than a month,” Zangeneh told reporters.
Total signed a heads of agreement with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) in November 2016 but said earlier in February that a final decision on the deal hinged on the new US administration renewing sanctions waivers on Iran.
Pouyanne told journalists on the sidelines of the Vienna meeting that the signing of the waivers had cleared the path for the deal to be concluded.
Zangeneh said a major European bank will provide guarantees, but did not disclose its name. He also said foreign countries have reached a consensus on Iran’s new oil contract called IPC.
Other Iranian officials have already said that they expected the first contract under the new formula to be signed soon, marking a turning point in months of anticipation as the country reopens its oil and gas sector to business.
Zangeneh said some companies had worries about the new contract but those concerns have been removed now.
Iran has named 29 international firms as being eligible to bid for oil and gas projects but they have been waiting for the country to finalize the new model, known as the Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC).
The new model has been the subject to repeated reviews amid fears that it might compromise Iran’s national interests at the expense of making business with the country more flexible.
Total became the first Western oil major to sign an energy agreement after the European Union and the United States eased sanctions as part of a nuclear accord with the Islamic Republic.
The South Pars 11 project will have a production capacity of 1.8 billion cubic feet per day, or 370 000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The produced gas will be fed into Iran's gas network.
Total will operate the project with a 50.1% interest alongside Petropars at 19.9% and the Chinese state-owned oil and gas company CNPC at 30%.
The French oil major also plans to invest in the South Azadegan oil field. Zangeneh said the tender for development of Azadegan oil field will be implemented soon, for both the southern and northern sections.
The oil minister further reiterated that Iran has no problems for the participation of American companies in its oil and gas projects.
“We have no problem for the presence of US companies in oil and gas projects in Iran. They are limited by their own government,” he said, adding Iran’s preference is to sign deals with noted international companies.
Iran, Spanish company sign US$615m oil pipes deal
Iran signed a deal worth US$615 million with a Spanish-Iranian consortium under which the group will provide pipes used in Iran's oil industry.
It was the first major deal for Iran's oil industry since President Hassan Rouhani's re-election last week to another term in office on a platform of reform and greater openness to the international community. The consortium, which includes Spain's Tubacex S.A. and Iran's Foolad Isfahan Company, will produce pipes made of a corrosion resistant alloy for a network of 600 kilometers, or about 370 miles, over three years.
The statement said the pipes will be produced using Japan's JFE Steel Corporation technology, and that the know-how will eventually be given to the Iranians.
At a ceremony marking the signing, Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said he was "delighted that a deal worth more than 550 million euros is being signed.''
"The Iranian manufacturer is happier than us and perhaps our foreign partner is the happiest party of all today, to have secured itself a long-term market'' in Iran, Zanganeh added.
"I think it is the biggest tender we have had in this industry for a lot of years,'' said Antonio Rafael, deputy CEO of Tubacex. "It is very professionally managed.''
Iran has been trying to renovate its oil industry since the 2015 landmark nuclear deal with world powers. The country exports 2 million barrels of oil per day, which compromises more than 30 percent of the country's annual budget.
Uganda, Tanzania sign deal for world's longest heated pipeline
Uganda and Tanzania signed a framework agreement on their proposed $3.55-billion crude export pipeline on Friday, a key milestone for the project, which is expected to start pumping Ugandan oil to international markets in three years.
An official at Uganda's Ministry of Energy told Reuters the agreement covered terms on tax incentives for the project, implementation timelines, the size of the pipeline and local content levels, keeping it on track to complete in 2020.
Adewale Fayemi, the manager for Uganda at Total, said the project will become "the longest electrically heated crude oil pipeline in the world".
"It's a record," he told Reuters, adding it will increase the flowof foreign direct investment and open a new phase of economic development in the region when completed.
The 1,445 km-long, 24-inch diameter pipeline will be heated so it can keep highly viscous crude oil liquid enough to flow.
It will begin in landlocked Uganda's western region, where crude reserves were discovered in 2006, and terminate at Tanzania's Indian Ocean seaport of Tanga.
Total is one of the owners of Ugandan oilfields, alongside China's CNOOC and Britain's Tullow Oil.
Total has said it is willing to fund the pipeline's constructionbut has not what stake it will own in the project.
Uganda estimates overall crude reserves at 6.5-billion barrels, while recoverable reserves are seen at between 1.4-billion and 1.7-billion barrels.
Irene Muloni, Uganda's energy minister, said construction of pipeline would "facilitate and boost trade in the region" and create over 10,000 jobs.
The agreement stipulated that Uganda would pay an estimated transit tariff of $12.20 per barrel for pumping its oil through the pipeline, she said.
In January, both countries awarded the Front-End Engineering Design contract for the pipeline to Houston-based Gulf Interstate Engineering.
Tanzania had offered a "fiscal incentives package" that led Uganda to choose it over Kenya as the favoured host for the pipeline, Muloni said. She did not describe the incentives.
Kenya had bid to host the same pipeline, which would have allowed it to earn transit fees and also transport its own crude in the Lokichar basin in the northwest.
German investors planning new petrochemical investments in Egypt
A number of German investors will pump new investments into some Egyptian petrochemical and phosphate fertiliser production projects within the next period, Egypt’s Oil Minister Tarek el-Molla said Sunday.
El-Molla made these remarks during a meeting with Matthias Fischer, Head of German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce and other officials in the chamber.
Egypt’s oil sector enjoys many investment opportunities in crude and petrochemical projects which need new capitals, el-Molla added.
The Egyptian minister further stressed that Germany’s investors are keen on producing high-quality Egyptian products in order to compete other global products.
In the meeting, the officials also discussed the available investment opportunities in Egypt to enhance the German businesses for oil industries.
Germany's Continental to open R&D centre in Serbia
Serbia's government said German car parts maker Continental plans to open a research and development (R&D) centre in Novi Sad, in northern Serbia, on July 1. The company plans to invest more than 1 million euro ($1.1 million) in the project and to hire 100 engineers by the end of 2017, plus another 400 in the next two years, the government said in a statement on Sunday. Continental wanted to open a R&D centre in Serbia three years ago, but then the management of the German car parts maker considered the economic situation in the country was not good enough, prime minister Aleksandar Vucic said in an audio file posted on the website of the Serbian government. Today, the economic situation is different, Serbia has total financial stability, and is gaining the confidence of investors, Vucic said. The R&D centre in Novi Sad will have two units - Body & Security, and Commercial Vehicles & Aftermarket. The centre will operate as part of the interiors unit of Continental. In March, Continental launched a second plant in Serbia's northern town of Subotica, which employs over 500 workers. Continental, which already operates one plant in Subotica, invested 14.5 million euro in the new factory, while the government provided 3 million euro in subsidies. The new plant has increased Continental's capacity in Serbia to over 20,000 sq m in workable space alone. The number of its employees will increase to 1,500 in the next few years.
WorleyParsons signs framework agreement with Shell for EPCM services
WorleyParsons announces today that it has been awarded a five-year Framework Agreement by Shell Global Solutions International, B.V., for the provision of engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services for Shell downstream projects worldwide.
WorleyParsons drives a strong focus on improving operating efficiency for its clients through its EPCM services, including concept, front end engineering, detailed design, procurement, and project and construction management services.
The inclusion of the management and technical consulting services of Advisian helps WorleyParsons Group provide 360 degree solutions to its clients.
"We are looking forward to working with Shell and delivering success. We appreciate the continued confidence shown in WorleyParsons’ capabilities" said Andrew Wood, CEO of WorleyParsons.