LNG

The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co. (EGAS), the government-run energy company with stakes in Egypt’s two LNG export plants and other gas field assets, has established a subsidiary in Saudi Arabia to help attract more investment.

Egypt's Ministry of Petroleum said that the Saudi unit had been set up by EGAS with initial capital of 2 million Saudi riyals ($533,000).

The Egyptians said in their statement that EGAS would own 80 percent of the venture called “Modern Gas Saudi Arabia” and explained that it would be part of the Egypt’s strategy for offshore expansion in the East Mediterranean in cooperation with other Arab nations such as the United Arab Emirates.

EGAS has various stakes, direct and indirect, in Egypt’s expansive oil and gas assets and the two LNG export plants, Damietta and Idku, located east of the port city of Alexandria.

ADNOC-BP deal

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and UK major BP said in Mid-February 2024 that they planned to form a joint venture in Egypt that would initially focus on natural gas and incorporate Egyptian concession stakes held by BP.

That joint venture is expected to be formed in the second half of 2024 and will be 51 percent owned by BP and 49 percent by ADNOC.

The BP-ADNOC Egyptian joint venture was originally planned to be the second phase of cooperation between the two companies in the East Med gas and LNG province after the planned acquisition of a 50 percent stake in Israeli gas producer NewMed Energy.

Negotiations on the proposed NewMed agreement for BP and ADNOC started in March 2023, though have now been officially suspended.

As part of the agreement for Egyptian expansion and energy investment by ADNOC, BP will contribute its interests in three development concessions, as well as exploration agreements in Egypt to the new joint venture.

ADNOC will make a proportionate cash contribution which can be used for future growth opportunities.

Gas fields

This is the first major natural gas deal for BP under new Chief Executive Murray Auchincloss.

Both companies said that this new joint venture partnership would enhance Egyptian energy security and the economic potential of the region’s most populous Arab country.

The natural gas concession to be included in the Egyptian joint venture include BP’s 10 percent in the Shorouk block containing Egypt’s huge Zohr gas field.

BP’s 100-percent owned North Damietta interests are also included along with BP’s 50-percent stake in the North El Burg concession with the undeveloped Satis field.

Three other exploration concession included are North El Tabya, Bellatrix-Seti East and the North El Fayrouz block.

BP has named Canadian Murray Auchincloss as the new Chief Executive with immediate success after he had been fulfilling the role since September 2023 in an interim basis after the surpise departure of the former CEO.

Sept 13 (LNG) - UK major BP said Chief Executive Bernard Looney had notified the company that he had resigned with immediate effect for telling lies on personal relationships within the company. BP added that Murray Auchincloss, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, would act as CEO on an interim basis. Shareholders had been disappointed by Looney’s nearly four years at the helm during which the shares had risen by just 6 percent compared with double-digit rises in the stock of other energy majors. There are now rising calls for the board to quit as well.

   Looney had been increasingly criticised by shareholders for his cut backs in oil and gas activities and his obsession with receiving praise from social media and “green” groups rather than getting on with the job. Analysts said some of the board should also resign for their neglectful attitudes while BP was now a possible takeover target after years of instability.

The 41st edition of the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston attended by around 6,000 delegates focused on the second day on issues such as European and US natural gas and also on the main Texas commodity - crude oil.

UK major BP posted underlying replacement cost profit, its equivalent of net profits, of $8.2 billion in the third quarter, a two-and-a-half times jump from the $3.3Bln posted in the same three months of 2021.

UK major and global LNG sector participant BP reported a loss of $20.4 billion for the first quarter of 2022 as it booked a series of charges and impairments related to its exit from Russian oil and natural gas amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

UK major BP reported a loss for the third quarter of $2.5 billion, explained as the accounting effects of liquefied natural gas risk management, compared with a $3.1Bln profit for the previous 2021 quarter and $450M of losses posted in the same three months of 2020.

Feb 2 (LNGJ) - UK major BP reported a full-year loss of $20.3 billion, including significant impairments and exploration write-offs taken in the second quarter, compared with a profit of $4.0 billion in 2019. BP’s 2021 outlook expects the US natural gas market to tighten as supply declines and demand for LNG exports recovers. “The current tightness on global LNG markets and higher US gas prices will lift other regional gas prices,” said BP.

   A BP profit was posted in the fourth quarter of $1.4Bln versus a $500 million loss in the previous quarter thanks to a quarterly $2.3Bln one-time gain from the sale of BP’s petrochemicals business to INEOS of the UK. “At year-end net debt was $39Bln, down $1.4Bln over the quarter and $6.5Bln over the full year. Net debt is expected to increase in the first half of 2021, driven by severance payments, the annual Gulf of Mexico oil spill payment and payment following completion of the offshore wind joint venture with Equinor,” said BP.

UK major BP has sold a 20 percent stake for $2.6 ‎billion to Thailand’s national energy company in key tight natural gas fields onshore the Sultanate of Oman that enabled the Arabian Peninsula nation to stabilize then boost LNG exports over the past three years.

UK major BP and India's Reliance Industries Ltd have started production from an ultra-deep-water block in the Krishna Godavari Basin offshore the East Coast of India as part of a project that will eventually supply about 15 percent of India’s domestic gas needs and slightly reduce the nation's LNG import requirements, though overall demand is forecast to increase in the years ahead.