LNG

A meeting has taken place in Cyprus to push forward with future East Mediterranean natural gas and LNG joint ventures recently affected by conflict in the Middle East.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has visited Algeria on her first foreign trip since taking office, signed four accords with the North African nation, including one on a new natural gas pipeline between Algeria and Italy.

Italian energy company Eni said the “Coral-Sul FLNG” production vessel offshore Mozambique shipped its first cargo from the Rovuma Basin to launch the southeast African nation as an LNG exporter.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, the owner of the Das Island LNG plant in the United Arab Emirates and Italian oil and gas company and LNG project developer Eni, plan to explore further opportunities to increase worldwide natural gas supply security.

Discussions have taken place in the Algerian capital Algiers between the Chief Executive of Italian oil and gas company, Claudio Descalzi and Algeria’s Prime Minister Aymen Benabderrahmane, the country's Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab and Algerian energy company Sonatrach's CEO Toufik Hakkar.

Angola, the southwest African LNG producer, has found a willing exploration and production partner in Italian energy company Eni, which has plans to invest around $7 billion in Angola over the next four years along with other partner companies.

The ruler of Sharjah, the third-largest emirate in the United Arab Emirates, has met with Claudio Descalzi, Chief Executive of the leading oil and gas exploration and production and LNG project company Eni, to take stock of progress after Eni's acquisition of the exploration rights on three onshore blocks.

Sharjah's ruler, Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi who is a member of the Supreme Council of the UAE, and Descalzi discussed gas as well as other future opportunities relating to the energy transition.

Eni and Sharjah National Oil Corp. (SNOC), the state company of the emirate, recently started production from the Mahani gas and condensate field, located in Sharjah's onshore Concession Area B.

This was achieved in less than two years from the signing of the oil contract and in less than a year from the declaration of the discovery.

Eni, a shareholder in projects such as the Damietta LNG plant in Egypt set to soon come back on stream and in two Mozambique LNG projects, is also carrying out exploration activities in areas A and C of the emirate, of which Area C is largely under-explored.

“The milestones we have achieved so far with an incredible time-to-market is the result of the support of Dr. Sultan III bin Muhammad al-Qasimi and the harmonious partnership between SNOC and Eni,” said Descalzi.

“These are great achievements, particularly considering the exceptional challenges incurred during the year due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” added the Eni CEO.

The UAE is aiming to increase its natural gas resources by investing more in exploration and production in the next few years.

In the Sharjah gas field, Eni holds a 50 percent stake in the Concession Area B along with partner SNOC with the Sharjah firm acting as operator. Eni acquired Area B in a competitive bid round in January 2019.

Production from the Mahani field is sent through a new multiphase trunk line to SNOC’s Sajaa Gas Plant where it is processed utilizing the existing facilities and infrastructure.

Eni said that field production is expected to increase progressively with the connection of further wells planned to be drilled during 2021-2022.

In addition to Sharjah, Eni is also present in two other emirates, Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah, the fourth-largest of the seven emirates that make up the UAE.

Abu Dhabi is the capital of the UAE and the second-most populous city after Dubai.

Abu Dhabi holds the most oil and gas resources of all the emirates and currently produces around 5.8 million tonnes per annum of LNG at the Das Island liquefaction plant off Abu Dhabi.

The UAE also imports diminishing quantities of LNG as its domestic gas position improves.

Italian energy company Eni and Sharjah National Oil Corp. in the LNG exporting and importing nation of the United Arab Emirates have started production start-up at the Mahani natural gas field in the emirate of Sharjah.

Italian energy company Eni, which has stakes in the leading global LNG projects such as Mozambique and whose offshore discovery of the Zohr gas field transformed the energy fortunes of Egypt, has launched a new business structure to lead the company through the next 30 years.

The Milan-based company said it was creating two new business groups, Natural Resources to develop the upstream oil and gas portfolio sustainably and Energy Evolution, dedicated to supporting the company’s power generation and marketing.

The overhaul will help the implementation of Eni’s strategy to 2050, which it said combined value creation, portfolio sustainability and financial strength.

Eni’s main current LNG asset is its stake in the Rovuma Basin projects in Mozambique as part of the Area 4 resources development with ExxonMobil and China National Petroleum Corp.

The new organisation, presented by Eni’s Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi, sets down the markers for the evolution of the business over the next 30 years.

“The key and unique element of this strategy is the combination of growth objectives with financial value creation as well as environmental sustainability, which will lead to a significant reduction in full life-cycle carbon emissions,” said Eni.

The company stated that the new structure reflected Eni’s pivot to the energy transition.

“To make the plan come true, and position us to accelerate its delivery, we are creating two new business groups in our company,” explained CEO Descalzi.

The two new Eni business groups will maintain close links in the hydrocarbon value chain, with the objective of best managing the different phases of the energy transition.

“The Natural Resources business group will incorporate the company’s oil & gas exploration, development and production activities, natural gas wholesale via pipeline and LNG,” said Eni.

Alessandro Puliti will lead Natural Resources and Massimo Mondazzi will lead Energy Evolution.

A final investment decision on Mozambique LNG has been delayed for now but once it is sanctioned the project will produce LNG from three feed-gas reservoirs located in the Area 4 block.

ExxonMobil is the lead company for the Mamba gas fields and LNG project development and costs are estimated at around $30Bln.

A separate project for Area 4 resources is the Coral floating LNG joint venture with capacity of around 3.4 MTPA already under construction and scheduled to come on stream in 2022.

Eni has already been a leading company in developing LNG projects in other nations such as Nigeria, Angola, Egypt, Trinidad & Tobago and Indonesia.

The Natural Resources division will continue to build up the value of Eni’s oil and gas upstream portfolio, with the objective of reducing its carbon footprint by scaling up energy efficiency and expanding production in the natural gas business, and its position in the wholesale market.

Eni has been very successful in its E&P activities in Egypt and elsewhere.

The company discovered and developed the Zohr field in the East Mediterranean.

Zohr is located within the Shorouk concession, approximately 190 kilometres north of the city of Port Said.

Eni has a 50 percent stake in the block and is responsible for operations there. The other stakeholders are Russia’s Rosneft, BP of the UK and Mubadala Petroleum of the UAE.

Italian energy company Eni, a prominent LNG sector participant, took a hit of more than US$3 billion in the first quarter as it wrote down asset values and took one-time charges to cope with the double calamity of the pandemic and the oil price plunge.