We are pleased to announce that the Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI) conference earlier in the month went well.  We received a lot of interest and positive feedback regarding our white paper, which discussed one of the uses of our X-Ray Fluorescence machine (for more on this device read "New from StratoChem" in the righthand column).  We had a booth at the three-day conference, which allowed us to speak at length with a number of people from the industry.  If you were unable to attend, or have questions about our paper, please do not hesitate to contact us.

For further information about our services please direct inquiries to: info@stratochemlabs.com

 

     Egypt is willing to negotiate a new agreement to supply natural gas to Israel under different prices and terms, the country's Planning and International Cooperation Minister Fayza Aboulnaga said.

       The Egyptian parties to the 2005 accord notified East Mediterranean Gas Co., which transports the gas to Israel, five times about past-due amounts before deciding to end the agreement yesterday, Aboulnaga told reporters in Cairo. The last notification was issued on March 31, she said.

     Ampal-American Israel Corp. (AMPL), which owns 12.5 percent of EMG, said yesterday it had been informed by EMG that Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. and the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co. were terminating the gas-supply agreement.

      The scuttling of the deal may offer an already unpopular post-Mubarak government the opportunity to collect political capital as it struggles against an Islamist-dominated parliament intent on passing a no-confidence motion. That could damage already shaky investor confidence in the country as it heads toward electing a new president on May 23, analysts said.

     With or without the deal, "investors are genuinely very concerned about the direction that Egypt is going in," Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar, said in a telephone interview yesterday.

        "There isn't a responsible leadership. Whether it's the Brotherhood or SCAF, there's a sense that both of them are willing to play the nationalist" card, he said, referring to the ruling military council by its acronym. "I don't think that's reassuring a lot of outside observers."

'Willing to Renegotiate'

       Egypt "is willing to renegotiate the deal, though it would be under a new contract, with new terms and prices," Aboulnaga said. She didn't say how much money was past due.

     Mahmud Ghozlan, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood who earlier lauded the move as affirming Egypt's sovereignty, said talk of renegotiating the deal "doesn't represent the Egyptian people and I don't think the people will welcome it."

       The gas deal "has been a cause of a lot of pressure on the regime and on the military council," said Emad Gad, a secular lawmaker who also heads the Israeli studies program at the Al- Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, in an interview. "It was difficult for them to terminate it until a legal opportunity presented itself when the payments weren't made."

        Egyptian officials said the decision had no political motivation, while Israeli officials yesterday said the move raised concerns about the peace agreement between the two countries. Israel later softened its tone, saying it hoped the matter was purely commercial.

'Nationalist Credentials'

        Oil Minister Abdalla Ghorab said in an e-mailed statement today that the termination was in line with the contract's terms. "The dispute is merely a commercial one that does not reflect any political considerations or any state position," he said.

        Egypt's government is "trying to assert its nationalist credentials," said Hamid. "Being anti-Israel and anti-American is the lowest hanging fruit. It's the easiest thing to do, it doesn't take a lot of effort and there's really no downside domestically."

      Egypt refused to authorize permits for eight U.S. non- governmental organizations, including the Carter Center, saying their work runs counter to the country's sovereign interests, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported.

(www.egyptoil-gas.com - April 18, 2012) 

        Badr El Din Petroleum Company (Bapetco) has concluded the drilling of two new developmental wells in its Western Desert concession area as part of its development plan for the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

      Egypt Oil and Gas has learned that one of the new wells, dubbed BED-128, was drilled using the EDC-52 rig to the depth of 10,420 feet, with drilling costs reaching $3.320 million. The new oil-producing well has been added to the company's overall production numbers.

       The other well, named SITRAB-18, was drilled using the EDC-72 rig to a depth of 11,530 feet. Costs of the operation amounted to $2.75 million.  

         During the previous fiscal year, Bapetco successfully drilled 34 wells, and the company is looking to drill 44 exploratory and developmental wells in the current fiscal year 2011-2012 in order to boost total production of crude oil and natural gas.

         The company's production rates during the month of February 2012 stood at 1,126,540 barrels of crude oil and 2,118,393 cubic feet of natural gas.

     Badr El Din Petroleum is a joint venture company between the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and Royal Dutch Shell.

(www.petroleumafrica.com - April 24, 2012)