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February 25, 2016
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Gazprom Announces New Gas Supply Route under Black Sea

A Gazprom employee stands near to the new bitumen processor at the OAO Gazprom Neft oil refinery in Moscow, Russia, on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012. OAO Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russia's state-run natural-gas producer, started operating a 3.2 billion-ruble ($100 million) bitumen processor at its Moscow refinery this month as it seeks to reduce pollution. Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

Russian energy giant Gazprom has said it signed a memorandum with Italy’s Edison SpA and Greece’s DEPA SA on gas deliveries.

In a press statement, it has explained that according to the memorandum of understanding signed in Rome, gas will be delivered under the Black Sea “via third countries” to Greece and will be transported “from Greece to Italy with the ame of organizing the southern route of supplies of Russian natural gas from Europe.”

In practice, “third countries” could mean either Bulgaria or Turkey.

The announcement is a major development that follows the demise of the South Stream gas pipeline in December of 2014 and the deadlock of its alternative Turkish Stream caused by tensions between Ankara and Moscow.

Russian business daily RBC quotes Mikhail Korchemkin, who heads the East European Gas Analysis, as suggesting that the expression “third countries” in Gazprom’s statement means mostly “Bulgaria”.

It has opined the press statement by Gazprom means a new Black Sea pipeline is now in the planning stage.

“The agreement reflects the interest of countries along the route in deliveries of natural gas from Russia under the Black Sea bed via third countries to Greece and from Greece to Italy,” the statement also reads.

“The development of intra-European gas transport capacities is an important ingredient of the increase of reliability of gas supplies, including Russian ones, to consumers all across Europe,” Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller is quoted as saying.

Gazprom says it is intending to make “maximum use” of work done by Edison and DEPA under the so-called “ITGI Poseidon” project – one described by its own website as infrastructure completing the natural gas corridor through Turkey, Greece and Italy. The interconnection Turkey-Greece-Italy itself is called “ITGI” and is part of the Southern Gas Corridor project, aimed at transporting gas from places such as Azerbaijan to Italy via Turkey, Greece and Albania, untr the Adriatic.

This has given some media outlets ground to speculate on whether the new project will be named “Poseidon”.

February 23, 2016
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Balkan Leaders Discuss Energy, Transport at Summit

EBRD2 640The Western Balkans Investment Summit in London on Monday brought together the prime ministers of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia with investors to discuss the development of transport links, energy projects and privatization.

“We are encouraged by the fact that all of the region’s economies grew last year. And our economists expect growth to rise further in most Western Balkans countries in 2016, albeit still at levels below their potential,” said the EBRD’s president, Suma Chakrabarti.

Chakrabarti praised what he called “a reform momentum across the region”, with Montenegro advancing along its EU path, Serbia restructuring its public companies, Albania continuing a programme of modernization and Bosnia and Herzegovina starting to implement a reform agenda prepared with the help of the European Commission.

The Balkan prime ministers expressed determination to continue their progress towards the EU.

“I don’t agree with [London mayor] Boris Johnson that the EU has become very boring,” said Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, referring to Johnson’s decision to campaign for Britain to vote to leave the EU in a referendum in June.

“Regardless of all challenges, Western Balkans countries believe in a united Europe,” added his Montenegrin counterpart Milo Djukanovic.

The main part of the summit saw Balkan leaders concentrating on major infrastructure and energy investments, including the Nis-Pristina highway and an electricity transmission line between Macedonia and Albania.

“We don’t just expect money, we need political support for reforms, education and the creation of a unique market,” Serbian PM Aleksandar Vucic said.

The vision of integrated market in the Balkans came a step closer, the regional leaders argued, as Serbia and Slovenia confirmed their intention to join SEE Link, an EBRD-supported regional network for trading securities that will help to integrate domestic stock markets. SEE Link was started by the Bulgarian, Macedonian and Croatian stock exchanges.

The EBRD is one of the largest investors in the Western Balkans and last year alone the bank invested around a billion euro in various projects from energy efficiency to infrastructure and from support for financial institutions to agribusiness.

Its first Western Balkans summit was held two years ago. Participants included government officials, policy-makers and experts as well as leading domestic and international business representatives.

Source Birn

February 23, 2016
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Albania-Macedonia power link wins €12m grant

pylon-A project to transfer energy between Albania and Macedonia has been granted funding totalling €12 million (£9.3m).

The EU is providing the cash to support the construction of the first electricity interconnector between the two countries as well as the introduction of grid efficiency improvements.

The project is part of the European Commission’s initiative to establish an East-West power transmission corridor between Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and Italy.

Christian Danielsson, Director General for Enlargement at the European Commission: “Building this transmission line will improve the security of supply and the stability of the two countries’ power systems.

“It will also help to develop a regional electricity market in which production and transmission capacity can be managed throughout the Western Balkans, rather than national basis. This will reduce waste and excess capacity.”

February 19, 2016
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Tbilisi brings together Azerbaijani, Turkish and Georgian FMs

gurcistan_azerbaycan_turkiye_tiflis_2016Tbilisi is hosting a trilateral meeting of Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Georgian Foreign Minister Mikhail Janelidze.

They are discussing relations between the three countries and joint regional projects, particularly Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, TAP and TANAP energy projects.

Addressing the 5th trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers on February 19, Elmar Mammadyarov announced that Baku considers the trilateral meeting of Azerbaijani, Georgian and Turkish foreign ministers as a very fruitful platform of cooperation.

“We have successful results of this cooperation in political, economic and other fields,” Mammadyarov said.

He also emphasized the significance of regional projects and noted that the Southern Gas Corridor project is now beyond energy and element of development of the three countries.

“It is important to highlight that geographic location of our countries provides an ample opportunity to benefit from our countries’ competitive transit potential. Therefore, I believe that developing transport infrastructure, and most importantly, interconnectivity and infrastructure in our geography should remain one of key areas of cooperation,” he said.

The Southern Gas Corridor project envisages the transportation of the gas to be extracted from the giant Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea. Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas will make a 3,500 kilometer journey from the Caspian Sea into Europe. This requires upgrading the existing infrastructure and the development of a chain of new pipelines.

The existing South Caucasus Pipeline will be expanded with a new parallel pipeline across Azerbaijan and Georgia, while the Trans-Anatolian pipeline will transport Shah Deniz gas across Turkey to join the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, which will take gas through Greece and Albania into Italy.

Mammadyarov went on to add that there are obstacles to peace and development in the region.

“There is a need to respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of internationally recognized borders of states in the region,” he said, stressing that failure in the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the greatest threat to peace, stability in the region and regional cooperation.

Turkey actively fights terrorist groups in the region, said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

He made the remarks during a briefing in Tbilisi following the fifth trilateral meeting of Azerbaijani, Turkish and Georgian foreign ministers, TRT Haber reported.

Cavusoglu noted that as distinct from some countries, Turkey doesn’t make distinction among terrorist groups.

The IS terrorist group (ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh) poses a serious threat to Turkey, Cavusoglu said, adding that Turkey urges all countries to actively fight terrorist groups without making distinction among them.

Later, the three foreign ministers signed a joint declaration.The statement emphasizes the importance of joint regional projects, and reiterates support for territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and Georgia.

During the Tbilisi visit, Mammadyarov also discussed regional projects with his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Janelidze.

During the meeting they emphasized the importance of TAP, TANAP and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars projects, the implementation of which will make a significant contribution to regional cooperation.

The foreign ministers also discussed the cooperation in political, economic and cultural spheres.

Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, the troika engaged in implementation of giant energy and transport projects, regularly hold meetings at the level of various ministries.

A few days ago, transport ministers of the three countries met in Tbilisi to discuss the prospects of implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.

February 19, 2016
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Pennine Petroleum Corporation, Albania’s oil company Albpetrol sign production sharing agreement

Pennine Petroleum CorporationPennine Petroleum Corporation announced that it has signed the main terms and conditions of a production sharing agreement for the Velca Block, in southern Albania, with licensee Albpetrol Sh. A. (“Albpetrol”), the national oil company of Albania.

The Velca Block, covering an area of 153,215 acres (239 square miles, or 620 square kilometers), is located 10 km southeast of the Albanian coastal city of Vlore. Pennine previously announced in early December that it had been confirmed by the Republic of Albania’s Ministry of Energy and Industry as the successful bidder for the Velca Block.

The Velca Block contains 250 kilometers of 2-D seismic and two drilled hydrocarbon-indicative wells. A seismically defined structure has been identified with a closure of 12 square kilometers in area, with a vertical closure of between 450 vertical meters (mid case) and 750 vertical meters (maximum case).

“The finalization of the production sharing agreement with Albpetrol is expected to proceed to conclusion in the near future, now that the main terms have been established,” says John Garden, Pennine’s Chief Executive Officer.

“Working in the Republic of Albania, and respecting its established legislation and regulations, will generate significant interest to the shareholders of Pennine and the people of Albania,” adds Mr. Garden. “And with the recent appointment of (former Bankers Petroleum Ltd. President, Chief Operating Officer and Director) Richard Wadsworth to our team, as an independent director, we expect a seamless integration of Pennine into the Albanian oil and gas exploration and development industry.”

January 28, 2016
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2ND ANNUAL ALBANIA OIL & GAS 2016 SUMMIT 16-17 March 2016 | Tirana, Albania

Oil and Gas 2016Officially endorsed and with the full support of the Ministry, the Summit is the only event focusing on Albania’s oil and gas Industry

With the largest operating onshore oilfield in Europe, the Summit will host discussions with focus on all available blocks for licensing and Albania’s current licensing stage

Insights on Ministerial requirements from an investing company and terms of cooperation

Get important information on how to conduct and operate business in Albania, as well as how to overcome any challenges around the Albanian multi-layered geography

Meet with key Albanian decision makers and create networks with some of the most influential and active companies in the field that manage key aspects of the exploration, production and refineries in Albania

Insightful analysis of the Albanian legal framework and regulations in addition to future changes, to prepare you on how to make the most out of your future ventures in the country

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