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July 15, 2015
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Bankers Petroleum provides operational update for Q2 2015

Bankers-petroleum
Bankers Petroleum Ltd. (TSX: BNK, AIM: BNK) is pleased to announce the Company’s second quarter operational update.

Production

Average production from the Patos-Marinza and Kuçova oilfields in Albania for the second quarter of 2015 was 20,045 barrels of oil per day (bopd), an increase of 1.4% compared to the first quarter 2015 average of 19,767 bopd.

The Bubullima reservoir continues to exceed expectations, with four producing wells averaging 220 bopd at an 85% water cut, over the last thirty days of the quarter. The average API of the Bubullima production is 15 – 17 degrees, helping to further offset diluent costs. The production history of these four wells ranges from four months to over two years, with minimal decline rates to date. Bankers has one additional well to be tied-in pending the completion of sour treating facilities in Q3 and plans to drill up to three additional Bubullima wells in the second half of 2015.

Sales and Oil Prices

Oil sales during the quarter averaged 19,599 bopd, 3.4% lower than the previous quarter average of 20,283 bopd. Crude oil inventory at June 30, 2015, was 307,000 barrels, up from 270,000 barrels at March 31, 2015.

The Patos-Marinza second quarter average oil price was approximately $47.98 per barrel (representing 77% of the Brent oil price of $61.92 per barrel), as compared with the first quarter average oil price of $39.66 per barrel (representing 74% of the Brent oil price of $53.94 per barrel). Sales to the export market during the second quarter of 2015 represented 78% of total sales, at an average export price of 80% of the Brent oil price. Domestic sales were lower in the quarter as Bankers targets the seasonally higher demand of the export market.

For the six months ended June 30, 2015, average oil sales were 19,899 bopd compared to 20,036 bopd for the first six months of 2014. The six month average oil price was approximately $43.74 per barrel (representing 75% of the Brent oil price of $57.95 per barrel) as compared to $87.00 per barrel (representing 80% of the Brent oil price of $108.93 per barrel) for the first six months of 2014.

Bankers realized $9.9 million (representing $5.53 per barrel) during the second quarter in proceeds from corporate hedge proceeds. Additionally, Bankers received $1.4 million (representing $0.76 per barrel) in legacy accounts receivable realization as part of its domestic sales program.

For the six months ended June 30, 2015, Bankers realized $24.0 million (representing $6.66 per barrel) in proceeds from corporate hedge proceeds. Additionally, Bankers received $4.9 million (representing $1.37 per barrel) in legacy accounts receivable realization as part of its domestic sales program.

Bankers has hedged 6,000 bopd at a Brent price of $80.00 per barrel for 2015. The remaining 2015 hedge program at June 30, 2015 is valued at $21.3 million.

Drilling Update

Bankers drilled a total of twelve wells in the second quarter: ten horizontal producers, one water disposal well, and one suspended well following the release incident at the beginning of the quarter. Five of the producing wells are on production, the remaining five will be placed on production early in the third quarter following the completion of drilling on the same well pad.

In the second half of 2015, Bankers plans to drill the remaining twenty-six of the total sixty wells planned in 2015, including one multilateral and one Kuçova well. As previously reported, Bankers reduced its active rig count to two in February in response to decreased commodity prices.

Secondary Recovery Program

The twenty-six polymer and five water flood patterns operational in the Patos-Marinza oilfield at the end of the second quarter 2015 continue to meet or exceed model expectations, producing an incremental 2,390 bopd in the month of June, 12% of Bankers total production.

In Q2, Bankers converted seven additional wells to injectors: 6 polymer flood and 1 water flood. As of June 30, 2015, four of these wells are currently injecting with the remaining three wells expected to begin injection early in the third quarter, pending facilities tie-in. The Company continues to be strongly encouraged by the results to date and Bankers plans to convert an additional eleven to sixteen patterns in the second half of the year.

Infrastructure Development

Bankers infrastructure projects in the second quarter continued to focus on margin expansion with construction of the northern gathering system. This construction is nearly complete and will be commissioned in the third quarter following the completion of the associated increase in the inlet capacity at the Satellite 3 treating facility. Construction on the west gathering system, previously delayed due to the commodity price environment, has now commenced along with the expansion of the inlet facilities at Pad D for which equipment is now being sourced and procured. This project has been re-initiated to accommodate sour production from the Bubullima and to further reduce trucking and operating costs.

The installation of vapor recovery units at Pad H and Pad D commenced late in the second quarter and are expected to be commissioned late in the third quarter. These projects target a reduction in energy costs by utilizing produced gas to create electricity thereby reducing the need for external fuel sources.

The majority of the equipment associated with the polymer secondary recovery program arrived in country during the second quarter and installation is now underway in conjunction with the remaining planned conversions in 2015. These facilities expansions will allow for up to 28 additional conversions.

July 13, 2015
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Asia’s Energy Trends And Developments (In 2 Volumes)

Asia's Energy Trends And DevelopmentsThis two volume compilation is a collection of papers on Asia’s Energy Trends and Developments that were presented at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore as part of its Energy Series Programme, which ran from June 2004 to September 2011, including 135 seminars and conferences. What is unique about this package of books is the range of topics covered, from nanotechnology, clean energy, hydropower, renewable energy and nuclear power to bilateral relations, energy security and energy efficiency, but all with the unifying energy theme in the context of Asia. The papers have been authored by international experts and innovators in their respective fields, from the areas of academia, government and the private sector, providing their perspectives on the energy debate in Asia. This compilation aims to provide the reader with insights into the overall trends and developments that have shaped and continued to influence energy policy, security and strategy in Asia and is a useful reference point for experts and those uninitiated in this field. With Asia, especially China and India, leading world energy consumption, Asian energy trends are now of global and Asian interest.

[embeddoc url=”https://info.aea-al.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/9814425613.pdf” viewer=”google”]

July 13, 2015
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European countries join forces to create an integrated gas market

gas market europeA well connected EU energy market where energy flows freely across borders and no Member State remains isolated from the EU energy networks is a precondition for creating a resilient Energy Union with a forward looking climate policy, according to the European Commission. This will ensure secure, affordable and sustainable energy for all EU citizens and businesses.

15 EU and Energy Community countries in the Central Eastern Europe and South East European regions have agreed to work together to accelerate the building of missing gas infrastructure links and to tackle the remaining technical and regulatory issues that hamper security of supply and the development of a fully integrated and competitive energy market in the region.

A Memorandum of Understanding, which formally launches this initiative, was signed on 10 July in Dubrovnik. This will pave the way for the closer integration of the EU and Energy Community energy markets. By creating a stable regulatory and market framework, it will help improve the investment climate in the involved EU and Energy Community countries and territories.

“This region is very important for Europe, in particular when we look at security of energy supply,” said EU Commission Vice President for Energy Union Maroš Šefcovic. “The improvement of infrastructure through realistic and feasible projects is crucial to diversify energy resources and strengthen the region’s resilience to supply shocks. Cooperation among the countries of the region is key in this regard. I myself and the entire commission support this process, notably in the framework of the European Energy Union Strategy.”

“Regional cooperation is a cornerstone of our work on closer integration of energy markets,” noted EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete, “Therefore effective cooperationbetween the countries in Central Eastern and South East Europe is key to ensuring secure energy supplies and affordable prices for consumers in the region. Whilst every country has to face its specific energy issues, addressing them together can offer cheaper and more effective solutions.”

The joint work under the European Commission initiative on Central Eastern and South Eastern European Gas Connectivity (CESEC) will not only focus on building new gas pipelines, but also on making the best use of existing infrastructure for example by allowing reverse flow. A number of infrastructure projects, such as the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), LNG terminal in Croatia and evacuation system, system reinforcement in Bulgaria and Romania, interconnectors between Greece and Bulgaria and between Serbia and Bulgaria, have been identified as top priorities in the Action Plan annexed to the Memorandum. They will help to diversify supply sources; ultimately, each Member State in the region should have access to at least three different sources of gas. These priority projects will be closely monitored to ensure their timely and resource efficient implementation. It is also important that EU rules that foster fair competition between all market players are fully implemented in the region.

In general, infrastructure projects should be financed by the market participants, but where necessary for their timely completion, the involvement of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will be considered by the CESEC countries. Project promoters are also encouraged in particular to make use of the opportunities offered by the new European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI).

The Memorandum of Understanding and its Action Plan were signed by EU Commission Vice President Maroš Šefcovic and EU Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete and by the Energy Ministers andtheir representatives from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine (Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Moldova will sign at a later stage).

July 10, 2015
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Albania’s GDP grows 2.82 pct in first quarter of 2015

tirana14* Albania GDP grows 2.82 pct in first quarter of 2015

* Financial sector and manufacturing boost growth

(Reuters) – Albania’s economy grew 2.82 percent in the first quarter of 2015 from the same period a year before, shrugging off the impact of February floods as activity in the financial and insurance sector surged.

The Institute of Statistics also said on Thursday that gross domestic product had grown 0.32 percent in the first quarter of 2015 from the last three months of 2014.

That was in line with official forecasts for growth in 2015 despite damage to agriculture from flooding in the south of the Adriatic Sea state in February.

Last week, Albania and the International Monetary Fund cut their growth forecast to 2.7 percent from 3 percent for 2015, mainly because of lower prices in world markets for Albania’s exports of minerals and oil.

The central bank expects the economy to expand more in 2015 than 2014’s 1.89 percent although that could change if the crisis in neighbouring Greece, home to more than 600,000 Albanian migrant workers, worsens.

The financial and insurance sector led growth in the first quarter, expanding by 13 percent compared to the same period last year, with activity in the manufacturing, energy and water industries 7.64 percent higher.

Household spending fell by 1.22 percent while government expenditure fell by 0.01 percent, the Institute said.

July 10, 2015
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Gas Pipeline Web Sought to Reduce Russia’s Grip on EU Supplies

slovakia-zero_1217690cEuropean officials on Friday will take a step toward creating a web of natural gas pipelines across the region’s southeast as a way to reduce the threat of Russia choking off supplies.

Some 17 nations, more than half of them from the former Soviet bloc, will endorse an action plan to improve energy infrastructure and ultimately to ensure each of them maintain three separate sources of supply. The decision is due at a meeting of ministers in Dubrovnik, Croatia, with Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission’s vice president in charge of energy union.

The crisis in Ukraine along with Russia’s decision in December to cancel a $45 billion pipeline to Europe shocked nations from Austria to Bulgaria. The commission wants to encourage them to work together on protecting energy supply. Russia supplies 27 percent of the gas that feeds the European Union, which imports more than half its energy needs.

 

“There are still considerable bottlenecks and constraints in the market that make it more difficult to move alternative sources of supply around the market and cut dependence on Russia,” said Emily Stromquist, an energy analyst at the Eurasia research group in London.

European Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete, who oversees climate and energy, will join the discussions that build on a strategy outlined in February, according to his office in Brussels.

Nations Gathered

European Union nations at the talks include Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia. Those outside the union are Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Republic of Kosovo, Montenegro, Moldova and Ukraine.

South-eastern Europe is a vital part of the political jigsaw to diversify supply away from Russia. The countries in the region stand between energy-hungry markets of Western Europe and gas fields around the Caspian Sea owned by Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.

Next year, a venture that includes BP Plc and Statoil ASA plans to start work on the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, which will help to ship Azeri natural gas to Italy, Greece, Albania and Bulgaria.

The South Stream project scrapped in December would have piped gas under the Black Sea to Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s alternative is building a pipeline to Turkey and then shipping gas overland to Greece.

European Plan

The EU strategy is to make gas supplies more flexible by building additional pipelines across the southeast. So long as gas can flow both ways in each of the pipelines, that would fill gaps in the network and make the system more resilient to cutoffs.

Commission officials proposed a high-level group of ministers to discuss strengthening the gas network two months after Putin canceled South Stream.

A handful of projects already are on the drawing board. The Slovak transmission operator Eustream AS has a plan to boost transit from Slovakia to south-eastern Europe through Romania. That pipeline, with a working name Eastring, could be connected to the Turkish link via Bulgaria, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said earlier this year.

Several countries also are pushing for a “Vertical Gas Corridor,” which would link Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. It would involve inter-connectors between Bulgaria and Greece and between Romania and Bulgaria.

Ministers at the talks in Dubrovnik will choose several infrastructure projects that need to be sped up. They may be eligible for financial aid from the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the EU. Investors hope that officials will agree “very concrete decisions and timelines,” according to Stromquist.

“These aren’t typically very high cost projects but their impact is considerable,” she said. “Getting additional inter-connectors into the market will certainly help improve competition and reduce Russian dependence.”

July 9, 2015
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Mott MacDonald wins projects in Singapore and Albania

mott-macdonald-advertUK-headquartered consultancy Mott MacDonald has announced two major international environmental contract wins.

Firstly, it has been appointed to investigate the impacts of climate change on Singapore’s energy and telecommunication infrastructure. The appointment by the country’s National Environment Agency falls within the second phase of the Singapore Government’s Second National Climate Change Study, which in the first phase has already looked at climate projections for the country and the wider region up to 2100.

During the second phase, Mott MacDonald will be helping the country understand the impacts of climate change in a range of areas, including water resources and drainage, biodiversity and greenery, network infrastructure and building infrastructure, whilst recommending adaptation measures and strategies for energy and telecommunication network infrastructure and operations.

Mott MacDonald project director, Chris Preston, commented: “Singapore has been hit by several cases of extreme weather in recent years, including floods in 2013 and a dry spell in 2014. Our research will contribute towards efforts to protect the country from future extreme weather events. Mott MacDonald was appointed on this project on the basis of the team’s technical quality of methodology and their careful consideration of the challenges involved in the project, particularly surrounding model uncertainty.”

The consultancy is also set to provide technical advisory services to improve the efficiency of water resources management in the Drini-Buna and Seman rivers in Albania.

Appointed by the Albanian Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Administration, Mott MacDonald will be assessing availability and demand of water resources, surface and groundwater quality, and the status of the current infrastructure as part of the the river basin management plans project which is being funded by the World Bank. The findings will be used to compile priority water resources management plans and development interventions.