Equinor, Norway’s largest oil company, has made a new oil and gas discovery in the North Sea off Norway.

This discovery has been estimated at between 17 and 47 million barrels of recoverable oil; although the wells were not subjected to formation testing, extensive data acquisition and sampling tests were performed.

For Equinor, it is the seventh oil and gas discovery in that same area since 2019.

Eni has signed an important and historic agreement with the state company Noc for the production of gas in Libya, a strategic project aimed at increasing the production of gas to supply the Libyan domestic market, as well as ensuring the export of volumes to Europe.

The project includes two gas fields off Libya.

Gas production will begin in 2026 and will be ensured through two main platforms, connected to the existing treatment plants at the Mellitah complex.

For Eni, the agreement will allow to make important investments in the energy sector in Libya, contributing to the development and creation of jobs in the country, and strengthening the position of Eni as the first operator in the country.

Eni’s agreement with Libya is official.

The objective of this agreement is to increase gas production for the Libyan domestic market and at the same time export volumes to Europe.

The plan envisaged by the Eni-Noc agreement will include in detail the construction of two gas fields located off Libya, production will begin in 2026 and, according to forecasts, will reach a plateau of 750 million cubic feet of standard gas per day.

The agreement provides for a duration of forty years, this will allow to make important investments in the energy sector in Libya contributing to the development and creation of work in the country, and strengthening the position of Eni as the first operator in Libya.

Within a year and a half Italy can also count on the gas extracted a few kilometers from the Sicilian coast.

They are accelerating the work for the production of the two largest natural gas fields, called Argo and Cassiopea. The two gas fields contain about 10 billion cubic meters, not an enormity but still almost 10% of the gas available in the Italian subsoil.

A first time also for Eni as the wells will be submarine, so as to zero the visual impact of the plants.

In 2022, Indonesia auctioned 13 oil and gas fields and using six, in 2023 it plans to offer 10 oil and gas work areas, including a blockade in the South China Sea, to increase energy production and make new discoveries.

The oil and gas fields that Indonesia plans to offer are areas located in Natuna D Alpha, or giant gas fields located in the South China Sea.

The aim of the country is to achieve crude oil extraction and gas uplift by 2030.

This may be possible because the supply agreements from Algeria, considered a strategic partner for Italy, are renewed annually.
In addition to the connection with Algeria, Italy also has a pipeline connection with Libya to which is added the liquefied natural gas sector with Egypt, Nigeria, Angola, Congo and Mozambique.

Currently, 50% of the gas coming from Russia has been recovered mainly thanks to the pipelines with Africa.

The objective is to make the Italy HUB of the Mediterranean and Europe and launch the “Mattei Plan”, over five years, using seven regasification plants and five pipelines from the South, between Africa, Israel and Azerbaijan.

The agreements signed by Eni and the Algerian energy company Sonatrach, provide for the identification of opportunities to increase energy exports from Algeria to Italy also through the construction of a new pipeline to transport hydrogen, the laying of an electric submarine cable that supports the existing gas pipelines, the increase of the ability to produce gas by Algeria through new exploration campaigns, the productivity of the plants eliminating methane leaks into the atmosphere.

In late November 2022, Qatar-based QatarEnergy announced that it had signed an agreement to export liquefied natural gas to Germany for a period of at least 15 years.

According to the agreement signed with ConocoPhillips, from 2026 will be exported up to 2 million tons of LNG to the European country, as it is considered one of the largest gas markets in Europe.

Qatar would be ready to supply the international markets with 18 million tons of natural gas per year by 2024, highlighting that the projects to develop the liquefied natural gas industry are among the greatest achievements achieved in 2022 by the Gulf Country.

The Freeport LNG Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Export Facility in Texas has begun receiving pipelined natural gas; US LNG exports have been steadily increasing for years, and Freeport, the US’s second largest LNG export facility, is one of several key shipping facilities around the world.

Some Freeport officials said the plant would be on track to restart in the second half of January, pending regulatory approvals, but no applications have yet been filed with federal regulators to restart the plant.

The transaction makes it possible to enhance the respective skills of Eni and Snam in the procurement of natural gas in Italy.

The acquisition by Snam of the stakes held by Eni in the companies that manage the two groups of international gas pipelines linking Algeria to Italy, in particular the onshore gas pipelines which extend from the border between Algeria and Tunisia to the Tunisian coast and the offshore pipelines linking the Tunisian coast to Italy.

The transaction makes it possible to enhance the respective skills of Eni and Snam on a strategic route for the security of natural gas supplies in Italy, favoring potential development initiatives in the hydrogen value chain also thanks to the natural resources of North Africa.