Eni has announced a new gas discovery offshore Egypt in the Great Nooros Area, in the Abu Madi West Development Lease and with initial reserves of about four trillion cubic feet of gas. The discovery is located 16 meters underwater, five kilometres from the shore and four kilometres north of the Nooros fields. A spokesman of Eni has stated that formations in the Abu Madi area where found that where not seen in the Nooros field. This indicates a high amount of reserves in the Greater Nooros area which potentially extends the gas presence north of the field.

Merkel has been asked to rethink Nord Stream 2 pipeline after the poisoning of Kremlin’s opposition leader Alexei Navalny. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has always defended her decision to build the pipeline, is sticking to her position and has said again that politics and business must remain separate. On the other side, Moscow has called on the European countries not to rush to judgment and has denied any involvement. And lastly, Nord Stream 2 is too close to completion for a change of course.

French President Macron has met Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi’s in Baghdad on Wednesday this week. They have discussed a nuclear project to solve decades-long power shortages in Iraq. According to Macron, the nuclear project would be supervised by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and would create a number of jobs. The power cuts have long been an issue affecting Iraq which, especially during hot seasons, is becoming a scourge for the population. Supply disruptions are largely due to a lack of investment in power stations and networks, which are increasingly old.

UK has announced the possibility to review its policy regarding future offshore oil and gas licensing regime. This would be part of a plan which aims to achieve net zero emissions within 2050.
Deirdre Michie Chief executive of industry body Oil & Gas UK said, “We now need a constructive and open conversation about how our oil and gas producing country can transition fairly to a lower carbon future. Working with governments, regulators and through sensible debate, we can protect jobs and affordability while being ultimately accountable for the emissions associated with the oil and gas we use.”

A famous Islamic terrorist organization has recently claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in the African country with the risk that the large energy investment of Total could go up in smoke.
Some months ago, eight workers belonging to a subcontracted firm of Total were killed. Due to those recent unpleasant events, a security pact was signed between Total and the Mozambique government to boost security measures and create a safe working environment at the LNG project, which is on track to deliver first LNG in 2024.

A few days ago Turkey has announced its largest-ever natural gas reserve in the Black Sea with a capacity of 320 billion cubic meters. The new gas field could start producing in 2023. According to energy expert Mithat Rende, the recent discovery will provide Turkey a more powerful position in future negotiations, especially with Russia and Iran. Rende has said that “Turkey is a major gas importer. It is one of the fastest-growing energy consumers.” On the other side, analysts have already warned that there is a lot of unknown. Due to the depth of the Black Sea, extraction could be challenging and expensive, with high production costs.

Saipem, who operates in more than 70 countries and is present in almost every Oil & Gas market around the world, plans to build the biggest offshore wind power plant with a capacity of about 450 MW. The project includes 56 turbines on foundations fixed on the seabed near Ravenna and will also involve floating solar technology and the production of green hydrogen. Saipem’s partners for this new project are AGNES and QINT’X. A memorandum of understanding was recently signed by the companies. In the future, Saipem is planning to launch similar projects also in Sicily and Sardinia.

Total, together with its partners, have announced the launch of Phase 3 of development for the Mero deepwater oil project. The field is situated about off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Luiz Hayum, senior analyst on Wood Mackenzie’s Latin America upstream team, commented on the decision: “Today’s announcement is positive news. Mero Phase 3 is the first major deepwater project sanctioned since the oil crash earlier this year.” Mero 1 is progressing as scheduled with startup in 2021. The Mero 2 startup is expected in 2023 and Mero 3 will start operating by 2024.

USA and Norway announced to have formalized their partnership by signing a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen cooperation in offshore mineral, oil and gas and wind energy activities. Under the MOU, the two countries’ authorities agreed on the exchange of scientific and technical information, and cooperation regarding research and development technologies. The two countries will also focus on projects and strategies for identifying new supplies of marine mineral resources of commercial or economic interest.
U.S. and Norway are considered two of the world’s biggest offshore oil and gas producers.

Sogin SpA (Societa Gestione Impianti Nucleari) has officially started demolishing the screens of the steam generators of the reactor at the power plant of Latina. The screens are the reinforced concrete structures that insulated the upper conduits connecting the six boilers to the reactor building from the outside. About 93% of the conventional material used for the plant construction will be recovered with the decommissioning, 93%. The decommissioning will be completed by January 2021 and will produce a total of about 1,200 tons of material that will be sent to recovery.