The EMG pipeline will be used for transporting natural gas volumes into Egypt under Noble Energy’s gas supply agreements with Dolphinus Holdings
Image: The 90km EMG pipeline is owned by the Eastern Mediterranean gas company. Photo: courtesy of outgunned21/FreeImages.
Texas-based Noble Energy and its partners have completed the acquisition of a 39% stake in the company that owns Eastern Mediterranean gas (EMG) pipeline.
The 90km EMG pipeline is owned by the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Company and is located mostly offshore. It acts as a link between the Israeli pipeline network and the Egyptian pipeline network.
The pipeline will be used for transporting natural gas volumes into Egypt under Noble Energy’s gas supply agreements with Dolphinus Holdings .
Noble Energy plans to use the pipeline to accommodate its existing natural gas contracts from Leviathan and Tamar into Egypt, beginning January 2020 and rising to 650 MMcf/d, gross, by mid-2022.
Noble Energy senior vice president, offshore Keith Elliott said: “The closing of the EMG acquisition will support delivery of natural gas from the Tamar and Leviathan fields into Egypt, and represents a major milestone toward Egypt’s goal of becoming a regional energy hub.
“This acquisition, combined with our recently announced Dolphinus gas sales contracts offtake increases, provides further confidence in both the long-term export market and growing cash flows from our Eastern Mediterranean assets.”
The company’s net acquisition investment in the EMG Pipeline totaled $185m while its effective interest in the pipeline is 10 %.
Noble Energy said that the acquisition of interest in the pipeline was dependent upon technical third-party recertification, which included completion of intelligent pigging and pressure testing of the pipeline, which were achieved during the last few months, in addition to finalisation of many commercial agreements.
Noble Energy amended gas sales contracts with Dolphinus in October 2019
In October, Noble Energy and its partners had amended their agreements for the sale of natural gas to Dolphinus Holdings from the Leviathan and Tamar fields.
The contracts replace the previous firm commitment of 1.15 Tcf from the Leviathan field and the previous interruptible quantity of 1.15 Tcf from the Tamar field.
Noble Energy operates a portfolio of assets onshore in the US and offshore in the Eastern Mediterranean and off the west coast of Africa.