Natural gas

A senior official with Italy's oil and gas company Eni says the discovery of a huge natural gas deposit in Egyptian waters has boosted hopes of other such finds in the eastern Mediterranean that could help meet Europe's energy needs.

Turkey's main goal in the energy sector is diversification, Energy Minister Berat Albayrak said at a conference in the U.S. on March 7.      

"More than half of our electricity generation is from gas," he said at the IHS CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, Texas. 

An Israeli company said on March 2 it has started exporting gas from an offshore field to Jordan, marking the country's first ever exports of natural gas.

The exports to Jordan began in January, Delek Drilling -- part of a consortium leading the development of Israel's offshore gas reserves -- told AFP.

Gazprom will begin building the offshore section of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline in the coming months, a Gazprom board member said Feb. 28.      

The construction process will start in the second half of 2017, Oleg Aksyutin said in Moscow, adding that progress on the gas transportation system in Russia had been largely completed.

Israel sees Turkey not only as a big market but also as a major economy in the region, Delek Group's Gas Pipeline Project Director Ofer Oberlander said Feb. 23.        

The chairman of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (KEVR) Ivan Ivanov reckons that the demand of Bulgargaz for a 32% hike in the price of natural gas as of April 1 is unjustifiably high.

Iran has found a dozen new oil fields that could produce 30 billion barrels of crude and 128 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to Press TV quoting officials in Tehran.

Bulgaria's state-owned gas supplier has announced the prices of natural gas will have to go up by nearly a third as of April this year.

In a statement, the company has cited higher supply costs as of the next quarter.

Another argument is the current BGN/USD exchange rate.

Greece has concluded talks with a consortium led by France's Total for deep sea gas exploration in one block in western Greece, its energy minister, Giorgos Stathakis, said on Wednesday, taking the two sides closer to signing a deal.

Authorities are again on high alert regarding the country's uninterrupted supply of natural gas and electricity as there is a serious risk that the Revythousa LNG station will run dry in the first five days of February.