It’s not all doom and gloom in our gas industry. Our energy report this morning is a welcome (partial) antidote to a run of bad news from the industry that reached something of a crescendo this week as rolling blackouts stretched to two hours daily following Israel’s decision to stop selling us natural gas.

In short: Wintershall Dea has started production at its East Damanhur concession, Eni is optimistic about the relaunch LNG exports, and our first ever joint work program with the International Energy Agency (IEA) signed off and ready to go are good news for an industry that has had a tough few weeks.

HERE’S THE BREAKDOWN-

#1- Gas has started flowing in East Damanhour: German oil giant Wintershall Dea has started gas production at its East Damanhour onshore concession, it said in a statement earlier this week. Its ED2-X well is set to produce around 10 mn scf of gas a day. The well is operated by Wintershall, which has a 40% share in the project alongside local energy giant Cheiron Energy (40%), and Croatian national producer INA (20%).

Good news for the Damanhour partners, good news for us: “Bringing this well into production enables us to deliver additional energy at a time when it is much needed in Egypt,” Windershall COO Dawn Summers said.

#2- Eni is still confident about its LNG export plans: Italian energy giant Eni anticipates exporting Egyptian liquified natural gas this month, as seasonal demands wanes, Asharq Business reported, citing CEO Claudio Descalzi. The CEO’s statement’s mirror reports earlier in the week that the company’s COO for natural resources Cristian Signoretto thought that their LNG exports would start again as winter approaches.

ICYMI- We have barely exported any LNG since the start of the summer due to declining localproduction and rising domestic demand from a sweltering summer. The value of the country’s LNG exports fell almost 60% y-o-y to USD 2.3 bn during the first seven months of the year and we only made up 2% of Europe’s imports in 2023, down from 4% the year before.

#3- But, Eni’s Orion X1 well may take a bit longer to be operational than we thought: The offshore USD 130 mn project with an estimated 10 tn cubic feet of gas reserves will begin operation within three years, Asharq Business reported, citing a source it says has knowledge of the project.The Italian energy giant had planned to begin drilling operations in September, local media reported back in April.

#4- A new Egypt, IEA joint work program should also give the industry a boost: The OilMinistry inked a two-year joint work program with the International Energy Agency’s (IEA), under which the two sides will work closely to tackle methane emissions, renewable energy deployment, and hydrogen production, according to an IEA statement on Tuesday. “We are eager to take forward new areas of cooperation with Egypt as the country accelerates its energy transition while ensuring supplies remain affordable and reliable,” IEA head Fatih Birol said.

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