{"id":624799,"date":"2018-09-19T04:12:30","date_gmt":"2018-09-19T04:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2018\/09\/19\/what-were-tracking-on-19-september-2018\/"},"modified":"2018-09-19T04:12:30","modified_gmt":"2018-09-19T04:12:30","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-19-september-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2018\/09\/19\/what-were-tracking-on-19-september-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 19 September 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> **#4 Egypt, Cyprus to sign gas pipeline agreement this morning:<\/strong> Oil Minister Tarek El Molla and Cyprus Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis will sign this morning an agreement to build a USD 1 bn pipeline connecting the Aphrodite gas field to liquefaction plants in Egypt, Oil Ministry spokesperson Hamdy Abdel Aziz tells AMAY<\/a>. Lakkotrypis and El Molla met yesterday in Nicosia with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, according to Cyprus Mail<\/a>. El Molla said that some of the gas imported from the Aphrodite gas field will be used for domestic consumption, adding that the agreement would be a win-win for Egypt, Cyprus and the EU, according to the AP<\/a>. Lakkotrypis called the agreement a first of its kind for the region, saying it would bolster Europe's energy security. The pipeline is a crucial stepping stone towards Egypt\u2019s bid to become the Eastern Med\u2019s premier energy hub.<\/p>\n

New Brit ambassador arrives in town: <\/strong>Newly-appointed British ambassador Sir Geoffrey Adams arrived in Cairo yesterday, Ahram Online reports<\/a>, citing a report by state news agency MENA. Adams, who replaces outgoing ambassador<\/a> John Casson, was the number two at the UK\u2019s mission to Cairo from 1998-2001. Unlike his predecessor, Adams doesn\u2019t tweet very often<\/a>. He was previously the UK\u2019s ambassador to the Netherlands and to Iran. Adams\u2019 very brief FCO biography is here<\/a>; the UK embassy\u2019s website<\/a> still shows Casson as ambassador as of dispatch time this morning.<\/p>\n

Drilling for oil?<\/strong> You\u2019ll be happy to know that Saudi Arabia is \u201cnow comfortable with Brent oil prices rising above USD 80 a barrel<\/strong>, at least in the short term, as the global market adjusts to the loss of Iranian supply from U.S. sanctions, according to people familiar with the kingdom\u2019s view<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

China hit back yesterday at USD 200 bn in tariffs imposed by The Donald<\/strong>, saying it would slap import duties on about USD 60 bn worth of US goods, the Wall Street Journal<\/a> reports. That means China has now imposed new duties on just about everything it imports from the United States \u2014 suggesting, in turn, that Beijing is increasingly out of options in this tit-for-tat war<\/strong>, the New York Times<\/a> argues.<\/p>\n

The African Development Bank has offloaded risk from some USD 1 bn in loans to a New York hedge fund<\/strong> in what is being described as a \u201cpioneering [agreement] which illustrates the growing financial sophistication of supranational institutions. \u2026 The AfDB has bought insurance on a USD 1 bn portfolio of loans from a group of investors led by Mariner Investment Group through a so-called synthetic securitisation, in which the hedge fund does not acquire the assets but will take on USD 152 mn of default risk in exchange for returns in the low double digits.\u201d (Financial Times<\/a>)<\/p>\n

In miscellany this morning:<\/strong><\/p>\n