Israel’s Delek Group has through its subsidiaries Delek Drilling and Avner Oil agreed to buy Noble Energy’s 47 percent stake in Karish and Tanin fields.
According to Delek, the acquisition of Noble Energy’s stake in the Mediterranean Sea fields is valued at $67 million. Following the completion of the acquisition, Delek, through its subsidiaries, will sell the Karish and Tanin assets to a third party.
Noble and Delek are required to divest their ownership in the Karish and Tanin fields, located in the Alon A and Alon C licences, in order to avoid being branded a cartel by the Israeli authorities, as they already own the country’s largest offshore gas fields, Tamar and Leviathan.
Noble Energy has a 36 percent operated working interest at Tamar, with gross mean resources of 10 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas. Tamar was the largest deepwater natural gas discovery in the world in 2009. As for the Leviathan, it is one of the largest offshore gas fields in the world with gross mean resources of 22 Tcf of natural gas.
As for the potential buyer for the Tanin and Karish assets, which could hold around 70 billion cubic feet of gas, Israeli media have singled out Italy’s Edison as a frontrunner. According to Globes.co.il, companies such as Hess and EOG have also expressed interest in acquiring the two fields.
The partners in Alon A and Alon C licenses (not including the above mentioned transaction) and their holding rates are as follows:
Noble Energy Mediterranean Ltd. 47.059%
Avner Oil Exploration – Limited Partnerships 26.4705%
Delek Drilling – Limited Partnerships 26.4705%
Offshore Energy Today Staff