Houston-based Noble Energy on Thursday informed it has received governmental approval for the development of the Leviathan project offshore Israel.
The approval, granted by the Petroleum Commissioner in the Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources, contemplates a subsea system that connects production wells to a fixed platform located offshore with tie-in onshore in the northern part of Israel.
The company said in its statement that the platform’s initial capacity will start at 1.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day and is expandable to 2.1 Bcf/d.
Noble Energy has recently, together with its Leviathan gas field partners, executed a gas sales and purchase agreement under which it will supply a gross quantity of up to 473 billion cubic feet of natural gas to a new-build independent power facility over an 18-year term, or up to 72 million cubic feet per day to IPM Beer Tuvia.
The deal is priced at over US$2.5 billion, Noble Energy said.
J. Keith Elliott , senior vice president, Eastern Mediterranean, added that with the latest agreement, the partners have contracted volumes from Leviathan to the Israel market in the amount of approximately 100 MMcf/d. The Leviathan field has an estimated 22 Tcf of recoverable natural gas resources.
Noble Energy operates Leviathan with a 39.66 percent working interest. Other interest owners are Delek Drilling with 22.67 percent, Avner Oil Exploration with 22.67 percent, and Ratio Oil Exploration (1992) Limited Partnership with the remaining 15 percent.