Adsorbed natural gas technology developer Energtek Inc. (Bulletin Board: EGTK) today reported that it has been given a commercial license for the exploration, production and sale of natural gas in the northern Negev.
The license, granted by Israel's Ministry of National Infrastructures, enables Energtek Products to produce natural gas on an exploration block of 19,000 acres. An existing well on the site already enables the production of small quantities of natural gas. The license also enables Energtek Products to explore for additional gas quantities.
Energtek plans to apply its LMP (Low-pressure Mobile Pipeline) bulk transportation technology to transport and sell natural gas produced on this site to local industrial energy consumers. The proprietary system enables the cost-effective transport of natural gas in areas without developed pipeline infrastructure.
Earlier this year a significant natural gas discovery was announced: Tamar 1, with a proven reserve of over 5 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas located off the coast of Haifa. While there is enough gas in the reserve to supply a major percentage of Israel's commercial needs, Israel currently does not have a developed natural gas pipeline distribution network.
Additionally, there are a number of onshore gas fields in Israel with small gas production potentials that cannot be realized using traditional pipeline transport technologies. The development of sufficient pipeline infrastructure often is not commercially viable due to economic and land-use concerns. Energtek's innovative gas supply solutions including LMP enable the local monetization of these gas resources.
Energtek CEO Lev Zaidenberg said, "The granting of this license to Energtek lays the foundation for the commercial sale of natural gas to industrial consumers that are not connected to a pipeline grid. With the recent Tamar discovery, we are confident that natural gas will play an increasing role in supplying Israel's growing energy needs. And since building a pipeline distribution network is a long and expensive process, we anticipate growing demand for bulk transportation solutions such as LMP."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 24, 2009
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