A motion was filed today by International Mediterranean Oilfield Services Ltd. with the Tel Aviv District Court to appoint a temporary liquidator for ATP Oil & Gas Corporation (Bulletin Board: ATPAQ) subsidiary ATP East Med Number BV, which owns 35% of the Shimshon and East and West Daniel licenses. The company asked that Adv. Dror Vigdor, a partner at the Yigal Arnon & Co. law firm be appointed temporary liquidator.
Last week, the Tel Aviv District Court seized ATP East Med's rights to the licenses, after ATP filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Texas. ATP's creditors discovered that the company's offshore exploration licenses in Israel were held by a subsidiary, ATP East Med, which was not protected from seizure under US bankruptcy laws.
In mid-August, ATP filed for bankruptcy protection with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. The company stated that it owed $3.4 billion to 1,000 creditors. The Texas court appointed a trustee for the company's assets. According to documents obtained by "Globes", the trustee wants to keep some of the company's exploration rights in Israel and sell the rest.
ATP directly owns an additional 5% of the licenses, and Isramco Ltd. (Nasdaq: ISRL; TASE: ISRA.L) owns 50% of the Shimshon license, after selling 10% to Modiin Energy LP (TASE:MDIN.L) last week, and owns 60% of the two Daniel licenses.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 9, 2012
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