Norwegian oil and gas companies are interested in Israel's offshore energy exploration industry. Subsea 7 SA (OMX: SUB) is one of the world's largest engineering, construction, and services contractors for the offshore energy industry, including the construction of undersea natural gas pipelines. Seadrill Ltd. (NYSE; OMX: SDRL) owns one of the world's largest fleets of drillships. Both companies attended the first meeting in September between Israeli and Norwegian companies in Stavanger, the center of Norway's oil and gas industry.
The Norwegian-Israel Chambers of Commerce organized the meeting. Israeli participants include Leviathan and Tamar partner Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L), private businessmen, Israel's ambassador to Norway, and other officials.
One Norwegian company, AGR Petroleum Services Holdings AS, already operates in Israel. It is the drill operator at the Pelagic licenses, with a 5% stake in them.
At the meeting, SubSea 7 expressed an interest in the Leviathan gas field, which is due to be connected to Israel by a marine pipeline, similar to the pipeline which will connect the Tamar gas field to Israel in April, when it is completed. The pipeline from the Tamar field, located 90 kilometers west of Haifa, cost $3 billion to build.
The Leviathan field, 130 kilometers west of Haifa, will cost more to build. The Leviathan pipeline will be connected to the northern gas terminal, which will be built at either Dor Beach or Emek Hefer, north of Hadera. The Leviathan partners - Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL), Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG), and Ratio Oil Exploration (1992) LP (TASE:RATI.L) - have not yet submitted to the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources a hook-up plan for Leviathan, but they intend to begin gas deliveries from the field in 2016, irrespective of the question of exports.
At the Stavanger meeting, Norwegian representatives offered to help Israel train oil and gas engineers and technicians, including by financing scholarships to Stavanger University. North Sea oil discoveries in the 1960s turned Norway into an oil and gas powerhouse.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 21, 2012
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