It’s not clear whether the daring spirit that overtook the stock market today is a sign of things to come, and whether the corpse known as the Israeli capital market is starting to come back to life, but at least in one area, one can predict a great revival with near certainty: the marine oil drilling industry is back in action.
In April, the "Noa 1" bore will get underway. Taking part in the venture will be the Avner partnership (25%), Delek Drilling (25%), and two overseas companies specializing in marine oil exploration: R&B, and Samedan, both highly prominent in their field.
Drilling will take place off the coast at Ashkelon, but before the Ashkelonites equip themselves with binoculars and rush to report to the stock exchange any sign from the drilling platform (as happened when Yam 2 was drilled in the mid 1990s), one should douse the enthusiasm, and mention that "Noa 2" will be drilled 35 km from the coast.
In fact, the bore is outside Israel’s territorial waters, but within the area in which Israel has mineral mining rights.
This area of deep water opposite Israel’s continental shelf, from the Gaza border (where the drilling will take place) to Hadera, belongs to the Israeli-US partnership, and this is the first bore planned in it, naturally in the hope that there will be others. Apart from the long distance from the coast, this area is also characterized by very deep water: the "Noa 1" bore will be drilled in water 800 meters deep, almost the accepted maximum depth for drilling around the world.
The budget for the bore is $12 million. It is due to last only two months.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on February 15, 1999