The Petroleum Commissioner today announced that following a meeting on the subject and perusal of the materials communicated to him, the Givot Yahash partnership should send him documents showing that they have obtained an immediately available source of financing for conducting all the operations necessary for developing their holding by May 14, 2018. Givot Olam Oil Exploration LP (TASE:GIVO.L) must also present agreements between all of the relevant parties in the partnership to the plan for developing the holding, the Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Resources announced.
The Petroleum Commissioner also forbade the partnership to take any action on the site of holding without his express approval, stating, “Any action taken without approval will lead to the immediate expiry of the prospect.”
The Petroleum Commissioner notified the partnership last week that because they had not complied with the work plan, he was canceling its oil prospect. In a warning letter before cancellation of the license, the Petroleum Commissioner wrote, “No progress has been made for many years. The 'development plan' submitted to me is actually a plan for continuing oil exploration on the prospect site. This plan is suitable for the preliminary stage of an oil right - an exploration license, and does not approach the existing expectations from a development program for an oil prospect, and is certainly inappropriate for a 16 year-old oil prospect.”
The Givot Olam partnership obtained the Rosh HaAyin prospect in April 2002, but has since conducted only three drillings: Meged 4, which included a side drilling and a horizontal drilling; Meged 5, which was drilled twice in the same place; and Meged 6, which also included a side drilling. Only Meged 5 produced oil, and oil production was completely discontinued in April 2017.
The oil potential in the area has been assessed in the hundreds of millions of barrels, but the Givot Olam partnership, which drilling in it in recent years, has succeeded in producing only very small quantities of oil from it.
"Globes” recently reported that a group of businesspeople headed by former Minister of Energy Moshe Shahal and including former Israel Corporation CEO Nir Gilad and veteran gas exploration entrepreneur Gideon Tadmor, was taking an interest in drilling for oil on the site of the Givot Olam prospect.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 11, 2018
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