Delek Drilling Limited Partnership (TASE: DEDR.L) and Ratio Oil Exploration (1992) LP (TASE:RATI.L) today reported that the Leviathan 5 assessment drilling begun in March would be completed in the coming days. The drilling, located over 10 kilometers from other drillings in the Leviathan reservoir, confirmed the assessment by the Leviathan partners concerning the existence of natural gas at the three main reservoir units (A, B, and C), even in this this remote section of the reservoir.
At the recommendation of Noble Energy, the Leviathan partners decided that when the Leviathan 5 drilling is completed, the Atwood Advantage drilling platform would be relinquished, with another drilling platform being used at significantly lower cost than the current platform, starting in the first quarter of 2018.
The Atwood Advantage platform, which reached Israeli waters in late 2016, drilled and completed the Tamar 8 drilling, which has been producing for three months. It then drilled the upper part of the Leviathan 7 drilling, and has now fully completed the Leviathan 5 drilling. These drillings in Leviathan cost a total of $106 million.
When it arrives, the new drilling platform will drill the bottom part of the Leviathan 7 drilling and another drilling - Leviathan 3, and will also complete the operations needed to connect the drillings to the Leviathan production system. Among other things, the new drilling platform will be able to reach deep targets, if drilling deep targets in the Leviathan prospect is approved by the Leviathan partners.
The Leviathan drillings are located 100 kilometers west of Haifa, where the sea is over 1.6 kilometers deep. The reservoir is 3.5 kilometers below sea level, and the final depth of the drillings stands at 5,200 meters below the waterline.
Delek Drilling CEO Yossi Abu said today, "The Leviathan project is progressing on schedule and within the approved budget for the purpose of providing gas to the Israeli economy and exports by the end of 2019. The saving in drilling platform costs from the successful tender conducted by the Leviathan partners is a continuation of the regular reassessment of possibilities for streamlining and cost-cutting in the project."
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on July 19, 2017
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