Energean has agreed to buy the natural gas fields from Delek and Noble Energy for $150 million.
The Israel Petroleum Council today recommended to the Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Resources petroleum commissioner approval of the deal for selling the Karish and Tanin natural gas fields to Greek company Energean. Energean last August agreed to buy the fields for $150 million from Noble Energy and Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG).
The deal followed the natural gas plan requiring Noble Energy and Delek to sell these two reservoirs, which contain 60 BCM of gas. The Petroleum Council today also decided allow Noble Energy to transfer 3.5% of its holdings in the Tamar and Dalit reservoirs to the Everest Infrastructure limited partnership in order to fulfill the requirements under the gas plan, which requires Noble Energy to reduce its holding in Tamar and Dalit to 25%. The Petroleum Council also recommended approval of Ratio Oil Exploration (1992) LP's (TASE:RATI.L) request to report a royalty and a lien on that royalty in favor of Ratio Finance to enable the company to finance development of the Leviathan gas reservoir.
Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz said that approval of the sale of Karish and Tanin to Energean was "an important step on the way to breaking the gas monopoly according to the timetable set in the gas plan. The entry of a new player into the gas sector will help bolster competition and diversification, increase energy security in the local economy, and support the ability to replace the use of coal in the coal-fired power plants in Hadera with natural gas, thereby bettering the health and welfare of Israel's people."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 6, 2016
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2016
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