Drilling is to resume at the Tamar natural gas field after a three year respite, the partners have reported. Tamar 8 will be the sixth well for development and production bored at the site and will cost $265 million.
The new drilling at Tamar will take place 100 kilometers west and offshore from Haifa at a depth of 1.7 kilometers and about 3.5 kilometers from the seabed. Of the four months scheduled for the drilling, two months will be devoted to connecting the new well to the existing pipe infrastructure. At this stage, pipes, filters and valves are being put into the drilling allowing the field itself to connect up with Tamar's underwater production system off the coast of Ashkelon.
In contrast to previous drillings, which were carried out by floating rigs, the Tamar 8 drilling will be performed by an advanced drilling ship, the Attwood Advantage, which has a crew of 100. This is a drilling ship built in 2013 at a cost of $600 million, and it is considered one of the world's most advanced drilling platforms. The major relative advantage of the ship is reflected in its ability to drill 12 kilometers deep and work at a depth of over 3.5 kilometers.
Tamar's sixth well will increase the reserves in the gas production system and consequently Israel's energy security. However, it will not necessarily increase gas supply since there is a bottleneck on the pipeline linking Tamar with the platform off the coast of Ashkelon. The capacity of the pipes is not enough to supply all of Israel's needs during peak electricity demand.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 4, 2016
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