Noble-led group to pursue alternate rig for remaining Leviathan wells

Offshore staff

TEL AVIV, Israel – Noble Energy expects work on the Leviathan 5 appraisal/development well offshore Israel to finish soon, according to partner Delek Drilling.

ThedrillshipAtwood Advantage is batch drilling Leviathan 5 and Leviathan 7, another appraisal/producer well.

Leviathan 5 has reached its final planned depth, and has confirmed the presence of natural gas in three layers of the Leviathan reservoir (Sands A, B, and C).

However, the partners have decided to terminate the contract with theAtwood Advantage as results of a recent tender suggest an alternative rig could be deployed at significantly lower costs.

This rig would drill the lower part of both Leviathan 7 and Leviathan 3 to their final depth, starting in 1Q 2018, then go on to complete production drilling for the first phase of the Leviathan project.

The rig would need to be equipped to drill deep targets, Delek adds, assuming that the partners approve deep target drilling in the Leviathan leases.

Noble estimates the cost of Leviathan 5 and drilling the upper part of Leviathan 7 at $106 million, out of the total budget approved for these wells of $148 million.

Stage 1A development is otherwise progressing as planned, with first gas due to flow from theLeviathan reservoir by the end of 2019.

Partners in the Leviathan reservoir and their percentage holdings are as follows:

07/20/2017