Offshore staff
TEL AVIV and ABU DHABI – Delek Drilling has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mubadala Petroleum to sell its 22% non-operated stake in the Tamar gas field offshore Israel.
If finalized, the company said, the transaction will be the largest commercial agreement following the ‘The Abraham Accords Peace Agreement: Treaty of Peace, Diplomatic Relations and Full Normalization Between the United Arab Emirates and the State of Israel,’ signed in August 2020.
The partners in the Tamar project are Delek Drilling (22%), Chevron (25% and operator), Isramco (28.75%), Tamar Petroleum (16.75%), Dor Gas (4%), and Everest (3.5%).
Under the gas framework, outlined by the government of Israel, Delek Drilling is obliged to sell all its holdings in Tamar by the end of 2021.
The Tamar field was discovered in 2009 and is 90 km (56 mi) west of Haifa, at an overall depth of 5,000 m (16,404 ft) below sea level, and in waters that are 1,700 m (5,577 ft) deep.
Production began in 2013. Five subsea production wells are tied back to the Tamar platform via two 140-km (87-mi) pipelines. The natural gas is then transmitted from the platform through a pipeline to the onshore terminal in Ashdod, and into the Israeli market through the INGL national gas pipeline. A proportion is exported on to Jordan and Egypt.
Post-sale of Tamar, Delek Drilling will own a 45.3% stake in the Leviathan gas field offshore Israel; and a 30% stake in the Aphrodite field offshore Cyprus.
Yossi Abu, CEO of Delek Drilling, said: “This transaction has the potential to be another major development in our ongoing vison for natural gas commercial strategic alignment in the Middle East, whereby natural gas becomes a source of collaboration in the region.”
04/28/2021
