Delek Drilling to be renamed, pursuing further East Med gas projects

Offshore staff

HERZELIA, Israel – Delek Drillling’s board plan to rename the company NewMed Energy to better reflect its strategy going forward.

Priorities include advancing development of Stage 1B of the Leviathan reservoir in the Israeli sector of the Mediterranean Sea and increasing production to around 21 bcm/yr, with a view to attaining a final investment decision.

Options include development and expansion of the infrastructure for sending gas from the Leviathan reservoir to additional consumers in target markets, primarily Egyptian; raising the volume of supply to existing liquefaction facilities in Egypt; and potential liquefaction of the gas through an FLNG facility.

Other goals include promoting a development plan for the Aphrodite reservoir offshore southern Cyprus and marketing the gas to Egypt and to the global LNG sector.

Plans could involve integrating the development of Aphrodite with existing facilities and/or with development of nearby assets, including those associated with Leviathan.

The board is also pursuing business opportunities elsewhere, but mainly in countries in and around the Mediterranean basin. Currently, negotiations are in progress concerning entry into exploration licenses in Morocco.

Another option is production of “blue” hydrogen from natural gas from reservoirs in which the company is a partner, in combination with Carbon Capture and Storage.

The Leviathan partners are currently working on finalizing agreements that allow gas to be piped via Jordan to Egypt, using the Israeli transmission system to Jordan and the system connecting between Jordan and Egypt in the area of AqabaTaba.

This should allow maximized production from the Leviathan reservoir and the transfer of gas surpluses via the EMG pipeline to the Egyptian market, mainly until completion of the Ashdod-Ashkelon offshore transmission system section by INGL (expected in March 2023).

2/24/2022