ISRAEL: Recent discovery of large natural gas deposit off Israel's northern coast raises domestic energy hopes

Record ID: 396202

  • Title: ISRAEL: Recent discovery of large natural gas deposit off Israel's northern coast raises domestic energy hopes
  • Date: 6th March 2009
  • Summary: HERZLIYA, ISRAEL (RECENT) (REUTERS) GIDEON TADMOR CEO AND PRESIDENT OF DELEK ENERGY AND PARTNER IN GROUP WHICH DISCOVERED THE NATURAL GAS, WALKING TO OFFICE TADMOR POINTING AT MAP, EXPLAINING LOCATIONS OF TAMAR EXPLORATION WELL AND FUTURE DALIT EXPLORATION WELL TADMOR'S FINGERS POINTING AT MAP (SOUNDBITE) (English) GIDEON TADMOR, CEO AND PRESIDENT OF DELEK ENERGY, SAYING:
  • Embargoed: 21st March 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVA7KWRG2O7QAXP35SKAX5X4ABY2
  • Story Text: A recent discovery of large natural gas deposits off Israel's northern coast has raised energy hopes in a country anxious to reduce its dependency on foreign fuel.
    A U.S.-Israeli exploration group said on (January 18) it had discovered large natural gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean with the potential to meet Israel's gas needs for well over a decade.
    Led by Noble Energy, the group said it found more than 3 trillion cubic feet (88 billion cubic meters) of gas at the Tamar exploration well, 90 kilometres (55 miles) off the Israeli northern port of Haifa.
    News of the deposit, which is three times as large as a site already in production off the country's southern coast, sent energy shares soaring in a country anxious to reduce its dependency on foreign fuel. Following the success of the latest drilling, the company said it hopes to open another exploration site in the near future.
    Noble says the current discovery at Tamar appears to be the largest in the company's history.
    Charles Davidson, Noble's chief executive visited Israel at the end of February and held a news conference in Tel Aviv, where he said the group hopes to accelerate the project.

    "Here we've got some advantages. We've got infrastructure. We've got a very high quality reservoir. We will likely have two wells on that structure," Davidson said.
    He added that the group will attempt to meet the customer's needs.

    "You know, the one thing that really motivates us to accelerate a project is knowing that there is a demand for the product and there is a customer need out there," he said.
    Noble Energy owns 36 percent of the site, while Isramco Negev owns
    75 percent, and Avner Oil Exploration and Delek Drilling 15.625 percent each. Dor Gas Exploration owns four percent. Delek and Avner are units of conglomerate Delek Group.
    Delek group CEO and President Gideon Tadmor told Reuters, pointing at a map on his office, that the group will open in the future another exploration well at the site.
    Referring to the time frame of the project, Tadmor said the project will be accelerated so that natural gas could be supplied to consumers in as early as three years' time.

    "We intend to expedite the development of this project because we would like to meet the shortage that is expected to be in the Israeli gas market. Typically, such a project will take time to develop - something between three to five years, but we would like to take it to the lower end of this estimate in order to supply all the needs of the state of Israel on time", Tadmor said.
    Analysts estimate the natural gas is worth approximately 26 billion US dollars.
    Israel's national infrastructure minister said that until the discovery he was personally searching the globe in search of natural gas providers for the state of Israel.

    "Until the late news, I, in fact, ran all over the world to find gas suppliers," Ben Eliezer said.
    He added that the Tamar drill does not resolve all of Israel's energy problems, but undoubtedly improves the country's position.

    "As I have said, hopefully, that slowly, slowly we will find that maybe this finding will be extend more and more so we can guarantee our needs for the coming decades," Eliezer said.
    Following the discovery, shares in Isramco were up 122.4 percent in late Tel Aviv trade, while Avner shares gained 29.5 percent and Delek Drilling
    7 percent. Delek Group was 54.6 percent higher.
    Israeli brokerages raised their ratings and target prices for Delek Group as a result of the find.
    Israel currently receives natural gas from Egypt under a 20-year deal signed in 2005.
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