Energean to Buy Two Israeli Gas Fields

The partners in Israeli offshore gas fields Tamar and Leviathan have agreed to sell their rights in two smaller fields to Ocean Energean Oil and Gas Ltd for $148.5 million to comply with a government requirement.

 

Delek Group, which has controlling interests in several gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, is being forced by the government to sell off some assets in an effort to open the sector to competition.

 

Energean will buy Texas-based Noble Energy (NBL)'s 47.06 percent stake in the Tanin and Karish fields and the rest from Delek subsidiaries Avner Oil Exploration and Delek Drilling, Avner said in a statement on Wednesday.

 

The buyer of Tanin and Karish, with combined gas reserves of 3 trillion cubic feet, is a subsidiary of Cyprus-registered Energean E&P Holdings Ltd, which operates mainly in Greece and the Aegean Sea.

 

The sellers will also be entitled to royalties if and when gas is produced from the fields.

 

Last year Delek paid its partner Noble for the rights to sell its stake in the two fields.

 

The sale is subject to regulatory approval.


(Reporting by Tova Cohen; Editing by Greg Mahlich)