Paz Oil Plans 700 MW, $700m power plant

Israel's Paz Oil Co said on Wednesday its board has authorized management to move forward with a plan to build a third power plant to supply 700 megawatts of electricity for the national grid.

Such a plant, to be built in the port of Ashdod, would cost up to $700 million, which would be financed with Paz's capital and through a debt offering. Powered by natural gas, the plant could be built either by Paz alone or with partners and would go online in 2023.

The plan is subject to completion of all the necessary financial and technological reviews and receipt of approval, Paz said in a statement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

The board also authorized management to examine the possibility of participating in a tender for five power plants to be sold off by state utility Israel Electric Corp in the coming eight years.

The first on the block is the 600 MW Alon Tavor plant in a sale expected to be completed by the end of the year.

"The company will examine the possibility of submitting a bid in the tender in accordance with the conditions, to be published later on," Paz said, 

(Reuters reporting by Tova Cohen Editing by Steven Scheer)