Israel's subsea gas, oil fields heat up
International consortiums are showing increasing interest in developing Israel’s offshore oil and gas fields.
On Jan. 20, the Israeli press reported that the Unibin Israel company, headed by Israeli-British businessman Saed Sarsur, had signed a conditioned agreement to buy some 21% of the Shimshon gas and petrol field extraction rights. The deal is expected to be sealed within 90 days, upon approval of the other extraction rights holders and Israeli authorities. The company reportedly may invest $35 million in drilling there.
The undersea Shimshon gas field, off Israel’s southern coast, was discovered in 2012. After a few years of searching, exploration rights holders concluded that its potential was much lower than originally believed and the companies moved to other ventures. But a new study was conducted two years ago and a March 2020 report found that a specific drilling spot in that zone could produce as much as 900 million barrels of petrol. The news prompted Unibin to act.
Another recent development in Israel’s undersea energy fields concerns the Karish and Tanin natural gas fields, located in off Israel’s northern shores, adjacent the large Leviathan field. In 2017, the Greek oil company Energean teamed up with private equity fund manager Kerogen Capital to obtain the exploration licenses for Karish and Tanin. On Dec. 30 last year, Energean announced it had reached an agreement with Kerogen, paying between $380 and $405 million to become the sole holder of the exploration licenses for Karish and Tanin. It hopes to start extracting natural gas in 2023.
Unibin, Energean and Kerogen are not the only companies operating off Israel’s Mediterranean coast. Over the past two decades, several local and international companies have been involved in searching for natural gas and petrol. For several years Noble Energy has been the largest player in Israel’s natural gas extraction, operating the Leviathan and Tamar fields in the north. Last October, American Chevron completed its acquisition of Noble Energy, a move hailed by Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz as tremendous news for Israel’s economy.
