Italy’s energy company Edison is in talks with Noble Energy and Delek Group to buy two offshore gas fields in Israel.
According to Reuters, which quoted people close to the matter, Edison is interested in acquiring Karish and Tanin fields located in the Mediterranean sea, for an undisclosed price.
The reason behind the potential sale is the fact that Noble Energy and Delek, which are developing the giant Leviathan gas field, need to divest some of their assets in Israel to avoid being marked as a cartel by the Israel Antitrust Authority.
In January Delek Group gas subsidiaries announced that they were in advanced negotiations, in coordination with all the partners in the Leviathan reservoir, with the Antitrust Authority concerning a restrictive trade practice in Leviathan, about which the Antitrust Authority approached the Leviathan partners on September 6, 2011.
The essence of an arrangement would be that instead of declaring a restrictive trade practice between the partners in Leviathan, the Partners will be obliged to sell, on terms as defined in the arrangement, all of their holdings in the Tanin natural gas reservoir that is located in the Alon A/364 license and in the Karish natural gas reservoir that is located in the Alon C/366 license.
In a January report titled: “Safeguarding the Natural Gas Market from Monopolies” the Israel Antitrust Authority said that if Noble and Delek fail to meet the conditions required for effective competition, action will be taken against them in court for their removal from Leviathan.
The fields, Edison is reportedly interested in, could hold up to 70 billion cubic meters of natural gas combined. For comparison, the Leviathan project, located on the Rachel and Amit licenses offshore Israel in 5,550 feet of water, has an estimated 535 billion cubic meters of discovered natural gas resources.
Offshore Energy Today Staff, March 07, 2014