Australia’s oil and gas giant Woodside has missed the 27 March deadline to acquire a share in the Leviathan natural gas field, offshore Israel.
The Australian company last month signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Leviathan partners which provided a framework to negotiate in good faith, the acquisition of a 25% participating interest in each of the 349/Rachel and 350/Amit petroleum licences. The parties were to negotiate towards executing a fully termed agreement by 27 March 2014, and now that deadline has passed.
In a press release issued today Woodside said: “The parties have not executed the definitive agreements by the target date of 27 March 2014 contemplated in the MOU. Discussions continue with the parties and the Israeli Government with a view to resolving the remaining issues and executing definitive agreements.”
The Leviathan field is contained within the licences, and based on information provided by the operator Noble Energy, has an estimated ‘2C’ contingent resource (100%) of 18.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 34.1 million barrels of condensate. The partners in the field are: Noble Energy Mediterranean Ltd, Delek Drilling LP, Avner Oil Exploration LP and Ratio Oil Exploration.
Related: Woodside, Leviathan partners pen MOU (Israel)