Aphrodite gas: lover's quarrel

Aphrodite is owned by Noble (35% operator), Delek Drilling (30%) and Shell (35%). The field lies in Block 12, offshore Cyprus and was discovered in 2011. BG Group farmed into 35% from Noble Energy in November 2015 for USD165 million following declaration that the field was commercial in June 2015. As reported earlier, Shell intends to use Aphrodite gas to supply ELNG, but this has now faced a new hurdle. Cyprus and Israel are arguing...

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Delek and Noble seeking to acquire gas pipeline to Egypt

Following Noble and Delek’s agreement to sell 64bcm of gas into Egypt via Egyptian intermediary Dolphinus Holdings, the two upstream companies have commenced discussions to acquire EMG, the business which owns the Arish-Ashkelon pipeline (otherwise known as the EMG pipeline). This is one of the routes contemplated by Noble and Delek as part of plans to export gas into the wider East Med and Europe. The 64bcm of gas will be sourced from Tamar...

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Dolphinus and the wider Egyptian gas hub story

Dolphinus was established with the main aim of becoming a “reliable and stable supplier of gas to major industrial gas distributors and consumers in Egypt”. It was co-founded by prominent Egyptian entrepreneurs Dr. Alaa Arafa, Eng. Khaled Abu Bakr and Mohamed Khalifa. As a first step in its strategy, Dolphinus entered into a 64bcm, 10 year gas supply contract with Noble Energy and Delek Drilling for their gas in Israel (see Israel's Leviathan...

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Israel's Leviathan and Tamar gas to be sold into Egypt

Noble Energy and Delek Drilling announced plans in February to export gas to Egypt. The plan is to supply 64bcm over a 10 year period to Egypt’s Dolphinus Holdings – 32bcm from Leviathan and 32bcm from Tamar. Each field is contracted up to 3.5bcm p.a. or c.350mmcfpd and will bring the partners USD15 billion over the life of the supply contract. The contracted price and terms are in line with other supply contracts from these fields which is based...

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Tamar Petroleum to raise bonds to finance acquisition of Tamar from Noble

As reported previously, Tamar Petroleum is acquiring a 7.5% stake in the Tamar field from Noble Energy for USD800 million. The consideration will be paid USD560 million in cash with the remainder in Tamar Petroleum shares. To help finance the transaction, Tamar Petroleum is planning to raise USD 625million (ILS 2.178bn) through the sale of bonds, Ha'aretz. reported. The net proceeds are expected to be c.USD605 million, the excess would be put...

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Israel capital cycle: Noble sells down Tamar to fund Leviathan

Noble Energy is divesting 7.5% of its 32.5% interest in the Tamar field for USD800 million. This will reduce Noble’s interest to 25% as required by the Israeli government’s competition requirements. The buyer is Tamar Petroleum who will pay for the acquisition with USD560 million in cash and 38.5 million shares in Tamar Petroleum. The divested interest represents 62mmcfpd of production in 2017 and reserves of 500bcfe. Noble intends to sell-down...

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