Delek Drilling, Avner Oil Exploration in Merger Talks

Israeli’s Delek Group has announced its subsidiaries Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration are planning to merge.

In a statement, which was published on Tel Aviv stock exchange website on Sunday, Delek Drilling said the merger would help in building scale, attracting investors, streamlining and simplifying processes and developing assets.

Delek’s board met on April 12, 2016 and decided to appoint a special independent committee of directors to examine the issue.

Delek Group owns 6.1 percent of Delek Drilling and 8.5 percent of Avner. Group’s other unit Delek Energy owns 63 percent of Delek Drilling and 47.5 percent of Avner.

Delek Group owns 87 percent of Delek Energy.

Both Delek Drilling and Avner Oil hold 15.625 percent in the Tamar gas field offshore Israel.  In Leviathan gas field, both entities own 22.67 percent stake each. The two gas fields are being operated by US based Noble Energy.