Delek Seeks Gas off Cyprus

Two of Delek Goup's subsidiaries, Delek Drilling and Avner, announced in a July 24 filing to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange that they had submitted bids in a tender for gas exploration in Cypriot territorial waters. The tender was published by the Cyprus government.

Delek is taking part in the bid as a 50% partner in the consortium. The other half is held by Capricon Oil, a 100% subsidiary of the British producer Cairn Energy. Capricon will be the operator in the consortium if their bid wins. The tender's result is expected to to be published during the fourth quarter of the year.

Last week Delek proposed entering into partnership with Cairn Energy when it offered to buy 20% of the Kraken development, an oil field in the UK North Sea. Cairn energy holds 29.5% of the field and Enquest said July 18 the deal was subject to the usual third-party rights.

Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis (credit: Natural Gas Europe)

The Cypriot energy minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis announced that six bids were received from eight companies, according to the Cyprus Mail. It is the third licensing round in Cyprus' exclusive economic zone. The bidders names will be revealed July 27 and the list is expected to contain a few majors.

Ya'acov Zalel