Dolphin Discovery to be Returned to Israel

The Israeli energy ministry has said it does not recognize the Dolphin natural gas reservoir as a discovery, which means that the rights return to the state. The commissioner's decision was revealed in a filing by Delek Drilling to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The partners in the license are Delek Group (45.3%) Noble Energy (39.7%) and Ratio (15%), as is the case also for the Leviathan Partnership.

Delek Drilling Assets (image: delekenergy.co.il)

Dolphin is a small gas discovery close to Leviathan. It was discovered in 2012 but since it holds only 2.8 bn m^³ of gas there are no incentives to develop it. The energy ministry demanded from the Dolphin partners an irrevocable undertaking to develop Dolphin in conjunction with phase 1 of the development of Leviathan field which is expected to come online by the end of 2019. The partners however might have refused to commit themselves to that timetable.

Delek said July 21 that it is considering legal action in order to keep the field in its possession.

Ya'acov Zalel