Official: Edison Not Interested in Tanin, Karish Gas fields Offshore Israel - Exclusive
Italian energy company Edison is not currently interested in acquiring Noble Energy/Delek Group's two Israeli natural gas fields, Tanin, and Karish, an Edison official has told Natural Gas Europe.
Following a decision by the Israeli government, the two gas fields, estimated to have a total 70 billion cubic metres of gas, must be divested by the current owners within 14 months of the approval of a new regulatory natural gas framework for the Israeli energy industry.
Last week, Delek Group announced that it had acquired Noble Energy's sales rights in those two fields for $67 million each, subject to the framework's approval, bringing the value of both fields $134 million. Two years ago those two gas fields were evaluated at over $1 billion.
Edison, a subsidiary of EDF, had been rumoured to be interested in acquiring the natural gas fields.
However, Natural Gas Europe spoke to an Edison official on the sidelines of the Universal Oil & Gas 2015 conference (Israel's second conference of its kind), which ended Thursday in Tel Aviv, who says the company is not interested in the fields.
Speaking to Natural Gas Europe, Edison's branch manager in Israel, Ottavio Viglione said that the Israeli government will have to think of new and different incentives, perhaps fiscal incentives, in order to attract energy investment to those gas fields. Mr. Viglione was critical of the current situation in the Israeli gas industry because of the lack of clear-cut regulations and said that opportunities and activities are limited because of that situation. Even the regulatory framework, when approved, will not solve all of those challenges, he added, at least not in the case of small gas fields operators.
When asked about exporting natural gas from Israel through LNG plants in Egypt, Mr. Viglione estimated that the net-back price will be no higher than $4 MMbtu at the well head though this still depends on the scene and the price fixing formula that will be adopted when contracts are signed.
Edison is not the only firm that has been rumoured to be interested in the Tanin and Karish fields. This week it emerged that Chinese billionaire Li Ka-Sing might be interested in acquiring both fields through his conglomerate, Hutchinson Whampoa.