Israel has greenlighted the respective development and expansion of Leviathan and Tamar natural gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea.
Noble Energy Inc., Houston, says it was notified by the Israeli government that it will implement a natural gas framework, resolving and providing exemption from claims of the antitrust authority with respect to the Leviathan partners’ acquisition of petroleum rights in the underlying permits (OGJ Online, Sept. 4, 2015).
The framework also enables marketing of Leviathan gas to Israeli customers for the first time. The development of Leviathan will substantially expand Noble’s capacity to deliver gas to Israel and the region, as well as provide a second source of domestic natural gas supply and redundancy of infrastructure for Israel.
Noble says it has continued to take steps to move forward with development of Leviathan and expansion of Tamar by advancing technical work and negotiating gas sales agreements. The company is updating and finalizing capital investment requirements.
A final investment decision for each project is estimated to be taken before yearend 2016. Noble operates Leviathan and Tamar with 36% and nearly 40% working interests, respectively.
