London-based and TA-35 Index-listed Energean on Monday announced the discovery of a significant natural gas find at the Karish North deposit, within Israel’s EEZ.
Preliminary estimates show that the quantities of natural gas are between 28 and 42 billion cubic meters, with indications of reserve in the B and C horizons.
Specifically, a press release by listed Energean reads:
“Drilling of the initial phase of the Karish North well is now complete. As planned, Energean will now deepen the well to evaluate hydrocarbon potential at the D4 horizon. Once operations are completed on Karish North, the Stena Drill MAX will return to drilling the three Karish Main development wells.
“Following this four well programme, Energean has six drilling options remaining on its contract with Stena Drilling.
“The Karish North discovery will be commercialised via a tie-back to the Energean Power FPSO, which is located 5.4km from the Karish North well. The FPSO is being built with total processing and export capacity of 8 Bcm/yr (775 mmcf/d), which will enable Karish North, and future discoveries, to be monetised.
“In December 2018, Energean signed a contract with I.P.M Beer Tuvia (‘I.P.M.’) to supply an estimated 5.5 Bcm (0.2 Tcf) of gas over the life of the contract. The contract is contingent, inter alia, on the results ofEnergean’s 2019 drilling programme and today’s announcement significantly increases the likelihood of its conversion into a firm contract. Inclusive of the I.P.M. contract, Energean has contracted 4.6 Bcm/yr (445 mmcf/d) of gas sales, leaving a further 3.4 Bcm/yr (330 mmcf/d) of spare capacity in its FPSO for additional sales of discovered gas at Karish and the tie back of future discoveries. Karish North spudded on 15 March 2019 utilising the Stena DrillMAX, a sixth generation drillship capable of drilling in water depth of up to 10,000 feet.”
A statement by Energean CEO Mathios Rigas, stated:
“We are delighted to be announcing this significant new gas discovery at Karish North, which further demonstrates the attractiveness of our acreage offshore Israel. We are building the Energean Power FPSO with spare capacity, which will enable us to quickly, safely and economically develop both Karish North and future discoveries. We have already signed a contingent contract to sell 5.5 bcm (0.2 Tcf) of this new resource, and our strategy is now to secure the off take for remaining volumes. We continue to see strong demand for our gas, which we believe will be supported by today’s announcement.”
