Energean negotiating to take full ownership of Israeli subsidiary

Greek oil and gas company Energean has entered into an exclusivity arrangement to take full ownership of its 70 per cent-owned Israeli subsidiary.

Energean said on Monday that the exclusivity arrangement was signed with an affiliate of Kerogen Capital regarding a potential acquisition of Kerogen’s 30 per cent shareholding in Energean Israel.

According to the company, Energean and Kerogen entered into an agreement granting 30 days of exclusivity to negotiate the potential transaction. The oil and gas firm did state that there was no certainty that a transaction would proceed.

Energean Israel holds a 100 per cent working interest in the Karish and Tanin leases, offshore Israel. A recent independent competent persons report by DeGolyer and MacNaughton certified gross 2P reserves of 98.2 bcm (3.5 Tcf) of gas and 99.6 million barrels of liquids across the Karish, Karish North, and Tanin fields representing approximately 729 million barrels of oil equivalent.

The company added that its flagship Karish gas development project was expected to come onstream in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Apart from the Karish and Tanin leases, the Israeli subsidiary owns a 100 per cent working interest in four exploration blocks – Blocks 12, 21, 23, 31 – offshore Israel that offer low-risk, near-infrastructure drilling opportunities to be targeted by its next drilling program, which is, according to Energean expected to begin in early 2022.

All of the four prospects are located near the location where the Energean Power FPSO will be moored. This means that the FPSO could be potentially used as a low-cost tie-back solution for the prospects.

The competent persons report estimated gross best estimate risked prospective resources across the Karish and Tanin leases and Block 12 of 62.0 Bcm of gas plus 33.4 mmbbls of liquids.

Energean Israel also owns an 80 per cent working interest in four blocks in Zone D, offshore Israel.

In mid-November 2020, the company said that the development of the Karish project stands at 85 per cent and first gas is scheduled to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2021.