Sources inform ''Globes'' that Israel Land Development Company Energy Ltd. (TASE: IE) has approached Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL), Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG), and a foreign drilling operator that does not work in Israel, to buy its oil rights in the Myra license. Netherland Sewell & Associates Ltd. (NSAI) estimates that the Myra license has 63.84 million barrels of oil with a 16% probability of geologic success.
In early September, the partners in the Myra license announced that the well was a dry hole, after no significant signs of hydrocarbons were found in the target strata.
A hint about the offer may be found in remarks by ILDC Energy CEO Ohad Marani at the Eco Energy conference last week. He said, "Obviously, we cannot now raise capital to finance wells, but the picture will be different in a few weeks. We hope to bring in foreign companies."
Marani added, "We have excellent data, which we're now processing, and which will allow us to pursue our long-term plan for more wells. We point out that we have not drilled to the oil-bearing strata."
Experts believe that the Antitrust Authority will probably approve the deal, if and when it is implemented, since oil is a commodity.
However, if Noble Energy decides to buy into the Myra oil well, it can only acquire an interest of up to 25%, because of the legal cap on the number of licenses it can have. If the oil well finds natural gas as a by-product, the company would have to sell its share in the license, because of the sensitivity to competition. (Noble Energy is the largest rights owner in the Tamar and Leviathan gas discoveries).
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 5, 2012
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