Tamar production platform inaugurated

"The Tamar project is the greatest production platform in Israeli history," said Minister of Energy and Water Resources Uzi Landau at Friday's inauguration of the Tamar natural gas field production platform. Located 24 kilometers west of Ashkelon, the offshore platform is a critical step toward the start of gas deliveries from Tamar, scheduled in April.

Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) controlling shareholder Yitzhak Tshuva said, "With faith, perseverance, and vision, we have achieved Israeli energy independence. We are proud of this opportunity that has fallen to us to bring the news to Israel and its people of Israeli gas, which will revolutionize the Israeli economy and every Israeli household. We must continue to explore, invest and drill; the sea is big and there are more gas reserves in it for Israel and its neighbors. We should ensure that the momentum continues. More investors and developers should be encouraged to drill in Israel, and we should bring new foreign investors to the country to develop projects, such as Tamar, for the glory of Israel."

Landau said that these remarks were backed a few days ago Israel's supreme economic authority, Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Stanley Fischer, who revised upwards his 2013 growth forecast for Israel on the strength of gas production from Tamar. He added, "Natural gas will not only make electricity production more efficient, cleaner, and cheaper, it is a giant step toward freeing us from dependence on foreign energy sources, especially Arab oil. Although the reservoirs are located thousands of meters below the seabed, as far as the possibility of exploiting them is concerned, the sky's the limit."

The Tamar production platform will produce natural gas and send via pipeline to Israel's coast. The 290-meter platform is higher than Israel's tallest building, the 244-meter Moshe Aviv Tower. The platform, including its legs, weighs 34,000 tons. The gas produced by the platform from wells located 90 kilometers west of Haifa will flow the Ashdod terminal via a 150-kilometer 16-inch undersea pipeline. 20 people, 85% of them Israelis, will work on the platform at any given moment.

In a statement, the Tamar partners - Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL), Delek Group subsidiaries Avner Oil and Gas LP (TASE: AVNR.L) and Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L), Isramco Ltd. (Nasdaq: ISRL; TASE: ISRA.L), and Dor Alon Energy in Israel (1988) Ltd. (TASE:DRAL) Alon Natural Gas Exploration Ltd. (TASE: ALGS) - said, "Inauguration of the platform is an important step toward the flow of natural gas to Israel from the Tamar well, which cost the unprecedented amount in Israeli terms of more than $3 billion. This is the realization of the vision and dream of the developers behind Israel's largest ever infrastructure project. The production of natural gas from the Tamar well brings Israeli closer to energy independence for the first time since the country was founded, and will save billions of shekels, partly from the conversion of electricity production to natural gas. We wish to thank all the people in the field who worked day and night on this immense and complex project. The Tamar project will bring the Israeli economy into the era of natural gas as the country's main source of energy, giving the country and its people energy security, and preserving the country's environment and standard of living."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 30, 2012