Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) and its Israeli partners, Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) units Avner Oil and Gas LP (TASE: AVNR.L) and Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L), will begin production tests at the Aphrodite A2 well in Cyprus's Block 12 within a few days. The tests will take about a month. Noble Energy estimates production rates in the tests will reach 60 million cubic feet a day.
The production tests will be conducted by the ENSCO 5006 rig, and will include natural gas flow from the field at different rates. The pressure in the field will be measured and the mix of hydrocarbons produced will be analyzed.
The production tests' estimated budget is $64 million.
Cyprus is moving ahead on its plan to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant near Limassol at an investment of $12 billion. The plant will have three production trains. In June, the Cypriot government signed a memorandum of understanding with Noble Energy, which owns 70% of the Aphrodite field discovered in Block 12, and with Avner and Delek Drilling, each of which owns 15% of the field, to build the plant.
Under the agreement, the first production train, which will cost $6 billion to build, will have an annual output capacity of five million tons of LNG, equal to eight billion cubic meters of natural gas. Two more production trains will be built later, at a cost of $3 billion each. The plant is due to begin production in 2019. Construction, which is due to begin in 2016, will employ 10,000 people. The plant will use natural gas from the Aphrodite field, which has up to 200 BCM of gas, and from "another field", which Noble Energy expects to discover in Block 12.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 21, 2013
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