Tamar gas field

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Tamar gas field
Tamar gas field is located in Israel
Location of Tamar gas field offshore Israel
Country Israel
Location Levant basin
Eastern Mediterranean Sea
Block Matan licence
Offshore/onshore offshore
Coordinates 33°04′42″N 33°57′05″E / 33.07833°N 33.95139°E / 33.07833; 33.95139Coordinates: 33°04′42″N 33°57′05″E / 33.07833°N 33.95139°E / 33.07833; 33.95139
Operator Noble Energy
Partners Noble Energy (36%)
Isramco Negev 2 (28.75%)
Delek Drilling (15.625%)
Avner Oil Exploration (15.625%)
Dor Gas Exploration (4%)
Service contractors Aker Solutions
Field history
Discovery January 2009
Start of production 30 March 2013[1]
Production
Current production of gas 985×10^6 cu ft/d (27.9×10^6 m3/d)
Year of current production of oil 2013
Estimated gas in place 283×10^9 m3 (10.0×10^12 cu ft)

The Tamar gas field is a natural gas field in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel. The field is located in Israel's exclusive economic zone, roughly 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of Haifa in waters 1,700 metres (5,600 ft) deep. While there have been small oil and gas discoveries in Israel over the decades, Tamar was the first large-scale hydrocarbon resource discovered in the country. It was also the first gas discovery made in geological layers dating back to the Oglio–Miocene era in the up-until-then little-explored Levant basin of the Eastern Mediterranean. Since Tamar's discovery, large gas discoveries have been made in other analogous geological formations of the same age in the region. Since Tamar was the first such discovery, these gas containing formations have become collectively known as Tamar sands.

Contents

History [edit]

In 1999, Israel's Oil Commissioner granted BG Group exploratory licenses to deep-sea blocks that included the Tamar field. Exploratory work began the following year, under a partnership that by then included Isramco-related companies. In December 2001, BG completed 3D seismic studies that indicated the potential of the Tamar field and of the adjoining Dalit field. BG recommended drilling an exploratory well at an estimated cost of $40 million.[2] In May 2002, the BG license was extended by the Oil Commissioner, on the condition that drilling begin no later than September 2003. In February 2003, the Commissioner extended the deadline to December 2004, and in December 2004 a further extension was given to June 2005.[3] During this period, BG conducted negotiations for selling gas to the Israel Electric Company.[4]

In April 2005, BG announced that it was abandoning its stake in the license and therefore would not meet the June 2005 license deadline.[5] According to some reports, BG quit the license after being unable to conclude an agreement to supply gas to the Israel Electric Company.[6] (Israel in mid-2005 reached an agreement to receive gas from Egypt for $2.75/mmbtu, a price that BG stated it was not willing to match.[7]) Nevertheless, in May 2005, the Oil Commissioner extended the license again, to December 2007, on the condition that a contract for drilling be concluded by the remaining partner, Isramco, by June 2006. The extension allowed the Avner gas partnership to gain a stake in the license (buying its stake from BG for one dollar[8]). Avner and Isramco brought in Delek and Dor groups soon after, and Noble Energy joined as operator in 2006.[9] In 2006, the license was again extended despite the failure of the partnership to begin drilling, this time to December 31, 2008. Isramco reported in 2006 that the exploratory drilling was expected to cost $69 million.[10]

Drilling of Tamar 1 began in November 2008 and was drilled to a depth of 4,900 metres (16,100 ft). The partners announced the discovery on January 17, 2009. The final cost of drilling three exploratory wells (two for Tamar and one for Dalit) was $274 million.[11][12]

The field is estimated to contain a probable 275 billion cubic metres (9.7 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas.[12][13] At the time of discovery, the field was the largest find of gas or oil in the Levant basin of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and the largest discovery by Noble Energy. Production is expected to begin in mid-2013.[14]

In September 2010, Noble announced that development of the Tamar field was beginning at an expected cost of $3 billion, and with a target completion of Q4 2012.[15] In March 2012 the Tamar partners signed a 15-year, US$14 billion deal with the Israel Electric Corporation to supply it with 42 billion cubic meters (BCM) of natural gas, with an option to increase the gas purchases up to $23 billion. By March 2012, the consortium developing Tamar had signed deals worth up to a total of $32 billion with six Israeli entities, thereby committing up to 133BCM, or approximately half of the deposit's total probable reserves of 275BCM (as estimated by Texas-based Netherland, Sewell & Associates Inc. (NSAI)).[16][17] In May, 2012, Israel's Utilities Authority for Electricity announced that it would re-open the contracts. Among the reasons cited were that the prices set were higher than the average price that would be demanded under comparable circumstances elsewhere.[18]

In June 2012, the Israel Electric Company issued a prospectus to raise 3 billion NIS. According to the prospectus, the cost of having to use diesel and fuel oil fuel instead of gas for electricity production is US$14 million/day.[19]

Langotsky claims [edit]

An early promoter of the project was oil geologist Joseph Langotsky, who named the Tamar and Dalit fields after his daughter and granddaughter. Langotsky is now suing his former partner, mining tycoon Benny Steinmetz. Langotsky and Steinmetz were the owners of a limited partnership, STX, which had a 5% stake in the exploration rights. Langotsky claims that Steinmetz dropped out of the partnership two months before drilling began, causing Langotsky to lose his rights to the fields.[20]

Maritime border with Lebanon [edit]

Following the discovery in 2009, some Lebanese leaders, particularly officials of the Lebanese Shi'a Islamist group Hizbullah made statements threatening Israel against developing the sites, and Israeli officials made counter threats against Lebanese intervention.[21] In August 2010, the issue was largely resolved when Lebanon submitted to the United Nations its official view regarding the maritime border, indicating that it considered the Tamar and Leviathan gas fields to be outside Lebanese territory (though it indicated other prospective fields in the region may be within Lebanese territory). The US expressed support for the Lebanon proposal.[22]

Production [edit]

Production is carried out by five wells connected by a 93 mile long subsea double pipe tie-back to a gas processing platform located offshore Ashkelon. First gas delivery took place on 31-March-2013 after four years of development works. The total initial delivery capacity is 985 MMCF per day or 7.5 BCM annually. Noble and its partners have already signed contracts with various Israeli entities which completely utilize this entire capacity. Therefore, an upgrade of the supply infrastructure from the processing rig to the onshore reception station in Ashdod is planned by 2016. In the first phase, capacity will be increased to approximately 1,200 MMCF/day and later to approximately 1,500 MMCF/day, with the latter upgrade possibly including the usage of the now-depleted Mari-B field, located nearby Tamar's processing platform, as a gas storage reservoir. The entire gross investment in the development of the Tamar field is expected to be approximately 3-3.5 billion USD.

Export plans [edit]

Delek Energy held talks on exporting natural gas from Tamar to Cyprus and to South Korea. Shipments to Asia would be by Liquified Natural Gas, for which a floating liquefied natural gas terminal would be built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, with Front-end engineering of the terminal to be done by Höegh LNG.[23][24] In March, 2013, Israeli Minister of Energy, Uzi Landau issued a notice to the Tamar partners not to proceed with signing export contracts until it is granted permission to do so by the Israeli government.[25]

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Solomon, Shoshanna; Ackerman, Gwen (30 March 2013). "Israel Begins Gas Production at Tamar Field in Boost to Economy". Bloomberg. Retrieved 30 March 2013. 
  2. ^ BG Group to invest $40 million on drilling off Haifa Coast (Hebrew)
  3. ^ Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AS AT DECEMBER 31, 2004, 10-K,· EX-99.1
  4. ^ IEC confirms negotiating natural gas contract with Isramco, BG.
  5. ^ Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AS AT DECEMBER 31, 2005, 10-K,· EX-99.1
  6. ^ March 2005, BG announced that it was quitting the Gal natural gas partnership.
  7. ^ BG says it will not return to Israel (Hebrew).
  8. ^ "Tamar-Mor". globes. 
  9. ^ Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AS AT DECEMBER 31, 2006, 10-K,· EX-99.1
  10. ^ Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AS AT DECEMBER 31, 2006, 10-K,· EX-99.1
  11. ^ Delek Energy web site.
  12. ^ a b Haifa Gas Discovery Bumped to 5 Trillion Cubic Feet Oil In Israel, 10 February 2009
  13. ^ "Tamar offshore field promises even more gas than expected". Haaretz. 2009-08-12. Retrieved 2009-08-12. 
  14. ^ Noble Energy Inc Site, including map
  15. ^ Tamar Development Begins.
  16. ^ Katzowitz, Guy (24 March 2012). "Daewoo to Liquify Gas from Tamar". Globes (in Hebrew). Retrieved 24 March 2012. 
  17. ^ Noyman, Nadav (23 March 2012). "Isramco: Tamar Gas Potential Upped to 9.71TCF". Globes (in Hebrew). Retrieved 24 March 2012. 
  18. ^ BarEli, Avi. "Consultants: IEC paying too much in gas deal with Tamar partnership". 
  19. ^ IEC June 2012 Prospectus, p. 181 (Hebrew).
  20. ^ Oil in Israel
  21. ^ http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3910329,00.html
  22. ^ Barak Ravid (2011-07-10). "U.S. backs Lebanon on maritime border dispute with Israel". Haaretz. Retrieved 2012-01-30. 
  23. ^ Baron, Lior (April 1, 2009). "Tamar partners in talks on exporting gas to Cyprus". Globes. Retrieved 14 June 2010. 
  24. ^ Barkat, Amiram (December 4, 2011). "Daewoo hires Hoegh to design Tamar floating gas terminal". Globes. Retrieved 4 December 2011. 
  25. ^ Yeshayahou, Kobi (March 12, 2013). "Energy minister warns Tamar partners not to sign export deals". Globes. Retrieved 21 March 2013. 
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