One company which has recently increased its interests in the East Mediterranean is Italian utility Edison, which acquired two blocks offshore Egypt earlier this year and two licenses offshore Israel last year. The firm is set for a further major expansion, with the firm confirming to MEES that it is in talks to buy the Noble-operated Karish and Tanin blocks which have a combined 3 tcf of proven and probable reserves (see table p6, and map p7).
“The East Med is definitely an area of interest for Edison which has recently enlarged its acreages beyond the Nile Delta producing assets of [250mn cfd Edison-operated] Abu Qir and [BG-operated] Rosetta,” the company tells MEES. In Egypt, Edison acquired two offshore exploration blocks bordering Israeli waters in recent bidding (MEES, 3 October). At Abu Qir, the firm on 27 November announced plans to build an 180MW combined cycle gas turbine power plant to be fired by Abu Qir gas (the plant will burn around 40mn cfd according to MEES estimates). (CONTINUED - 330 WORDS)
