Israel’s highly anticipated bid round for 24 offshore blocks (MEES, 30 September) was finally launched on 15 November after almost five years of no new exploration rights being granted. The deadline for the submission of bids is 21 April 2017 while winners will be announced on 15 July.
Possibly the most noteworthy of the conditions of the bid round is that firms with a stake of more than 25% in a producing field will not be entitled to participate. Israel only has one producing field, Tamar, where output is just shy of 1bn cfd (MEES, 18 November). So ruled out from the bidround are US firm Noble (36% and operator of Tamar) and its Israeli partners Delek (31.25%) and Isramco (28.75%). But while these three have been shut out from bidding, things remain ajar for the fourth Israeli Tamar partner, Dor (4%). (CONTINUED - 568 WORDS)
