Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) is making its first official foray into the East Med, taking 10% of the Eni-operated North East Hap’y deepwater block, located in the offshore North Sinai region, MEES learns. UK major BP, with which Adnoc is set to form “a new joint venture that will be focused on gas development in international areas of mutual interest including the East Mediterranean (MEES, 31 March),” is also entering the block, where the Orion-1X wildcat was recently spud (MEES, 20 October).
Adnoc and BP are already regional partners with their headline grabbing joint $2bn offer for 50% of Israel’s key upstream player and 45.34% partner at the 22tcf Leviathan field, NewMed Energy. Here talks have stalled in recent months (MEES, 6 October), though all parties insist that the deal remains alive despite the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. (CONTINUED - 890 WORDS)
