Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Tova Cohen
Greece's Energean said on Sunday it signed contracts to supply up to 23 billion cubic meters of natural gas to private Israeli power stations from the Tanin and Karish gas fields offshore Israel.
The deals were signed with Dalia Power, which operates Israel's largest private power station, and Or Power, which is planning to build new power plants, Energean said in a statement.
Financial details of the deals were not disclosed.
Energean, a private exploration and production company in the eastern Mediterranean, bought the Karish and Tanin licenses from Israel's Delek Group in December 2016 for an upfront cost of $40 million and $108.5 million in contingent payments.
Delek and its partner Noble Energy, who together control two huge gas fields nearby, were until now the only group to sign gas supply deals in Israel. The Israeli government had forced them to sell the smaller Tanin and Karish fields to open the market.
"The agreement is a substantial step towards bringing competition and cheaper energy to the market for the benefit of Israeli consumers and the country’s economy," said Energean CEO Mathios Rigas.
The company expects to begin production in 2020.
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