Greek independent Energean Oil & Gas has been cleared of a legal hassle involving the approval of its Karish and Tanin gas field development off Israel.
Athens-based Energean said on Thursday that the petition filed by Hof Hacarmel – a regional council located in the northern Israeli coastal plain - has been dismissed by the Israeli Supreme Court.
Hof Hacarmel filed the petition against the Israeli Ministry of Energy, the Petroleum Commissioner, two planning and construction authorities, Energean’s local subsidiary in Israel and an environmental union of local authorities, in connection with the project, trying to stop its development.
Energean's field development plan for the project was approved by the Israeli authorities in August last year. Since then, the company approved the $1.6 billion final investment decision to proceed with the development, having secured finance and equity funding for the project.
In addition, Energean signed twelve gas sale and purchase agreements with significant industrial consumers in the Israeli market for a total of 61 billion cubic metres of natural gas over an average period of 16 years.
The London-listed company said it is planning to deliver gas to the Israeli market from Karish-Tanin in 2021, and is on track with its project milestones to achieve this timeline.
Karish and Tanin together have estimated contingent resources of 2.4 trillion cubic feet of gas and 32.8 million barrels of condensate and light oil.
Energean will develop Karish first. All of the gas from Karish — 4.1 Bcm — is already committed to offtakers through gas supply agreements.
The company will drill three wells at Karish next year with the drillship Stena Forth, which it has already contracted. It also has options to drill a further five wells on its Israeli acreage with the unit.
