Delek loses 5% of Delek Drilling - GLOBES

26 Mar, 2020 12:20
Omri Cohen

Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG), controlled by Yitzhak Tshuva, has been forced to reach a painful compromise in its dispute with Citibank concerning participation units in its energy exploration and production unit Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L) attached in Citibank's favor. Figures published by Delek Group indicate that the compromise reached by the group with Citibank and the Dayan family, which signed an agreement to buy the attached participation units, will cost Delek Group NIS 120 million in terms of market cap.

Up until now, Delek Group held 60% of the participation units in Delek Drilling, with a market value of NIS 2.38 billion. Early last week, Delek Group revealed that participation units constituted 15% of the partnership's capital were attached in favor of Citibank in order to secure a loan, the outstanding balance of which totals $57 million.

Israeli Gas Is Great – for Egypt and Jordan - HAARETZ

Jan 09, 2020 1:34 PM

Eran Azran

Leviathan gas reserve was billed a 'national project'. It's now online but 85% of the gas will go to Egypt, Jordan for a lower price than Israelis pay

The development of Israel’s massive Leviathan offshore gas reserve was presented to the public as a national project, but some 85% of the gas it contains is slated to be sold to Egypt and Jordan – for a lower price than the Israel Electric Corporation is currently paying.

The partners in Leviathan – Israel’s Delek Drilling and Ratio, and the U.S.-based Noble Energy, announced Monday that the extraction infrastructure was complete and that gas sales were set to begin.

The Leviathan reserve was discovered about a decade ago. Preparing the site for extraction cost some $3.6 billion and took nearly three years.

Wallace Appointed CEO of Israel’s Delek Group - JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY (JPT)

27 November 2019

Idan Wallace, currently deputy chief executive officer of Israeli independent Delek Group, will succeed Asaf Bartfeld as CEO beginning 1 January 2020. Bartfeld is retiring after 30 years with the company.

Wallace, deputy CEO since 2015, is also the CEO of Tshuva Group, a group of private companies owned by Yitzhak Tshuva, Delek Group’s controlling shareholder. Since 2010, he has served as a strategic advisor to the CEOs of Delek Energy, Delek Drilling, and Avner Oil Exploration.

Bartfeld, president and CEO since 2003, has held multiple senior positions at Delek Group, including chief financial officer. He currently serves as chairman or director of several Delek Group subsidiaries and affiliates.

Delek in talks to sell Tamar rights to advanced training funds - GLOBES

10 Jul, 2019 19:04
Kobi Yeshayahou

The study funds will pay $53 million for the rights to super royalties from the Tamar natural gas field.

Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG), controlled by Yitzhak Tshuva, is taking another step towards divestment from the Tamar natural gas field. The group notified the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) today that it is negotiating with the advanced training fund of the schoolteachers and kindergarten teachers for the sale of its rights to super royalties from the reservoir. These rights stem from Delek Group's holding in the Delek Drilling partnership, through which Delek Group holds 22% of the reservoir and 9% of Tamar Petroleum.

If the deal, which is subject to various contingencies, is completed, the advanced training funds, headed by chairman Eyal Gabay, will pay Delek Group $53 million, and the rights to super royalties from the reservoir will be transferred to the funds starting on April 1. The parties agreed that a final examination and accounting would take place at the beginning of 2023, which could either add $2 million to or subtract $2 million from the price.

Delek Group's super royalties from Tamar stood at 1.5% of the revenue from the reservoir as of the end of 2017, and jumped to 6.5% at the beginning of 2018, after Delek Group made back its investment in the reservoir.

Exxon Is in Talks Over Floating LNG Partnership in Israel - BLOOMBERG

April 10, 2019, 8:59 PM GMT+3Yaacov Benmeleh

• Project reflects Exxon’s growing ambitions in East Med region
• Talks come as unofficial energy boycott on Israel seen fading

Exxon Mobil Corp. is in discussions to build a platform that would expand the export reach of Israel’s biggest natural gas field, according to people familiar with the matter. Israeli gas stocks rose.

The world’s largest publicly-traded oil and gas company is in talks with the firms developing Israel’s Leviathan reservoir to build a floating liquefied natural gas ship, the people said, requesting anonymity because the matter is private. Such a project would allow the Leviathan partners to export to countries not reachable with pipelines and avoid the need to build expensive infrastructure to connect to LNG facilities in Egypt.

It’s possible the discussions ultimately won’t lead to a partnership, the people cautioned. An Exxon representative declined to comment on its intentions in Israel. The company recently made a major gas discovery nearby, off the coast of Cyprus.

“It’s too early to comment on specific development and production timelines” for the Cyprus discovery, the representative said.

Despite considerable gas discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean region over the past decade, viable export routes have proven tough to find and global energy firms haven’t rushed in. The Leviathan partners have signed deals to meet surging demand in Egypt, Jordan and Israel, but haven’t yet found a way to export to Europe or East Asia.

Noble Energy Wins Big Gas Deal From Israel Electric Corporation - HAARETZ

Apr 08, 2019 4:27 AM

Eran Azran

Israel Electric awarded the deal to the partners in the Leviathan gas field over the Tamar field partners

It was Yitzhak Tshuva and Noble Energy competing against Yitzhak Tshuva and Noble Energy for a giant contract to supply the Israel Electric Corporation with natural gas. One side bid to supply the gas at a price of $4.78 per thousand cubic feet and the other put in a bid for $4.78, too.

In the end, no surprise, the winners, who were revealed on Sunday, were Yitzhak Tshuva and Noble Energy with a bid of $4.78, although it in the end the two rivals may split the contract.

That strange bidding process was possible because on one side, there were the partners who control the Tamar gas field, which include Noble, Tshuva’s Delek Drilling and Isramco, and the other side were the partners who control the Leviathan field, which include Noble, Delek Drilling and Ratio.

State-owned IEC said it opted for Leviathan’s identically priced bid because it was seeking to diversify its sources of natural gas, which is now supplied exclusively by Tamar. Tamar will lose a major part of its sales to IEC because the Leviathan contract will replace much of the gas Tamar is now supplying.

Billionaire Tshuva May Herald Next Step in Israel-Egypt Ties - BLOOMBERG

March 24, 2019, 7:47 PM GMT+2

Yaacov Benmeleh

• Tshuva’s Delek eyes stakes in Egypt’s gas-liquefaction plants
• Deal may help both nations explore ties beyond security

Delek Drilling LP, the Israeli energy explorer controlled by billionaire Yitzhak Tshuva, is considering buying a stake in an Egyptian liquefied natural gas plant to broaden its export footprint.

Acquiring a piece of either the Idku or Damietta facilities, operated by Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Spain’s Union Fenosa SA, respectively, is among the various routes possible for the Egyptian deal, the company said in its annual report on Sunday. Other options are buying capacity at the plants rather than equity stakes, or enrolling their gas liquefaction services.

Should Delek pull off the purchase, it would be the strongest signal yet that Israel and Egypt are moving beyond security cooperation and toward deeper economic ties. Though the neighbors signed a peace treaty 40 years ago, Israel remains unpopular to many Egyptians. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi didn’t even mention Israel when he celebrated a $15 billion deal in 2018 between the nations.

Ahead of London IPO, Delek Drilling buys 3 Israeli licenses - GLOBES

Yitzhak Tshuva

20 Mar, 2019 16:39
Amiram Barkat

Two of the licenses are land oil exploration licenses and the third is the Roei offshore gas exploration license.

Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L) is acquiring additional oil and gas exploration licenses in preparation for implementation of its plan for splitting off its subsidiary, which will hold the Leviathan and Aphrodite natural gas reservoirs, and which will hold an offering on the London Stock Exchange.

The partnership, controlled by Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG), whose controlling shareholder is Yitzhak Tshuva, today announced its entry into three new Israeli licenses: the Roei marine gas exploration license and the Yahel Hadash and Ofek Hadash land exploration licenses.

The Roei deal is based on exercising an option for 20% of the rights that Delek Drilling received in 2012 in lieu of its fee for its mediation role in the deal between the Ratio Oil Exploration (1992) LP (TASE:RATI.L) license holder (it was the Gal exploration permit at the time) and Italian company Edison, the operator for the license. Delek Drilling is now exercising its option to buy 5% more of the rights from Ratio in order to reach a 24.99% share of the rights in the license. Delek Drilling will not pay a substantial amount for the deal, beyond reimbursement for its proportional share of the partners' past expenses.

IEC seeks Tamar, Leviathan bids for NIS 2b gas deal - GLOBES

3 Dec, 2018 14:19

Sonia Gorodeisky

Israel Electric Corp. is hoping to cut the price of gas by generating competition between the two partnerships.

Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) has contacted both the Tamar and Leviathan partnerships, both partly owned by Yitzhak Tshuva, to provide bids to supply 2 billion cubic meters (BCM) of gas annually over two years, Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L) notified the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange this morning. At current gas prices the deal has an estimate value of about NIS 2 billion.

According to the report, the gas is to be supplied between October 2019 and the end of June 2021. This time scale extends from when gas is due to begin flowing from the Leviathan reservoir to the start of supply of gas from the Karish reservoir, controlled by Greek company Energean Oil & Gas plc (LSE: ENOG; TASE: ENOG).

The aim of IEC is to try and cut the price of natural gas used in the production of electricity but a competitive process to procure amounts of gas above its commitment to the Tamar partners. At the same time, IEC is anyway trying to lower the price of gas in its agreement with the Tamar partners, which amounts to $6 per thermal unit, 33% over the price closed recently with Energean by private electricity producers.

Delek Royalties issues $113m bond - GLOBES

23 May, 2018 15:44
Kobi Yeshayahou

The first stage in Delek Royalties' two-stage offering was completed yesterday with the company raising $113 million (NIS 404 million) in the bond issue for investment institutions. Demand totaled NIS 900 million. Leading investment institutions took part in the issue, led by Leader Underwriters and Excellence Nessuah Underwriting.

Delek Royalties is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) founded by Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG), controlled by Yitzhak Tshuva, in order to absorb the super royalties from the Tamar natural gas reservoir to which Delek Group's Delek Energy subsidiary is entitled.
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The interest on the 4.7-year dollar-denominated bonds, rated Aa3 with a stable outlook by Midroog, was set at 5.48%.

Israel's 5% Claim on Gas in Cypriot Field Causes Dispute With Nicosia - HAARETZ

Nicos Anastasiades & Benjamin Netanyahu

May 11, 2018 5:42 AM
Ora Coren 

If Israel and Cyprus don’t reach an understanding within a few months, they will hire an international expert to propose a solution based on the two reservoirs’ estimated reserves

Energy Ministry Yuval Steinitz told Cypriot leaders Tuesday that Israel is demanding 5% or more of the production from the joint Aphrodite-Yishai natural- gas field in disputed Mediterranean waters, sources told TheMarker.

Steinitz, who attended the meeting in Nicosia with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said afterward in public that the dispute could be settled within six months but did not elaborate on Israel’s position.

“The professional opinion of the [Israeli] government is that at least 5% of the reservoir is Israeli,” said an Israeli official who asked not to be named. “The dispute with the Cypriots is about how the Israeli share will be guaranteed because it’s the Cypriots who will be developing the field.”

Tshuva again fails to delist Delek Energy - GLOBES

16 Apr, 2018 11:53
Kobi Yeshahayou

Delek Group improved its offer, but it still fell short. Market source: The reasons for the rejection are not purely economic.

Another offer to purchase by Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG), controlled by Yitzhak Tshuva, for the public's shares in its Delek Energy Systems Ltd. (TASE:DEOL) subsidiary, aimed at delisting it from the TASE, has failed, even though Delek Group improved the cash element the offer. Delek Group, which owns 88.2% of Delek Energy, had to obtain acceptance of its offer from owners of at least 7% of the shares in Delek Energy for the offer to succeed, but owners of only 5.3% of the shares accepted.

A senior capital market source told "Globes," "There is no price at which the offer would have succeeded, among other things because some of the shareholders are making decisions for reasons that are not necessarily economic. There are investors who are in love with this security, and are not selling it for all sorts of reasons, whether because they think that Delek Group is not revealing all of the information it has about Delek Energy, or for other reasons. In my opinion, this security will not be delisted from the TASE, simply because there are enough shareholders whose considerations are not purely economic."

Top U.S. Jewish Leader Has Little-known Side Job as Director of Israeli Gas Giant Behind $15b Egypt Deal - HAARETZ / THE FORWARD

Mar 13, 2018 9:13 AM

The Forward and Josh Nathan-Kazis 

Days after Delek Drilling announced the Egypt deal, the Presidents Conference – lead by Malcolm Hoenlein at the time – hosted a panel promoting gas extraction as a route to Mideast peace

Less than two weeks before the Israeli energy giant Delek Drilling announced a $15 billion deal to pump natural gas to Egypt, one of its board members, Malcolm Hoenlein, told a newspaper that the United States should be “standing up for” Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, despite his troubling human rights record.

“You can criticize and you can push for human rights and do all those things,” Hoenlein said. “At the same time you’ve got to recognize the realities that these countries face.”

Delek Shares Tumble on Report That Israel-Turkey Gas-export Deal Is in Jeopardy - HAARETZ

TheMarker Feb 06, 2018 1:10 AM

Eran Azran

Shares of Yitzhak Tshuva’s Delek Group tumbled Monday after Bloomberg News reported that plans to develop an undersea pipeline to deliver Israeli natural gas to Turkey looked increasingly troubled amid fraying bilateral relations. Israel has shifted its priorities to exporting to Egypt and Europe, markets with their own political problems or high costs, Bloomberg said, citing two unnamed sources. Turkish pipeline company Botas canceled a December visit to Israel, Bloomberg said. None of the companies involved would comment. 

In another setback for Delek, Moody’s lowered the outlook for the B3-rated debt held by Ithaca, Delek’s wholly owned North Sea energy company, to Negative. Moody’s said it was concerned about the low output rate at Ithaca’s Stella field, the cash flow from which is supposed to help repay the company’s $750 million in debt and reduce its leveraging. Shares of Delek, which owns 45.3% of Israel’s giant Leviathan gas field, finished down 7.45% at 542 shekels ($156.97).

Delek's Q3 profit soars above NIS 1b after Tamar sale - GLOBES

Asi Bartfeld, CEO, Delek Group

29 Nov, 2017 14:16
Globes correspondent

Delek Group also announced that it intended to cash in its super royalties from the Tamar and Dalit reservoirs in the near future.

Yitzhak Tshuva-controlled Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG), whose share price has fallen 30% this year, today reported that its net profit had risen steeply to NIS 1.024 billion in the third quarter. NIS 873 million of this came from the sale of 9.25% of Delek Drilling Limited Partnership's (TASE: DEDR.L) holding in the Tamar natural gas reservoir to the Tamar Petroleum partnership. Delek Group's net profit in the third quarter of 2016 was NIS 85 million.

Israel's Delek Group Mulling $280M Sale of Royalties From Tamar Offshore Gas Field - HAARETZ

Yitzhak Tshuva

Oct 18, 2017 2:57 AMEran Araz
Delek Group faces a government deadline to divest its 31.25% stake in Tamar by 2020 as part of regulation in place to dismantle Israel's gas cartel

In a deal that could be valued at 1 billion shekels ($280 million), Delek Group is weighing a plan to sell the royalties it is entitled to from its Delek Drilling subsidiary to investors, TheMarker has learned.

Known as overriding royalties, the money is paid to Delek Group from revenues generated from the Tamar gas field and are paid out before Delek Drilling pays dividends to the holders of its participation units.

The royalties have amounted to 3% of revenues until now but are due to rise to 13% now that Delek Drilling has earned back the cost of developing Tamar.

Delek to pay NIS 600m tax on sale of Tamar - GLOBES

5 Jul, 2017 14:24
Amiram Barkat

Delek Group will post a $700 million capital gain on the sale of its stake in the offshore gas field.

The state will charge NIS 600 million tax on the $1.1 billion sale of Delek Drilling Limited Partnership's (TASE: DEDR.L) rights in the Tamar natural gas reservoir. The rights are listed in Delek Drilling's books at only $400 million, meaning that the partnership will post a $700 million capital gain on the sale, slated to go ahead tomorrow. The 25% capital gains tax will therefore amount to NIS 600 million at the current exchange rate.

The tax revenue is significant, given the rise in the cumulative deficit over the past 12 months from 2.1% in the early months of the year to 2.4% in May. The deficit was affected by a fairly sharp downturn in revenues from indirect taxes in May, which were 11% less than in May 2016.

Delek Said to Start Roadshow for $1.1 Billion Gas IPO Next Week - BLOOMBERG

Thursday, June 22, 2017Yaacov Benmeleh

(Bloomberg) -- Delek Group Ltd. will start a roadshow next week to sell a stake in a $12.3 billion natural gas field off Israel’s shores, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Israel’s biggest energy company, controlled by billionaire Yitzhack Teshuva, will meet with investors in Tel Aviv, London and the U.S. for the planned initial public offering of Tamar Petroleum, a special purpose vehicle that owns 9.25 percent of the Tamar gas reservoir, the person said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

Israel's Delek Seeks London Listing as Energy Group Goes Globalby - BLOOMBERG

10 May 2017

Angelina Rascouet

• Company hopes to list in U.K. capital in the ‘near future’
• Delek recently bought Britain’s Ithaca to expand in North Sea

Delek Group Ltd., the Israeli energy company that bought U.K. oil explorer Ithaca Energy Inc. this year, is seeking a London listing to help further overseas expansion.

“If Delek Group wants to be international, we have to be traded on an international exchange and I think London is one of the good places to be in,” Asaf Bartfeld, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said Monday in an interview. “In the near future, we plan to be listed in London.”

Israel Navy gearing up for its latest mission – protecting Mediterranean gas rigs - HAARETZ

March 09, 2017
Gili Cohen 

It will take two and half years for custom-designed missile boats being built in Germany to arrive. Until then, the navy is not resting on its laurels regarding this strategic economic asset.

For the sailors serving on the Israel Navy’s missile corvettes, the latest revelations concerning the bid for purchasing drilling rig-protecting boats, associated with the procurement of new submarines, have brought about a surprising turn of events. The combat mission of these seamen, which usually remains secretive and submerged, has become an open topic of conversation.