Delek Raises Ambition for Israeli Field

Delek Drilling is raising the gross gas sales prospects from the Israeli offshore Leviathan field this year by almost an eighth, from 8.9bn m³ to 10bn m³, it said March 10. From start-up in early 2020, the Leviathan partners sold some 4.2bn m³ in the second half of 2020, around 5% more than the forecast. They received $730mn in exchange and revenues this year are expected to be around $1.7bn, it said. Delek Drilling's revenues are expected to come in at about $760mn.

The updated discounted cash flow, which relates to the estimate of 2P reserves and the estimate of 2C contingent resources of Phase 1A only – totalling about 497bn m³ of natural gas and 38mn barrels of condensate – reflects, for Delek Drilling’s share, a present value of around $4.46bn at a cap rate of 10%.

The total remaining resource evaluation is around 642bn m³, comprising 370bn m³ of 2P reserves; around 127bn m³ of Phase 1A 2C contingent resources; and around another 144bn m³ of ‘future development’ 2C contingent resources

CEO Yossi Abu said: "The continued rise and the stability in the actual export of gas to Egypt, alongside the increased demand in the domestic market, has led us to increase the forecast for sales and production from the Leviathan reservoir, which is by now a well-established energy anchor in the region. The continued development of the reservoir, expansion of the pipeline and the consequently increased export capacity will allow us to promote additional export contracts."

Delek's partners are US major Chevron and Ratio Oil & Gas.