Saturday, July 15, 2017

Indian companies to bid for Israeli oil and gas licenses - YNETnews.com

15.07.17 , 17:24
Ilan Evyatar/TPS


After Israel issues tenders for licenses to drill in 24 blocs of up to 400 square kilometers in size, India announces that it will take part in the bidding for natural gas and oil licenses in Israel’s maritime economic zones.

Indian energy companies will take part in the bidding for natural gas and oil licenses in Israel’s economic waters, India’s Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan told his Israeli counterpart Yuval Steinitz, during a meeting in Istanbul, Turkey on Wednesday.

The two met on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress and agreed to set up joint work teams to strengthen energy cooperation between the two countries. The announcement comes a week after a historic visit to Israel by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in which trade deals worth billions of dollars were signed.



Israel issued tenders last November for licenses to drill in 24 blocs of up to 400 square kilometers in size, however it was forced to extend the deadline for a second time in June after only one bid was submitted. Steinitz said after the extension that he was convinced Israel would “succeed in bringing here at least three or four sizeable companies to take part.”

According to an evaluation released by the Ministry of Energy when bidding for the licenses was announced, the Levant Basin still contains yet-to-find reserves of 75 billion TCF of natural gas and 6.6 BBL of oil. Israel has proven gas reserves of over 35 billion TCF.

Meanwhile, Steinitz also met with Turkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak for talks on the construction of a natural gas pipeline between the two countries.

“Hopefully, Mr. Albayrak will pay a visit to Israel this year in 2017, which will help us accelerate and try to conclude this agreement,” Steinitz said.

“We want to build a pipeline stretching from Israel to Turkey in order to able to export natural gas to Turkey,” he added.

Israel is also negotiating with Greece and Cyprus over a 2,000 kilometer “East-Med” pipeline that could deliver natural gas from Israeli and Cypriot reserves to Europe. At a trilateral meeting in Greece in June, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades said they would expedite efforts to build the $6 billion project.

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