Israeli businessman Aaron Frenkel today exercised the option he received from Mubadala Petroleum. Frenkel will pay $522 million with most of the amount financed by Israeli banks and Frenkel himself injecting nearly $160 million of his own capital into the deal, just over 30% of the amount.
Mubadalah Petroleum, owned by the Abu Dhabi government, acquired a 22% stake in Israel’s offshore Tamar gas field through two special purpose companies – Tamar Investment 1 and Tamar Investment 2, while granting Frenkel the option of buying the 11% stake by February 2023.
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Sources close to Aaron Frenkel’s say that the option was given to him in the first place, due to his involvement in promoting the stake in the Tamar field to Mubadala. “The steps were undertaken in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, while the exercise of the option is something that Frenkel is very interested in. He believes in this gas reservoir and he would like to expand both in the fields of traditional energy, such as natural gas, as well as in green energy,” the source said.
The Tamar offshore field contains natural gas as well as gas condensate. The field is 90 kilometers west of Haifa at a depth of 5,000 meters beneath the sea bed. The field itself is spread over 100 square meters with the field’s gas-bearing strata about 300 meters in width.
The Tamar gas filed was discovered in 2009 and gas production began four years later. Estimated gas reserves are 11.1 trillion cubic feet (TCF) and 14.5 million barrels of condensate.
Delek Drilling was forced to sell its stake in Tamar as part of the Sheshinki Committee recommendations and field operator Noble Energy, since acquired by Chevron, was required to reduce its stake. The current Tamar partners are Chevron Mediterranean (25%), Isramco (28.75%), Mubadalah Petroleum (22%), Tamar Petroleum (16.75%), Dor Gas Exploration (4%) and Everest (3.5%).
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on December 21, 2022.
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