Energean Hits Gas Near Karish Field

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM — A significant natural-gas discovery was reported in the eastern Mediterranean on Thursday by the Energean company, according to The Times of Israel.

Energean notified the Tel Aviv and London stock exchanges that its Hermes exploration well in Israeli maritime waters is expected to yield 7-15 billion cubic meters, according to current estimates.

Hermes is located southeast of the Karish field, to which the U.K.-Greek company holds the production rights granted by Israel.

The Stena IceMax drilling rig has now moved to the so-called Olympus area, located between Energean’s Karish and Tanin fields. The company hopes that exploration will enable it to further refine estimates of natural gas there, now thought to be some 58 billion cubic meters, according to Energean’s notice.

All of these blocks are located within Israeli waters, south of the maritime area whose ownership is disputed by Israel and Lebanon.

Hermes is small relative to the Karish and Tanin fields, which contain a total of around 75 billion cubic meters of natural gas. About 12 billion cubic meters are consumed annually in Israel.

A company spokeswoman quoted by Times of Israel said it was impossible to put a price on the figures as it was not yet known how much of the mix in the wells was gas and how much was liquid condensate, which is similar to a light crude oil.