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    Energean to Spud Karish North Well

Summary

Greek gas developer Energean said June 25 it has decided to drill an exploration well in the Karish North prospect offshore Israel early next year.

by: Mark Smedley

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Natural Gas & LNG News, Middle East, Corporate, Exploration & Production, East Med Focus, News By Country, Greece, Israel

Energean to Spud Karish North Well

Greek oil and gas producer Energean said June 25 it has decided to drill an exploration well in the Karish North prospect, offshore Israel, with a planned spud date by end-March 2019.

This will exercise the first of seven optional wells included in its contract with Stena Drilling, its contractor. Timing of the first well is subject to necessary Israeli approvals.

Drilling costs at 100% equity are expected to be between $15mn-$25mn, said Energean, adding that a report by independent auditor Netherland Sewell & Associates indicates that the Karish North prospect has gross recoverable unrisked prospective resources of 33.5bn m3 (1.2 trillion ft3) of natural gas and 14mn bbls of light oil.

The whole Karish lease is 100% owned and operated by Energean Israel Ltd, which itself is 70% owned by Energean. The Karish North prospect is included in that, and will be drilled immediately prior to the three-well development of Energean's flagship gas development project, the adjacent Karish Main field, on which a final investment decision was taken in March 2018.

The Karish floating production ship (FPSO) is being built with gas production and processing capacity of 8bn m3/yr, Energean added. Operator Energean Israel has already forward sold 4.2bn m3/yr of currently discovered gas volumes, leaving circa 4bn m3/yr of excess FPSO capacity available for the potential tie-back of future discoveries.  The option to drill additional exploration wells at the end of the development well campaign remains open. Options for a second well include the Karish East prospect in the Karish lease, and Prospect 4 in the separate Energean Block 12 exploration licence.