Chinese Billionaire Interested in Israel's Karish, Tanin Gas Fields
Hutchison Whampoa, the business conglomerate controlled by Chinese billionaire Li Ka-Shing, might be interested in buying Karish and Tanin gas fields offshore Israel, according to Calcalist business daily.
On Saturday Delek Group, through two controlled subsidiaries, announced the transfer of Noble Energy's rights in the two gas fields to those two entities for $67 million which gives the two gas fields a combined value of $134 million.
Delek Group and Hutchinson Whampoa are not new to each other. The two are already partners in Sorek Desalination Ltd, a desalination facility in Israel, which is regarded the biggest of its kind in the world.
Li Ka-Shing is also a long time investor in various businesses in Israel. In the past, Hutchinson was the owner of Partner, an Israeli mobile operator. In the last few years, Mr. Li has invested in Israeli hi-tech startups and academic institutions. His two most publicized investments were a $30-million investment in Waze, a social media navigation app, that two years ago was bought by Google for $1.1 billion, and this year he donated $130 million to the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.
His conglomerate, Hutchison Whampoa, a company with multiple business sectors, including energy, is based in Hong Kong. The conglomerate has a controlling interest in one of the largest Canadian integrated oil and gas companies, Husky Energy, based in Calgary, Alberta. Husky Energy operates in Western and Atlantic Canada, the United States and the Asia Pacific Region, in upstream and downstream business segments. It is involved in producing and marketing oil and natural gas as well as various derivatives through its refinery operations.
It is not yet clear if the Karish and Tanin deal, if completed, will be done through Husky Energy or another of the companies under Mr. Li's control. Husky Energy reported a quarterly loss for the third quarter 2015 of C$4.09 billion ($3.1 billion), citing write-downs on the value of its assets with lower forecast prices.
Hutchison Whampoa is not the only potential buyer for the two fields. Sources report that there are more companies, other than Hutchinson, which are showing interest in the two small gas fields.