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MEOG POLICY MEOG

Israeli nerves jangle amid reports

of Chevron cutting supplies

ISRAEL AN emergency meeting of Israel’s Knesset the spot market to maintain gas supplies to
Finance Committee has been called as incom- Israeli customers, and reports suggest the firm
ing US super-major Chevron is reported to have paid $4.97 mmBtu for gas from Leviathan, the
halted gas sales from the Tamar gas field to Israel partners in which are Delek (45.33%), Chevron
Electric Corp. (IEC), demanding new terms be (39.66%) and Ratio Oil Exploration (15%).
agreed. IEC is understood to have taken the issue to
Chevron, which has only just acquired stakes court and is appealing to the ICA. Meanwhile, it
in Tamar and Leviathan, has denied that gas sales said that Noble/Chevron was acting like “a bully”
to IEC have stopped. and said it hoped that the issue was not “an indi-
However, Israeli press said last week that cation of the [new] philosophy of doing business
Noble Energy had halted sales following the that came here with Chevron”.
completion of its takeover by Chevron. According to The Marker, Israeli vice attor-
The meeting will be held on October 14, with ney-general Meir Levin ruled that, based on
representatives of Chevron, its key partner in existing agreements, Noble does have the right
Tamar and Leviathan, Delek Drilling, IEC, the of veto until the end of 2021, with the ICA com-
Israeli Energy Ministry and the Israel Competi- pelled to intervene.
tion Authority (ICA) all invited to present their Over the weekend, Chevron and the IEC
views. agreed to resolve the issues and settle financial
Israel’s Jerusalem Post reported that the claims and counter-claims at a later date. Accord-
US firm had told the IEC it would not resume ing to Jerusalem Post, Chevron has resumed gas
gas flows unless prices were raised. Stakes in to IEC from Tamar.
Tamar are held by Delek (22%), Chevron (25%),
Isramco (28.75%), Tamar Petroleum (16.75%), Rig hire
Dor Gas (4%) and Everest (3.5%). IEC reached a This week, Stena Drilling announced that its
deal with the other partners to supply gas for $4 Stena Forth drillship had been contracted by
per million British thermal units (mmBtu), but Noble East Mediterranean on behalf of Chevron
neither Noble (now Chevron) nor Delek agreed for work offshore Israel.
to these terms. The US firm has now said that if Stena said that the contract was for a four-
IEC does not agree to return to the $6.30 agreed well decommissioning campaign offshore Israel,
in 2012, gas supplies will not resume. which is expected to last 80 days. There is poten-
Meanwhile, Chevron spokesperson told tial additional scope to carry out work for Noble
Kallanish Energy that the company could not Energy International in Cyprus.
comment on “sensitive commercial matters,” but Stena Forth is currently located in Las Pal-
said it had not “discontinued operations from its mas, Mallorca and will be moved to Israel in
facilities in Israel”. July-August 2021. The day rate for the contract
For its part, IEC says it has had to turn to is estimated to be $175,000.™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 41 14•October•2020