Page 7 - MEOG Week 42 2022

MEOG FINANCE & INVESTMENT MEOG

Capricorn shareholder

rails against NewMed deal

ISRAEL NEW York-based hedge fund Irenic Capital the East Med Gas (EMG) pipeline stakes, as well
Management this week called on Capricorn as 30% in Cyprus’ 3.5 trillion cubic foot (10bn
Energy to bail on a deal to sell and merge with cubic metre) Aphrodite gas field and the onshore
NewMed Energy, urging it to sell its assets Israeli New Ofek and New Yahel licences. It will
individually. also receive royalties from the Karish and Tanin
Irenic holds a 1.5% share in Capricorn and fields, which were sold to fellow London-listed
issued a letter – seen by Reuters – to the firm’s Energean in 2016.
board suggesting that auctioning the assets could The Leviathan partners agreed in January to
achieve a 43$ premium compared to the current spend around $235mn to construct the EMG
share price and almost 40% up on the NewMed pipeline allowing for direct gas exports from the
deal. “The company has yet to present sharehold- assets to Egypt.
ers with any proposal that represents superior Leviathan holds about 18.9 tcf (535 bcm)
value relative to the straightforward liquidation and NewMed CEO Yossi Abu, who retains his
value we have assessed,” Irenic said. position as the head of the merged entity, said
IF it were to withdraw from the deal, it would earlier in the year that the field could yield 21
be the second merger Capricorn has pulled out bcm per year following the development of its
of this year, having backed away from a merger second phase.
with Tullow Oil to take the NewMed deal. Capricorn’s production focuses on Egypt and
While Irenic said the NewMed merger was Abu said that NewMed would look to raise out-
more attractive than the Tullow option, it said put from the current 115,000 barrels of oil equiv-
the deal had “limited strategic rationale” aside alent per day to beyond 200,000 boepd by 2030.
from offering NewMed a premium listing on the He added that options including floating
London Stock Exchange. LNG (FLNG) and a pipeline to Egypt are being
If it goes ahead, the agreement will see share- considered for the development of the field.
holders in Capricorn – formerly Cairn Energy In September 2021, Delek finalised the sale
– receive a special dividend of $620mn and the of its 22% stake in the Tamar gas field to Abu
new entity will be listed under NewMed – for- Dhabi’s Mubadala Petroleum for around $1bn.
merly Delek Drilling – whose shareholders will This saw it meet a mid-December deadline
hold an 89.7% stake in the new “MENA gas and for divesting the stake in order to comply with
energy champion”. a controversial anti-trust settlement reached
NewMed’s assets comprise equal 45.33% in 2015, allowing it to retain the Leviathan
stakes in Israel’s giant Leviathan gas field and shareholding.™ Source: NewMed Energy

Week 42 19•October•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7