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NewMed’s asset base includes fields in Mauritania and Egypt (Image: NewMed)

Capricorn Energy shareholder

rails against NewMed deal

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

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 43 27•October•2022