Turcas
Petrol
AS
(
Istanbul
: TRCAS) has notified the Istanbul
Stock Exchange that its gas subsidiary has initiated negotiations together with
Enerjisa and its German partner E.On EN (XETRA: EOAN) to buy natural gas from
Israel
's Leviathan field, for domestic
customers.
In
late March, "Globes" reported that Turkish and multinationals had
submitted more than ten bids to buy 7-10 billion cubic meters (BCM) of gas a
year from Leviathan, amounts that could generate $25-35 billion revenue,
assuming a 15-year gas supply contract at $6.50 per million British Thermal Units
(mmBTU), a higher price for natural gas than in Israel's domestic market. Turcas's
notice was the first official statement of such negotiations.
Noble
Energy Inc.(NYSE:NBL) owns 39.66% of Leviathan,Delek Group
Ltd.(TASE:DLEKG) units Avner Oil and Gas LP(TASE:AVNR.L)
and Delek Drilling LP(TASE:DEDR.L) each own 22.67% and Ratio
Oil Exploration (1992) LP (TASE:RATI.L) owns 15%.
Israeli
gas would be delivered to
Turkey
via an undersea pipeline from a
floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) ship at Leviathan. Leviathan's
partners want the buyers to build the infrastructure, with the price of gas set
at the production point.
The
partners in Leviathan are reviewing the bids, their financial proposals,
commercial terms, including the take or pay rate, and the amount of gas
purchased. Some of the bidders are willing to build the pipeline themselves, while
others prefer to build with Leviathan's partners.