The
Israeli Petroleum Commissioner awarded Greek Energean Oil & Gas five
offshore exploration licenses within the Israeli Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ),
the company announced on Wednesday.
The
awarded licenses comprise blocks 12, 21, 22, 23 and 31, which were offered in
Israel's first offshore bid round on Nov. 15.
The
initial exploration period under each license is three years, Energean said.
The
blocks are located near the Karish and Tanin gas fields that are currently
being prepared for development by Energean.
The
Israeli government granted approval to the company for field development
planning for the Karish and Tanin fields in August 2017 with the aim of using a
FPSO to produce first gas in 2021.
"Energean
believes that the licenses awarded are highly prospective and would benefit, in
the event of any economic hydrocarbon discoveries, from being developed via
tie-backs to the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) that
Energean will construct for the development of the Karish and Tanin
fields," the statement read.
Energean
is the only oil and gas producer in Greece that operates in offshore Israel,
Greece, the Adriatic region and Egypt.
In
a statement in November, the Israeli Minister of Energy Yuval Steinitz said
that the bid round is the first step in a long-term process that would lead to
full exploitation of gas and oil resources in the Israeli EEZ.
"We
are planning to launch a second licensing round in 2018, where lessons learned
from the first bid round will be incorporated, and thus continue the effort to
develop these strategic assets in Israel's EEZ," Steinitz said.
(Anadolu
Agency
)