UK-based Energean Oil and Gas has reported a significant gas discovery offshore Israel through the drilling of the Karish North exploration well in the Levant Basin of the Mediterranean Sea.
Image: The Karish North discovery is planned to be tied back to the Karish and Tanin FPSO. Photo: courtesy of Energean Oil & Gas PLC.
The initial gas in place at the Karish North discovery is estimated to be between 1 Tcf (28 Bcm) and 1.5 Tcf (42 Bcm) with high quality reservoir in the B and C sands, said the company.
The Mediterranean-focused oil and gas producer said that the exploration well, which was spudded mid-March, intersected a gross hydrocarbon column of up to 249m after it was drilled by the Stena DrillMAX drillship to a depth of 4,880m. Further, a 27m core was recovered to surface following the drilling of the well, said Energean.
The company will undertake additional evaluation to further refine resource potential and determine the liquids content of the Karish North discovery.
The Stena DrillMAX will commence drilling of the three Karish Main development wells once it wraps up operations on Karish North. The new discovery is planned to be monetized through a tie-back to the Energean Power FPSO, located 5.4km from the Karish North well.
The FPSO, which is being constructed with total processing and export capacity of 8 Bcm/yr (775 mmcf/d), will enable the commercialization of the production from not only Karish North but also from other future discoveries.
Energean CEO Mathios Rigas said: “We are delighted to be announcing this significant new gas discovery at Karish North, which further demonstrates the attractiveness of our acreage offshore Israel.
“We are building the Energean Power FPSO with spare capacity, which will enable us to quickly, safely and economically develop both Karish North and future discoveries. We have already signed a contingent contract to sell 5.5 bcm (0.2 Tcf) of this new resource, and our strategy is now to secure the offtake for remaining volumes.”
The Energean Power FPSO for the $1.6bn Karish and Tanin development project is expected to begin production in Q1 2021.
Earlier this month, Energean began production from the Epsilon oil field in the Gulf of Kavala in the Aegean Sea off the coast of northern Greece.