Noble Energy is looking to drill a US$77 million appraisal and production well in the Leviathan area offshore Israel in Q1 2017, with a target of natural gas production from the giant field by the end of 2019, according to partner Delek Group.
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Map of Leviathan, from Noble. |
As part of an updated field development plan, the Leviathan partners have agreed to drill the Leviathan-5 well in the Leviathan North I/15 lease. The well will be 130km west of Haifa and will target layers from Oligo-Miocene age in 1740m water depth, to about 5200m below sea level.
Delek says that operator Noble Energy put forward the plan for the additional appraisal well on the field, including for it to become one of the production wells on the field, as part of an updated field development plan. Drilling is anticipated to start in Q1 2017.
The well is expected to cost some $77 million, excluding cost of completion and connection to the Leviathan field production system, according to Delek.
Asaf Bartfeld, president and CEO of Delek Group, and chairman of Delek Drilling said with this well and other work being carried out, natural gas production from Leviathan was expected by the end of 2019.
The Leviathan field, in the Mediterranean Sea, is considered to be one of the largest discoveries in the past decade with an estimated 22 Tcf of recoverable natural gas resources.
Its development plan consists of a subsea system that connects production wells to a fixed offshore platform, with tie-in onshore in the northern part of Israel.
The fixed platform's initial capacity is anticipated to start at 1.2 Bcf/d of natural gas and is expandable to 2.1 Bcf/d.
Earlier this month, Israeli partners Delek Drilling and Avner Oil, approved the development plan of the giant Leviathan field, paving the way for Leviathan's final investment decision (FID). Operator Noble Energy previously said it plans to make its FID by the end of 2016 or early 2017.
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