UK-based Energean Oil and Gas is set to drill an exploration well in the Karish North prospect offshore Israel, exercising the first of seven optional wells under the Stena Drilling contract.
The well is expected to be spudded before the end of March next year, after obtaining required approvals.
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Covered in Energean’s Karish lease, the North prospect will be drilled immediately before the three well development at the company’s adjacent gas development project, Karish Main field.
The company expects gross drilling costs to be around $15m to $25m.
Energean Oil and Gas CEO Mathios Rigas said: “We view Karish North as an attractive near-field exploration opportunity offshore Israel that could deliver significant upside alongside our existing Karish development, for which we have already signed 12 gas contracts and secured 4.2 BCMA of supply over an average period of 16 years.
“The goal of the exploration work is to identify further easy-to-commercialise resources in the region.”
The drilling of the Karish North well is in line with the company’s exploration strategy to focus on near-field prospects with opportunities for potential discoveries to be quickly and economically monetised.
Energean is building the Karish FPSO with eight BCMA gas production and processing capacity. The option to drill additional wells remains open.
Some of the options for the second well are the Karish East prospect, also within the Karish lease, and Prospect 4 under the Block 12 exploration licence that was obtained by the company at the end of last year.
