The Government of Israel has approved Energean Israel’s field development plan (FDP) for the offshore Karish and Tanin natural gasfields.
Energean Israel is equally owned by Energean Oil & Gas and Kerogen Capital.
The company owns 100% interest in the Karish and Tanin fields, which are estimated to host nearly 2.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 41 million barrels of oil equivalent (Mboe) of light hydrocarbon liquids, totalling 531Mboe of 2C resources.
With this approval, the company will now be able to proceed with the final investment decision (FID) of the project, which is expected to be made before the end of this year.
Morgan Stanley will serve as project finance advisor for the $1.3bn-$1.5bn investment required for the Karish development.
Energean CEO Mathios Rigas said: "We are working at full speed to achieve the planned FID by year-end, and we have made significant progress in agreeing terms on the necessary gas sales contracts to this effect.
"We have already signed agreements or MoUs for volumes exceeding 3Bcm per year. FDP approval takes us a significant step nearer to delivering a more competitive gas market to the benefit of the people and businesses of Israel."
As part of the Karish Main Development, three wells will be drilled using a 400 million cubic feet a day floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility that will be nearly 90km offshore.
Production is expected to begin in 2020.
