Noble will continue its exploration efforts offshore Israel with a 3-D seismic program. (Image courtesy of Energy Inc.)

In late March, Noble Energy Inc. hit gas in the deepwater Dalit prospect in the Michal license about 30 miles (48 km) offshore Israel. The well, which lies in approximately 4,500 ft (1,372 m) of water, was drilled to a depth of 12,000 ft (3,658 m). According to Noble, formation logs identified more than 110 ft (33.5 m) of net pay in a high-quality reservoir. Dalit is Noble’s second subsalt, lower- Miocene discovery in the underexplored Levantine basin.

Noble made an earlier natural gas discovery at the Tamar prospect in the Matan license in mid-January 2009. The deepwater Tamar #1 well, which lies in approximately 5,500 ft (1,676 m) of water, was drilled to a total depth of 16,076 ft (4,900 m) to test a subsalt, lower- Miocene structure. Formation logs identified more than 460 ft (140 m) of net pay in three highquality reservoirs. According to a report by Noble, the thickness and quality of the reservoirs encountered were greater than anticipated at the well location. Tamar was Noble’s first exploratory well offshore Israel in more than five years.

“This is one of the most significant prospects that we have ever tested and appears to be the largest discovery in the company’s history,” said Charles D. Davidson, Noble Energy chairman, president, and CEO. “Early indications are that the resources identified are very substantial, at least equal to our pre-drill estimated gross mean resources of over 5 Tcf.” Additional data being collected from Tamar could further increase the resource estimate for the well.

“With the successes at Tamar and Dalit, we have potentially opened up a substantial new resource basin, where we have an interest in about three million gross acres,” Davidson said. “We are moving forward with development plans to bring first production to Israel from this new region in 2012.”

Production testing will take place at Dalit after the well is completed. When testing is done, the rig will return to the Tamar discovery in the Matan license to drill an appraisal well designed to better define resources there.

Meanwhile, Noble will continue its exploration efforts with a new 3-D seismic program over several leads in the company's other licenses in the area later this year.

“Based on results from the seismic program, we could see further exploration in the region starting in the second half of 2010,” Davidson said.

Noble began natural gas production from the region in late December 2003 with the Mari-B field, the first offshore natural gas production facility in the State of Israel.

Noble made the Mari-B discovery in March 2000 with the Mari-B #1 well approximately 15 miles (24 km) offshore. Construction and installation of the jacket and platform were completed in early 2003. Production facilities were sized to produce up to 600 MMcf/d.

At the time, the Israel Electric Corp. Ltd. (IEC) had contracted to purchase the gas and had initiated a project that included startup of one new gas turbine and four boilers converted to burn natural gas at its Ashdod electric power plant through the end of 2004.

Noble believes total recoverable reserves in the Mari-B field exceed 1 Tcf.

Noble operates Mari with 47% interest, Tamar with 36% interest, and Dalit with 36% interest. Noble finds more gas offshore Israel

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