Noble Energy Inc. has made a natural gas discovery with its Tamar Southwest (SW) exploration well offshore Israel. This find marks the company’s eighth consecutive discovery in the Levant basin.
The Tamar SW well, testing a new exploration prospect, encountered 355 ft of net natural gas pay within the targeted Miocene intervals. The well was drilled to a total depth of 17,420 ft in 5,405 ft of water.
The field lies 8 miles southwest of the Tamar field, which contains gross resources of 640-770 bcf of gas. The well encountered high-quality reservoir sands, with per well productivity expected at 250 MMcfd.
“In Israel, the discovery at Tamar SW further enhances our discovered resources in the Eastern Mediterranean, which now totals nearly 40 tcf of natural gas,” stated Mike Putnam, Noble's vice-president, exploration and geoscience.
Noble in 2009 estimated Tamar’s overall gross resource potential at 5 tcf (OGJ Online, Feb. 10, 2009). That year, the company made a gas find in Tamar equal to the predrill estimate of more than 3 tcf of gas (OGJ Online, Jan. 19, 2009). Three major gas discoveries were made at the Leviathan exploration prospect, 47 km southwest of the Tamar, by Noble and its partners in 2010, amounting to 25 tcf (OGJ Online, Dec. 29, 2010).
Following completion of operations at Tamar SW, the drilling rig will be released to another operator.
Noble Energy operates Tamar SW with 36% working interest. Other interest holders include Isramco Negev 2, 28.75%; Delek Drilling, 15.625%; Avner Oil Exploration, 15.625%; and Dor Gas Exploration, 4%.