One of Israel’s largest companies Delek has offered to buy North Sea oil and gas fields from Chevron for $2 billion. Its oil and gas unit Ithaca Energy will acquire a slew of Chevron’s Central North Sea assets, which include the Alba, Alder and Erskine fields along with the Britannia, Elgin/Franklin and Jade non-operated projects.
Asi Bartfeld, Delek Group CEO said that the acquisition is a ‘key part’ of Delek’s focus on establishing a global exploration and production business. “We see exciting growth opportunities in the North Sea and are looking forward to working with Ithaca to deliver upon our value and growth targets,” he said.
The bid to acquire the Chevron’s oil and gas assets comes in an effort to expand Ithaca’s presence in the global energy markets. With the acquisition, Ithaca will become the second largest independent oil and gas producer in the UK North Sea.
Les Thomas, Ithaca Energy CEO, said, “The acquisition of CNSL is a significant step forward in the long term development of Ithaca Energy and underlines our belief in the North Sea, particularly in the UK Central North Sea where the enlarged business will own a range of interests in a number of key producing assets.”
That said, the acquisition will also increase investment opportunities for the company on a global scale. The transaction is expected to complete around the end of Q3 2019.
Ithaca has predicted a 300 percent jump in this year’s production, in addition to a 150 percent increase in its proven and probable reserves.
As part of the deal, nearly 500 employees will transfer to Ithaca. Of the 500 employees, 200 of them will work offshore on the operated assets, according to the press release.