Two more huge gas field discoveries boost value of Israeli prospects

Canadian oil and gas subsidiary Bontan Oil and Gas Exploration have announced that their Mira and Sarah offshore prospects in Israel have up to 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, worth up to $7.54 billion, at current prices.

Bontan CEO, Kam Shah, said these offshore Israeli prospects were indeed world class assets as confirmed through independent technical assessment.

The American Association of Petroleum Geologists in its just published review of global exploration discoveries in 2009 has said that recent offshore Israel natural gas discoveries were among the most significant in the world.

The Mira and Sarah prospects are located just south of the Tamar and Dalit prospects, where Delek Group Ltd and its partners, Noble Energy Inc, Isramco Ltd, and Dor Alon Energy Exploration Ltd found natural gas last year. These prospects, according to some sources, are estimated to be worth up to $40 billion.

The evaluation report prepared by Chapman Petroleum Engineering Ltd estimates that the Mira prospect has a best estimate of 4.24 trillion cubic feet, while the Sarah prospect would have a best estimate of 1.47 trillion cubic feet.

According to Chapman, the present value of gas in the Mira prospect is in the range of $2.54-5.37 billion, with $3.96 billion as the most likely amount. The value of gas in the Sarah prospect is $1.02-2.17 billion, with $1.59 billion as the most likely amount.