JERUSALEM--Israeli energy exploration company Isramco Negev 2
Ltd. Partnership (ISRAL.TV) said Sunday that it is "examining the
legal and financial implications" of its partner Houston-based ATP
Oil and Gas Corp. (ATPG)'s filing for bankruptcy protection last
week.
Isramco and ATP are partners in Israel's offshore Shimshon
natural gas field, which could contain up to 2.3 trillion cubic
feet of gas. Isramco and its affiliates own 60% of the Shimshon
field, and ATP owns 40%. Successful production tests were completed
at the field earlier this month. Isramco did not release any
further details on possible consequences of the bankruptcy on the
Shimshon project.
ATP filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last Friday and has blamed
its financial collapse on the ban on deep water drilling in the
Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010 off
the coast of New Orleans. It is one of the few foreign energy
companies involved in Israel's recent natural gas and oil
discoveries.
Private sector and government officials are eager to start
production from the fields, the largest of which contains 16
trillion cubic feet of gas, to relieve Israel's current natural gas
shortage, which threatens to result in electrical grid rolling
blackouts this summer.
Israel's gas supply from Egypt has become unreliable, after
several attacks on the pipeline in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula
following the fall of former president Hosni Mubarak's regime. This
has forced Israel's power companies to rely on more expensive forms
of energy, raising electricity prices.
On Sunday, shares of Isramco closed up 0.008 shekels, or 1.81%,
at ILS0.481 ($0.12), in a higher Tel Aviv market.
Write to Sara Toth Stub at londonequ.slot@dowjones.com
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