page_title: Tamar gas field
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Tamar gas field / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Known oil and gas fields in the Levant Basin (US EIA)
context_page_description: The Tamar gas field is a natural gas field in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel. The field is located in Israel's exclusive economic zone, roughly 80 kilometres west of Haifa in waters 1,700 metres deep. The Tamar field is considered to have proven reserves of 200 billion cubic metres of natural gas, while the adjoining Tamar South field has 23 billion cubic metres. Together, they may have an additional 84 BCM of "probable" reserves and up to 49 BCM of "possible" reserves. At the time of discovery, Tamar was the largest find of gas or oil in the Levant basin of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and the largest discovery by Noble Energy. Since Tamar's discovery, large gas discoveries have been made in other analogous geological formations dating back to the Oligocene–Miocene epoch in the Levant basin. Because Tamar was the first such discovery, these gas containing formations have become collectively known as Tamar sands.
context_section_description: In 1999, Israel's Oil Commissioner granted BG Group preliminary exploratory permits to deep-sea blocks that included the Tamar 
  field. In December 2000, BG received an exploratory license, in a partnership that included three Israeli industrial companies, Mashav (15.6%, Dor Chemicals (7.2%), and Israel Petrochemical Enterprises (7.2%). In May, 2001, Mashav left the partnership and BG brought in STX, Isramco, Clal Industries, and Granit-Sonol, the latter two leaving the partnership in 2004.
  In December 2001, BG completed 3D seismic studies that indicated the potential of the Tamar field and of the adjoining Dalit field. BG recommended drilling an exploratory well at an estimated cost of $40 million.
  In May 2002, the BG license was extended by the Oil Commissioner, on the condition that drilling begin no later than September 2003. In February 2003, the Commissioner extended the deadline to December 2004, and in December 2004 a further extension was given to June 2005. During this period, BG conducted negotiations for selling gas to the Israel Electric Company.
  In April 2005, BG announced that it was abandoning its stake. According to some reports, BG quit after being unable to conclude an agreement to supply gas to the Israel Electric Company. (Israel in mid-2005 reached an agreement to receive gas from Egypt for US$2.75 per million British thermal units ($9.4/MWh), a price that BG stated it was not willing to match.) In May 2005, the Oil Commissioner extended the license to December 2006 and allowed the remaining partners, STX, Isramco, Dor Exploration, and Dor Chemicals to bring in the Delek-owned partnerships, Avner and Delek Drilling, on the condition that a contract for drilling be concluded by June 2006. (According to one source, Avner bought its stake from BG for one dollar).
  Noble Energy joined as operator in 2006. In 2006, the license was extended to December 31, 2008, despite the failure to begin drilling, and despite the statutory seven-year limit on oil licenses set by Israel's Oil Law. Isramco reported in 2006 that exploratory drilling was expected to cost $69 million.
  Drilling of Tamar 1 began in November 2008. At the time, seismic studies indicated that there was a 35% chance that the formation contained gas. The studies further indicated that if there was gas, the median estimate for the producible quantity was 107 BCM.
  Tamar 1 was drilled to a depth of 4,900 metres (16,100 ft) at a cost of $92 million. The partners announced the discovery on January 17, 2009. On July 7, 2009, the partners announced a second successful appraisal drilling at Tamar 2, increasing the estimated reserves of the field by 26%. In mid-2011, four more appraisal wells were drilled, with additional gas found at Tamar 3. In September 2011, Noble began production development.
  In September 2010, Noble announced that development of the Tamar field was beginning at an expected cost of $3 billion. In March 2012 the Tamar partners signed a 15-year, US$14 billion deal with the Israel Electric Corporation to supply it with 42 billion cubic meters (BCM) of natural gas, with an option to increase the gas purchases up to $23 billion. By March 2012, the consortium developing Tamar had signed deals worth up to a total of $32 billion with six Israeli companies, committing up to 133BCM. According to a study commissioned by the government, the prices set were significantly higher than the price that would be demanded under comparable circumstances elsewhere.  In 2012 Tamar was found to be the largest air polluting plant in Israel
caption: Known oil and gas fields in the Levant Basin (US EIA)
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