Oil&Gas New Area of Cooperation between India and Israel.

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Israel to award gas exploration license to a consortium of Indian oil PSUs
By Sanjeev Choudhary, ET Bureau | Dec 28, 2017, 11.25 PM IST

Israel will award an exploration license to a consortium of Indian state firms led by ONGC Videsh in an auction of its offshore gas fields that saw tepid response from global companies.

The decision to award the license, coming just ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposed mid-January visit to India, is being seen as another step in energising relations between the two countries.

The consortium of ONGC Videsh, Bharat PetroResources, Indian Oil and Oil India will be granted an exploration license while Greece's Energean will receive five licenses, Israel's Energy Ministry said in a statement.


Indian consortium and the Greece firm were the only bidders in the 1st Israeli Offshore Licensing Round that closed last month. The auction, launched in November 2016, was extended twice to attract more bidders. It offered 24 blocks with an estimated in-place reserve of 6.6 billion barrels of oil and 2137 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

Within 30 days of winning announcement, the bidders have to pay signature bonus, license fee and offer appropriate guarantees to complete the granting of the licenses, the statement said.


ONGC Videsh, as a new operator in Israel, must appoint a local representative and be registered as a foreign company in Israel's Corporations' Authority, the statement said.

The winners would get an exploration license for three years, which can be extended by another three years if the licensee has implemented the work plan and commit to carry out drilling during the extension period. A license holder has to deposit a guarantee of $2.5 million to $10 million, pending on the work program commitments.

Indian state firm's decision to bid for Israeli fields came following a diplomatic push between the two countries to strengthen ties in various fields. A visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel was followed by a visit in August by a delegation comprising Oil Ministry officials and state firms' executives to the Middle-East nation. The companies then evaluated the Israel's invitation to participate in the exploration round and decided to bid.

Indian state oil firms have been seeking to develop an Iranian gas field they discovered some years ago but Iran hasn't yet given its nod even after two years of negotiations.

 

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India, Israel sign nine agreements including a MoU in oil and gas sector
India and Israel on Monday signed nine agreements, including in the areas of cyber security and oil and gas, following delegation-level talks headed by Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Benjamin Netanyahu here.IANS | January 15, 2018, 16:13 IST

New Delhi, India and Israel on Monday signed nine agreements, including in the areas of cyber security and oil and gas, following delegation-level talks headed by Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Benjamin Netanyahu here.

New Delhi: A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in cyber security was signed. A second MoU was signed between the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Israel's Ministry of Energy in oil and gas sector.

A protocol between India and Israel on amendments to the air transport agreement was also signed. Another agreement was on film-co-production between India and Israel.

A third MoU between the Central Council for Research in Homeopathy, Ministry of AYUSH and the Centre for Integrative Complementary Medicine, Shaare Zedek Medical Centre of Israel, related to cooperation in the field of research in homeopathic medicine.

Another MoU between Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) and the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology for cooperation in the field of space was signed.

A memorandum of intent was on Invest India and Invest in Israel. Indian Oil and Israel's Phinergy Ltd signed a letter of intent for cooperation in the area of metal-air batteries.

Another letter of intent between Indian Oil and Israel's Yeda Research and Development Co Ltd was signed for cooperation in the area of concentrated solar thermal technologies.

Earlier on Monday, the Israeli Prime Minister was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

Netanyahu, accompanied by a 130-member business delegation, arrived here on Sunday on a six-day visit to India that will also see him going to Agra, Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

This is the first Prime Ministerial visit from Israel to India in 15 years after that of Ariel Sharon in 2003.