NewMed Energy, an Israeli gas company, confirmed on Tuesday that it received an offer of nearly $4 billion from British Petroleum (BP) and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) for a 50 percent stake in the company.
The Herzliya-based NewMed — formerly named Delek Drilling — said it was offered 14.1 billion shekels ($3.99 billion).
A BP press release issued on Monday said it and ADNOC made a non-binding offer to take NewMed private “to form a new joint venture that will be focused on gas development in international areas of mutual interest including the East Mediterranean.”
BP and ADNOC would hold 50% of the partnership through a joint company if the deal is completed.
NewMed holds a 45 percent stake in Israel’s Leviathan offshore gas field, the second largest gas field in the entire Mediterranean Sea. According to NewMed, the field holds 605 billion cubic meters of gas, enough to meet Israel’s energy needs for 40 years.
NewMed CEO Yossi Abu said in a statement, “The offer we received today is the result of the warm relationships and connections we have built in recent years with the energy companies working in the region. The offer unlocks value for our investors and will catapult NewMed Energy from the regional to the global stage.”
BP, formerly called the British Petroleum company, is the world’s eighth largest oil company while ADNOC is the twelfth largest.
The involvement of ADNOC, an Emirati state-owned oil company, is seen as further solidifying bilateral business ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
On Sunday, Israel and the UAE signed the final agreement necessary to complete the long-awaited Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. The agreement takes effect on April 1 and aims to increase bilateral Israeli-Emirati trade to $10 billion within five years by removing tariffs on 96 percent of products.
