Karish North Gas Field Development

The Karish North gas and condensate field, located offshore Israel, is being developed by Energean Israel (EISL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Energean.

The natural gas in the Karish North field was discovered by Energean in April 2019, while the consent for the field development plan was received from the Israeli authorities in August 2020 with the final investment decision (FID) on the field development reached in January 2021.

The initial investment in the project is estimated to be approximately £110m ($150mn) and the Karish North field is slated to start production in the second half of 2023.

Energean acquired a 30% stake from Kerogen Capital to become the 100% owner of Energean Israel (EISL) in February 2021.

Location and reservoir details

The Karish North field is located in Block I/17 off the coast of Israel, in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The field’s reservoir comprises the Tamar sandstone formation of Early Miocene age which is in excess of 300m true stratigraphic thickness (TST).

The 2P reserves of the field stood at 1.137 trillion cubic feet of gas (tcf) and 34.1 million barrels of liquids as of November 2020. The total reserves of the field translate into 240.7 million barrels of oil equivalent (mboe), with gas accounting for more than 80% of the reserves.

Karish North field development plan

The initial field development involves the tie-back of the Karish North discovery well to the Energean Power floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit. The first gas from the Karish North field is expected in the second half of 2023.

The Karish North discovery well, which was drilled in April 2019, is located approximately 5.4km away from the proposed location of the FPSO. It is expected to produce approximately three billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year.

The Karish North appraisal sidetrack, drilled in October 2019, encountered a gas-water contact (GWC) at 4,791m true vertical depth subsea (TVDSS). The Karish North well is located approximately 700m south of the Karish North sidetrack.

Energean Power FPSO

The Energean Power FPSO is set to become the first floating production, storage and offloading facility to operate in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The FPSO measures 227m-long, 50m-wide, 27m-deep, and has a maximum draft of 19.5m. It will be moored approximately 90km off the coast of Israel.

The FPSO will handle well stream from the Karish, Tanin, and the Karish North fields. The first gas from the Karish gas field is expected by early 2022.

The FPSO will have a total gas production capacity of approximately 8bcm a year and its liquids production capacity will be approximately 40,000bpd. The liquids storage capacity of the FPSO will be 800,000 barrels.

A new 90km-long pipeline will transport the dry gas from the FPSO to Dor, Israel, while shuttle tankers will be utilised for the transportation of liquids.

An additional oil train and a new gas export riser will be installed on the Energean Power FPSO, in order to handle the well stream from the Karish North field.

The hull of the Energean Power FPSO sailed away from the Cosco Yard, Zhousan, China to Sembcorp Marine’s Admiralty Yard, Singapore in April 2020. The topside modules are being installed in the Admiralty Yard, and the FPSO is expected to sail away from Singapore to Israel in September 2021.

Project finance

Energean secured a term loan of approximately £515mn ($700mn) from J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley Senior Funding in January 2021. The funds will be utilised for various activities, including the development of the Karish North field, and the installation of the second oil train and the second riser on the Energean Power FPSO.

Subsea contracts

TechnipFMC received a Letter of Award for fully integrated engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (iEPCI™) works for the Karish North development in February 2021. The scope of the contract spans design, manufacturing, supply, and installation of the gas export riser, as well as other subsea equipment, including the subsea production system, rigid flowlines, and umbilicals.

Previously, TechnipFMC was also awarded the front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for the project.

Stena Drilling bagged the drilling contract for the Karish and the Karish North fields. The Karish North discovery well was drilled by Stena DrillMAX drillship which can operate in a water depth of up to 10,000 feet.

Halliburton provided the drilling services, while Lloyds Register was responsible for the well engineering services.

Contracts awarded for the Energean Power FPSO

TechnipFMC was contracted for the design, procurement, construction, and installation of the complete subsea system, the FPSO facility (FPSO), the pipeline system, as well as the onshore pipeline and valve station for the Karish full-field development in March 2018.

Sembcorp Marine Rigs & Floaters, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Marine, was subcontracted by TechnipFMC for the engineering, procurement, and construction of the FPSO’s hull and living quarters, as well as for the topsides fabrication and integration in March 2018.

COSCO was subcontracted by Sembcorp Marine to build the hull of the FPSO.