On 30 July 2019, it was announced that a consortium of Cairn Energy, SOCO International and Ratio Oil Exploration had been awarded eight new oil and gas exploration licences by the Israeli Petroleum Council following Israelâs 2nd Offshore Licensing Round. Blocks 39, 40, 47 and 48 are located in the designated Zone A area and blocks 45, 46, 52 and 53 are located in the designated Zone C area. Both zones lie to the south of Israelâs offshore area in the Levantine Basin. To complete the awards the consortium will be required to pay a signature bonus and licence fees. The contracts will be awarded for an initial period of three years, with the possibility to extend. The three participants will each hold 33.33% interest in the licences. Block 40 contains Myra 1 and its sidetrack Myra 1ST1, which was previously plugged and abandoned in 2012. The wells were drilled under the Myra (347) contract with GeoGlobal Resources (India) Inc. as the operator. No other wells have been drilled within the other seven awarded contracts.  Israelâs 2nd Offshore Licensing Round was launched on 4 November 2018 with a revised bid submission deadline of 15 July 2019 (extended from June 2019). The Ministry of Energy announced that five companies had submitted proposals for 12 out of the 19 exploration blocks offered. The bid round comprised 19 offshore exploration blocks which were issued within five zones. Each of the blocks measures approximately 400 sq km whereas a zone may measure up to 1,600 sq km. The zones and blocks are all located in the southern part of Israelâs offshore area. Exploration licences, once granted, will be valid for an initial three year period. After completing any work commitments, the licence can be extended for a further two years with the submission of an additional work plan. The licence may then be extended for an additional two years. The number of licences granted to any one party is limited to eight. The participation guarantee for the first block licenced in a zone will be USD 2.5 million. Every additional block in the zone will require an additional guarantee of USD 0.5 million with the maximum guarantee required for four consecutive blocks in a zone being USD 4 million. An additional guarantee of USD 5 million is required prior to drilling.
On 30 July 2019, it was announced that a consortium of Cairn Energy, SOCO International and Ratio Oil Exploration had been awarded eight new oil and gas exploration licences by the Israeli Petroleum Council following Israelâs 2nd Offshore Licensing Round. Blocks 39, 40, 47 and 48 are located in the designated Zone A area and blocks 45, 46, 52 and 53 are located in the designated Zone C area. Both zones lie to the south of Israelâs offshore area in the Levantine Basin. 