UK’s BP teams up with Abu Dhabi state oil group to buy 50% of Israel’s NewMed Energy
Offer values NewMed, a key stakeholder in Israel’s Leviathan offshore gas field, at about NIS 14.1b ($4b); tentative deal is called a ‘testament’ to Israel-UAE ties
British multinational oil and gas firm BP plc and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (Adnoc) on Tuesday announced a joint bid to buy 50% of Israel’s NewMed Energy in a deal valued at about $2 billion.
As part of the non-binding offer, the two energy firms will buy 45% of the free floating shares the public holds in NewMed Energy, formerly Delek Drilling (part of Yitzhak Tshuva’s Delek Group), and about 5% of Delek Group’s stake to take the Israeli offshore natural gas producer private. Shares in NewMed jumped almost 30% in early afternoon trading in Tel Aviv.
The deal would give BP and Adnoc, the United Arab Emirates state-owned oil company, a foothold in Israel’s offshore natural gas fields and its growing energy export markets to pursue projects in eastern Mediterranean.
