British oil and gas multinational BP plc and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (Adnoc) On Tuesday a joint bid to buy 50 percent of Israel’s NewMed Energy in a deal valued at about $2 billion, the Times of Israel reports.
According to the report, the two energy firms will buy 45 percent of the publicly held free floating shares in NewMed Energy, formerly Delek Drilling (part of the Delek Yitzhak Tshuva Group), and about 5 percent of Delek Group’s share to the private Israeli offshore natural gas producer. Shares in NewMed jumped nearly 30 percent in early afternoon trading in Tel Aviv.
NewMed CEO Yossi Abu hailed the BP-Adnoc agreement as a springboard to “boost NewMed Energy from the regional stage to the global stage”.
“The offer we received is the result of the warm relationship and the bridges we have built in recent years with the energy companies working in the region, and it is an important vote of confidence – the most significant given to the Israeli gas market, in general, and for NewMed Energy’s business and assets, in particular,” said Abu.
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