Noble Ups Tamar Estimates to 10 Tcf

Noble Energy, Inc. announced that the Tamar natural gas field offshore Israel has been successfully brought online with all five of the subsea wells now producing at stable rates totaling approximately 300 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d). When combined with existing Mari-B volumes, the total current sales are nearly 500 MMcf/d and are expected to average 700 MMcf/d through the remainder of the year. Initial sales commenced March 31 as natural gas flowed from the field to the Tamar platform and then to the Ashdod Onshore Terminal.

The development is designed to deliver natural gas rates up to 1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). Volumes will likely reach this maximum capacity during the peak summer demand in the third quarter this year.

Charles D. Davidson, Noble Energy's chairman and CEO, commented, "In just over four years from discovery, the Tamar project is fully operational and delivering significant volumes of natural gas to Israel. The project is a technological and commercial milestone for Noble Energy and our partners. This is the third major global project we have brought online in the last 18 months and it will make a significant contribution to our continuing production growth. Building on this success, we are working with the government and our partners to sanction the next phase of development at Tamar and the domestic phase of Leviathan."

The gross resource estimate of Tamar has been increased to 10 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), up from 9 Tcf, as a result of development drilling and continued reservoir analysis and modeling. An independent assessment conducted by Netherland, Sewell & Associates, Inc. supports the new resource estimate.

The Tamar development includes five subsea wells capable of flowing 250 MMcf/d of natural gas each. Natural gas flows from the field through the longest subsea tieback in the world for more than 90 miles to a platform near the existing Mari-B structure. The Tamar platform is tied into the existing pipeline that delivers natural gas to the Ashdod onshore receiving terminal.

Noble Energy operates Tamar with a 36 percent working interest. Other interest owners are Isramco Negev 2 with 28.75 percent, Delek Drilling with 15.625 percent, Avner Oil Exploration with 15.625 percent and Dor Gas Exploration with the remaining 4 percent.

The Company is also the operator of Mari-B with a 47.059 percent working interest. Delek Drilling has a 25.5 percent interest, Avner Oil Exploration holds 23 percent and Delek Investment has 4.441 percent.

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Noble Ups Tamar Estimates to 10 Tcf

Noble Energy, Inc. announced that the Tamar natural gas field offshore Israel has been successfully brought online with all five of the subsea wells now producing at stable rates totaling approximately 300 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d). When combined with existing Mari-B volumes, the total current sales are nearly 500 MMcf/d and are expected to average 700 MMcf/d through the remainder of the year. Initial sales commenced March 31 as natural gas flowed from the field to the Tamar platform and then to the Ashdod Onshore Terminal.

The development is designed to deliver natural gas rates up to 1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). Volumes will likely reach this maximum capacity during the peak summer demand in the third quarter this year.

Charles D. Davidson, Noble Energy's chairman and CEO, commented, "In just over four years from discovery, the Tamar project is fully operational and delivering significant volumes of natural gas to Israel. The project is a technological and commercial milestone for Noble Energy and our partners. This is the third major global project we have brought online in the last 18 months and it will make a significant contribution to our continuing production growth. Building on this success, we are working with the government and our partners to sanction the next phase of development at Tamar and the domestic phase of Leviathan."

The gross resource estimate of Tamar has been increased to 10 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), up from 9 Tcf, as a result of development drilling and continued reservoir analysis and modeling. An independent assessment conducted by Netherland, Sewell & Associates, Inc. supports the new resource estimate.

The Tamar development includes five subsea wells capable of flowing 250 MMcf/d of natural gas each. Natural gas flows from the field through the longest subsea tieback in the world for more than 90 miles to a platform near the existing Mari-B structure. The Tamar platform is tied into the existing pipeline that delivers natural gas to the Ashdod onshore receiving terminal.

Noble Energy operates Tamar with a 36 percent working interest. Other interest owners are Isramco Negev 2 with 28.75 percent, Delek Drilling with 15.625 percent, Avner Oil Exploration with 15.625 percent and Dor Gas Exploration with the remaining 4 percent.

The Company is also the operator of Mari-B with a 47.059 percent working interest. Delek Drilling has a 25.5 percent interest, Avner Oil Exploration holds 23 percent and Delek Investment has 4.441 percent.

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Transocean: BP Gave Low Flow Estimates of Gulf Spill

NEW ORLEANS - The owner of the oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 says BP hampered efforts to stop the resulting gusher of oil by misleading government officials about how many barrels of oil were flowing each day from the damaged well on the Gulf floor.

The Transocean Corp.'s assertions were filed Friday in federal court in New Orleans, where a civil began last week to determine percentages of blame and how much BP, Transocean and others will pay for the April 2010 catastrophe that killed 11 workers and sent millions of gallons of oil spewing into the Gulf for 87 days.

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Norway Ups Oil, Gas Estimates in Artic Areas by 2.5 Billion Barrels

OSLO - Norwegian oil officials Wednesday boosted the nation's estimate of undiscovered oil and gas by about 2.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent, or 15%, most of it gas in an area formerly disputed with Russia.

The estimates were based on data gathered in the southeastern Barents Sea and around Jan Mayen, where Russia and Iceland have already awarded several licenses.

Norway expects to decide on the opening of the southeastern Barents Sea, as well as Jan Mayen for oil drilling by this summer. Norway hasn't opened any new acreage since 1994.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said the Norwegian part of the formerly disputed southeastern Barents Sea likely held 1.9 billion barrels of oil equivalent, most of it gas and about 15% crude oil. This equals slightly more than a year of Norway's total oil and gas output.

The area of 44,000 square kilometers was delineated in a 2011 deal between Norway and neighboring Russia, after four decades of dispute. The directorate said there were potential oil and gas resources on the border between the two nations. A field crossing the border would have to be shared.

The directorate's minimum estimate for the southeastern Barents Sea was 345 million barrels of undiscovered resources. There was a 5% chance that it could hold as much as 3.6 billion barrels, it said.

The Jan Mayen area was estimated to hold 566 million barrels of oil equivalent, but with higher uncertainty, the directorate said. The estimated upside in this area was 2.9 billion barrels, but there was also a chance that it was completely void of oil and gas, it added.

Russian state oil company Rosneft was recently awarded three production licenses on the Russian side of the formerly disputed area of the Barents Sea.

Norwegian state oil company Petoro AS has a 25% stake in two recently awarded Icelandic production licenses in the Dreki area near Jan Mayen, operated by Faroe Petroleum PLC and Valiant Petroleum PLC.

Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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Norway Ups Oil, Gas Estimates in Artic Areas by 2.5 Billion Barrels

OSLO - Norwegian oil officials Wednesday boosted the nation's estimate of undiscovered oil and gas by about 2.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent, or 15%, most of it gas in an area formerly disputed with Russia.

The estimates were based on data gathered in the southeastern Barents Sea and around Jan Mayen, where Russia and Iceland have already awarded several licenses.

Norway expects to decide on the opening of the southeastern Barents Sea, as well as Jan Mayen for oil drilling by this summer. Norway hasn't opened any new acreage since 1994.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said the Norwegian part of the formerly disputed southeastern Barents Sea likely held 1.9 billion barrels of oil equivalent, most of it gas and about 15% crude oil. This equals slightly more than a year of Norway's total oil and gas output.

The area of 44,000 square kilometers was delineated in a 2011 deal between Norway and neighboring Russia, after four decades of dispute. The directorate said there were potential oil and gas resources on the border between the two nations. A field crossing the border would have to be shared.

The directorate's minimum estimate for the southeastern Barents Sea was 345 million barrels of undiscovered resources. There was a 5% chance that it could hold as much as 3.6 billion barrels, it said.

The Jan Mayen area was estimated to hold 566 million barrels of oil equivalent, but with higher uncertainty, the directorate said. The estimated upside in this area was 2.9 billion barrels, but there was also a chance that it was completely void of oil and gas, it added.

Russian state oil company Rosneft was recently awarded three production licenses on the Russian side of the formerly disputed area of the Barents Sea.

Norwegian state oil company Petoro AS has a 25% stake in two recently awarded Icelandic production licenses in the Dreki area near Jan Mayen, operated by Faroe Petroleum PLC and Valiant Petroleum PLC.

Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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Insurers provide Sandy loss estimates

60 million respectively from Hurricane Sandy.

Lancashire Holdings warned that its estimate accounted for potential reinsurance recoveries and reinstatement premiums, but did not presently include any benefit from industry loss warranties it had in place.

Amlin stressed that it still expected to "return healthy profits" after estimated losses from Sandy were taken into account.

The announcements came just a day after insurance market Lloyd's of London said it expected to face claims of between $2 billion and $2.5 billion (

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