Israel's biggest energy find

From DEBKAfile, January 18, 2009:

Gas well struck opposite Haifa coast...

The announcement by the well's operator, American Noble Energy's president, Charles Davidson Sunday, Jan. 18, caused the Tel Aviv stock market to jump 4 percent, boosted by the shares of Delek Drilling which gained 80 percent and of Isramco Negev-2 by 120 percent.

Tests confirmed that the 5,500 meters deep Tamar-1 reservoir, off the Mediterranean coast of Haifa, contains at least 88 billion cu.m of gas, three times the amount discovered off the coast of Ashkelon. Davidson said the strata were of a promising thickness and quality in three separate places.

Yitzhak Tshuva, of Delek said the find could solve Israel's energy problems for decades to come and reduce its dependence on outside sources.