Delek Group approves merger, acquisition

Israel’s Delek Group approved the merger of its oil and gas exploration units on Sunday, the same day it purchased 13.2% of an independent company operating in the North Sea.

The merger of subsidiaries Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration, which hold stakes in the Tamar and Leviathan gasfields in the Mediterranean, is designed to reduce costs and to attract new investors, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile the purchase of a stake in Faroe Petroleum from Dana Petroleum for some USD 52.5 million (GBP 42.77 million) was part of Delek’s strategy to become an international energy company, CEO Asaf Bartfeld said in a statement.

“Acquisition of the Faroe shares is synergistic with and complements the purchase of 20% of the shares of Ithaca, which we did about a year ago,” Bartfeld said. “Delek Group’s financial strength allows us to identify strategic expansion opportunities, by which we are working to increase the value we provide to Delek Group’s investors.”

In other news from Israel, firefighters scrambled to douse a fire in Israel’s largest refinery in the city of Haifa on Sunday. According to the Jerusalem Post, the blaze started in a benzene storage container and was extinguished by Sunday evening. No injuries or fatalities were reported.