A NATURAL gas exploration project in Israel that may result in the production of billions of dollars worth of natural gas has strong Colorado ties, including those of Howard Cooper, a Colorado businessman who manages the company that owns interests in the exploration licenses along with Israeli partners, and a Denver lawyer, Howard Boigon, a partner in the Denver office of the global law firm Hogan Lovells.
Cooper, who has developed natural gas projects in Colorado, has 20 years of experience in the gas production industry, living and working in Russia and Kazakhstan before his most recent investments took him to Israel.
The Israel project comprises two licenses Sarah and Myra covering approximately 310 square miles.
The project is located in the Levantine, covering areas in the eastern Mediterranean Sea offshore Israel near the recent Tamar and Dalit natural gas discoveries by Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL).
It is among the largest discoveries of natural gas in the world in the past two years.
Boigon was part of a Colorado delegations recent weeklong economic mission to Israel led by Gov. Bill Ritter, sponsored by the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado. The delegations agenda included exploring ways to strengthen economic ties with Israel and establishing workforce-development ties to support the country in developing its recent natural gas discoveries.
According to published reports, the licenses in which Coopers company owns interests have a reported 6 trillion cubic feet of estimated possible reserves in their licensed area, making them potentially nearly as large as the Noble discoveries.
The Noble discovery has triggered intense interest in exploring the Levantine Basin, which includes the eastern Mediterranean north to Turkey and south to Egypt.
The US Geological Survey recently estimated that there is 122 trillion cubic feet of producible gas in thes region, based on existing discoveries.
The Israeli government has been issuing licenses to many companies, Israeli and foreign, who are interested in exploring the area.
DESPITE exploration in a tense charged part of the world, Hogan Lovells Boigon, who specializes in oil and gas exploration, is confident its safe doing business there.
In an article published in Israels Globes, Boigon points out, When we say to people in the US that we are drilling in Israel they ask how we can safeguard our facilities from attack, but Noble had no security problem in all their activities there. From the business perspective, Israel is one of the best places to do business.
One needs to look at Israel as a Western society that is located in the Middle East. There are some cultural and structural differences, but the country totally honors agreements here, and there is commercial stability and certainty.
