Israeli company signs agreement to exploit gas in occupied Western Sahara

PUSL.- According to WSRW (Western Sahara Resource Watch) Israel’s NewMed Energy announced on 6 December that it had signed an agreement with Morocco to produce natural gas off Boujdour.

This announcement was already expected as we had published on PUSL in the article of 28 November (https://porunsaharalibre.org/2022/11/28/war-and-plunder-morocco-and-israel-in-occupied-western-sahara/?lang=en).

The Israeli company NewMed Energy declared on 6 December 2022 that it has signed an agreement with Morocco’s Ministry of Energy and Mines and Adarco Energy to explore and produce natural gas in the Boujdour Atlantique offshore block. The licence thus corresponds to a location which is not part of Morocco, but of occupied Western Sahara which makes this agreement illegal under international law as there is no consent of the Saharawi People.

NewMed and Adarco will each have a 37.5% stake in the license partnership, while the Moroccan Ministry will hold the remaining 25%. The licence has been granted for eight years.

The Boujdour Atlantique block was previously operated by US oil company Kosmos Energy, which held a 55% stake in the licence, while its UK partner Capricorn – a subsidiary of Cairn Energy – held 20%. The remaining 25% was in the hands of ONHYM, the Moroccan National Office for Hydrocarbons and Mines. A NewMed spokesman told Reuters that the company’s plan is to start exploratory drilling after about two and a half years.

NewMed is currently in the merger phase with Capricorn Energy – which is the name Cairn Energy currently has since it changed its name in December 2021. If the merger is completed, the former Cairn Energy will be back in the waters of Western Sahara after a 4.5-year hiatus.

In 2016 the Central Bank of Norway excluded two oil companies operating “for Morocco in Western Sahara due to serious violations of basic ethical standards,” according to the bank’s Ethics Council, quoted by Reuters.
“Cairn Energy, an Edinburgh-based energy production and supply company, and the American company” Kosmos Energy “have been excluded for violating basic ethical standards with their oil exploration near the coast of Western Sahara in favour of the Moroccan authorities “said the Ethics Council of the Norwegian Central Bank, “declaring their exclusion,” Reuters reported. . The Norwegian government held 2.86% of Cairn’s shares at the time of the delisting.

NewMed Energy is a subsidiary of Delek Group and was previously known as Delek Drilling LP. Delek Group Ltd is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. 3% of Delek Group’s shares are owned by the Norwegian government pension fund.
Several international investors had blacklisted both Kosmos and Cairn from their portfolios for operating in violation of core ethical standards.

“Western Sahara Resource Watch calls on all investors in the Delek Group to immediately engage with the company’s management on the matter and divest from the company if it proceeds with its plans. The intention to engage in gas exploration in occupied territory undermines very basic principles of international law”, said Erik Hagen of Western Sahara Resource Watch.

According to WSRW little is known about NewMed’s partner, Adarco Energy. A company under the name Adarco Energy Limited was registered in Gibraltar in May 2022 with a Moroccan national named Michael Elbaz, born in 1984, as a director.

“This is a significant milestone for Adarco, whose managers have been active in the energy market for many years, Adarco CEO Harry Murphy told the Israeli media.

There are two companies involved in hydrocarbon exploration in Western Sahara today – both are from Israel. The other company is Ratio Petroleum, which secured the Dakhla Atlantique offshore block in October 2021.

Read all about Kosmos’/Cairn’s involvement in occupied Western Sahara in the WSRW report “Platform for Conflict”( https://wsrw.org/files/dated/2014-10-16/a_platform_for_conflict_web.pdf).

WSRW has also published a chronology of the presence of Kosmos/Cairn in occupied Western Sahara which we reproduce below:

Timeline – Kosmos/Cairn in occupied Western Sahara

29 October 2004. Kosmos Energy partners with Kerr-McGee for the ‘Boujdour block’, with a 30% share.

7 November 2005. Kosmos Energy first states that it plans to drill off the coast of Western Sahara.

2006. Kerr-McGee leaves Western Sahara. Kosmos Energy signs an agreement for the operatorship of the ‘Boujdour block’.

2009. Kosmos Energy commissions 2D seismic services from the Dutch company Fugro NV. Saharawis demonstrate. Fugro later announces it “has decided to abstain from any further involvement in Western Sahara until the political situation has been resolved”.

July 2013. BGP Prospector carried out seismic studies.

25 October 2013. Kosmos signs an agreement with Capricorn Exploration & Development Company Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cairn Energy PLC to partner on the Boujdour project. Kosmos announces that it has identified three prospects, the largest of these, called Gargaa, at 2135 meters depth. The name of the block is changed to ‘Cap Boujdour Offshore’.

February 2014. A Kosmos company presentation states that the drilling ship Atwood Achiever will be used in Boujdour exploration-license area.

March 2014. Aker Solutions AS, which had been responsible for building and installing the drilling system on the Atwood Achiever, states that “if we had known that the equipment would be used in Western Sahara, we would not have signed this agreement”. The company cancelled the maintenance agreement it had with the drillship.

May 2014. BGP Prospector carried out a 3D study on the same block.

Dec 2014-Feb 2015. The drillship Atwood Achiever carries out drilling for Kosmos on the block, the first ever oil exploration drilling under Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara.

June 2016. One of Kosmos Energy’s biggest owners, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, divests from Kosmos for operating in breach of fundamental ethical norms.

March 2017. Kosmos commissions yet another seismic study employing the BGP Prospector.

6 February 2018. ONHYM announces Kosmos’ departure.

6 December 2022. Israeli company NewMed signs a exploration and production agreement with ONHYM for the Boujdour block – while at the same time about to conclude a merger with Capricorn Energy (former Cairn Energy).