[ad_1]
View of the Leviathan gas field platform in the Mediterranean Sea taken from Nashlim Beach on the northern coast of Israel on August 29, 2022.
Jack Guess | AFP
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Energy giant plans to buy 50% stake blood pressure and Israeli natural gas producer Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) Xinmai Energy NewMed said Wednesday the plan was on hold due to regional unrest.
The three companies “have agreed to pause discussions regarding the proposed transaction due to the uncertainty caused by the external environment,” NewMed’s statement said.
As of the opening of the trading day, the company’s shares fell 8% on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
The statement also said that BP and ADNOC “reaffirm [their] “Interest in the proposed transaction,” indicates that the deal is not permanently ruled out. The process will remain suspended until terminated or negotiations start up again, it added.
“There is no certainty that discussions or an agreement will be resumed in the future,” the statement read.
ADNOC declined to comment when contacted by CNBC. BP could not immediately be reached for comment.
The original stake offer was announced almost a year ago in late March, with BP and Adnoc jointly paying $2 billion for a 50% stake in the Israeli company. The move would give British and Emirati oil majors access to Israel’s expanding energy sector and more of the rich natural gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean.
At the time, BP and ADNOC said the deal would result in the companies establishing a joint venture focused on “gas development in areas of international mutual interest, including the Eastern Mediterranean.”
The two companies announced a separate gas joint venture in Egypt last month.
The NewMed agreement is a major political victory for Israel, which has been seeking closer ties with many Arab countries since the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020, which established diplomatic ties between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Normalize relations.
In March 2023, the first Israel-Arab Free Trade Agreement was signed with the UAE and came into effect, with the goal of increasing bilateral trade volume to US$10 billion by 2027. According to the data, by 2022, this figure will be slightly more than $2.5 billion, excluding software and services, making the UAE the 16th largest trading partner of Israel.
Since the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a terrorist attack on October 7, Israel has been mired in the Gaza war. The attack killed about 1,200 Israelis and took 253 people hostage, 123 of whom have been released. The United Nations says Israel’s military response has killed more than 30,000 people in Gaza and pushed more than 500,000 people to the brink of famine, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry.
The UAE joins other Arab governments in publicly condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Hamas and other Islamist militant groups in Gaza, as well as the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, fired thousands of rockets into Israel, most of which were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.
Correction: Of the 253 people taken hostage in the October 7 terrorist attack, 123 have been released. An earlier version misstated these numbers.
[ad_2]
Source link