Brief Analysis
If the $1.1 billion deal goes ahead, it will strengthen Abu Dhabi’s claim to be a player in the East Mediterranean.
On April 26, Israeli company Delek announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the energy arm of Mubadala, the sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates, which tentatively agreed to take over the firm’s 22 percent ownership stake in the Tamar offshore natural gas field. Delek has been trying to sell its stake for some time in order to meet government anti-monopoly requirements, since the company is also invested in Israel’s larger Leviathan gas field. Earlier this month, media reports speculated that Cairn Energy of the United Kingdom was interested in the share, but now Abu Dhabi will become the partner if the deal goes through.