Israel's Delek examines offshore Canada

TEL AVIV, Israel, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Israeli conglomerate Delek Group confirmed it secured the rights to explore for reserves in the deep waters off the coast of Newfoundland.

Delek Group said it secured the rights to explore an area covering about 1,000 square miles off the eastern coast of Canada, where waters are about eight-tenths of a mile deep.

"With regard to the West Orphan geological basin, where Block 7 among others is located, independent resource assessment identifying the in place resource potential of 25.5 billion barrels of oil and 20.6 trillion cubic feet of gas," the company said in a statement.

The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board said this week it took in just over $382 million in work commitments for work off the eastern coast.

Noble bid through its foreign subsidiary, DKL Investment Ltd. Of the seven parcels on the auction block, Noble won the bid for just one. A consortium of companies that included British energy company BP, Canadian energy company Husky Energy and U.S. group Noble Energy, which works with Delek offshore Israel, won most of the parcels up for grabs.

Husky started production from the South White Rose site off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador in late 2015. Two wells should lead to a peak production rate of 15,000 barrels per day.

Production from offshore Newfoundland and Labrador accounts for only a fraction of total oil and gas output from Canada. Newfoundland's provincial government said many reserve basins off the eastern coast of Canada are past their prime.