Energean's first gas from Israeli fields faces possible delay

LONDON (Reuters) - Delivery of the first gas from Energean's Israeli fields, which was due to start flowing at the end of this year, could slip by two to three months due to the coronavirus crisis.

Energean said on the Thursday there were delays in increasing the workforce building its floating production, storage and offloading vessel in Singapore, which was due to sail to Israel towards the end of the third quarter.

Energean, whose main FPSO contractor is TechnipFMC, said this was primarily due to COVID-19 working conditions.

"Energean and its contractors are in ongoing discussions to achieve the required workforce numbers to deliver first gas around year-end," the company said in a statement.

"However, in the case that no further ramp up in the workforce is achieved, first gas could slip by between two and three months, into 1Q 2022," it added

Energean also said it believed that these adjustments were likely to be the subject of a so-called extension of time claim under force majeure. Chief Executive Mathios Rigas told a conference call he did not expect any issues with its gas buyers in Israel should there be a slight delay.

The eastern Mediterranean-focused company plans to spend $515 million to $590 million this year, with the bulk intended to get the Karish gas field, which lies off Israel, onstream.

It said it planned to pay its maiden dividend in 2022.

Rigas told Reuters last week that if 2022 is the first full year of production from Karish, Energean would aim to start paying dividends from the end of that year.

(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla; editing by Jason Neely, Jane Merriman and Alexander Smith)