Israeli company awarded exploration study agreement offshore Malta

Oil company Ratio Malta Limited has been awarded offshore Area 5 under an exploration study agreement, the Maltese government said.

Offshore Area 5 is located approximately 70 km southwest of Malta and totals approximately 8,700 square kilometres. 

The company is an affiliate of Ratio Oil Exploration Limited, an oil and gas company, based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Ratio Oil Exploration Limited has operations in Israel which include the offshore Leviathan gas field, the largest gas discovery in the Mediterranean ever.

The agreement was signed by Infrastructure Minister Joe Mizzi.

 The Exploration Study Agreement has a duration of two years and the work obligations are focused on part of Area 5 with a minimum exploration expenditure of U$ 1.5 million.

During the first year, the work obligations mainly consist in the reprocessing and interpretation of existing data and the compilation of all available data in a geographical information system.

During the second year, the work obligations will consist in the acquisition of a minimum of 1,200 km of 2D seismic data and the acquisition of gravity and magnetic data.