Three Israeli oil-exploration companies said Sunday they have secured $430 million in loans to develop the Tamar natural gas field, off Israel's coast.

The companies, Delek Drilling Ltd. Partnership (DERD.L.TV), Avner Oil Exploration Ltd. Partnership (AVNR.L.TV) and Dor Alon Energy in Israel Ltd. (DRAL.TV) said Sunday they have secured 18-month bridge loans from HSBC PLC (HBC) and Barclays PLC (BCS), that will finance the development of the underwater gas field until sales of gas bring in revenue.

The Tamar field contains about 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and is controlled by Delek Drilling, Avner, and Dor Alon, along with Noble Energy Inc (NBL). These companies recently signed a long-term deal valued at least $11 billion to supply natural gas to the Israel Electric Co., starting in 2012.

Earlier this month, some Lebanese government officials claimed that the Tamar gas field and other Israeli gas fields are in its maritime territory, but Israeli government officials have said such claims were false and that the oil fields are well within Israel's jurisdiction.

-By Sara Toth Stub, Contributing to Dow Jones Newswires, saratoth@gmail.com
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