Noble Energy Inc. (NBL) and its local partners said Monday that drilling has begun in the Tamar natural gas field offshore Israel.

The drilling, which will be done in three stages, is expected to take about one year and Tamar is expected to start producing natural gas by the end of 2012, the companies said,

The field is estimated to contain up to 9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Noble Energy owns 36% of Tamar; Delek Group Ltd. (DLEKG.TV) subsidiaries Avner Oil and Gas Exploration Ltd. Partnership (AVNR.L.TV) and Delek Drilling Ltd. Partnership (DEDR.L.TV) each own 15.6%; and Isramco Negev 2 Ltd. Partnership (ISRA.L.TV) owns 28.7%.

At 0820 GMT, shares of Delek Group were up 11.30 shekels ($3.27), or 1.23%, at ILS927.80; shares of Avner were up ILS0.02, or 1.02%. at ILS2.48; shares of Delek Drilling were up ILS0.18, or 1.31%, at ILS13.97; and shares of Isramco were up ILS0.90, or 2.02%, at ILS45.40, in a higher Tel Aviv market.

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