Business in Brief: February 10

Noble: Commercial gas at Leviathan by 2016; IKEA neighbors prepare class-action suit; 'Israel Today' first to launch iPAD app.

Ikea fire 311 (photo credit: Channel 10)
Ikea fire 311
(photo credit: Channel 10)
Noble: Commercial gas at Leviathan by 2016  • Globes correspondent
Noble Energy chairman and CEO Charles Davidson has made a presentation to Credit Suisse in which he has for the first time outlined the timetable for the development of the huge Leviathan natural-gas field. In the presentation, Noble Energy says development will be complete by 2016, and commercial production of gas will commence. The presentation also said development of the Tamar field would be complete in 2012.
Investors in the Leviathan field are anxiously awaiting results of the drilling to discover if there are also commercial quantities of oil in the field’s lower strata. According to the 3-D seismic survey, the second target strata, at a depth of 5,800 meters, contains 3 billion barrels of oil, with a 17 percent geological chance of success. The third target strata, at a depth of 7,200 m., contains 1.7 billion barrels of oil, with an 8% geological chance of success.
Noble Energy Inc. owns 39.66% of Leviathan, Delek Group Ltd. units Delek Drilling LP and Avner Oil and Gas LP own 22.67% each, and Ratio Oil Exploration LP owns 15%.
IKEA neighbors prepare class-action suit  • By MICHAL MARGALIT
Residents of Even Yehuda and other communities near the burned down IKEA Israel store at Poleg Junction in Netanya are preparing a class-action lawsuit against the retailer for alleged smoke damage from Saturday’s fire. Forty residents from Even Yehuda have joined the lawsuit. Residents from Tel Yitzhak, Beit Yehoshua, Kfar Netter and Kadima are also planning to join.
“Soot from the fire spread mainly to Even Yehuda because of the wind, and new homes there were affected by the soot,” said Anat Hillel, the plaintiffs’ attorney. The local residents say soot from fire streaked the outer walls of their homes and gardens, stores were blackened, and there is concern about damage to vegetation and lawns, she said.
The residents also are worried about possible toxins from burned materials, and that their children or pets might have come into contact with these toxins, Hillel said. Paint on decks, roofs, pergolas and balconies was also damaged, she said.
‘Israel Today' first to launch iPAD app • By LI-OR AVERBACH
Israel Today is the first Israeli daily paper to launch an iPAD application. Like the freesheet, the application can be downloaded for free from iTunes. Hebrew dailies are planning similar applications. Yediot Aharonot is the most advanced, having already completed its application, which should be launched soon.
Israel Today CEO Tzippi Koren said the paper plans to launch applications for tablets of other companies, iPhones and smartphones, and to expand its Internet operations. “With the launch of the iPAD application, and after establishing a Facebook address, Israel Today is positioned at the head of the new media camp,” she said.
The iPAD application displays all of Israel Today’s content in a digital format. It is possible to scroll through the paper in various ways, enlarge or reduce articles, search for content in Hebrew, convert content to text-only format, enlarge or reduce fonts, save articles onto a computer, email articles and share them via Facebook and Twitter.
According to TGI, Israel Today has the largest readership of Israel’s newpapers, with a weekly exposure rate of 37.4 percent in the second half of 2010.