London (Platts)--7Feb2013/819 am EST/1319 GMT

The US' Noble Energy is on track to start first production from the giant Tamar natural gas field offshore Israel in April, the company said Thursday, as part of its plans to increase output by 20% in 2013 over the previous year.

"In 2013, we anticipate another year of growth as we deliver 20% production growth over 2012 after adjusting for our 2012 property sales," Noble CEO Charles Davidson said in a statement.

"We plan to bring Tamar and Alen [offshore Equatorial Guinea] to first production while continuing to grow our US production from the DJ Basin and Marcellus," Davidson said.

Fourth quarter sales volumes from continuing operations averaged 255,000 b/d of oil equivalent, up 18% from the fourth quarter of 2011.

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For 2013, the full year volume guidance range remains unchanged at 270,000-282,000 boe/d, the company said.

First quarter 2013 volumes are expected to average 238,000-242,000 boe/d.

The volume forecast for the first quarter includes over 4,000 boe/d underliftings in West Africa and the impact of maintenance at Swordfish in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Volumes will ramp up throughout the year with the initiation of production at Tamar in April and at Alen in the third quarter, as well as from the continued acceleration of activity in the DJ Basin and the Marcellus Shale wet gas area," the company said.

Noble's Q4 adjusted net income was $296 million, compared with an adjusted net income of $277 million in the same period of 2011.

--Stuart Elliott, stuart_elliott@platts.com
--Edited by Martin O'Rourke, martin_orourke@platts.com

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