* Delek aims to list Ithaca on London stock exchange
* Delek to keep majority stake -Ithaca CEO
* Deal brings Ithaca output to 80,000 boed
* UK N. Sea oil, gas producers https://tmsnrt.rs/2WcA8a5(Adds Ithaca CEO comments, analyst comment)
May 30 (Reuters) - Israel's Delek Group movedcloser to listing its Ithaca Energy subsidiary on Thursday bybuying most of Chevron's British North Sea oil and gasfields for $2 billion.
Under pressure from a fall in oil prices to near 14-yearlows of $26 a barrel in 2016, major oil and gas companies in theNorth Sea have been forced to sell assets to privateequity-backed investors and specialised operators.
Delek said the deal, backdated to Jan. 1 and pendingregulatory approval, will quadruple Ithaca's pro-formaproduction to 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Cashcoming from the field after Jan. 1 will probably bring the pricepaid by Ithaca down to around $1.65 billion.
Ithaca Chief Executive Les Thomas said the deal, which heexpects to close in September, would make it large enough forDelek to list Ithaca on the London stock exchange.
"(Delek) are a long-term investor (and) very comfortablewith having a majority ownership in a public vehicle," Thomastold Reuters, adding there was no timeframe yet for a listing.
The deal leaves Chevron with a heavily reduced North Seafootprint, including its 19.4 stake in the BP-operatedClair field west of Scotland's Shetland islands.
"Chevron has a disposal target of $5 billion to $10 billionbetween 2018 and 2020... This transaction will bring Chevronwithin a whisker of hitting the low end of its target range overa year early," Tom Ellacott, senior vice president of corporateanalysis at consultancy Wood Mackenzie said.
Norway's DNO this month said it aims to boostproduction in the North Sea by making more acquisitions, whileConocoPhillips recently sold its assets in the North Seato private equity-backed Chrysaor.
Delek, which reported a 19% rise in quarterly profit to 290million shekels ($80 million) in the first quarter, up from 243million a year earlier, lost out to Equinor this monthin a $1 billion deal with Royal Dutch Shell for a stakein a Gulf of Mexico field.
Delek said in its results statement that first quarterrevenue rose to 1.99 billion shekels from 1.78 billion, boostedby higher sales volumes of gas from the Tamar natural gas fieldoff Israel's coast, and the consolidation of the Greater StellaArea assets that Ithaca bought at the end of 2018.
Ithaca contributed 163 million shekels to Delek's operatingincome in the quarter, up from 103 million a year earlier.
Tamar's gas sales rose to 2.7 billion cubic metres (bcm) inthe quarter from 2.4 BCM.
The larger Leviathan project, in which Delek has a majorshare, is 84% complete and remains on schedule for gas sales tobegin by the end of 2019, Delek said.
The company will pay a quarterly dividend of 120 millionshekels, unchanged from a year ago.($1 = 3.6216 shekels)
(Reporting by Justin George Varghese and Karina Dsouza inBengaluru, Shadia Nasralla in London and Tova Cohen in Tel Aviv;Editing by Patrick Graham, Jason Neely and Alexander Smith)
BP (BP.)
