Minister of National Infrastructures Uzi Landau will order the Tamar gas field partners to build a second gas terminal at Ashkelon, in addition to the current terminal at Ashdod. The project, part of the second stage of the Tamar development plan, which has not yet obtained final approval.
Construction of a second terminal will enable the Tamar partners - Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL), Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG), Isramco Ltd. (Nasdaq: ISRL; TASE: ISRA.L), and Dor Alon Energy Exploration Ltd. - to double the quantity of natural gas delivered to Israel to up to 20 billion cubic meters a year.
Landau made the decision after an internal discussion at the Ministry of National Infrastructures ahead of his departure yesterday to an international seminar in Bulgaria as head of a delegation of energy and water industry businesspeople.
It became necessary to build a second gas terminal after plans to build a northern terminal in the Dor coast area were frozen in the face of objections by local residents. The Ashkelon terminal will be built on land owned by Eilat Israel Pipeline Company, and will be adjacent to the gas terminal of Egypt's East Mediterranean Gas Company (EMG), the Tamar partners' main rival.
In contrast to the northern terminal, local residents cannot block plans for the Ashkelon terminal, because the National Planning and Building Commission has already approved it.
The main consideration behind Landau's decision to build the gas terminal at Ashkelon is the need for a second gas terminal for the Tamar field, in order to increase the reliability of gas supplies.
Stage 2 of the Tamar development plan calls for the laying of a second undersea pipeline from the drilling platform to the Ashkelon terminal. This will substantially increase the net present value of the Tamar gas field.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 28, 2010
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