Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Resources Dr. Yuval Steinitz has announced that the supply of natural gas from the Leviathan reservoir to the gas conveyance system has begun. At 4pm gas from Leviathan reached the shore and the Israel Natural Gas Lines Company's conveyance system, and from there to consumers, including Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) and gas consumers in Egypt.
Public disputes on various issues, including gas exports, taxation, and location of the reservoir's production platform, delayed development of the reservoir for years. The biggest dispute concerned the gas plan regulating competition in the gas sector, given the criticism of cross holdings by Delek Group and Noble Energy in Israel's two largest reservoirs, Tamar and Leviathan.
The Leviathan reservoir, discovered in 2010, contains 500 BCM of gas in Israel's economic waters 130 kilometers off the coast of Haifa. The reservoir's production pipeline is hundreds of kilometers long, and production is taking place at four production drilling points.
The Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Resources said today that connecting Leviathan would give the Israeli energy sector critical redundancy in natural gas sources, make it possible to export gas to neighboring countries, and improve competition in the gas sector.
Leviathan is joining Tamar, which has been supplying gas since 2013. "This is an important step in implementing the gas plan led by Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Resources Dr. Yuval Steinitz," the ministry's announcement stated. Steinitz, who visited the control room of the Natural Gas Lines Company, which operates the land-based gas conveyance system, welcomed the beginning of gas supplies from Leviathan.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 31, 2019
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