Israel’s giant natural gas field preparing for LNG terminal

Funding for a new floating LNG terminal off Israel’s coast has been approved by the partners in the Leviathan gas field, the companies said on February 21, according to Reuters.

The expansion of the Leviathan field, which includes a new LNG terminal, will boost Leviathan’s production to allow for increased exports to Europe, which is looking to disentangle itself from the shackles of Russian energy, OilPrice.com reports.

The Leviathan field currently produces around 12 bcm per year, which is sold to Israel, Egypt, and Jordan. The partners in the Leviathan field have agreed to sink another $100 million into field developments, including a new floating LNG terminal in a move that the companies say will boost the field’s production to 21 bcm per year.

The partners have dedicated $45 million to expanding production and $51.5 million to preparing the floating LNG terminal, which is expected to have an annual capacity of 6.5 bcm.

Israel and Egypt have already signed an MOU to send Israeli gas through Egyptian LNG plants to the EU. The group has cautioned that it will still take three years from FID before gas starts flowing to Egypt’s LNG facilities, and the floating LNG part will follow that.

The partners in the project - which include NewMed, Chevron, and Ratio Energies -  have estimated the recoverable gas in Leviathan at 22.9 TCF, hailing it as the largest natural gas reservoir in the Mediterranean and one of the largest producing assets in the region.

Over the last decade, Israel has become an energy exporter after several sizeable discoveries.

Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting sanctions on its energy products, Russia was the largest supplier of natural gas to the European Union, supplying roughly 40% of the EU’s demand in 2021.