Chevron to Fund Pipe to Send Israeli Gas to Egypt
The Chevron-led group developing the Leviathan and Tamar gas fields off Israel has agreed to invest in a shekels 738 ($227)mn pipeline to bring their gas to Egypt, Israeli project partner Delek Drilling reported on January 19.
Israeli Natural Gas Lines (INGL) will build the pipeline between the Israeli cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon. Together with upgrades of the existing gas system that will cost a further shekels 27mn, the pipeline will enable Chevron and its partners to ship up to 7bn m3/year of gas to Egypt. Egypt, which has ample gas supply of its own, can then export these supplies as LNG from its terminals.
The gas producers will cover 56% of the pipeline's cost, leaving INGL to pay for the rest.
Leviathan began pumping gas to Jordan and Egypt via another, subsea pipeline in January 2020. It also began delivering gas to Jordan that month. Chevron operates Leviathan and Tamar with shares of 39.7% and 32.5% respectively, while Delek holds 45.3% and 22% stakes.
Chevron entered Israel last year through the $5bn takeover of Houston-based Noble Energy, Leviathan and Tamar's former operator.