Page 8 - GLNG Week 48 2022

GLNG COMMENTARY GLNG

New route to Europe

for Israeli natural gas

COMMENTARY Russia’s invasion of Ukraine happened to NewMed, Uniper sign MoU
occur at a time when the governments of Israel In early November, NewMed Energy – the com-
and Egypt were looking into the potential for pany formerly known as Delek Drilling that
expanding co-operation on the natural gas front, serves as majority shareholder in and operator
especially with respect to finding faster and more of Leviathan, Israel’s largest offshore gas field –
economical ways to deliver gas to European signed a non-binding MoU with Uniper, a Ger-
markets. man company. In a statement, Uniper explained
The war ended up making the prospect of that the parties were exploring several different
co-operation even more attractive, and it also avenues of co-operation, including “collaborat-
drew the attention of the EU to the talks between ing on the supply of LNG in the short and long
the parties. Indeed, in June of this year, the EU term and producing blue and green hydrogen.”
joined Egypt and Israel in signing a memo- In the near future, the statement said, the
randum of understanding (MoU) on trilateral companies will “look into the supply of natural
co-operation in the area of long-term gas deliv- gas from Israel to Germany in the immediate
eries from the Eastern Mediterranean region to term using existing production and transmis-
Europe. sion infrastructure in line with the availability
That document calls for the parties to work of the transmission pipeline between Israel and
together to foster opportunities for European Egypt, where the natural gas will be delivered to
companies to invest in upstream gas develop- LNG facilities, and from there to Germany.”
ment projects in Israel and Egypt. Additionally, Additionally, Uniper said, the partners will
it aims to facilitate the use of existing infrastruc- consider a plan for using Israeli gas to boost
ture – in particular, pipelines connecting Levi- LNG exports to Germany. This would involve
athan, Israel’s largest gas field, to sections of the the expansion of existing Phase 1B infrastruc-
Egyptian gas grid that are capable of pumping ture at the Leviathan field and sending additional
feedstock to the Idku and Damietta LNG plants. volumes of gas either to the Idku and Damietta
The MoU has been hailed in Cairo, not least LNG plants in Egypt or to a new-build floating
because it is in line with the Egyptian govern- LNG (FLNG) facility that would be installed in
ment’s hopes for transforming the country into Israel, it explained.
a regional gas hub, capable of handling and pro- The statement also said that the partners also
cessing production from its own wells and also envisioned future co-operation in the area of
from neighbouring countries. It has also been hydrogen fuel. “In line with NewMed Energy’s
treated as a signal that Israel views Egypt as the strategic plan, according to which the partner-
first stop on its route to European gas markets. ship is aimed at promoting green energy, the
(Perhaps not coincidentally, it was quickly fol- MoU also includes potential collaboration in
lowed by the signing of another MoU between the field of blue hydrogen and green hydrogen
the US major Chevron, the second largest share- and its transportation from Israel to Europe,” it
holder in Leviathan, on deliveries of Israeli gas noted.
to Egypt.) Niek den Hollander, Uniper’s CCO, empha-
Within the last few weeks, though, there have sised the environmental benefits of the deal, say-
been indications that Israel does not necessarily ing: “This collaboration with NewMed Energy
view Egypt as the only possible route to Europe. fits our strategy of diversifying our gas supply

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 48 01•December•2022