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Egypt starts to import gas from Israel
EGYPT
The gas will be used in Egypt and liquefied in the country for export to other markets.
EGYPT started importing natural gas from Israel’s largest offshore gas field Leviathan on Wednesday in a landmark step toward Cairo’s ambitious plan to become a regional energy hub.
Israeli gas exported to Egypt is intended for domestic consumption and for liquification for export to other markets - a development that will be welcomed by Europe, which is trying to lessen its dependence on natural gas imported from Russia.
In a statement announcing the first transfer, the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said the step “represents an important development that serves the economic interests for both countries”.
Israel’s Delek Group and Texas-based Nobel Energy - partners in the Leviathan field - are contracted to export 85bn cubic metres of gas to Egypt over 15 years.
Israeli officials have described it as the most important agreement since the two countries signed a peace treaty in 1979.
In 2018, Delek, Nobel and Egyptian East Gas Co. signed a deal to buy control of the East Med- iterranean Gas Co. pipeline connecting southern Israel to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Initially built to export Egyptian gas to Israel, the pipeline sat largely idle for six years owing to domestic gas shortages in Egypt and repeated attacks by armed fighters in the Sinai.
Environmental concerns.
The Leviathan field was discovered a decade ago about 120km (75 miles) off Israel’s coast. But its towering production platform was constructed just 10km from the shore, which prompted envi- ronmental activists and municipalities in Israel to lobby for building the structure further out at sea.
The activists were concerned about what they called the catastrophic consequences of spreading toxic water and air pollution towards their homes, but they lost their case when the Jerusalem District Court ruled last month that the appellants had not provided sufficient evi- dence that Leviathan’s emissions could prove dangerous.
Delek, Noble and the Israeli government have insisted that the most stringent safety meas- ures have been put in place, and have accused their critics of waging an irresponsible scare campaign.
Meanwhile, the 2015 discovery of the Zohr gas field turned Egypt from net importer to exporter in late 2018.
Zohr, which holds an estimated 30tn cubic feet (850bn cubic metres) of natural gas, has been touted as the largest-ever field in the
Mediterranean, and the government is intending to use it to supply gas-hungry Europe.
The European Union, which is trying to reduce its dependence on Russian gas, has encouraged the formation of new delivery routes, including through the eastern Mediter- ranean Sea.
In a historic first, Israel began exporting natu- ral gas to Egypt on Wednesday, according to the terms of a landmark agreement between the two countries.
The Egyptian company Dolphinus Holdings is purchasing 85 bcm of gas, worth $19.5bn, from Israel’s Leviathan and Tamar offshore fields in a 15-year deal, Reuters reported
Israel’s Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz and his Egyptian counterpart Tarek el-Molla announced the event in Cairo on Wednesday morning. The two energy ministers released a joint statement saying that the beginning of gas exports from Israel to Egypt was an “important develop- ment” that would “serve the interests of both sides” reported Israel Havom. The gas is being exported by a subsea pipeline through the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is seeking to export some of the gas to Europe.
The move comes as tensions reached a new high in the eastern Mediterranean after Turkey’s parliament approved the deployment of Turkish troops to Libya to support its UN-backed govern- ment. The Turkish move came as Israel, Cyprus and Greece agreed a new deal to transport natu- ral gas from the eastern Mediterranean to mar- kets in Europe. Turkey, with decades of tensions with Greece and Cyprus, and more recently, with Israel, has strongly opposed the pipeline. It also recently signed an agreement with Libya’s Tripo- li-based government setting maritime bounda- ries that conflict with those envisioned by Israel, Cyprus, Greece and Egypt.™
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Week 03 23•January•2020