Filenews 8 October 2024
Israel's NewMed Energy, a subsidiary of Delek, which owns a 45.34% stake in the Leviathan gas field in Israel's EEZ, informed the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) yesterday that U.S. Chevron, which has a 39.66% stake in the field, has decided to suspend work on laying a marine pipeline as part of the third phase of the reserve's development. because of the war confrontation.
The suspension will take effect until at least April 2025, the Globes reports.
This means that the completion of the project will be delayed by at least six months. NewMed said on the exchange, according to Globes, that "there is no significant cumulative effect on the overall value of the discounted cash flow of the partnership from the Leviathan project, however it is expected to have a significant negative cumulative effect on expected cash flow in 2025."
The third phase of the project was launched by Leviathan partners in July 2023. Ratio Energies (TASE: RATI) (15%) also participates in the consortium.
The undersea pipeline was designed at a distance of 120 kilometers west of Haifa, to carry gas to the production platform, which is about 10 kilometers from Dor Beach. The project aims to increase Israel's daily gas supply by 0.2 BCF. According to the original plan, the first gas was supposed to flow through the pipeline in the second half of 2025, but now the works have stopped.
As Globes explains, in 2023 Israel's gas consumption increased to 24.7 BCM: 13.1 BCM for the domestic economy and 11.6 BCM for exports. There was a 3.5% increase in domestic consumption in 2023 and a 21% increase in exports.
The delay in the 3rd phase of development of Israel's largest field will reduce the gas available for export. Last year, 75% of exported gas ended up in Egypt and the rest in Jordan.
In 2023, the Leviathan field produced 11.1 BCM in natural gas, the Tamar field 9.1 BCM and the Karish 4.6 BCM.
