How times change: Pipeline carried gas from Egypt to Israel for several years until
saboteurs began thwarting the flow through Sinai pipeline explosions.
By SHARON UDASIN 10/19/2014 13:48
Turning the tables on the region’s natural resource flow, Israeli gas
may soon surge southward through the Egyptian pipeline that for several
years provided gas to Israel – but fell victim to saboteurs in Sinai.
The
developers of the 282-billion cubic meter Tamar reservoir, which has
been supplying gas to Israelis since March 2013, have signed a letter of
intent to sell 2.5 b.cu.m. annually to the Egyptian firm Dolphinus
Holdings Limited, the Delek Group reported to the Tel Aviv Stock
Exchange on Sunday morning. This gas surplus sold to the Egyptian firm
from Israel’s local supply will begin serving private industrial
consumers already in 2015, according to the partners.
The move
looks to revitalize Egypt’s East Mediterranean Gas Company pipeline that
for several years carried gas from Egypt to Israel. In 2008, EMG began
supplying Israel with about 40 percent of its natural gas provisions,
until saboteurs began thwarting the flow through Sinai pipeline
explosions. Following 14 months of such attacks, the Egyptian government
formally terminated the agreement between EMG and Israel in April 2012.
At
Tamar, located about 80 km. west of Haifa, Noble Energy holds 36% of
the basin. Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration each own 15.625%,
while Isramco owns 28.75% and Dor Gas owns 4%.
The neighboring
621-b.cu.m. Leviathan gas reservoir, about 130 km. west of Haifa, is
expected to begin flowing in 2017. Noble Energy owns 39.66% of
Leviathan, while Delek Drilling and Avner Oil – both subsidiaries of the
Delek Group – each own 22.67% and Ratio Oil Exploration holds 15%.
The
realization of the project will help maximize the production
capabilities from the Tamar reservoir, and will strengthen the Israeli
economy by increasing tax and royalty revenues, said Delek Drilling CEO
Yossi Abu.
Sunday’s announcement joins a number of other regional
agreements and understandings that the Tamar and Leviathan partners have
signed with Israel’s neighbors.
In September, the Leviathan
reservoir partners signed a letter of intent to sell 45 b.cu.m. of
natural gas to Jordan’s National Electric Power Company over a 15-year
period.
Empty liquefaction plants in Egypt have become an
attractive option for Israeli gas. The British Gas Group signed a letter
of intent with the Leviathan partners for the 15-year supply of 105
b.cu.m. of natural gas to its Idku plant.
Meanwhile, in early May,
the Tamar reservoir partners signed a letter of intent with Spanish
firm UniĆ³n Fenosa, for the provision of 71 b.cu.m. to that firm’s
liquefaction facility in Damietta.
In January, the Leviathan
partners signed their first export deal – a $1.2b. sales agreement with
the Palestine Power Generation Company.
According to the
agreement, PPGC is set to buy around 4.75 b.cu.m. of gas over 20 years,
to fuel a future 200-megawatt power plant in Jenin.
A month later,
the Tamar reservoir partners signed a $500 million deal to provide 1.8
b.cu.m. of gas to the Jordanian firms Arab Potash and Jordan Bromine, to
power their Dead Sea facilities for the next 15 years, beginning in
2016.
As far as Sunday’s letter of intent signed with Dolphinus is
concerned, this latest deal is “another important link in a sequence of
agreements that will enable the supply of natural gas to the domestic
market in Egypt,” said chairman of Delek Drilling and CEO of Avner Oil
Exploration Gideon Tadmor.
“I have no doubt that these are agreements that will strengthen the relations between Israel and its neighbors,” Tadmor said.
Read the article online on the Jerusalem Post website here: Israeli partners sign bid to sell natural gas to Egyptian firm
