September 2019, Vol. 246, No. 9
Global News
Israel Expects to Begin Gas Exports to Egypt By Year End
Israel’s Delek Drilling said it has completed testing of a subsea natural gas pipeline to Egypt and expects to begin exports by year end. That schedule was reaffirmed by Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, who told Reuters in late July that gas exports to Egypt would begin within four months.
The timing is linked to the start of production from Israel’s Leviathan natural gas field. Gas flows to Egypt will mark the start of a landmark $15 billion export agreement that has been called the most significant deal to emerge since the neighbors made peace in 1979.
Egypt hopes to leverage its strategic location and well-developed infrastructure to become a key international trading and distribution center for gas.
The deal signed early last year will bring natural gas from Israeli offshore fields Tamar and Leviathan into the Egyptian gas grid.
Steinitz also said that a deal to buy stakes in the East Mediterranean Gas Company’s pipeline between Ashkelon in Israel and El-Arish in Egypt will be completed “within weeks” and that more connections could be built between them. P&GJ
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