Cairo – Mubasher: Israel is planning to start natural gas exports to Egypt within a few months, the Israeli energy minister said on the sidelines of a regional gas forum in Cairo.
This step will bolster diplomatic ties between the two countries, Reuters reported, citing Yuval Steinitz.
Gas shipments will be doubled as the Israeli giant Leviathan field in the eastern Mediterranean will be fully operational in November, Steinitz noted, giving no specific target for initial exports.
Israeli gas exports to Egypt has been estimated to reach 7 billion cubic meters per year over 10 years, he said.
Egypt is likely to use half of the exports domestically and to liquefy the other half for re-export, he projected.
Steinitz, the first energy minister to visit Cairo since the 2011 January revolution, further noted that Israel and Egypt are considering natural gas cooperation expansion, including through exports.
“Israel exporting natural gas to the Arab world and also to Europe — this is something that sounded like a dream or a fantasy just 10 or 15 years ago,” Steinitz said.
The exports from Israel to Egypt will be carried out under a $15 billion natural gas export deal signed between Israel’s Delek Group and Egypt’s Dolphinus Holdings in February 2018.
In February 2018, the Israeli energy conglomerate Delek Group said that the partners in Israel’s Tamar and Leviathan offshore gas fields signed 10-year agreements to export around 64 billion cubic metres of gas to the Egyptian private company.
Egyptian East Gas Co (EMG), the US’ Noble Energy Inc, and Delek signed last September a deal to buy a 39% stake in Eastern Mediterranean Gas Co at a total value of $518 million.
