EU, Israel advancing discussions on gas exports
Israeli Energy Ministry director-general Lior Schillat said Sunday that Israeli and EU working groups are moving toward a framework agreement to provide for gas exports gas to Europe via Egypt. The discussions, which have been undertaken over the past month, could see Israel begin exports as early as next winter.
Schillat also signalled a change to the Energy Ministry’s position following an announcement in late 2021 that it planned to halt the search for more natural gas in 2022 to focus on renewable energy.
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“The crisis in Europe shuffled the deck," commented the director-general, as reported by the Jerusalem Post.
Israeli gas output is set to reach 40bn m3 annually within the next few years, up from 20bn m3 at present, thanks to the launch of several new upstream projects. Israel directs much of its gas output to the domestic market, but it also supplies gas to Egypt from the Chevron-run Leviathan gas field. Leviathan was launched in late-2019 and was expected to yield 10bn m3 of gas last year.
Earlier this month Energean reported on a commercial gas discovery at the Athena exploration well off the coast of Israel. The find, made 20 km from Energean's flagship Karish gas field, contains 8bn m3 of recoverable gas, according to preliminary analysis.