Consultant: Big Gas Discovery Off the Coast of Egypt About to Be Announced

Edison, the Italian energy company, a subsidiary of France's EDF, will announce in the near future the discovery of a new big gas field in Egyptian territorial waters, Zvi Mazel, a former Israeli diplomat and a former ambassador to Egypt has said.

Mr. Mazel revealed this information (yet to be confirmed by Edison) when he testified in front of the Knesset Economy Committee during its hearings on the natural gas regulatory framework in Israel. Mr. Mazel, currently a freelance consultant, based his information on data from GlobalData, an information and research organization.

The assertion was not accepted as fact by all at the Committee hearing. Later in the hearing Mr. Mazel's revelation was rejected by Ron Adam, an official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

If Mr. Mazel's information proves to be accurate, it will be the second big discovery offshore Egypt in three months, following ENI's discovery of the Zohr field, estimated to have 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, in late August. That discovery has already created a storm in Israel since it threatens to reduce the export potential of Israeli natural gas to Egypt, a proposed anchor customer for the Leviathan gas field.

Last week ENI announced that it will restart drilling activities in Zohr in January 2016.

Ya'acov Zalel