Israel's Leviathan Signs Jordan Sales Contract

The Leviathan partnership has signed its first export contract, the buyer being Jordanian national electricity company Nepco. Delek Drilling and Avner announced the deal in a filing to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

The actual contract is between NBL Jordan Marketing which will act as the marketing arm of Levaithan Partnership to Jordan and Nepco. It is a 15-year contract for the overall export 45bn m³ of gas worth an estimated $10bn or an average of $6.2/mn Btu. The contract is Brent indexed with a floor price.

Israel's offshore blocks

(Source: government)

The gas would be supplied to Nepco from the Israeli pipeline network at the Israeli-Jordanian border. That pipeline is still to be built. The FT reported September 26 that Jordan wants Israel to finance a $70mn, 26-km pipeline to the border.

The deal has still to receive regulatory approvals from the Israeli and the Jordanian authorities and agreement for the gas transport has to be agreed upon between the Natgas, Israel Natural Gas Lines and its Jordanian equivalent, FAJR. The contract is also depends upon an FID for Leviathan, which is expected by the year's end.

Ya'acov Zalel