Reuters: Leviathan group plans a natural gas hub offshore Israel

Israel is weighing export options in the Middle East and beyond for buyers of gas from its vast Leviathan offshore gas field, according to the chief executive of an exploration company involved. Delek Drilling and sister company Avner Oil have a combined 45.34 percent stake in Leviathan, the world's largest offshore discovery of the past decade.

'We are working and planning for the future on the assumption, and it's certainly a reasonable assumption, that more gas will be found offshore Israel and Cyprus,' said Delek Drilling Chief Executive Yossi Abu. 'Our goal is to make an investment decision by the end of the year so we can produce gas at Leviathan by 2017-2018.'

On a piece of paper he drew what he said was the most likely first stage of development. Atop Leviathan plans call for a floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO), not a platform, which will process 16 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year. Abu said about half will be sent by pipeline to Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. The rest will be sold through a separate pipeline to another neighbour, perhaps Turkey or Egypt.  MORE

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