Delek: no change in Leviathan development plan

Delek, one of the developers of the Leviathan gas field offshore Israel, on Monday negated media reports of a reduced development plan for the field. 

Reports in the media said that partners in the Leviathan field were preparing a contingency plan in case exports to Egypt don’t come through.

Due to the recent discovery of the Zohr field offshore Egypt, Leviathan partners are reportedly planning to cut in half the production capacity of the planned 16 billion cubic meters floating production, storage and offloading vessel.

However, in its statement, Delek Group said that its unit Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration, with a 22,67 percent stake in the Leviathan field each, are advancing the project according to the initial basic outline.

Delek said the project is still “intended to produce and handle a maximum daily output of natural gas of approximately 1.6 – 1.8 billion cubic feet (maximum of 16 – 18 bcm per annum) using various engineering alternatives.”

The company added that the gas is planned to be supplied to the customers in the Israeli market, NEPCO of Jordan, customers in Egypt (mainly BG) and to the Palestinian Authority, in accordance with the letters of intent signed to date.

However, Delek did add, that Leviathan partners are looking into options of adapting the capacity of the development plan to various marketing programs stressing that the basic outline remains unchanged.

Besides Delek Drilling and Avner Oil, partners in the Leviathan field are Noble Energy with a 39,66 percent stake and Ratio Oil Exploration with 15 percent.

LNG World News Staff