Israeli Gas Field Developers Sign $10B Deal With Jordan
Backers of Israel’s massive Leviathan natural gas field signed a $10 billion deal on Monday to supply 1.6 trillion feet (tcf) of gas to Jordan’s National Electric Power Company.
“Subject to regulatory approvals from Israel and Jordan, sales …are anticipated to commence at field startup,” said Texas-based Noble Energy, the project’s operator.
Talks on the contract began more than two years ago.
The 15-year deal for Leviathan, which holds an estimated 22 tcf of gas, should help the U.S.-Israeli group secure funds to bring it online.
Production is expected to begin around 2019 or 2020.
The Leviathan group has also been in talks to export much larger quantities of gas to companies in Egypt.
Shares in the Israeli partners – which include Ratio Oil , Delek Group and its subsidiaries Avner Oil and Delek Drilling – were halted by the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange for more than a half hour.
Leviathan, discovered in the eastern Mediterranean in 2010, is one of the world’s largest offshore gas discoveries of the past decade.
Last year, Israel approved plans for a 15.5 kilometer (9.6 mile) pipeline near the Dead Sea to export gas to Jordan.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30