A natural gas pipeline from Israel to Turkey can be finalized in four years, Israeli and international media reported CEO of Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Yossi Abu as saying Thursday.
According to Abu, a new 500 kilometer-long pipeline could be completed from the Leviathan natural gas field in offshore Israel to Turkey by the end of 2020, about a year after it comes online for the Israeli market.
According to the reports, Abu said this proposal has been set as a target while additional export destinations are being discussed including, Egypt, Europe and the Palestinian territories, as well as power plants in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
The Gaza Strip requires at least 450 megawatts of capacity to cover the needs of the region and this is set to rise to 820 megawatts by 2020. However the maximum capacity that is currently provided is only 248 megawatts.
Delek Group, through its subsidiaries Israeli Avner Oil and Delek Drilling, each hold a 22.67 percent stake in the Leviathan Natural Gas field. Other partners in the field include Texas-based Noble Energy with a 39.66 percent share and Ratio Oil Exploration with a 15 percent stake.
In February 2017, the Delek Group signed a financing agreement for $1.75 billion with a consortium headed by HSBC Bank Plc. and J.P. Morgan Limited to develop the Leviathan gas field.
The Leviathan field, discovered in 2009, holds an estimated 613 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas with 39.4 million barrels of condensates. The field is set to begin production in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The first stage of the Leviathan will be developed for the domestic Israeli and Jordanian market with estimated costs of between $3.5 and $4 billion, the group said previously in a statement in December last year.
(gatewayturkey.com)
