DECEMBER 22, 2019 / 12:46 PM
CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Egypt will begin importing natural gas from Israel by mid-January 2020, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz told Israel Radio on Sunday.
“(The exports) will begin in the middle of next month and perhaps even earlier,” he said.
Israeli gas exports to Egypt will gradually reach 7 billion cubic meters, a senior industry source, who earlier in the day disclosed a mid-January starting date, said on condition of anonymity.
Steinitz said Egyptian petroleum minister Tarek El Molla had spoken to him two days ago and congratulated him on signing export permits for the gas.
Egyptian company Dolphinus Holdings reached a landmark deal last year with the Israeli companies operating the Israeli fields Leviathan and Tamar.
DECEMBER 18, 2019 / 12:12 PM
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Companies developing the huge natural gas field Leviathan will try to convince an Israeli court on Wednesday to remove an injunction that threatens to delay production due to environmental concerns.
On Tuesday, the Jerusalem District Court, in a surprise decision, issued a temporary order that barred any gas emissions from Leviathan, effectively putting the project, which was due to come on line this month, on hold.
It was unclear how long the delay would last. The companies, led by Texas-based Noble Energy and Israel’s Delek Drilling, have already signed major, multi-billion dollar export deals to Egypt and Jordan.
The hearing was moved up from the original date of Sunday.
