INTERVIEW: Israel’s domestic gas needs hold sway ahead of latest exploration round - S&P Global

January 23, 2026
Matt Hoisch

Even as producers push to expand gas exports from Israel following a decade of dramatic growth that has seen it morph into a key regional supplier, domestic needs remain a priority for the country ahead of its fifth offshore gas exploration round, Israel's Petroleum Commissioner at the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, in a recent interview.

"Israel is a developed country, but we're still emerging," Chen Bar-Yosef said. "We think we should have more gas findings and exploration in order to make sure that for the long run we are ready, and we have our sufficiency of supply for all our needs."

Those needs are growing. One burgeoning driver is the artificial intelligence industry.

"Israel is and wants to be part of the AI world," Bar-Yosef said. "We think AI and AI data centers will come to Israel and therefore we want to be ready."

The commissioner was adamant electricity "should come first from renewables" with gas as "complementary."

Even so, annual domestic gas needs are projected to grow over the coming decade from some 14 Bcm to 20-24 Bcm by 2035, he said.

Latest gas drilling ‘very optimistic’ - CYPRUS MAIL

Monday 07 July | 19:40

By Elias Hazou

Drilling at the Pegasus-1 well has detected a 350-metre column of natural gas, the government announced on Monday, giving no more clues about the significance of the find – but separately sources told the Cyprus Mail that the “news from Pegasus is good”.

In a written statement after an afternoon conference call between President Nikos Christodoulides and Vice President of Global Exploration at ExxonMobil John Ardill, the government said another discovery of natural gas has been made at the Pegasus-1 site in Block 10 of Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

“The Pegasus-1 well… indicated approximately 350 metres of gas-bearing reservoir,” government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said.

Drilling had been carried out by the Valaris DS-9 rig at a distance of 190km southwest of the island, and at a depth of 1,921m.

“Further assessment will be required in the coming months to evaluate the results.”

Eni puts major new East Med gas project on fast track - UPSTREAM

12 April 2023 10:28 GMT
Iain Esau in London

Eni is set to sanction a major new project offshore Cyprus in 2024 and is studying onshore and offshore liquefied natural gas solutions, according to the company’s head of natural resources.

The Italian major is also exploring the possibility of working with US giant ExxonMobil on a joint development of their Cypriot gas resources, although this appears the least likely option at present.

Eni has found at least 4.5 trillion cubic feet of gas-in-place in Block 6 offshore southern Cyprus in recent years, resources held in the deep-water Calypso, Cronos and Zeus discoveries that were drilled between 2018 and late 2022.

Zeus-1 was completed late last year, hitting 105 metres of net pay in a carbonate reservoir that hosts between 2 Tcf and 3 Tcf of gas in place. This find came after the Cronos-1 probe found 2.5 Tcf of in-place resources last August, while the play-opening discovery was made by the Calypso-1 wildcat in 2018. Speaking to Upstream last week, Guido Brusco, chief operating officer of Eni’s natural resources business, explained the company’s thinking on how best to tap this gas. He said there are “clearly” two options, “either floating LNG or a tie-in to Egypt”, where Eni operates the Damietta LNG plant.

Aphrodite low on list of Chevron’s gas plans for East Med - CYPRUS MAIL

March 6, 2023

Dr. Charles Ellinas

The importance of the East Med to Chevron’s gas plans was made clear at the company’s ‘2022 4Q Earnings Conference Call’ on January 27 and subsequently at its ‘Investor Presentation’ on February 28. Mike Wirth, Chevron’s CEO, confirmed that he considers the region to be of “high priority”.

He specifically referred to the $673 million ‘Final Investment Decision’ (FID) taken in December 2022 to expand Tamar gasfield production capacity in Israel from 11billion cubic metres per year (bcm/yr) to 16bcm/yr, expected to come online in early 2025. This will enable Tamar to meet Israel’s growing domestic demand and increase gas deliveries to Egypt.

Following the Tamar FID, Chevron and its partners approved close to $100m budget for the development of Phase 1B of the Leviathan gasfield. This includes pre-FEED engineering for field expansion, including construction of a 4.6million tonnes/yr floating LNG (FLNG) facility, three years after FID. The expansion will increase production capacity to 21bcm/yr from 12bcm/yr now.

Egypt and Chevron agree to explore new East Med gas deal - REUTERS

June 21, 2022, 10:51 AM GMT+3

CAIRO/HOUSTON, June 20 (Reuters) - Egypt's state-owned gas company and U.S.-based Chevron Corp (CVX.N)on Monday signed a preliminary agreement to explore sending natural gas from offshore Mediterranean fields to Egypt for processing and export.

The memorandum of understanding signed by Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) and Chevron will consider transport, import, liquefication and export of natural gas from the eastern Mediterranean, the ministry said.

Chevron two years ago acquired an about 40% stake in a massive natural gas field in the Mediteranean Sea off the coast of Israel. It also plans to drill its first exploration well in a concession area in the eastern Mediterranean in September, Egypt's petroleum ministry said in a statement.

Israel's Leviathan gas group seeks partners to expand - REUTERS

FEBRUARY 12, 2020 / 11:19 AM
Ari Rabinovitch, Tova Cohen


TEL AVIV (Reuters) - The energy companies that own Israel’s offshore Leviathan gas field are seeking partners to build a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) platform and possibly to explore for oil in ultra-deep water, a CEO from the group said.

Leviathan, one of the world’s biggest offshore gas discoveries of the last decade, has turned Israel into an energy exporter in a tumultuous region and has weaned it off more polluting imports, notably coal.

Challenges to Israel’s gas exports - CYPRUS MAIL

September 15, 2019
Charles Ellinas

Since discovery of natural gas in its exclusive economic zone Israel has been dreaming of exports, riches and political influence. Massive political capital has been expended in this direction, but so far without results, apart from small exports to Jordan, and possibly Egypt, but not to global markets.

The giant gas-field Leviathan is expected to come on-stream by end-2019, with as much as 9-10 billion cubic metres/yr (bcm/yr) surplus gas available for export. Noble Energy and its partners have been considering all options to secure international buyers for this, but unsuccessfully.

The main challenge is commercial. Gas prices are low globally and even though they may rise after 2025, they are still expected to be at levels that challenge exports of gas from the East Med. For example, gas prices in Europe are currently just over $3/mmbtu (per about 1000 cubic feet) and are forecast to average $6-$6.50/mmbtu between 2020-2030. Political will is not sufficient to overcome price limitations, despite all the hype, either in Israel or in Cyprus.

East Med gas is mostly in deep water and deep reservoirs. This makes it expensive to develop. The lack of regional infrastructure also impacts the cost of exporting such gas.

Leviathan Partners Considering FLNG for Israel’s Offshore Field - NATURAL GAS INTEL

August 2, 2019
Tim Daiss

Partners in the Noble Energy Inc.-operated Leviathan project offshore Israel are considering a floating liquified natural gas (FLNG) vessel to enable exports from the massive natural gas field.

Delek Group and Houston-based Noble are negotiating with Golar LNG Ltd. and Exmar NV for a binding long-term charter agreement to finance, build, operate and maintain the facility in Israel’s exclusive economic zone.

Noble two weeks ago said it was only months away from delivering commercial gas from the field, with sales scheduled to start by the end of the year. The company expects to sell an average of 800 MMcf/d from Leviathan in 2020.

An FLNG facility would allow liquefaction capacity of 2.4-5 million metric tons/year. Processed gas could be piped from the Leviathan production platform to the FLNG facility offshore Israel, where it would be liquefied and transferred to LNG vessels.

Cyprus’ gas export future uncertain, despite discoveries - OFFSHORE MAGAZINE

Jun 3rd, 2019

LONDON – Exploration to date offshore southern Cyprus has proven around 11 tcf of recoverable gas, according to Wood Mackenzie.

Whether the discoveries can be commercialized remains to be seen, said Robert Morris, senior analyst: Caspian and Europe Upstream Oil and Gas.

Cyprus has no domestic gas market only limited potential for development, he pointed out, but there are options for exporting the gas.

One would be through Egypt’s under-used liquefied natural gas (LNG) export infrastructure to the south. This would offer the lowest cost with the fastest time to market and potentially the best netbacks.

But Egypt’s own recent offshore gas finds, including the giant deepwater Zohr field, mean that the LNG facilities are getting busier. This means the earliest for significant spare capacity for Cypriot gas could be 2025 – further if Egypt’s run of successes continue.

Tough choices: how to monetise Cyprus’ gas - CYPRUS MAIL

ENI's Carlo Vito Russo and Alessandro Barberis with Energy Minister
Giorgos Lakkotrypis at the seminar

MARCH 10, 2019

Charles Ellinas

Should Cyprus pipe gas to Egypt or build a LNG plant at Vasiliko?

The future of Cyprus’ and the East Med’s gas discoveries was one of the key aims of the annual East Med Gas Conference (EMGC) held in Nicosia this week.

Organised by the US Gulf Energy Information, the conference was well attended, with a rich programme covering the state of the East Med, challenges in exploration and production of the region’s resources, energy security and Cyprus as an oil and gas service centre.

The conference was opened by Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis, who gave an overview of the results from block 10 and future plans. He said that Glafcos, the results of which were announced last week, is a high quality reservoir, with in-place gas estimated to be 5-8 trillion cubic feet (tcf), with recoverability expected to be high.

Upbeat vision of gas future in wake of block 10 find - CYPRUS MAIL

Energy minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis addressing the seminar

March 6, 2019

The gas find in Glafcos (Glaucus) 1 well in Block 10 of the island’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is expected to yield large revenues, the energy minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Sixth Eastern Mediterranean Gas Conference in Nicosia, Lakkotrypis said in the coming weeks further work to confirm the ExxonMobil discovery, which was announced on 28 February to be between 5-8 trillion cubic feet (tcf), will be necessary.

Further discoveries in the Calypso well in Block 6 and in the Aphrodite well in Block 12 serve to paint an overall picture of the potential within the Cyprus EEZ, Lakkotrypis added.

Around five more drillings are expected to take place in the coming period with energy companies ENI and Total, he said, to confirm the natural gas stocks of the Calypso well and reassessing the capacity of Block 10.

Regarding the utilisation of the gas finds, he said that an announcement for Aphrodite is expected within weeks concerning the use of Egyptian terminals.

LNG back in the limelight - CYPRUS MAIL

AUGUST 12, 2018
Charles Ellinas

With Noble, Delek and Shell requesting to renegotiate their Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with Cyprus, and particularly the formula for sharing potential profits, LNG is back in the limelight in Cyprus. But how is LNG faring in a world with a glut of energy supplies, brought about by the inexorable increase in renewable energy?

This was the subject of recently released Global Annual Reports by the International Group of LNG Importers (GIIGNL) and the International Gas Union (IGU) on the performance of the LNG industry in 2017, and they make a very interesting reading.

Global LNG imports in 2017 recorded their highest annual growth rate since 2010, at 9.9 per cent, reaching 289.8 million tonnes. New liquefaction capacity continued to come online in various areas of the world ranging from the US to Australia, Malaysia and Russia, leading to a 26.2 million tonnes/yr increase in LNG supply compared with 2016.

Expectations of an LNG surplus did not materialise, as, among other factors, rising imports into China contributed substantially to balance the market.

Key conclusions are:

The real prospects of East Med Gas - IN CYPRUS / CYPRUS WEEKLY

March 19, 2017
Charles Ellinas

This was the subject of a very successful conference – EMGC 2017 – held in Nicosia over March 14-15 and attended by leading experts and delegates from 25 countries.

The conference was organised by Gulf-Publishing Company Houston. Its focus was the East Med gas industry and its development, concentrating on markets, project development, gas monetisation, investment and gas trading, avoiding local politics. In other words the conference covered all the key issues that affect the future development of East Med gas resources. I examine and analyse these in this article.

Good news but realism should prevail - IN CYPRUS / CYPRUS WEEKLY

March 12, 2017
Charles Ellinas

The long-awaited confirmation of Cyprus’ third licensing round awards was made on Tuesday, March 7. As expected, these awards were as follows:

Block 6: ENI-Total consortium
Block 8: ENI
Block 10: ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum

The signature bonus to be paid to the government totals €103.5 million.
This was good news and a successful conclusion to a bidding round that saw three of the world’s oil and gas majors committing to Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The signature of the Production Sharing Agreements is expected by the end of March.

The other equally important news was confirmation that ENI and Total have agreed to extend their cooperation in Block 11 on a 50:50 basis, with Total as the operator. The farm-in deal has been approved by Cyprus’ Council of Ministers.

In the following I analyse these developments and their implications for Cyprus and the region.

Total SA: A solid performance - IN CYPRUS / CYPRUS WEEKELY

January 22, 2017

Dr. Charles Ellinas

During the oil price decline of the last two years, the one integrated major oil and gas company that has stood out as the most resilient and best-performing has been Total SA.

Total is about to start drilling in Block 11, with hopeful indications, and has been selected with ENI during the 3rd licensing round for the award of Block 6 – clearly an important player in the development of Cyprus’ hydrocarbons. In this article I have described the company, its performance and plans, and what these mean for Cyprus.

The future of East Med gas - IN CYPRUS / CYPRUS WEEKLY

November 26, 2016

Charles Ellinas

The future of East Med gas was the subject of a conference in Nicosia. It was organised by the Atlantic Council, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Istituto Affari Internazionali, PRIO and Strata Insight.

The conference considered both the global realities and trends, in terms of energy supplies, supply security, markets, demand trends, prices, availability of financing for projects, new technologies, but also geopolitical factors and risks.

The aim was to discuss how these have so far influenced offshore gas field development in the East Med, and how they will do so in the future.

The state of the global oil and gas markets and prices and where these are going and their impact are key issues for the development of East Med gas.

Cyprus gas via Turkey the most viable option, experts say - CYPRUS MAIL

November 21, 2016
Elias Hazou

Transporting natural gas to Turkey from Israel and Cyprus seems to be under current market conditions the most viable option, but not without geopolitical risks, experts said on Monday at a conference titled ‘The Future of Eastern Mediterranean Gas’.

The conference, the fourth in a series on energy in the eastern Mediterranean, was organised by the Prio Cyprus Centre, in collaboration with the Atlantic Council, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Cyprus and Istituto Affari Internazionali and Strata Insight.

Charles Ellinas, non-resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council, said that in the long term the transport of natural gas through a floating LNG (FLNG) plant is a serious option, since options such as exporting gas to Europe through Egypt, through the mooted East Med pipeline or through Turkey, seem not to be viable because of low prices internationally.

Israel-Turkish pipeline hinges on Cyprus issue solution - NEW EUROPE

OCTOBER 28, 2016 00:04 
Kostis Geropoulos

Gazprom strives to secure its market in Turkey, fighting against additional Azeri, Iranian, Kurdish or East Mediterranean gas.

ATHENS – The rapprochement between Tel Aviv and Ankara will give fresh impetus to a pipeline from Israel to Turkey, experts told New Europe in Athens on October 25.

During a meeting of Israel’s Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz and his Turkish counterpart Berat Albaryrak at the World Energy Council in Istanbul on October 13, Tel Aviv and Ankara agreed to examine the feasibility of the pipeline.

FLNG for the East Med? - IN CYPRUS / CYPRUS WEEKLY

September 17, 2016, By Charles Ellinas

East Med has high gas potential but gas finds are deep-water and expensive to develop. On top of this, there are regional markets but with finite demand. As a result, there is an increasing need to export to global markets. This applies even more so to Cyprus. That’s where Floating LNG (FLNG) comes into the picture.

This was the key topic of a recent international conference in London, during which I made a presentation on potential developments in FLNG in the East Med.

Cyprus and Israel lack gas export infrastructure. They are also fast running out of export options. That’s why FLNG is coming back into the equation.

Only two options for Cyprus gas: Turkey or FLNG - IN CYPRUS / CYPRUS WEEKLY

24/04/2016
By George Telaveris

The government has received the draft gas field development plan for the Aphrodite field in Block 12 from Noble Energy and its partners, but it is now an open secret that unless Cyprus clinches a deal with a potential buyer, the plan will remain on paper.

Negotiations to sell part of the estimated 4.54 trillion cubic feet (tcf) in Block 12 to Egypt were seriously undermined following the discovery of the Zohr supergiant gas field by Eni in Egyptian waters last August.

“Selling gas for domestic consumption in Egypt is not really a possibility for Cyprus, as Egypt will be able to cover its needs by 2020,” hydrocarbons business consultant Charles Ellinas told the Cyprus Weekly.

The gas find in Zohr is estimated at 30 tcf or 850 billion cubic metres. All of it will be allocated to cover the Egyptian domestic market.