Israel approves $35 bil Egypt gas export deal - S&P Global

December 18, 2025
Matt Hoisch

The Israeli government has approved the previously-announced $35 billion agreement to expand gas exports from the country's Leviathan offshore gas field to Egypt, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Dec. 17, in what he described as "the largest gas deal in Israel's history."

"This deal greatly strengthens Israel's status as a regional energy power and contributes to stability in our region," he said while addressing the country. "It encourages other companies to invest in gas exploration in Israel's economic waters."

The agreement will see some 130 Bcm of gas flow to existing Leviathan offtaker Blue Ocean Energy to 2040 "or until all contract quantities are fulfilled," according to statements from NewMed Energy, one of the partners in the Leviathan field.

It will replace an existing export agreement due to end in the early 2030s.

Israel's Leviathan signs $35 billion natural gas supply deal with Egypt - REUTERS

August 7, 20253:38 PM GMT+3

Steven Scheer and Marwa Rashad

JERUSALEM/LONDON, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Israel's Leviathan natural gas field has signed the largest export agreement in the country's history, worth up to $35 billion to supply gas to Egypt, NewMed , one of the partners in the field, said on Thursday.

The deal should ease an energy crisis in Egypt, which has spent billions of dollars on importing liquefied natural gas since its own supplies fell short of demand.

Egypt's production began declining in 2022, forcing it to abandon its ambitions to become a regional supply hub. It has increasingly turned to Israel to make up the shortfall.

Exports from Leviathan were halted during a 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June for security reasons, but have since resumed.

Under the deal announced on Thursday, Leviathan, off Israel's Mediterranean coast, with reserves of some 600 billion cubic metres, will sell about 130 bcm of gas to Egypt through 2040, or until all of the contract quantities are fulfilled.

The gas is pumped via pipelines, which makes it cheaper than LNG, the cost of which is inflated by the super-cooling required to make it a liquid that can be transported by ship and regasifying it when it reaches its destination.

"It's much, much, much, much better, like dramatically better, than any LNG alternative, and it will save billions of dollars to the Egyptian economy," NewMed CEO Yossi Abu told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

Leviathan partners in Israel to invest $568 mln in third gas pipeline - REUTERS

Sun, July 2, 2023 at 9:52 AM GMT+3

JERUSALEM, July 2 (Reuters) - Partners in the Israeli offshore gas project Leviathan said on Sunday they would invest $568 million to build a third pipeline that will allow increased natural gas production and exports.

Leviathan, a deep-sea field with huge deposits, came online at the end of 2019 and produces 12 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year for sale to Israel, Egypt and Jordan. The idea is to boost capacity to include sizeable volumes for Europe as it seeks to reduce dependence on Russian energy.

The new pipeline will connect the well with a production facility some 10 km off Israel's Mediterranean shore. It is due to come online in the second half of 2025, when production at Leviathan will jump to 14 bcm a year, the companies said.

Israel’s NewMed and partners to connect the Aphrodite gas field off Cyprus to Egypt - THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

31 May 2023, 3:02 pm
Sharon Wrobel

Partners in the Aphrodite natural gas field offshore Cyprus, which include Israel’s NewMed Energy, announced on Wednesday that they were seeking approval from the Cypriot government to build a subsea pipeline that will connect the field to an existing processing and production facility in Egypt.

Israel’s NewMed Energy, formerly Delek Drilling (part of Yitzhak Tshuva’s Delek Group), which owns a 30% stake in the Aphrodite field located in Cypriot waters, said it had presented the Cypriot government with an updated plan for the development of the reservoir, including natural gas processing and production. For this purpose, the Aphrodite partners met with the Cypriot energy minister on Monday to discuss the progress of the development of the reservoir.

The other partners in the Aphrodite gas field, which holds an estimated 124 billion cubic meters of gas, are US energy giant Chevron and Shell, which each own a 35% share.

EXCLUSIVE Israel considering new pipeline to boost gas exports to Egypt - REUTERS

October 21, 2021 4:14 PM EEST

By Ron Bousso and Ari Rabinovitch

• Israel, Egypt holding talks on new onshore pipeline -ministry
• New pipeline expected to cost $200 mln -industry sources
• Pipeline will boost exports by 3 to 5 bcm/year -industry sources

LONDON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Israel is considering the construction of a new onshore pipeline to Egypt in order to quickly boost natural gas exports to its neighbour in the wake of the recent tightening of global supplies, the Israeli energy ministry said.

The pipeline, which will connect the Israeli and Egyptian natural gas grids through the north of the Sinai peninsula, is estimated to cost around $200 million and could be operational within 24 months, industry sources who are close to the discussions told Reuters.

UAE-Israel Ties Deepen as Mubadala Buys Gas Stake for $1 Billion - BLOOMBERG

September 2, 2021, 1:51 PM GMT+3
Alisa Odenheimer

• Delek Drilling will sell 22% stake in Tamar field off Israel
• Deal is biggest since UAE and Israel normalized ties last year

Delek Drilling LP agreed to sell a stake in a natural-gas field to Mubadala Investment Co. for $1 billion, marking the biggest deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates since they normalized ties last year.

Tel Aviv-based Delek’s shares jumped after it said it would sell its 22% stake in the Tamar offshore field to Mubadala, an Abu Dhabi wealth fund with $243 billion of assets. The stock rose 4.8% to 5.02 shekels by 1.48 p.m. in Tel Aviv.

Delek’s Sale of East Med Stake to Mubadala Petroleum Hailed as First Fruits of Abraham Accords - JOURNALOF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY

April 28, 2021
Pat Davis Szymczak

Israel’s Delek Drilling is selling its 22% nonoperated stake in the Tamar gas field offshore Israel to Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Petroleum for up to $1.1 billion in what would be, if finalized, the largest commercial agreement since Israel and the UAE signed the Abraham Accords Peace Agreement in August 2020.

Delek announced Tuesday it had signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Mubadala Petroleum, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi government-owned Mubadala Investment Co. Delek said Mubadala would pay up to $1.1 billion for the stake,

Delek CEO Yossi Abu said the sale has “the potential to be another major development in our ongoing vision for natural gas commercial strategic alignment in the Middle East, whereby natural gas becomes a source of collaboration in the region.

“We are proud to have signed this MOU following the Abraham Accords Peace Agreement between Israel and the UAE,” Abu said, adding that he “would like to thank my counterparty at Mubadala Petroleum and our clients in Israel, Egypt, and Jordan.”

Chevron eyes subsea pipelines to send Israeli gas to Egypt - WORLD OIL / BLOOMBERG

JAN/20/2021

Yaacov Benmeleh

(Bloomberg) --Chevron and other companies helping to develop Israel’s natural gas fields will invest around $235 million in pipelines to export the fuel to Egypt.

The partners in the Leviathan and Tamar fields, which sit off Israel’s Mediterranean coast, signed an agreement under which Israel Natural Gas Lines Ltd. will lay a new subsea pipeline and expand some of its existing ones, according to a statement Tuesday from Delek Drilling LP, a shareholder in both reservoirs.

INGL will build a pipeline between the Israeli coastal cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon, close to the border of the Gaza Strip. Along with the expansion of other lines, it will enable the partners to send as much as 7 billion cubic meters of gas annually to Egypt, Delek said.

The new route will cost 738 million shekels ($228 million) and the expansion work about 27 million shekels, Delek said. The gas firms will pay for 56% of the new pipeline and provide guarantees on the funding that INGL takes on to cover the rest.

Delek expects Leviathan expansion investment decision in 2020 - REUTERS

FEBRUARY 3, 2020 / 1:58 PM

Steven Scheer, Ari Rabinovitch

TEL AVIV, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Israel’s Delek Drilling expects a final investment decision this year on expanding exports from the Leviathan gas field using either an LNG facility in Egypt or a floating terminal, its CEO said on Monday.

The offshore Leviathan project came online a month ago and is already supplying Egypt and Jordan with natural gas. The project is led by partners Delek Drilling, a unit of Delek Group , and Texas-based Noble Energy.

Delek Drilling CEO Yossi Abu told a conference of investors that in order to further develop Leviathan, his company was in talks with banks about securing $2.5 billion in long-term funding, either through bank financing or bonds.

Despite pollution fears, gas flow begins from behemoth Leviathan field - THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

The Environmental Protection Ministry said Monday that Noble Energy and its partners had met all the necessary conditions to begin pumping gas, paving the way for the rigs to begin extracting the estimated 22 trillion cubic feet of gas trapped underground.

Early Tuesday morning Noble began a gas rig test that is necessary ahead of starting operations, and later that morning the partners in Leviathan announced the start of natural gas production from the reservoir, the largest energy project in Israel’s history.

The first gas will reach Israel’s shores via the pipes within 24 to 48 hours from the start of production, the companies estimated.

Israel-Egypt gas pipeline deal seen imminent - REUTERS

NOVEMBER 3, 2019 / 11:32 AM
Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A deal that would transfer control of a natural gas pipeline between Israel and Egypt is expected to be closed in the next few days, the companies said on Sunday.

Texas-based Noble Energy (NBL.N), Israel’s Delek Drilling (DEDRp.TA) and Egyptian East Gas Co have partnered in a venture called EMED, which last year agreed to buy a 39% stake in the subsea EMG pipeline for $518 million that will carry Israeli gas exports to Egypt.

In a regulatory filing in Tel Aviv, Delek said the shares have already been transferred to the buyers while the funds are currently being held in a trust. It noted that no closing conditions remained.

“Upon the transfer of the full amount of the consideration to the sellers, which is expected to be performed in the coming days, the EMG transaction will be closed in practice,” Delek said.

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.

EastMed gas: Paving the way for a new geopolitical era? - DW

24.JUNE.2019

Sergio Matalucci

The East Mediterranean gas project is often described as an explosive geopolitical initiative that's not without a number of hidden agendas. Sergio Matalucci looks at what's behind the current debates in the region.

Opening the newspapers in Cyprus these days, gas developments pop out as a priority issue. It is one of the most discussed topics in the media and by the local population. There are a number of reasons for this — on economic, political and security levels.

On June 5, the Cypriot government said it has reached a production sharing agreement (PSA) for the development of the Aphrodite field, claimed to be worth a staggering $9.5 billion (€8.35 billion), which is over $11,000 per citizen.

"Enough deals with other countries are marginalizing Turkey from the eastern Mediterranean. They are legal, unlike Turkish actions, but because of Turkey's reactions tensions arise," Zenonas Tziarras, a researcher with the Peace Research Institute Oslo, told DW from his office in Nicosia, located less than 200 meters (656 feet) from the Ledras-Lokmaci checkpoint, which divides the northern and southern parts of the city.

"Cypriot people need hope because they feel weak. They don't have the means to react to Turkish actions or to the results of the 1974 invasion. The natural gas and regional synergies provide some of that hope," added Tziarras.

Tests under way to flow Israeli gas via EMG pipeline to Egypt: source - PLATTS

13 Jun 2019 | 10:52 UTC
Stuart Elliott, Editor: Alisdair Bowles 

London - Tests to flow Israeli gas through the East Mediterranean Gas (EMG) pipeline to Egypt are now under way and are expected to be concluded at the end of this month ahead of the startup of significant exports later in the year, an industry source told S&P Global Platts Thursday.

US-based producer Noble Energy and its Israeli partner Delek Drilling -- together with Egyptian-owned Sphinx EG -- in September last year agreed to buy a 39% stake in the idled EMG pipeline for $518 million as part of plans to use the pipeline in reverse for Israeli gas to flow to Egypt.

"Tests are under way and are on track to be completed as scheduled by the end of June. Once that is done, gas from the Tamar field can start to flow through the EMG pipeline on an interruptible basis," the source said.

Noble could not be reached for comment, while Delek Drilling declined to comment.

The pipeline -- which runs for 90 km off the Israeli and Egyptian coasts -- connects the Israel pipeline network from Ashkelon to the Egyptian pipeline network near El Arish.

It started operations in 2008 to flow Egyptian gas to Israel until 2012 when operations were halted as Egypt's gas production began to decline after the Arab Spring the previous year.

Israeli Gas Partners in Talks to Boost Supply to Egypt - BLOOMBERG

March 26, 2019, 3:51 PM GMT+2
Yaacov Benmeleh

• Delek CEO was recently in Cairo to discuss new gas quantities
• Shares of Delek climb the most in nearly 3 months on the news

The companies developing Israel’s largest natural gas field are in discussions to increase the amount of supply to Egypt beyond the $15 billion deal inked last year. Shares of Israeli gas stocks rose.

Executives at Delek Drilling LP, the majority shareholder in the Leviathan reservoir, have been in Cairo in recent weeks to discuss how to boost quantities for Egypt’s domestic consumption, Chief Executive Officer Yossi Abu said Tuesday at an investor conference in Tel Aviv. Delek and its partners Noble Energy Inc. and Ratio Oil Exploration 1992 LP are examining ways to increase the field’s capacity to meet an expected increase in Egyptian demand, he said.

Israeli Gas Exports to Egypt Will Initially Flow Through pan-Arab Pipeline - HAARETZ / REUTERS

Nov 20, 2018 4:19 AM

Ora Coren

When exports of Israeli natural gas to Egypt being sometime in the first half of next year, they won’t be going through the EMG pipeline in Sinai but through Israel’s domestic network and then on to the so-called pan-Arab pipeline.

Yossi Abu, chief executive of Delek Drilling, a partner in the two Israeli gas fields that will be selling energy to Egypt, said the EMG pipeline would only be used at a later stage. Later still, he said, gas from Israel’s Tamar and Leviathan fields would be delivered directly to EMG, thereby avoiding the Israeli domestic pipeline network altogether.

Speaking at an energy conference, Abu expressed optimism regarding exports not only to Egypt but to elsewhere in the region. Apart from exports to Egypt, he said the pipeline between Israel and Jordan would begin pumping in May or June next year and be fully operational by the end of 2019, ahead of schedule.

“We’ve succeeded in opening up the Egyptian economy, but that’s just the start,” Abu said. “There’s a lot to do on a regional level and that way become a global player.”

Abu spoke as Ron Adam, a Foreign Ministry official, told the conference that a decision on a Mediterranean gas pipeline linking Israel to Italy via Cyprus and Greece would be made next year after a market survey was completed.

If the survey reveals there is demand from European customers, the projected 2,100-kilometer, 25-billion-shekel ($6.75 billion) pipeline would come on line in 2025. An agreement between all the countries involved is expected to be signed at the end of the month.

Israel looks to new Arab allies to export gas in volatile region - FINANCIAL TIMES

Jerusalem, 13 November 2018
Mehul Srivastava 

Netanyahu seizes on natural gas to turn Egypt and Jordan into economic partners

When Yuval Steinitz was doing his military service in the Israeli army, Egypt was an enemy and Israel lived in fear of having its oil supplies choked off by Arab rivals. But in recent years, as Israel’s energy minister, Mr Steinitz, 56, found himself in hush-hush meetings with Egyptian officials.

On the agenda: Israel’s gas conundrum. Since the late 1990s, it has discovered huge natural gas reserves off its coast. The initial finds allowed the tiny nation to wean itself off some energy imports, but additional discoveries — which could fuel Israel for 50 years, according to some estimates — have unlocked the potential for exports. “This was unthinkable just a decade or two ago,” Mr Steinitz told the Financial Times.

His problem is getting the gas out of an often hostile neighbourhood. Israel’s long-term goal is to fuel energy-hungry nations in Europe. But in the meantime Mr Steinitz has helped smooth a lucrative place holder agreement with Egypt — which has had a peace treaty with Israel since 1979.

Partners sign deal to export $15 billion in Israeli natgas to Egypt - REUTERS

FEBRUARY 19, 2018 / 2:42 PMReporting by Tova Cohen and Ari Rabinovitch

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - The partners in Israel’s Tamar and Leviathan natural gas fields have signed 10-year agreements to sell $15 billion worth of natural gas to Egyptian company Dolphinus, Delek Drilling said on Monday.

Various possibilities for transmission of the gas to Egypt are being examined, including use of the East Mediterranean Gas pipeline. Delek Drilling and its partner, Texas-based Noble Energy, intend to begin negotiations with EMG for the use of the pipeline to Egypt, Delek said in a statement.

Future direction of Israel and East Med energy - CYPRUS MAIL

December 24, 2017

Charles Ellinas

Israel’s energy and its direction was the subject of a recent two-day conference in Tel Aviv. It examined the international, regional and Israeli energy markets, development of oil&gas resources, regional gas exports and cooperation, business opportunities, investment and finance and price impact.

The keynote speech was given by Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s energy minister, who made a commitment that coal-fired power generation will be phased-out by 2030, creating more opportunities for natural gas and renewables. This, he said, will lead to natural gas taking an 80 per cent share of the electricity generation market by 2030. He was confident that these developments will succeed and will transform Israel’s energy sector over the next twelve years.

Amit Mor, CEO of ECO Energy and the organiser of the conference, opened the proceedings with a review of global trends and their impact on energy sources and prices, the Israeli and international energy market, and expanded on the question: where is the Israeli energy sector going? He concluded that natural gas and renewables will enhance Israel’s energy and environmental security.

Gazprom and Delek sign Memorandum to cooperate in Israeli NGV market - GAZPROM

October 2, 2017, 15:00

Gazprom and Delek Drilling LP signed a Memorandum of Understanding. According to the document, the parties will jointly examine the possibilities of using natural gas as a fuel for vehicles (road, rail and water transport) and special equipment (agricultural, material-handling and other equipment) in Israel.

The Memorandum was signed pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding inked on June 7, 2016, between the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources of the State of Israel. The document provides for the establishment of a joint working group.