Natural gas in Israel

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Noa natural gas field, offshore Ashkelon

Natural gas in Israel is a primary energy source in Israel, mainly utilized for electricity production and to lesser degree in industry. Israel began producing natural gas from its own offshore gas fields in 2004. Between 2005 and 2012, Israel had imported gas from Egypt via the al-Arish-Ashkelon pipeline, which was terminated due to Egyptian Crisis of 2011-14. As of 2017, Israel produced over 9 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas a year. [1] Israel had 1,087 billion cubic meters (cu m) of proven reserves of natural gas as of 2022. [2] In early 2017, Israel began exporting natural gas to the Kingdom of Jordan.

Contents

History

Israeli natural gas lines network map Israel Natural Gas Lines Map EN.svg
Israeli natural gas lines network map
Consumption of fossil fuel energy sources in Israel since 1980. Coal consumption rose steadily since 1980 when it was negligible. Natural gas consumption was nearly zero in 2003 and has risen steadily since. Fossil fuel consumption in Israel.svg
Consumption of fossil fuel energy sources in Israel since 1980. Coal consumption rose steadily since 1980 when it was negligible. Natural gas consumption was nearly zero in 2003 and has risen steadily since.

Historically, Israel relied on external imports for meeting most of its energy needs, spending an amount equivalent to over 5% of its GDP per year in 2009 on imports of energy products. [3] The transportation sector relies mainly on gasoline and diesel fuel, while the majority of electricity production is generated using imported coal. As of 2013, Israel was importing about 100 million barrels of oil per year. [4] The country possesses negligible reserves of crude oil but does have abundant domestic natural gas resources which were discovered in large quantities starting in 2009, after many decades of previously unsuccessful exploration. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Until the early 2000s, natural gas use in Israel was minimal. In the late 1990s, the government of Israel decided to encourage the usage of natural gas because of environmental, cost, and resource diversification reasons. At the time however, there were no domestic sources of natural gas and the expectation was that gas would be supplied from overseas in the form of LNG and by a future pipeline from Egypt (which eventually became the Arish–Ashkelon pipeline). Plans were made for the Israel Electric Corporation to construct several gas-driven power plants, for erecting a national gas distribution grid, and for an LNG import terminal. Soon thereafter, gas began to be located within Israeli territory, first in modest amounts and a decade later in very large quantities located in deep water off the Israeli coastline. This has greatly intensified the utilization of natural gas within the Israeli economy, especially in the electrical generation and industrial sectors, with consumption growing from an annual average of 9,900,000 m3 (350×10^6 cu ft) between 2000 and 2002 to 3.7×109 m3 (129×10^9 cu ft) in 2010. [6]

In 2023 Cyprus and Israel were working on a deal to create a natural gas pipeline between the two countries, whereas Israeli natural gas would be liquified and exported to Europe. The American energy company Chevron is reportedly interested in the potential pipeline, which would be 320-kilometer (200-mile) in length and estimated to cost 450 million euros ($489 million), while the liquefaction plant would cost 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion). [10] [11] The pipeline would take about two and a half years to build. [12]

Natural Gas Usage in Israel [13] [14]
2004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
1.21.62.32.73.74.25.252.66.97.68.49.710.311.111.3
Figures are in Billion Cubic Meters (BCM) per year

Discoveries in the 2000s

Proved reserves of natural gas in Israel Israel Proved Gas Reserves.png
Proved reserves of natural gas in Israel
Production of natural gas in Israel, 1980-2012 (US Energy Information Administration) Israel Gas Production.png
Production of natural gas in Israel, 1980-2012 (US Energy Information Administration)

In 2000, a modest discovery was made when a 33-billion-cubic-metre (BCM), or 1,200-billion-cubic-foot, natural-gas field was located offshore Ashkelon, with commercial production starting in 2004. As of 2014 however, this field is nearly depleted—earlier than expected due to increased pumping to partially compensate for the loss of imported Egyptian gas in the wake of unrest associated with the fall of the Mubarak regime in 2011. In 2009, a significant gas find named Tamar, with proven reserves of 223 BCM or 7.9×10^12 cu ft (307 BCM total proven + probable) was located in deep water approximately 90 km (60 mi) west of Haifa, as well as a smaller 15 BCM (530×10^9 cu ft) field situated nearer the coastline. [15] [16] [17] [18] Furthermore, results of 3D seismic surveys and test drilling conducted since 2010 have confirmed that an estimated 621 BCM (21.9×10^12 cu ft) natural-gas deposit exists in a large underwater geological formation nearby the large gas field already discovered in 2009. [19] [20] [21] [22] The US Energy Information Administration listed Israel as having 6.2 trillion cubic feet of proved reserves as of 1 January 2015. [23]

The discoveries of natural gas confirmed that the Levant basin of the Eastern Mediterranean contains significant quantities of natural gas. Consequently, additional exploration for gas off Israel's coastline is continuing. [8] [24] In early 2012 the Israeli cabinet announced plans to set up a sovereign wealth fund (called "the Israeli Citizens' Fund") that would allocate part of the royalties from energy exploration to education, defense and overseas investments. [25]

The Tamar field began commercial production on 30 March 2013 after four years of extensive development works. [26] The supply of gas from Tamar is expected to provide a boost to the Israeli economy, which has suffered losses of more than NIS20 billion between 2011 and 2013 resulting from the disruption of gas supplies from neighboring Egypt (and which are not expected to resume due to Egypt's decision to indefinitely suspend its gas supply agreement to Israel). [27] [28] As a result, Israel, as well as its other neighbor Jordan, which also suffered from disruption of gas deliveries from Egypt, had to resort to importing significantly more expensive and polluting liquid heavy fuels as substitute sources of energy. The ensuing energy crisis in Israel was lifted once the Tamar field came online in 2013, while Jordan committed to a US$10 billion, 15-year gas supply deal totaling 45 BCM from the Israeli Leviathan field, which came online in late 2019. [29] The agreement is estimated to save Jordan US$600 million per year in energy costs. [30]

In 2018, the owners of the Tamar and Leviathan fields announced that they are negotiating an agreement with a consortium of Egyptian firms, subject to regulatory approval in both countries, for the supply of up to 64 BCM of gas over 10 years valued at up to US$15 billion. Although Egypt has been making strides in developing new gas fields in recent years to help it meet rising domestic demand, it also has idle LNG exporting capacity and the deal has the potential to help make it an important regional gas export hub. [31] [32]

In late October 2022, Energean started gas production from the Karish field. [33] In late November 2022 Energean announced a new commercial natural gas discovery of 13 billion cubic meters off the shore of Israel as a result of its exploratory drilling well dubbed Zeus. [34]

Field [35] DiscoveredProductionEstimated size
Noa North19992012 to 201450 billion cubic feet; field depleted [36]
Mari-B20002004 to 20151 trillion cubic feet; field depleted [37] [38]
Tamar 2009201310.8 trillion cubic feet [18]
Dalit2009Not in production700 billion cubic feet [39]
Leviathan 2010201922 trillion cubic feet [40]
Dolphin2011Not in production81.3 billion cubic feet [41]
Tanin 2012Not in production1.2–1.3 trillion cubic feet [42]
Karish 201320222.3–3.6 trillion cubic feet [43]
Zeus2022Not in production13 billion cubic meters [44]
Athena2022Not in production11.75 billion cubic meters [45]
Hermes2022Not in production15 billion cubic meters [46]
Katlan2022Not in production68 billion cubic meters [47] [48]

Power stations

List of Natural gas-fired power stations in Israel:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of Israel</span>

The economy of Israel is a highly developed free-market economy. The prosperity of Israel's advanced economy allows the country to have a sophisticated welfare state, a powerful modern military said to possess a nuclear-weapons capability with a full nuclear triad, modern infrastructure rivaling many Western countries, and a high-technology sector competitively on par with Silicon Valley. It has the second-largest number of startup companies in the world after the United States, and the third-largest number of NASDAQ-listed companies after the U.S. and China. American companies, such as Intel, Microsoft, and Apple, built their first overseas research and development facilities in Israel. More than 400 high-tech multi-national corporations, such as IBM, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems, Facebook and Motorola have opened R&D centers throughout the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arab Gas Pipeline</span> Natural gas pipeline

The Arab Gas Pipeline is a natural gas pipeline in the Middle East. It originates near Arish in the Sinai Peninsula and was built to export Egyptian natural gas to Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, with branch underwater and overland pipelines to and from Israel. It has a total length of 1,200 kilometres (750 mi), constructed at a cost of US$1.2 billion.

Peak gas is the point in time when the maximum global natural gas production rate will be reached, after which the rate of production will enter its terminal decline. Although demand is peaking in the United States and Europe, it continues to rise globally due to consumers in Asia, especially China. Natural gas is a fossil fuel formed from plant matter over the course of millions of years. Natural gas derived from fossil fuels is a non-renewable energy source; however, methane can be renewable in other forms such as biogas. Peak coal was in 2013, and peak oil is forecast to occur before peak gas. One forecast is for natural gas demand to peak in 2035.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delek Group</span> Israeli conglomerate

Delek Group is an Israeli holding conglomerate mainly operating in the petroleum industry. Delek Group's largest subsidiary is Delek – The Israel Fuel Corporation, one of the largest chains of filling stations in Israel. Delek Group also owns E&P operations across the Levant, in the North Sea and in the Gulf of Mexico. Beyond the oil industry, it also owns coffeehouse chain Café Joe as well as 70% of the Israeli franchisee of Burger King.

The Tamar gas field is a natural gas field in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel. The field is located in Israel's exclusive economic zone, roughly 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of Haifa in waters 1,700 metres (5,600 ft) deep. The Tamar field is considered to have proven reserves of 200 billion cubic metres of natural gas, while the adjoining Tamar South field has 23 billion cubic metres. Together, they may have an additional 84 BCM of "probable" reserves and up to 49 BCM of "possible" reserves. At the time of discovery, Tamar was the largest find of gas or oil in the Levant basin of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and the largest discovery by Noble Energy. Since Tamar's discovery, large gas discoveries have been made in other analogous geological formations dating back to the Oligocene–Miocene epoch in the Levant basin. Because Tamar was the first such discovery, these gas containing presalt formations have become collectively known as Tamar sands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Energy in Egypt</span>

This article describes the energy and electricity production, consumption and import in Egypt.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natural gas in Romania</span>

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The Leviathan gas field is a large natural gas field in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel, 47 kilometres (29 mi) south-west of the Tamar gas field. The gas field is roughly 130 kilometres (81 mi) west of Haifa in waters 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) deep in the Levantine basin, a rich hydrocarbon area in one of the largest offshore natural gas field finds. According to some commentators, the gas find has the potential to change Israel's foreign relations with neighboring countries, including Turkey, and Egypt. Together with the nearby Tamar gas field, the Leviathan field is seen as an opportunity for Israel to achieve energy independence in the Middle East.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Energy in Jordan</span>

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The Karish gas field is an Israeli natural gas field located in the Eastern Mediterranean. It lies in proximity to the significantly larger Leviathan and Tamar gas fields. The field was initially allocated to a consortium of companies including Noble Energy and Delek, but due to their monopolistic position in the Israeli market, Delek and Noble were forced by regulators to sell their rights in the field. As a result, the two companies sold Karish and the adjacent Tanin gas field to the Greek oil company Energean in 2016 for $150 million. The Karish and Tanin gas fields together are estimated to hold 2–3 trillion cubic feet of gas.

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