Chevron suspends work on expansion of Leviathan gas field due to the escalating war
Operator of Israel’s offshore reservoir halts infrastructure plans until April 2025; construction was intended to boost production for export and domestic supply
Sharon Wrobel is a tech reporter for The Times of Israel
US energy giant Chevron, which operates Israel’s Leviathan gas fields off the Mediterranean coast, has decided to temporarily halt planned infrastructure work for expanding the reservoir amid intensified fighting and fears over rocket or missile strikes.
NewMed Energy, formerly Delek Drilling (part of Yitzhak Tshuva’s Delek Group), which owns a 45.3% stake in Leviathan, said Chevron informed the partners in the field that plans for the laying of an underwater transmission pipeline were suspended until April 2025 because of the worsening security situation.
The decision comes days after Iran attacked Israel with some 200 ballistic missiles and the Israeli military said that it planned a “serious and significant” response, with calls being heard to attack the Islamic Republic’s energy facilities. The escalation in the conflict comes a year after Iran-backed terror group Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages and triggering war in Gaza.
Leviathan, one of the world’s largest deep-water gas discoveries, contains an estimated 22 trillion cubic feet of gas located approximately 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of the port city of Haifa at a water depth of 1.7 kilometers (1 mile). Chevron holds a 39.66% stake in the gas field, and the other partner in the field, Ratio Oil Corp. has a 15% stake. The US energy giant also operates and holds a 25% stake in the Tamar gas field, also off Israel’s Mediterranean coast.
The move to halt the work plans comes after the Leviathan partners on August 1 approved a $429 million investment to expand the production capacity at the natural gas reservoir. The expansion is sought to boost production output from the Leviathan reservoir to an annual quantity of about 21 billion cubic meters from the current 12 BCM, to meet the growing demand for domestic market use alongside sales to neighboring countries and other international markets.
In August, the expansion plan was hailed as a “significant milestone” by Chevron, and Israeli partners said that the production capacity boost would significantly increase government revenues and strengthen energy security.
Chevron said Monday that it “continues to work with the government of Israel, our contractors, and all stakeholders to progress efforts to expand the production capacity from Tamar and Leviathan in order to meet growing domestic and regional demand.”
During the Iranian ballistic missile attack on Israel last Tuesday, both the Tamar and Leviathan gas rigs were shut down for several hours.
Following the shutdown, Chevron stated on October 2: “We have resumed production at both our Tamar and Leviathan facilities and are supplying natural gas to our customers in Israel and the region from both reservoirs.”
“Any questions regarding the current security situation should be addressed to the appropriate Israeli governmental authorities,” Chevron added.
The Leviathan natural gas field started pumping in December 2019. The nearby Tamar site, which holds some 10 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, started in 2013. The natural gas operations have put Israel, a country with few natural resources, on a path to energy independence.
The Times of Israel Community.