Drillers say signs of more offshore natural gas
Field previously thought to contain less than a tenth of Tamar reserve
The partners in the Tamar natural gas reserve announced Tuesday that they had found indications that a field near Tamar held more gas than previous assessments predicted.
They did not specify an amount, but past estimates have put expectations for the Tamar Southwest field at up to 0.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The Tamar reserve, which was discovered in 2009 and pumped natural gas to Israel for the first time this past March, contains up to 10 TCF.
The Tamar deposit, and especially the heftier Leviathan, which was discovered in 2010, are expected to provide Israel with enough natural gas for decades and transform the country, famously empty of natural resources, into an energy exporter.
Leviathan, which boasts an estimated 16 to 18 trillion cubic feet of gas, is expected to go online in 2016, the approximate time when exports are expected to begin.
The discoveries are just a portion of the huge reserves in the Levant Basin, which the United States Geological Survey estimated in 2010 holds some 122 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.
The Tamar partners are made up of Houston-based Noble Energy Inc., and Israeli companies Avner Oil Exploration Ltd. Partnership, Delek Drilling Ltd. Partnership, and Isramco Negev 2 Ltd. Partnership.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.