Israel’s Leviathan gas field 20% smaller than previously thought

Israel’s Leviathan offshore field holds 20 percent less natural gas reserves than previously reported, the Israeli Energy Ministry confirmed on Thursday.

The ministry said there were 500 billion cubic meters of gas in the reserve, opposed to earlier estimates which said it holds 620 billion cubic meters.

The corrected figure was published in a report approving the fast-tracked development of the Leviathan field.

According to Hebrew media reports, the partnership of companies holding the exploration rights of the field which is made up of Avner Oil and Gas (22.67%), Delek Drilling (22.67%), Ratio Oil Exploration (15%) and Noble Energy (39.66%) rejected the findings of the report.

Former environmental protection minister Avi Gabbay, who resigned only two weeks in opposition to Avigdor Lieberman’s right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party joining the governing coalition, on Saturday accused the ministry of deliberately withholding the information from the cabinet and the public.

“It turns out that for two years the ministry knew and concealed that there was 20% less than what was reported to the cabinet and public,” he wrote on Facebook.

“This means that the decision on dividing the gas between domestic use (and reserves for Israel) and exports was based on an incorrect fact, and the ‘hundreds of billions’ [of cubic meters of gas] are not really waiting for us.

“It’s no longer a matter of right and left, those in favor and those against the deal, but rather it’s about how the government handles matters,” Gabbay added.

In May, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz announced that the government had drafted a new clause in its high-stakes gas deal following a High Court of Justice ruling in March that the controversial deal would be canceled within a year unless the stability clause, which barred future governments from altering the agreement, were changed.

The new draft deal now allows future governments to amend the natural gas agreement should they find it necessary.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made the gas deal a centerpiece of his agenda, saying the discovery of large reserves would bring energy self-sufficiency and billions of dollars in tax revenues.

But critics said the deal gave excessively favorable terms to the government’s corporate partners.

i24