Image: Jewish Business News
Noble Energy has signed agreements with Israeli company, Delek Drilling and the Egyptian gas transportation company, East Gas to acquire a 39 percent stake in Eastern Mediterranean Gas (EMG) – which owns the 90 kilometer gas pipeline between Israel and Egypt.
Making the announcement in a statement, Noble Energy said the agreements would allow it to support the delivery of natural gas from offshore Israel, into Egypt.
Prior to this deal, the EMG pipeline transported Egyptian gas into Israel up until Egypt halted its exports in 2012. To begin operations, the partners will work to reverse the flow of the EMG and start up the Leviathan field by the end of 2019.
“Today’s announcements mark significant steps forward in supplying natural gas from the world-class Tamar and Leviathan fields to regional customers through existing infrastructure. They also represent another major milestone toward Egypt’s goal to become a regional energy hub, providing access to both growing domestic markets and existing LNG export facilities,” said J. Keith Elliott, Noble Energy’s Senior Vice President of Offshore.
Noble will own an indirect interest in the pipeline of approximately 10 percent. Furthermore, Noble and its partners will enter into an agreement to operate the pipeline, securing access to the pipeline’s full capacity.
The EMG pipeline currently has a transportation capacity of seven billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.
