British company negotiates exporting gas from Israel to Egypt

Representatives from Israel’s Leviathan Gas Company met with members of the British Gas Group in Cyprus last week to discuss exporting gas to Egypt, Israel’s Calcalist business newspaper said.

Senior representatives of the British Gas Group, American Noble Energy Inc. and Israel’s Delek Drilling Ltd met to discuss exporting five to eight billion cubic meters of gas annually from Leviathan’s naval field to northern Egypt. The deal is valued at $25 billion and should span 20 -year-old.

According to the newspaper, when the talks began in August the aim was to purchase gas from the Tamar field, 90km west of Haifa; but this changed in recent weeks to Leviathan, 130km west of Haifa due to the Israeli government’s decision to reduce the amount of gas allocated for export from Tamar’s fields.

The newspaper said the British company has been trying to purchase the gas for three years to operate its petroleum installations established in 2006 in Egypt which have stopped working since the revolution in January 2011.

The British Gas Group owns nearly 35 per cent of liquefied natural gas installations in the north of Egypt. Malaysia’s Petronas and France’s Gaz de France as well as the Egyptian government all hold a stakes in the company’s operations in Egypt. The plant produces 1.3 million cubic feet per day. According to estimates British Gas could sell liquefied natural gas in Europe at a price between $13 and $14 per thermal unit.