Israeli Energy Minister predicts vast new offshore gas reserves

Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz on Thursday said that vast quantities of undiscovered natural gas likely exist under Israeli territorial waters in the Mediterranean Sea, The Times of Israel reported.

Citing Israeli, American and European assessments, Steinitz said there was a “50 percent likelihood” that 2,200 billion cubic meters of natural gas would be confirmed in untapped offshore reserves, four times the amount in Leviathan, the largest known Israeli offshore field.

As Natural Gas Europe reported, a new well will be drilled in Tamar gas field, and later on in Leviathan. The controlling stakeholders offshore Israel – Noble Energy and Delek Group – are moving forward in their expansion and development plans for Tamar and Leviathan gas fields by trying to coordinate and schedule a sequence of drilling operations between the two projects. A tender was issued for a drilling rig, which is supposed to arrive at Israel later this year. The rig will drill a new well at Tamar field, Tamar 5.