Leviathan (natural gas field)

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The Leviathan natural gas field is a submarine natural gas field discovered in 2010 in the Mediterranean Sea , in the Levantine Basin off the coast of Israel . It lies under the seabed, which is about 1500–1700 m deep here, about 130 km west of Haifa and about 47 km southwest of the Tamar natural gas field . It was one of the world's largest new discoveries of marine natural gas between 2000 and 2010. According to some media, this gas discovery has the potential to fundamentally change Israel's foreign trade relations with its neighbors Turkey and Egypt. Together with the nearby Tamar natural gas field, the Leviathan gas field is seen as an opportunity for Israel to become a significant natural gas exporter in the Middle East.

history

Limits of the Levantine Basin (US EIA)

In July 2010, oil and gas exploration and production company Noble Energy stated that seismic studies indicated with a 50% probability that natural gas might be present in what is known as the Leviathan Field, with the potential size of the reservoir being more than 450 billion. m³ (16 trillion cubic feet ) has been estimated. The first exploration well was Leviathan 1 m to 5170 drilled and published the discovery on December 30 of 2010. The drilling with Noble's Homer Ferrington drilling platform cost US $ 92.5 million.

The second phase of drilling at Leviathan 1 was expected to reach a depth of 7200 m, which promised an additional gas reservoir and potentially 600 million barrels of oil. While the first gas deposit was discovered at -5170 m in the same sandstone layer that was already known to carry gas from the Tamar gas field, the additional oil and gas deposits are located in layers that were not previously explored in the Levantine Basin. Noble had tried twice in vain to reach the deeper layers, but failed because of the enormous technical challenges of drilling to such extreme depths. However, additional gas was discovered en route to the intended drilling depth, and in 2012 Noble still had plans to explore these layers.

The Leviathan gas field was the largest natural gas field in the Mediterranean until the Zohr gas field was discovered off the coast of Egypt in August 2015. It is the largest natural gas discovery in the history of Noble Energy , which Leviathan operates on a 39.66% concession; Other investors are Delek Drilling with 22.67%; Avner Oil Exploration at 22.67%; and Ratio Oil Exploration at 15%. In February 2014, Woodside Energy purchased a quarter of the Leviathan field for up to $ 2.55 billion. In May 2014, it was announced that Woodside Energy is withdrawing from an agreement to acquire up to US $ 2.7 billion in Israel's Leviathan gas project because the group developing the field has its focus on regional markets want to judge.

In the summer of 2014, the Dutch company Sewall & Associates (NSAI) revised the content of the gas deposit up to 621 billion m³. The start of funding was given as 2017. In April 2015, the Israeli Ministry of Energy reported that it was working with NSAI and its Leviathan partners to resolve the contradiction between the revised NSAI estimate and estimates from other analyzes, which suggested a maximum value of 470 billion cubic meters.

On October 19, 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to award large concessions to Gazprom to develop the Leviathan deposit.

The granting of a concession by the Israeli government is highly controversial in Israel. On the one hand, it is criticized that Israel has delegated the exploitation of the resources below value to foreign investors, on the other hand, the initially high hopes were dampened by the current low price phase for crude oil, which is also affecting the gas market, because the gas fields are located in the deep sea area and are therefore expensive in the promotion and also in the recovery of the extracted gas. In addition, the vulnerability of the production platforms located far outside Israel in the open sea for any kind of terrorism or military attacks by Israel on hostile countries is viewed critically. In Israel, for example, the contractual definition of development has long been hampered by accusations of monopoly formation and the sale of national resources. In 2015, export scenarios to Egypt also lost their probability due to gas discoveries there (Zohr gas field).

Litigation with Lebanon

The existence of the Leviathan gas field presents the states in this part of the Eastern Mediterranean with a number of challenges, both in terms of their cooperation with one another and in the wider energy context of the Mediterranean region. After the Leviathan gas field was discovered in 2010, Lebanon argued that the field extended into Lebanese territorial waters. According to a report by Agence France-Presse on June 9, 2010, Lebanon's parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri claimed that Israel "ignores the fact that, according to the map, the deposit extends into Lebanese waters". Israel's then Minister for National Infrastructures replied in an interview: "We will not hesitate to use our power and strength to protect not only the validity of the law, but also the international law of the sea".

In August 2010, Lebanon submitted its official maritime border view to the UN , suggesting that Lebanon considers the Tamar and Leviathan gas fields to be outside its territory (although it also suggested other prospective fields in the region may be on Lebanese territory). The United States expressed its support for Lebanon's proposal.

advancement

The production platform is only 10 km off the coast of Israel. It is feared that poisonous gases will escape at the beginning of the production. Several municipalities and an environmental organization had therefore consulted the district court in Jerusalem. The start of funding has therefore been temporarily prohibited. The provisional order was lifted on December 19, 2019. On December 24, 2019, the planned start of funding was postponed by a few days on instructions from the Ministry of the Environment.

Funding began on December 31, 2019.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Noble Energy Announces Operational Update at Leviathan Offshore Israel ( Memento from December 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Noble Energy press release from November 29, 2010
  2. ^ Gas Field Confirmed Off Coast of Israel . In: The New York Times , December 30, 2010. Retrieved December 31, 2010. 
  3. ↑ a b Noble CEO: Leviathan is largest gas find in our history . In: Jerusalem Post , December 29, 2010. Retrieved December 31, 2010. 
  4. ↑ Israel has enough gas 'to become exporter' . In: France 24 , December 29, 2010. Archived from the original on October 16, 2011. Retrieved on January 30, 2012. 
  5. ↑ Jacob Bozdas: Israel in talks with Egypt, Turkey on major gas export deals . Turkish Daily News . April 15, 2014. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  6. ^ John Reed: Israel set to become major gas exporter . Financial Times. November 6, 2013. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
  7. ↑ Hilal Koren: Leviathan may be three times larger than Tamar . Globes . September 26, 2010. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  8. ^ Noble Energy announces significant discovery at Leviathan offshore Israel . Offshore Energy Today. December 30, 2010. Accessed December 31, 2010.
  9. ↑ Homer Ferrington ( Memento June 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ Kathrine Schmidt: Leviathan well hits snag . In: Upstream Online , NHST Media Group , May 2, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2012. 
  11. ^ Ratio Oil Exploration Limited Partnership Annual Report 2010, p.74. (Hebrew version)
  12. ↑ Leviathan partners to raise gas reserves estimate Globes, April 22, 12 1:22 p.m., Hillel Koren
  13. ^ Noble Energy Provides Update On Leviathan Deep Well , Noble Energy . May 2, 2012. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved on June 17, 2012. 
  14. ↑ Italy's Eni finds 'supergiant' natural gas field off Egypt . Associated Press . August 30, 2015. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  15. ^ Deal signed with Total for further exploration . Cyprus Mail . March 18, 2015. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  16. ↑ Total reportedly looking to extend license . Cyprus Mail. October 14, 2015. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  17. ↑ Israel takes step towards becoming a gas exporter . February 7, 2014. Retrieved February 8, 2014. 
  18. ↑ Woodside to acquire 30% stake in Leviathan field offshore of Israel offshore-technology.com website article of 4th December 2012
  19. ↑ Israel's Leviathan gas reserves estimate raised by 16 pct , Thomson Reuters. July 13, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2014. 
  20. ↑ New report sees 20% less gas reserves in Leviathan Globes, June 3, 2015, Hedy Cohen
  21. ↑ Putin and Netanyahu to strike deal on Levianthan gas field . The Australian . October 19, 2015. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
  22. ↑ Natural gas - Israel's overestimated hope Tagesschau.de of March 16, 2016
  23. ^ Supreme court stops controversial gas deal Leviathan Deutsche-Wirtschafts-Nachrichten of March 28, 2016
  24. ↑ 10 Things You Should Know About Israel's Natural Gas Audiatur Online, December 29, 2015.
  25. ↑ Israel wants to promote natural gas - and fears terror Der Tagesspiegel from May 9th, 2016
  26. ↑ Paolo Davide Farah, Riccardo Tremolada: Offshore Natural Gas Resources in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Relations to the European Union: A Legal Perspective through the Lenses of MedReg . In: JOURNAL OF WORLD ENERGY LAW AND BUSINESS . 8, No. 6, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  27. ↑ a b Jonathan Ferziger and David Wainer: Landau Says Israel Could Use Force to Shield Gas Find . In: businessweek , June 24, 2010. Retrieved January 2, 2011. 
  28. ↑ Barak Ravid: US Lebanon on maritime border dispute with Israel . In: Haaretz , July 10, 2011. Retrieved January 30, 2012. 
  29. ↑ Gas emissions off the Mediterranean coast allowed again. Israelnetz.de , December 19, 2019, accessed on January 11, 2020 .
  30. ↑ Israel: Gas production postponed at the last minute orf.at, December 24, 2019, accessed December 24, 2019.
  31. ↑ Israel starts new gas production in the Mediterranean. Israelnetz.de , January 2, 2020, accessed on January 11, 2020 .

Coordinates: 33 ° 10 ′ 4 ″  N , 33 ° 37 ′ 2 ″  E