Israeli exporters' profits up 50% in first 6 months of 2022

Israel reaches its record gas exports in 2022

photo_camera PHOTO/REUTERS - Israeli gas field start-up reignites maritime disputes with Lebanon

The Israeli Ministry of Energy is celebrating this 2022 after publishing export data for the first half of 2022. According to reports from the government authority, profits from foreign sales of natural gas rose from USD 165 million to USD 250 million, an increase of 48% of what came through the till in the same tranche of 2021.
 
According to data from Israel's Ministry of Energy, the record revenue was achieved thanks to an increase in the pace of production from the Leviathan offshore development, the largest in the Mediterranean Sea and majority owned by New Med Energy together with Chevron. According to New Med Enegergy data, Leviathan, which began operations in 2019, has a production capacity of 12 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year. Leviathan is considered to be the cornerstone of Israeli, Egyptian and Jordanian natural gas supply.
 
Leviathan's supply is joined by that of the Tamar operation, also located in Israel's exclusive economic zone. Between the two operations combined, 10.85 billion cubic metres of gas produced between January and June 2022, up from 8.9 billion cubic metres in the same period in 2021. According to the Israeli ministry's data, 6.26 billion cubic metres of the January-June 2022 production was destined for the Israeli domestic market, while the rest, 4.59 billion, was for export. According to Doron Peskin, an economic analyst for Al-Monitor, the currency exchange to the dollar applied by exports also contributed greatly to the increase in revenues this year.

AP/MARC ISRAEL SELLEM - Vista aérea de la plataforma de cimentación del campo de gas natural Leviatán en el mar Mediterráneo, a unos 130 kilómetros (81 millas) al oeste de la costa de la ciudad israelí de Haifa

 
According to Peskin, who cites unnamed sources in Israel's investment sector, the gas market is on the verge of a major step forward. According to Peskin's source, Israeli stakeholders would soon consider expanding both Leviathan, with modular infrastructure that would allow it to grow effectively, and Tamar. With such huge increases in Israeli gas production, the Hebrew state could become a major player in regional and global gas supply. Peskin is essentially talking about new connections to Lebanon via Jordan and Egypt.
 
Peskin's sources claim that the stability of Israel's energy sector is assured by its large offshore reserves. Israel consumes around 12 billion cubic metres of gas annually.
 
The end of the year coincided with the formalisation between the parties of an agreement to supply, for the first time from Israel, natural gas to several EU countries in cooperation with Egypt over the next eight years. Israel, Egypt and the EU agreed to use Egypt's existing regasification plants to ship gas to the European continent until 2030, when Europe plans to reduce its total gas consumption as part of its 2050 economic policy.

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