The developers of the mammoth Leviathan natural gas field filed an expanded development plan Wednesday with the Petroleum Supervisor at Israel’s Ministry of Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources.
Texas-based Noble Energy Inc., Delek Group Ltd., and Delek Drilling LP now plan to speed up development to bring gas and condensates on stream by 2019, Globes reported.
There’s good reason to move as fast as possible: until the gas begins flowing, the cost of development is $5-6 billion. Still, the first estimate for what has become Israel’s largest infrastructure project was originally $6-7 billion.
Eight drilling sites are to be connected by an underground pipeline to the platform and rig where all the gas management systems will be installed. This platform will be linked to the coast by another pipeline to be built by the Israel Natural Gas Lines Company. From there, the gas will be sold to Israeli customers at home and exported to neighboring countries as well.
Production capacity will reach 21 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year in order to meet market demand. This is five bcm more than the original development plan, which capped at 16 bcm.
The annual pipeline capacity will only be 12 bcm; however there will be an additional outlet on the platform at sea, which could be used to export directly to a regional nation as needed. That outlet will also be able to handle a 12 bcm per year pipeline as well.
All the gas treatment which is to take place at sea, will be carried out in accordance with the national master plan that was approved by the relevant authorities.