Leviathan gas field

The partners in the Leviathan natural gas find off Israel's Mediterranean coast signed a deal to sell about $1.3 billion worth of gas over 18 years to Edeltech Group and its Turkish partner for power plants they plan to build in Israel.

"Turkey-Israel relations need to normalize in the upcoming three to four weeks, otherwise the process might collapse again."

These words were uttered by Alon Liel, Israel's former ambassador to Turkey, who I talked to on the phone yesterday. Liel also served as the undersecretary of the Israeli foreign ministry and is still actively following Turkey-Israel relations.

Israel's government has given the go ahead to begin exporting natural gas to Egypt, signaling a potential improvement in relations between two countries which have been at loggerheads over energy supplies.

The Israeli government on Aug. 16 approved a major deal with a consortium including US firm Noble Energy on natural offshore gas production in the Mediterranean, the prime minister's office said.

Greek Cyprus announced on June 7 that offshore reserves in its Aphrodite gas field have been pronounced commercially exploitable, the first such development in four years of energy exploration.

Israel's Antitrust Authority said Dec. 23 that U.S. giant Noble Energy and its Israeli partner Delek would not be able to continue holding offshore gas field Leviathan over monopoly concerns.

The decision, pending a confirmation hearing, effectively dismantles the monopoly held by Noble and Delek over Leviathan and Israel's smaller offshore gas findings.

The reserve estimate for the Aphrodite natural gas field off the coast of Cyprus has been raised by 12 percent, and most of the gas is likely to be exported, Israeli firms involved in the project said.

The new estimate given for the natural gas field is 4.54 trillion cubic feet (tcf).