The EU is interested in receiving natural gas from Israel, according to Israel's energy ministry, with ministry sources saying Thursday that preliminary talks on future sales of gas are underway. A statement issued by the ministry said Israeli Minister of National Infrastructures, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz discussed the issue on Wednesday with the EU ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen. The ministry statement said the discussions focused on "the timeline regarding the development of Israel's offshore gas reservoirs and the possibility of exporting the gas from Israel to Europe."
The ministry statement quoted the ambassador as saying that the EU interest was aroused due to steps being taken to develop the Leviathan reservoir with 621 Bcm in estimated resources, as well as the prospect of finding more gas off Israel's Mediterranean coast.
The meeting between Steinitz and Faaborg-Andersen followed talks in recent days between the Israeli energy minister and senior representatives of Noble Energy and Italy's Edison.
At their meeting, Noble Energy CEO and chairman David Stover presented Steinitz with a timetable for the development of Leviathan. US Houston-based Noble Energy holds a 40% stake in Leviathan. Israel's Delek Group has a 45% stake through its Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration subsidiaries and the remaining 15% is controlled by Ratio Oil Exploration.
According to ministry sources, Stover said Noble Energy is committed to the development of Israel's largest offshore field in accordance with the timetable set out in the government framework for the natural gas sector. Noble Energy has said that the partners will make a firm decision on development of Leviathan during 2016 and that gas could start flowing from Leviathan by the end of 2019. Steinitz for his part said that the ministry would expedite the licensing process for Leviathan.
In a separate development, Steinitz met with Nicola Monti, Edison's executive vice president of exploration and production.
Ministry sources said the discussions focused on possible interest by Edison in purchasing the Tanin and Karish offshore licenses from Noble Energy and Delek Group. The two companies are required to sell their stakes in the two fields under the terms of the framework agreement within 14 months from the time of final approval of the framework agreement which was in December.
In the past Edison has expressed interest in the licenses. The two licenses have estimated resources of 70 Bcm and updated estimates have noted there were good chances of finding an additional 27 Bcm in gas resources and are to be earmarked for the domestic market.
