Update On Israeli Natural Gas Discovery -- January 14, 2017

Updates

February 21, 2018: Noble Energy, Israel’s Delek to supply gas to Egypt in $15 billion deal.

Original Post 

Does anyone remember that story on the big natural gas discovery off the coast of Egypt posted some months ago? Several other posts: if interested, search "Israel Noble natural gas."

Here's the link to an update to that story sent to me by a reader in The New York Times: energy boom could make enemies of Israel, new friends. Don't hold your breath.

Once a barren energy island in a part of the planet otherwise awash in resources, Israel is, after years of delay, finally pushing ahead with an ambitious strategy to tap offshore reserves that could transform its economy and, it hopes, its place in a historically hostile region.

If all goes according to plan, Israel will not only become largely energy-independent, it will also supply neighbors that will have new reason to be friends.

More:

Israel has been looking for energy since the 1950s, but the breakthrough came in 2010 with the discovery of fields called Leviathan and Tamar, said to hold 25 trillion to 30 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. A partnership led by Noble Energy, a Houston-based company, and the Delek Group, an Israeli firm, has developed wells in Tamar; the first supplies reached domestic markets in 2013.

Israeli gas now produces more than half of the country’s electricity and has bolstered its economy. Leo Leiderman, the chief economic adviser for Bank Hapoalim, estimated that along with the broader decline in energy prices, the influx of natural gas translated to an additional 2 percent of gross domestic product. And that is with only a part of the reserves currently being tapped.

Leviathan, which is more than twice the size of Tamar, has yet to be developed. Exploration stalled because of disputes over how the government should regulate the potential boom. Critics like Shelly Yachimovich, a Labor leader in Parliament, complained that corporate “pigs” would profit off resources that belonged to the Israeli people. The Noble partnership resisted what it called changing the rules after it took the risks and invested considerable money in the project.