Egypt Watch

Delek Drilling announces construction of transmission services to deliver Israeli gas to Egypt

Delek Drilling LP announced the signing of an agreement between Israel Natural Gas Lines Ltd., partners of Leviathan and of Tamar gas offshore fields in Israel, according to which INGL is to construct transmission pipelines from Tamar and Leviathan to the East Mediterranean Gas terminal in Ashkelon. “The partnership respectfully updates that, on January 18, 2021, Noble engaged with INGL in an agreement for the provision of transmission services on a firm basis as aforesaid for the piping of natural gas from the Tamar reservoir and Leviathan reservoir to EMG’s terminal in Ashkelon for its transmission to Egypt,” said Delek in a press release on Tuesday.

The new pipelines will join other networks in order to deliver 7 million cubic metres of gas to Egypt. The transmission came according to the deal between Egypt’s Dolphinus Holdings and Israeli partners, according to which Israel will supply 83 billion cubic metres of natural gas to Egypt over 15 years.

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi defended the deal in January 2020 against harsh criticism in Egypt, saying that it helps Egypt to be a regional energy hub. However, a report from CI Capital financial group in Egypt revealed that the price Egypt buys Israeli gas at is non-competitive. Moreover, the Egyptian self-sufficiency of gas announced in 2018 is not expected to continue long-term, so the gas imported from Israel will be used domestically with a high cost to the citizen who will be the final consumer.