Dubai, UAE – The temporary suspension of gas production by Israel in the Tamar field following October 7 Hamas attacks disrupted Israel’s gas exports. The pause in production highlighted the vulnerability of energy infrastructure in the face of political volatility, prompting a reassessment of the risks associated with such ventures.
At the beginning of November, Israel’s natural gas exports had fallen by 70 percent. The accounting and consulting firm BDO Israel estimated the economic losses of the closure of the Tamar field at about 800 million shekels (US$ 201 million) a month.
The Tamar field in the Mediterranean is the second largest offshore field in Israel. It supplied 8.7 billion cubic meters of gas to the Israeli market in 2022 while exporting another 1.57 billion cubic meters to Egypt and Jordan. Its largest field, Leviathan, is mainly intended for export.
Exports to Egypt rose
The Tamar field resumed operations by rerouting its supplies through a Jordanian pipeline instead of the direct undersea link to Egypt. Afterward, natural gas flows from Israel to Egypt rose by as much as 60 percent, according to estimates by an expert in the field.
The supplies rose to around 400 million cubic feet per day. But despite this, these flows represent half the average level of supplies before the war.
Chevron announced on November 14 that it had resumed flows to local customers inside Israel and the region from its Tamar field.
Deepening uncertainty
Industry sources say that to compensate for the loss of the Tamar field, Israel has turned to more expensive fuel sources and diverted gas generally exported from the Leviathan field to the domestic market. This led to a 35 percent drop in weekly gas production and a 70 percent drop in exports.
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